Kevin Ward, a leadership consultant and trainer, left construction in the late 1990s to teach, a shift that shaped his career. He believes leaders need clear vision and training to inspire rather than just manage. Ward's core advice: plan proactively, have faith, and communicate your vision effectively.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Kevin Ward with us. He's a passionate speaker, trainer, and messenger. So welcome to the show, Kevin.
How are you, Tyler? Glad to be here.
Doing great, man. Glad to have you here. We'll dive into the first one. The first question I have for you, Kevin, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Wow, I would say a real defining moment for me was a career change back in the late '90s, and I went from being a construction professional to being a teacher. I never thought of myself as a teacher, but people around me, family, friends, said, hey, you can teach. And be a good way for you to help both the industry and also help young people. And I was rather skeptical, but went ahead and a brief moment of clarity, listened to folks, and it launched me into teaching and found a real passion and love that I have and has affected all that I do going forward, to the point that I do many things now, but the one that I continue to be passionate about is teaching people of all ages.
And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Well, My background is leadership, and I've been in a role of leadership most of my career. And the thing that's interesting is I now teach leadership to others and speak on it. And one of the unique qualities I bring is that I am able to engage my audience like most others are not, uh, something that's, uh, attested by other people.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice, so not necessarily industry-specific?
Oh, it has to be about leadership, and that is that anyone that is in leadership or might be in leadership, they need to be trained to be effective leaders and not managers only. And in particular, in regards to leadership, is having a vision that they can communicate clearly to everyone involved.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Oh, wow. Be willing to take risks sooner.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
For me, it's a solid faith and an attitude of gratitude.
And what is the best book that you've read? And what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Oh, wow, that's a good one. Well, the best book overall, and I don't mean sound preachy, is the Bible. There's so much wisdom there, whether you ascribe to the religious or faith tenets. And I recommend that to anyone. A non-Bible book I think that I would suggest to people would be Jim Collins' Good to Great.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
Let's see. I guess one of the My favorite quote that I use with a lot of people is, "A failure to plan is a plan to fail." And the reason why is, as a leader, if you're not planning, you're always going to be in a reactive mode rather than a responsive mode.
Mm, love it, man. Thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where is the best place for people to find you online?
My information is on my profile on LinkedIn, and including my email address, my website, everything. So LinkedIn, or if they want to go directly to my website, wkwconsultingllc.com.
Perfect, man. Thanks again for joining us. We really appreciate it.
Thanks for the opportunity, Tyler. I really appreciate it.
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