Meet the minds behind Becoming Invaluable: Dr. Terry Lyles, a psychologist with extensive expertise in stress management and life balance training, impacting Fortune 500 companies, first responders, and global medical teams. Alongside him is Steven J. Bowen, a leader known for transformative turnarounds across diverse industries, culminating in the successful sale of Maine Pointe LLC. Their book, Becoming Invaluable, is a collection of real-life stories—full of failures and triumphs—that inspire and educate individuals from all walks of life. In this interview we learn a little more about the methodologies within this motivational self-improvement book.
What inspired you to write Becoming Invaluable?
Dr. Terry Lyles: I think about becoming invaluable coaching all my clients and just decided to write about it in more detail. And I asked Steve Bowen to consider co-authoring with me to round out the overall experience of human performance and corporate leadership. And thus, Becoming Invaluable was birthed!
Steven J. Bowen: Dr. Terry Lyles had worked with my company, Maine Pointe LLC, for five years. After selling the company Terry asked me if I felt interested in writing a self-development book with him. I said, let me sleep on that, but instead I called him back fifteen minutes later and said yes, let’s do it! For me personally, this is a form of giving back to people after being blessed to have so many great people around me during my career. I have read close to two hundred books and listened to over a thousand tapes (today’s podcasts) on self or personal development and this has always been a passion.
The human capital framework, methods, approach and implementation aspects daily, monthly, quarterly and annually are a blend of what Terry has taught for years and the very activities I applied in my life since I was twenty-five years old.
What do you mean by “willitude”?
Dr. Terry Lyles: Willitude is such a great new word in our book. It simply describes the effort needed to succeed in anything in life. This force of gravity is measured in the effort and the real numbers of success and failure that separates those who win and those who do not win. Without understanding and applying willitude, the effort to succeed is more difficult and mostly unmeasurable in today’s world of performance excellence. It means to fail forward everyday and never give up no matter what life gravity is presenting daily.
Steven J. Bowen: Willitude is the combination, portmanteau, of Will and Fortitude. Willitude means to have the will or drive to keep moving toward your Vision, Mission and Goals. Fortitude means having the mental strength to support your drive or will on a daily basis. Willitude is to get you through the ups and downs in your life journey. Willitude is developed to build your sense of worth to meet the challenges and obstacles during your journey that makes you stronger, more knowledgeable, skilled and builds your resolve to accomplish the outcomes you desire. It means to never give up because “Failure is not an Option.”
How does Becoming Invaluable help readers develop their “willitude”?
Dr. Terry Lyles: Self-worth is at the top of our Human Capital triangle on the cover and described in the book as a key aspect to becoming invaluable formula for success. Developing that willitude “attitude” is a differentiator to preload a mind/body approach to everything for grow and new learning.
Steven J. Bowen: Willitude builds everyone’s Invaluableness as it develops out of learning to build your mental and physical health, your strength through understanding the importance of Purpose and Values as part of the bedrock to support your efforts in life, thereby, developing your own Human Capital that builds your sense of worth.
How does your book help individuals navigate success?
Dr. Terry Lyles: Success is defined differently by everyone, and this book helps readers discover what the key takeaways are personally, relationally, and professionally to chart a course of success that can be measured and duplicated. This unique learning process is understanding how and when to navigate people and things to get the desired outcome planned.
Steven J. Bowen: Navigotiating success is the combination of Navigate and Negotiate. Reality is, sometimes we must navigate things and negotiate with people, and in other situations we negotiate with people and navigate things. Becoming Invaluable: Develop the Willitude to Navigotiate Success provides the Human Capital equation to help everyone invest in developing the five attributes for success; knowledge, skills, attitude, health and strength. In turn, these foundational and fundamental aspects of human capital, as they are developed through continuous work, help people build the Navigotiation skills and builds their sense of worth to achieve success.
Are there any misconceptions about becoming invaluable that you’d like to address?
Dr. Terry Lyles: Becoming invaluable is unique to everyone. One misconception is that we are born to succeed. Only part of that is true. We need to become invaluable utilizing the principles defined in the book to personally discover and own, to transform thought and actions impacting all human performance excellence. So, becoming invaluable is identifying individual talent and putting the skills around the talent to become great.
