TELE-WORKSHOP FACT SHEET 
September 7, 2005 

GET MOTIVATED: 
MOVE YOUR BODY,
M OUR ATTITUDE 


TELE-WORKSHOP 
SPOTLIGHT SPEAKER 

Dennis Mertzig 
Principal, Great Lakes Elementary 
E-mail: dennis.mertzig@superior.k12.wi.us 

Speaker Profile: 
With more than 30 years of experience in 
the education field, primarily as a school 
principal, and extensive life coach training, 
Dennis has gained a reputation for 
motivating staff, parents, and students to 
achieve their goals with a smile on their 
faces. In addition, Dennis has volunteered 
for many years as a fitness instructor at a 
5:50 a.m.“boot camp” workout filled with 
push-ups, sit-ups, running, and more 
push-ups. His fitness recruits attribute their 
goal-driven, positive attitudes (plus finishing 
several marathons and triathlons) to his 
motivational style, too. 

Dennis Mertzig brought his straight-shooting and highly 
energetic approach to the September Tele-Workshop as he 
spoke in front of the team assembled at the America’s 
Byways Resource Center conference room in Duluth, 
Minnesota. From the start, Dennis challenged the audience 
to commit to better fitness and better attitudes for personal 
and professional growth. 

“Stand up!” he said.“Too many people sit at 
a desk more than 50% of the time.You need 
to move. Move your arms. O.K. No push-ups 
right now. No sit-ups today. Or elbows (a 
plank position from Pilates). But move!” 

After the live audience and phone audience 
obliged, Dennis commented,“Everyone 
should do at least 30 minutes of activity 
every day.” 

According to Dennis, research shows there 
is a direct connection between physical 
activity and mental well being. 

“You’re all leaders.And leaders motivate 
others,” Dennis told the group.“The quality 
of leadership depends on focusing on the 
positive.” 

Physical fitness helps feed positive attitudes. 

“What have you done today to take care of 
yourself?” he asked. 

Listeners offered varied responses that 
ranged from “Drank more water” and “Took 
vitamins” to “Biked a six-mile commute” and 
“Ran five miles.” 

“I would refer to the rest of you who didn’t 
do anything for yourself this morning as 
slugs,” commented Dennis.“Harsh? Yes.I’m 
teasing a little, but you need to de-slug 
yourself because you can’t take care of your 
family and your job if you don’t take care of 
yourself first.” 


SIDEBAR: TRY THIS!
Write your fitness goals for 
the next 90 days on a piece of 
paper. Also write your personal goals 
and your professional goals. Seal this 
paper inside an envelope addressed to 
you. Keep it in a safe place. Put a 
reminder note on the calendar 90 
days from now to mail the envelope to 
yourself (or ask a trusted friend to mail 
it to you then). See how well you do! 


FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE 

Dennis explained that leaders stay motivated 
by switching to positive attitudes and building 
positive characteristics. 

“Think about characteristics that you admire 
and those you don’t,” he said.“Picture in 
your mind the worst boss you’ve ever had. 
Describe that person in phrases.” 

Some of the responses included: 
“Didn’t delegate” 
“Gunslinger” 
“Impatient” 
“Arrogant” 
“Non-caring” 

Then Dennis asked the audience to flip 
those phrases to positives: 
“Thoughtful” 
“Decisive” 
“Has a vision” 
“Caring” 
“Listens” 

He explained that when you identify positive 
characteristics and experiences, research 
shows that it’s easier for you to avoid being 
negative as well. 

“Don’t be a con—be a pro,” he said.“Avoid 
the negative—that includes negative people. 
Help them, as their leader, to see the positive 
sides of things.” 

He suggested finding inspiring quotations 
from inspired people, and keeping the quotes 
where you can read them often. Some of his 
favorites: 

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, 
committed people can change the world. 
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” 
— Margaret Mead 

“Let us put our minds together to see what 
we can build for our children.”—Hunkpapa 
Teton (Sitting Bull) 

“Weeeeeeee-doggies!”—Jed Clampett 

“How can you look and not see?”—Frank 
Puig (a logging supervisor during the 1930s 
from Brule,Wisconsin) 


POSITIVELY PROFESSIONAL GOALS 

Dennis again stopped the discussion for 
some physical movement.When everyone 
was settled again, he said,“Part of achieving 
your professional goals as a leader is to 
understand the culture and climate where 
you work.” 

He used an iceberg analogy to explain climate 
and culture.“Climate is the part seen above 
the water. Culture is what’s below,” he said. 
“A positive climate,such as one with openness, 
trust and collaboration,needs to be supported 
by a culture of caring and receptiveness.” 

The variables of climate and culture are 
related,according to Dennis.“ Are they 
positive in your organization? Then stay 
motivated to keep them energized. Are they 
toxic? Then you need to take them to the 
positive side.” 

Dennis said changing a group culture toward 
the positive takes dedication and an outside 
guide. He relayed a story on culture and 
climate from his experience as a principal: 

“A few years ago, I had a great opportunity 
as a leader to really focus on culture.We had 
a new elementary school building—a new 
place for learning.We knew that the positive 
environment we envisioned wasn’t about the 
curriculum or how you teach math.We 
realized it was about building a positive culture. 
I’m here to tell you that there are very 
few systems that can see their strengths and 
weaknesses without help from an outside 
source.You see, precedent keeps us stupid. 
Without someone objectively looking at you 
from outside the organization, you fall back 
into the old patterns. Repeating patterns: 
that’s the easiest thing to do. Changing is not 
easy to do.” 

