Simon T. Bailey
Breakthrough Strategist and author
Success magazine calls Simon T. Bailey one of the Top 25 people that will help you reach your business and life goals. He joins a list that includes Oprah Winfrey & Dr. Brene Brown. His viral video posted by Goalcast to Facebook has over 87 million views.
Washington Speakers Bureau recently selected him as one of the top 12 Business Speakers and Big Speak Speakers Bureau selected as one of the Top Sales KickOff Speakers for 2020.
Today, Simon is a Breakthrough Strategist who goes beyond feel-good content and provides real-life deliverables that impact lives. His wisdom and expertise enabled an Orlando-based healthcare system to be acquired and a division of a hospitality company to be ranked No. l for customer service by Expedia.com.
He has worked with 1800 organizations in 49 countries. A few of his clients include Google, Microsoft, MasterCard, Hilton Hotels, American Nurses Association, and the NSA (National Security Association).
Simon has more than 30 years’ experience in the hospitality industry including serving as sales director for Disney Institute based at Walt Disney World Resort.
He is the author of ten books including the HarperCollins-published book, Release Your Brilliance, Releasing Leadership Brilliance published by Corwin Press (a division of Sage Publishing), and Shift Your Brilliance, published by SoundWisdom. His three on line courses on Linked In Learning (Lynda.com) have been viewed by people in 100 countries.
Simon currently serves as a board member of the U.S. Dream Academy, a twenty-year old organization whose mission is to increase high school graduation rates for children whose parent(s) are incarcerated. He also serves on the board for the Orlando Health Foundation Board, a $4 Billion 100-year-old non-profit hospital with 20,000 employees based in Orlando, Florida.
Simon is a Summa Cum Laude master’s degree graduate of Faith Christian University and was inducted as an honorary member of the University of Central Florida Golden Key Honor Society. He has also served on the advisory council for Management and Executive Education for the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College, one of the top 25 best private graduate business schools in the U.S.
Recently he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in Humanities from Kayiwa International University /United Graduate College and Seminary International in Kampala, Uganda for his global impact. Furthermore, he has received the World Civility Award from iChange Nations and is acknowledged as a World Civility Ambassador.
When Simon is not busy advancing professionals’ and organizations’ development, he roots for the Buffalo Bills, collects limited edition stamps, and is an avid movie goer. Simon is the proud father of two young adult children and currently resides in Orlando, Florida.
I hope you enjoyed this Tip and interview and found them useful. Most importantly, I want you to put the Tip into action!
Every day of the Summit, I’m awarding a prize for the Best Comment. So, leave a comment to share what action you’ve taken or are going to take, or your biggest “aha” and how the Tip or interview is making you think differently.
And remember, you can get input from me here when you comment or ask a question. So go ahead and share what you are thinking and doing with this Tip!
I love the idea of having a board of advisers, like having your personal cabinet of super knowledgeable and impressive people. There are definitely people I can reach out to in my desired career field. This is great, and I think I’ll implement it to get where I want to be.
Hello Iyabowale, I am glad to hear that you like the idea of a board of advisors.
Good idea and one I have used, sparingly in the past. My concern has always been in taking up too much of the other person’s time.
I’ve had this same fear in the past, Russ, but I changed my outlook when someone I was mentoring monthly stopped reaching out to me. I checked in with him and he said he didn’t want to take my time unnecessarily. We had a great discussion in which I pushed him to set new goals and encouraged him to come to me prepared. To me, someone who has great questions and wants specific help is always worth the time investing. We don’t speak on a set schedule, but he does continue to reach out and I occasionally check in with him too.
When I’m reaching out for help to my personal board of advisors, I make sure that I show them I value their time by having specific asks and topics prepared.
Brilliant feedback.
Hi Russ, people that want to invest in your career success will do so and make the time. If not, they may suggest someone else.
Great advice all around from Simon and those who commented about time and having specific asks. Thank you.
Thank you, Simon and May! This conversation was so great! Simon’s suggestions are very inspirational yet practical which could be implemented into the day-to-day. A lot of jobs requested a person to be a master of a very specific domain. But it is so important to have a broader vision to understand what’s going on in other domains.
So glad you had these great takeaways from Simon’s advice, Maggie. And yes, he is inspirational while also practical. A potent combination! Wishing you all the best.
Great discussion and even more important; actionable points one can implement imeediately.
Great discussion and even more important; actionable points one can implement immediately.
