Abigail Fallon | Staff Reporter
Published May 5, 2015; 1:45 p.m.
Life coach James Robilotta speaks to lindenwood students about his motivational strategy “PHEAM.”
The Lindenwood Greek Council and Campus Activities Board teamed up to bring life coach and Iota Phi Theta brother James T. Robilotta to LU on April 28 to speak about leadership in organizations.
The speaker began by talking about how he likes his pancakes and asking the crowd various food-related questions.
He warmed up the crowd with humor and warmth, pointing out specific members of the audience and incorporating them into his speech.
In one instance, he pretended that a student was a star mountain climber and told a story about how little the rest of the crowd would benefit from her pulling them up the mountain as opposed to teaching them how to climb.
That, Robilotta said, is true leadership: giving others the chance to rise.
“Leadership without empowerment is like bread without yeast,” he said.
Robilotta said to strive to do three main things in leadership: challenge, motivate, and appreciate others.
He warned against micro management and urged students to get to know people in order to motivate them.
His acronym for this was “PHEAM”, which stands for “Posture,” “Handshake,” “Energy” and “Attitude” to make you “Memorable.”
He then pulled a student out of the crowd and practiced “small talk” with her, repeating her name many times in order to remember it during the conversation.
In his closing statements, Robilotta explained that appreciation is what keeps people engaged in organizations and leads to retention.
Throughout his speech, he emphasized the importance of purpose as having broader meaning than goals.
In the end, he left the audience with one key purpose: “Leave every place better than you found it.”