Dennis noted that Stephen R. Covey’s book, 
The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness 
(a sequel to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective 
People), has been a helpful resource. 

“What Covey did in his book is to turn a 
Harris poll on working environments into an 
analogy that anybody can understand,” 
explained Dennis.“Covey figured if those 
workers were represented on a soccer 
team, then 4 in 11 would know where the 
goal was; 2 of 11 would care where the goal
was; 2 of 11 would know what positions 
they were playing, and all but 2 would be 
competing against their team members.” 

Dennis noted that leaders need to address 
the negative factors that mess up teamwork. 
“My experience with school changes has 
taught me that there can be roadblocks, but 
you can get over them,” said Dennis. 
“People are in work situations or family 
situations that need changes.We can all 
change for the better. So to cure that 
emotional virus that can infect your group, 
you have to identify what type of negative 
person you’re working with.” 

He referred the audience to Daniel 
Goleman’s book, Primal Leadership: Realizing 
the Power of Emotional Intelligence, for 
excellent descriptions of several personality 
types that can disrupt positive change. 

“What can you do?” asked Dennis.“Stand 
up! Move! And if you have cookies or a bag 
of chips—dump them! You have to be 
motivated yourself.” 

TACKLE THE TOUGH STUFF 

Dennis referred to a book by Jim Collins, 
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the 
Leap...And Others Don't, that looked at what 
characteristics defined the very few Fortune 
500 Companies who have sustained profitability 
and growth over 15 years. 


SIDEBAR: TRY THIS!
Whatever project you tackle next or, better
yet, in the next 48 hours, have that
difficult conservation. Whether it's with
a group or an individual, do an autopsy
without blame. Sit around the table
and be totally honest. You can't get the
elephant out iof the living room until
everyone can talk about the fact that
it's there.


"He discovered that those great companies
get at the tough stuff" said Dennis. "They
identify what needs to be fixed and how to
fix it. All groups can do these things, including 
your family. Get to the brutal facts—you 
know, that elephant standing in the living 
Brutal facts need to be addressed.” 

Dennis explained that the military uses 
terminology that separates “ground truth” 
versus “political truth.” 

“For the ground truth, talk to the people 
who actually know what’s really going on. 
Leave out the political truth.That’s how you 
get to the brutal facts,” he said.“I suggest 
keeping to the positive side.Take care of 
yourself.That’s a positive.Then have that 
difficult conversation—tackle the brutal 
facts. Respectfully disagree. Use your listening 
skills. And stand up and move!” 


SIDEBAR: TRY THIS!
Think of a song that
describes who you are or the positive
person you want to be. Record it and
listen to it to at least once a week to 
motivate you as you work on staying
positive.


Q & A 
Q.You mentioned roadblocks. 
How have you dealt with them? 

A. My responsibility as a principal is to 
support everyone, keep the vision and 
define expectations, and help some 60 
staff, 400 students and 700 to 800 
parents meet those expectations. I try to 
keep every meeting or event fully 
positive, to the point and motivational. 
It’s okay and important when people 
question plans or ideas.When it slips 
into the negaholic or other negative 
personality, the group’s motivation stops 
working. I try to spin the cynicism into a 
positive early on. Most people delay 
dealing with it—you think that negative 
people will figure it out on their own. 
They don’t. 

Q. So what do you say to a 
negative person? 

A.Here’s what I learned: you have to 
develop a positive relationship with that 
negative person and work with him or 
her in a non-critical way to shift the 
attitude.You have to be that “critical 
friend.” It takes some guts, some 
fortitude. I might say to that person, 
“This is how I observe what your 
impact is on the group.” I take 
ownership of the observation and 
suggest a positive alternative. 

Q.You said that you’re thinking 
about writing a book. 
How is it coming along? 

A. Well, I have the first three 
chapters. 

Chapter One:Why Get Off Your 
Dead A_ _. 

Chapter Two:You Can’t Lose Weight If 
You Eat Like A Pig. 

Chapter Three: Do You Associate With 
Slugs? 

We’ll see how far it goes. 

Q. How many push-ups should a 
person do? 

A. You can never do enough push-ups. 



SIDEBAR: “You’re all leaders. 
And leaders 
motivate others. 
The quality of 
leadership depends 
on focusing on 
the positive.” 


RESOURCES 
The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness 
Stephen R. Covey
© 2004 FranklinCovey Co.
Free Press, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc 

Good to Great:Why Some Companies Make the 
Leap...And Others Don't
Jim Collins
© 2001 Jim Collins
HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 

Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of 
Emotional Intelligence
© 2002 Daniel Goleman 
Harvard Business School Publishing 


America’s Byways Resource Center 
provides information, connections and expertise that help 
build better Byways. State coordinators, local groups, 
volunteers and organizations with ties to nationally designated 
scenic Byways look to us for hands-on assistance in planning, 
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