Former CFL coach brought his championship thinking and business positivity to Whitecourt

 

The Whitecourt Business Support Network celebrated its fifth anniversary on Wednesday, April 18 with a full house at the Whitecourt Golf & Country Club. Hosted by the Business Support Network, Community Futures Yellowhead East and the Whitecourt Chamber of Commerce, the lunch hour event featured a very special guest: Tom Higgins.

If you are a CFL fan you might recognize that name as Tom has coached the Montreal Alouettes, Calgary Stampeders, and the Edmonton Eskimos where he won a Grey Cup in 2003. He has also worked as the Director of Officiating for the CFL. As a member of the Speakers Bureau of Alberta, Tom now spends his time sharing his positive message.

On Wednesday, he was in Whitecourt to bring his experiences, business sense, and championship thinking to local business people and, of course, plenty of football memories. His presentation focused on how having a proper attitude and mental state can influence the success someone has in business. Having overcome adversity in his time with the Canadian Football League, Tom said he learned how to move forward even after heartbreaking experiences, and that how he thought about situations made all the difference.

One of the life experiences that Tom impressed upon the crowd was a trick that he has taught to countless players during his time as a coach. In fact, Tom has even heard back from players that are now teaching the same principle to their children. It’s called Reload. “Reloading means whatever just happened, I can’t do anything about it. That means good or bad, it doesn’t make a difference. Move on and concentrate on what you must do going forward. It’s very important in our daily lives because if we have a very negative encounter then you must be able to reload so that your next encounter is not affected by what just happened.”

His positivity was infectious as attendees could be seen nodding their heads as he explained different strategies for success. Towards the end of his speech, he provided a list of 50 quotes that he hand-picked as personal favourites. One that he focused on was, “If it is to be, it is up to me.” After answering a few questions, Tom thanked the audience for coming to listen to him and remarked on the beautiful facility at the golf course. He even mentioned that he looks forward to coming back when the snow is gone.

Kristy Tuts, workforce consultant and member of the organizing committee for the Business Support Network, said she very much enjoyed getting to hear Tom speak and hopes that attendees did, as well. The group meets once a month and focuses on a variety of issues. “The network is a partnership of stakeholders within the community that want to come together and address common workforce and workplace challenges within the business community,” said Kristy.

The topics that are focused on are chosen based on the attendees. “We survey them on a bi-annual basis. Current hot topics have been around managing multi-generations in the workforce, managing mental health, work life balance, leadership, and personalities in the workplace.” She also gave an open invitation to anyone who is interested in attending network events. “Anyone who is in the business community or feels they would benefit from the information and the learning opportunity that we are providing are more than welcome.”

To learn more about the network, to see upcoming events, and to register for them, check out www.whitecourtbsn.ca or join the Facebook page Whitecourt Business Support Network.