Scott Welle: ‘Key to Leadership Is Quieting that Inner Narrative We All Tell Ourselves’

Our worlds changed forever in 2020. Homes converted to our home-offices and Zoom became a substitute — not a supplement — for human contact.

One thing the pandemic didn’t change? The principles of peak performance. To help fleet managers achieve their personal best in 2022, NAFA has announced that Scott Welle — #1 best-selling author and founder of Outperform The Norm — will present the 2022 Leadership Development Institute Certificate Program at this year’s I&E. Scheduled for Monday, April 11, from 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm at I&E in Columbus, Ohio, Welle will share with fleet managers the strategies used by high achievers and top project managers to be their best.

This special leadership course is specially designed for fleet managers and is focused on peak performance for project managers. “The Leadership Institute this year is about how to be the best you, every day, and to inspire others around you to do the same,” Welle says. “You being the best version of you has to do with the psychology of peak performance. It’s never because you’re missing a tool or tactic or strategy. It’s usually about a narrative we are telling ourselves.”

The high-energy workshop will help attendees raise their personal standard of excellence and leave them with an action plan to put into play immediately. But motivating others is also an important part of the program.

“Whether you have one direct report or 100, you need to discover what truly motivates others,” he says. “There are so many myths around leadership. What will separate you as a leader is gaining an understanding of why we do what we do, or don’t do.”

Welle has a master’s degree in sport psychology, is an adjunct professor at St. Olaf University, and regularly consults with top-performing executives, sales professionals, and entrepreneurs, as well as elite athletes. Fox 9 in Minneapolis-St Paul has called him a “motivational expert,” and he was recently named the 2021 Midwest Motivational Speaker of the Year. Welle has completed 30 marathons, 5 Ironman triathlons, and a 100-mile ultra-marathon. He serves others by showing them how to challenge their self-limiting beliefs and aspire to be their best every day. In the special leadership course, fleet managers will learn how to:

• Challenge limiting beliefs about your performance standards that may be holding you back.
• Establish a peak performance routine by utilizing the “Vital 4%.”
• Recognize the crucial components shared by ALL outperforming teams.
• Boost positivity and happiness by up to 30%.
• Enhance communication style and feedback to inspire and motivate your team members. Just prior to the leadership workshop, Welle will give a keynote address to the entire I&E assembly titled, “Outperform the Norm: Daily Execution. Extraordinary Results.”

Welle says the keynote message is not about how to outperform the societal norm or crush your competitor. Rather, it is about how to outperform your own norm, to wake up each day a better version of you. “What many people don’t know is that top performance is driven by the pursuit of personal growth,” he says.

Through his career as a sports psychologist and athlete himself, Welle has uncovered what it takes to compete at the highest levels. “Many people have the same proficiencies, but they aren’t able to achieve their goals,” he says. “The truth is that 92% of the people who set goals don’t achieve them.”

So how do you construct goals that motivate you for the long-term? “It’s not about New Year resolutions,” Welle hints. His keynote presentation will dispel the myths about how to achieve your goals. “The key is to realize that small changes stacked up over time lead to massive change,” he says. This supports his mantra: Outperformers are not born — they’re made — pointing out that we all have the capacity to raise our game.

Welle has spent more than 15 years helping people do this personally and professionally. His eight best-selling books, articles, videos, podcasts, and online programs have inspired hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

For more information on Scott Welle and the rest of the I&E line-up, visit NAFA’s Institute & Expo website.