The best way you can predict your future is to create it – Abraham Lincoln

New York Times Bestselling author, speaker, and entrepreneur Stedman Graham find those words to be true as he presented to leaders of today and tomorrow his nine-step plan for success.

Graham’s teachings often revolve around the concept of “identity leadership,” which emphasizes the need for individuals to understand their own strengths, passions, and values. He believes that by gaining a clear understanding of one’s identity, people can overcome obstacles, make better choices, and ultimately achieve their goals.

At the conference and workshop, Graham used his nine-step approach coupled with his personal experiences to encourage participants to reflect on their own lives. He emphasized the importance of self-awareness, self-belief, and taking responsibility for one’s actions with the aim to empower individuals to become leaders in their own lives, regardless of their circumstances.

1. Check your Identity.
2. Create your Vision
3. Develop your travel plan
4. Master the Rules of the Road (Honesty, Hard work, Determination)
5. Step into the Outer Limits
6. Pilot the Seasons of Change
7. Build Your Dream Team
8. Win by Decision (Making good choices)
9. Commit to your vision (Stay Focused)

In addition to the steps outlined, Graham urged that love be always present, love for oneself, love for what one does, and love when leading others. While accolades are important, others will always remember first how you made them feel.

Senior Vice-President of the GCCI Richard Rambarran also spoke at the event, stating that the GCCI supported the event because, in constructing the new development trajectory for Guyana, although prosperity abounds, it is critical that we forge a new identity for Guyana. Not just brilliant, not just output-driven…results-oriented leaders, but leaders who can stand on any stage and be confident in their integrity, ethics, morality, etc.

The Director of Business and Entrepreneur Development at the Ministry of Tourism, Industry, and Commerce (MINTIC) John Edghill spoke towards bringing transformational change beyond the room to the entire Guyana, emphasizing the importance of continuous improvement regardless of position or social class, as it is essential for growth and development and the development of a true leader.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Education Officer-Technical, Dr. Ritesh Tularam spoke about the characteristics of a true leader as having a strong personality, an aura that makes people want to listen, that a leader is one who does not command but rather assists in achieving the goal, and that great leaders are not born but are created by navigating and observing their surroundings and doing their best to be an agent of change.

Go Blue Inc., a GCCI member and management consultancy and human development company, produced this year’s conference. Go Blue’s objective, according to Judy McCutcheon, founder, and CEO, is to help organizations be profitable via their people by providing strategic, logistical, and technological consulting services that transform people and processes through continuous improvement.

In 2019, Judy stepped into the outer limits to bring transformational leadership to the Caribbean Region through the Disruptive Leadership Conference. Since then, Go Blue has hosted numerous disruptive leadership conferences throughout the Caribbean, in partnership with the University of West Community Indies Open Campus, and Organizations. Judy envisions that the Region will be empowered through change and will be taking this change to the Hilton Conference Center in Trinidad Nov 16-17, 2023.

The Masterclass conference concluded with an interactive evening business mixer where participants were able to network and discuss the nine-step plan for success.