Simon’s tip in the pre-summit Playbook really stood out to me: “When you’re in service to others, others become your unofficial marketing department for your career.” And today when I saw Simon listed as a speaker, I thought “yay! more!” and jumped right to the interview. What terrific insight. I especially love the question, “What problem have I been created to solve?” When you combine that with the entire SHIFT model, I think you just have to be on your way to success — and yippee! . . . you’re taking others with you.
Thank you, Simon, for sharing your own experience. This has been a most helpful 30 minutes.
Awesome, Mary! Love your enthusiasm.
I’ve always been in the ballpark of these questions when reaching out to folks, but I’ve always had difficulty knowing exactly which questions to ask. It was hard to really pin which questions to ask to maximize the time I was allotted in people’s busy schedules, so sometimes I wouldn’t even reach out because I wanted to be respectful of their time. Now I have a system of go-to questions I can depend on and a way to keep these conversations going authentically. I’ve scheduled time during the week to focus on my career development and finding the right questions to ask was on my to-do list. Thank you for these tips Simon, I’ll definitely use them!
Fabulous, Leaniva – love that you are taking action and putting what you’ve learned into use. Keep going!
AHA moment and big takeaway: “Recognize and release the need to be right, but be open for what is the best way to do something…. shift from me to we”. Thank you for releasing that barrier!
Thank you Simon. Your recommendation makes so much sense and opens the doors for ongoing education, communication, personal & professional development and potential reciprocity.
I hear Simon saying directly and indirectly that I have to put in the work myself and SHIFT towards all round growth which would simultaneously make me a better employee and individual. Thank you for the actionable tips👍🏽
Thank you Sandra, I did not wait to put a text together and emailed those who are in charge. It is with Great pleasure to meet all again!
Wow! What an eye opening 35 minutes and Simon is a great story teller and engaging speaker! Two things resonated with me the most; ‘exposure expands how you see the world’ and ‘take the wheel’. Allowing yourself to learn new things, especially by putting yourself in new situations should be something every human being strives to do and I believe it comes back to service and seeking to understand others.
The other point about taking the wheel I think impacted me the most as it becomes harder for us (most of us) to take feedback in wholly healthy ways, especially in the culture of media and social media today. Taking the wheel allows us to not take the feedback or constructive criticism personally, but as a way to self-reflect and improve when and where needed – and to understand we are in control, so our destination and the path(s) we take to get there, are solely up to us.
Thanks Simon for an engaging and enlightening session!
I’ve heard several people recommend a board is advisers and this year I decided I needed to be more intentional about…well, everything so I asked 4 people to be my board is advisers. We’re only a month in but I know I’m accountable to them so I’m a little more driven to achieve. Thank you for reaffirming than I’m on the right path to greater success.
Great tips! Thank you for taking the time to share, Simon! My “aha” moment is volunteering at another department in the company and releasing the need to be right. As a recent graduate, being at the outset of my career, I was wondering what would be the best way to build the personal board of advisors.
My biggest insight was the car analogy. I realized that because I was not being proactive, ambiguity and uncertainty was at the forefront of my career. It helped me to understand what happens when you do not take the wheel of your career and why applying the SHIFT Framework is essential for career success. Taking the wheel involves upskilling, accepting feedback, being open to and constantly looking for new opportunities and venturing outside of your comfort zone.
Thank you Simon for sharing your experience and wisdom.
Thank you, Simon and May, for the insightful discussion. These actionable steps came at the perfect time as I’m trying to make a change in my career. I’m a procrastinator, always saying I’ll get to learning more, advancing my skills, etc. Simon, your infectious enthusiasm is just the kick in the pants I needed to get moving forward!
Thank you so much Simon for sharing these ideas. OMG… Me Incorporated, CEO of Me Inc. These words creates a shift in my mind already. How I see myself as a portfolio… Relationships, skills and understanding the business. Increasing your vision… Exposure expands how we see the world. Making connections with people that help you increase your vision. All these makes all the sense in the world. These are some of my takeaways from the session I hope to start implementing. Grate session today on the Career Mastery™ Kickstart 2021. I really enjoyed the ideas you shared about your own personal SHIFT. I truly enjoyed.
I loved the idea of creating a personal board of advisors to help one navigate through their career. Also, the ‘I’ – increasing the vision was so spot on in being exposed, and preventing one from having the silo mentality. In summary, this talk makes me reflect on what can I do differently in my next role to be a total part of my company.