Steven J. Bowen: People most often, in our capitalistic society, equate being invaluable to financial success. While this is certainly part of the outcome for many it is not what it’s all about. Becoming invaluable is about serving one person, a team, community, or organization. It can be making a difference in just one person’s life or making a difference in many people’s lives. When we serve others we serve ourselves because it is through others we achieve the success as we define it, from Mother Theresa to Warren Buffett.
What is one piece of advice you would give readers who want to become invaluable?
Read all the interviewed invaluable people in the book and visualize your own success from where you are right now in your life. See, believe, and do what it takes to a better you!
Work daily to build your knowledge, skills, attitude, health and strength by following the very methods, or something close, we lay out in the book.
Believe, believe, believe, and then put a plan into place to execute the necessary actions and behaviors to become invaluable.
How has writing Becoming Invaluable impacted your lives?
Dr. Terry Lyles: Working and discussing this concept with Steve helped me better realize the importance of life transitions and planning success on a continuous basis. Learning from others is one of the greatest ways to advance our life success story.
Steven J. Bowen: The biggest value in writing this book is the insight into how much I truly enjoy the transitions in life because it is in these moments you learn the most about yourself. The second benefit to me is seeing more ways to remain flexible and fluid as you encounter these life transitions.
How can people apply your advice from Becoming Invaluable in their everyday lives?
Follow each of the steps laid out in the book. Establish your Purpose, Values, Vision, Mission, Goals or Objectives and then each day, week, month and year, work on the five attributes and developing these attributes as it relates to your chosen path, vocation or career.
What do you think sets successful people apart from those who struggle?
They believe, “Failure is not an Option” and then work everyday and never quit.
What do you think sets Becoming Invaluable apart from other books on success and development?
It is the combination of the Human Capital approach and the way in which the implementation is laid out that accomplishes both the intellectual stimulation combine with inspiration and motivation, if you really want it, here is a way to go about making yourself Invaluable in your chosen path in life.
What tips do you have for someone who wants to become more confident?
Dr. Terry Lyles: Con-fin-dence means one must con themselves to become what is believed to impossible.
Steven J. Bowen: Confidence, or worth, comes from within, not from others. People waste so much in life by worrying what others think rather than developing themselves and building their understanding and positive perception of themselves.
How can someone stay motivated even when faced with difficult challenges?
Dr. Terry Lyles: Motivation stems from inspiration applied to purpose and vision actualized and manifested in daily life rituals.
Steven J. Bowen: Through the development of yourself, you not only build the strength to survive challenges, you learn to turn this stress into the competitive spirit to make it happen. When you have this strength, when these difficult situations or even mistakes happen, you also develop the ability to forgive others and especially yourself and then move forward. Everyone encounters challenges, you inspire and motivate yourself to keep going when believe most of all in yourself.
What makes your book unique?
Understanding the words in-val-u-able, willitude, and navigotiate applied to everything and everyone encountered.
Dr. Terry Lyles is America’s Stress Doctor and someone who has worked with people from all walks of life. And Steven Bowen has done it, achieved his desired outcome in life to date. It is this combination of ours and nine interviewees that makes this book unique and compelling.
What do you hope readers will gain from reading Becoming Invaluable?
The understanding of how to invest in oneself. To build your confidence and worth to Develop the Willitude and Navigotiate Success.
Follow the authors
Becoming Invaluable
Develop the Willitude to Navigotiate Success
Our desire for this book is to inspire, motivate, educate, and support you in whatever your walk of life, and to help you become invaluable and make a positive difference. Being invaluable takes work. It may be pleasant or challenging, and rewarding work, but the effort must be expended, usually every day. Becoming Invaluable will talk all about the work to become invaluable, and the five personal attributes it requires. Regardless of your vocation, career, or path in life, you can enhance your outcomes and the experiences along the way through the application of the methods you will find throughout this book.
One of the common characteristics of the authors and the nine individuals in our spotlight profiles is a view that “Failure is not an Option.” We all fail at times. So the question is what provides the stamina and resilience or to succeed in spite of any failure or setback. The answers lie in you. The pages in Becoming Invaluable help you learn about the application and discipline to make it happen in a full and complete fashion in your life.
