Bounce Forward (eBook)

Sam Cawthorn's life took a drastic and unexpected turn in October 2006. While he was working for the Australian Federal Government as a Youth Futurist, he had a major car accident. It was his fault, he fell asleep and veered onto the wrong side of the road and had a 206km head-on collision with a semi-trailer truck. Sam was pronounced dead on the scene by the paramedics for 3.5mins. Yet after resuscitation, he was in a coma for a week, hospital for 5 months and in a wheelchair for a year. The doctors said Sam would never walk again, but defying the odds he picked myself up and now lives - with the most advanced bionic arm, one of the only people in the world that plays the guitar with one arm, flying over 20 times per month speaking to over 100,000 people each year in 7 countries, to Fortune 500 companies and sharing the stage with names like, Bill Clinton, Dali Lama, Steve Wozniac, Brian Tracey, Mark Boris and being featured in the New York Times. Before the accident Sam was obsessed with understanding young people, how they ticked, their issues, worries, their problems and everything that stimulated them, motivated them and ignited them to take action. Since the accident Sam has been obsessed with two things: how to develop the best communication skills in order to deliver a powerful and inspiring keynote presentation that leaves a lasting impact for years, and, revealing the secrets of corporate and personal turnarounds. Since the accident, he's researched and interviewed organisations, business leaders, teams and individuals about how they have overcome major challenges in their lives. What were the mechanics, the tools, the strategies and the secret formulas to not just bounce back but Bounce Forward into greater lives, greater productivity, greater focus levels, greater profitability? How did they turnaround and create better lives? This was how he discovered the BOUNCE theory and developed proven principles, through heavy research & study, how an individual, a team, a leader and an organization can BOUNCE out of any situation, circumstance or crisis to be better than before the crisis hit.

Preface xi

Acknowledgements xvii

Introduction: The bounce cycle xix

PART I: The bounce principles 1

1: Principle 1: Crisis creates opportunity 3

2: Principle 2: Proximity is power 45

3: Principle 3: Leveraging positivity to fuel success 77

4: Principle 4: Bounce forward not back 109

PART II: The 12-day challenge 139

5: The 12-day crisis turnaround challenge 141

Conclusion: The power of bounce 185

Afterword: The bounce movement 189

Index 197