The most important decision I ever made...

Dear Readers,?

Now that I’m in my sixties, I find myself reflecting on the strange journey of my life. If I zoom out, it seems to have moved through three major phases: The Good Bill, The Bad Bill, and the Better Bill.

I grew up in a lower-middle-class household in an upper-middle-class suburb of New York, 18 miles from Manhattan. My parents had their struggles, but me and my three siblings knew right from wrong and how to say “please” and “thank you.” I was a good kid. Creative, friendly, kind, and sensitive. When my neighborhood friends and I would play “war,” I was always the priest who would bless those who had fallen on the backyard battlefields. The kid priest epitomized Bill #1.

For sport, I was a springboard diver. Eventually, I got a full athletic scholarship to West Virginia University (WVU), which enabled me to get a college degree. At the time, WVU was the #1 party school in the nation, and I partied with gusto. This was the beginning of Bill #2.

After college, I became a member of the US High Diving Team, a troupe of aerial expedition athletes who traveled throughout the country as part of an aquatic entertainment production. My high-diving comrades and I would climb to the top of a 100-foot ladder and hurl ourselves off at speeds in excess of 50 mph before hitting a small pool that was 10 feet deep. Yes, I actually did that. For seven years I lived the life of a carny, smiling for the audience like an All-American athlete during the daytime, and pillaging through the town like a drunken Viking at night. My drinking horn was never full enough.

The partying life is alive and fun. Until it’s not. I don’t know the exact moment things took a turn for me, but a turn they took. All the boozy carousing masked a slow erosion of my character, allowing me to lie to myself, and others, more and more. Before long, I had shifted from good to bad. I couldn’t be trusted. When I’d look in the mirror, I had to avert my eyes because I couldn’t stand the person who was looking back at me. My frequent trips to oblivion helped dull my self-loathing. ?

Bill #3 came as the result of a bad dinner date. I actually thought the date had gone really well. But when I called the woman the next day, she said she’d never date me again, and reminded me that I had borrowed money from her to pay for dinner. She also told me that I had a drinking problem and gave me the number of a friend of hers who had faced his own problems with alcohol. I was embarrassed enough to pick up the phone. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.

August 31st marks 30 years of living a sober life. The decision to live free of mind-altering substances transformed me and my life. I live wide awake to every experience now. That means I go through every situation, good and bad, feeling all the feels. When things get tight or tough, I don’t escape to alcohol. I work through them. Bill #3 is anything but perfect, but he is far more centered, patient, generous, and present. And far less self-centered. These days, I live comfortably in my own skin. I’m good friends with the guy who looks back at me from the mirror.

There’s an epilogue to this story, and it involves Bill #4. Recently, to mark my 30th anniversary of living in sobriety, I traveled to the tiny little town of East Dorset, Vermont, to visit an anonymous little cemetery on the outskirts of town. There, by the humble graveside of a World War 1 veteran, 2nd Lieutenant William Griffith Wilson, I said a prayer of gratitude. Bill W., as he is more affectionately known, is the founder of a spiritual program of recovery that has transformed the lives of millions of people throughout the world, including me. Because of him, I am still trudging on the road of happy destiny?one day at a time.

What's the best decision that you have ever made? I would love to hear about it.?

Take it one day at a time,

Bill T.?

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Let’s celebrate GLC’s business birthday! We turned 22 on Aug 8th. I started the business out of my garage in Decatur, Georgia, after spending six years as a manager with Accenture. And my first major client was…Accenture. They hired Giant Leap to design, develop, and deliver a leadership program that rolled out to 150 managers over the course of two years.

The stability of that engagement allowed me to develop other clients from those humble origins. Who would have thought that, over the course of 22 years, Giant Leap would eventually deliver leadership programs to thousands of leaders worldwide? We love our clients!

This month, as we do during most months, we conducted a number of webinars. This month, we led one on Connecting with Customers for United Contractors (Home | United Contractors ), a client since 2019, and two on Relationship Courage for Southern Nuclear , a client since 2021. We also led a “Power Hour” on Time Management for our longest-running client, Aldridge Electric Inc . We are proud to have worked with Aldridge for 19 out of our 22 years! ?

GLC is excited to announce the latest international licensee of our Courageous Leadership program, Momenta Indonesia ! This month, their trainers went through our online Master Courage-building Facilitator Certification Program , and then attended a virtual event with Bill Treasurer. Special shout-out to David Covey, CEO of SMCOV , who licenses our Courageous Leadership facilitator program internationally.

GLC just returned from leading a senior executive Momentum Meeting. As part of our Courageous Future strategic planning offering , we include quarterly “Momentum Meetings” to ensure that the plan gets executed as intended.

Momentum Meetings are focused senior executive meetings where they review the progress being made on strategic goals and initiatives. Momentum Meetings are a great way of keeping the senior team focused on the goals, aligned with each other, and accountable for results!

The Goal Setting and Accountability Workshop by Giant Leap Consulting is designed to help individuals and teams understand the critical aspects of effective goal setting and accountability.?