Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / Resilient Leadership with Betty Ogiel - Part 1 | Episode #387

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Resilient Leadership with Betty Ogiel - Part 1 | Episode #387 · Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess

• 0:21
  Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make Your Life Count.
• 0:28
  I'm your host, Doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess, international leadership expert and trusted
• 0:37
  adviser. Welcome to Legacy Living, Make Your Life Count. I'm so delighted
• 0:46
  that you joined me today. I have a very special guest on our show
• 0:51
  today. Her name is Betty Ogier. She lives in her home country of
• 0:58
  Uganda. Betty is an author, an inspiring speaker, and most importantly,
• 1:06
  she is an advocate for hope and resilience. I can't wait for Betty to
• 1:12
  share her remarkable journey and story with you. Let me just give you a
• 1:19
  small glimpse for now. A number of years ago, Betty was in a
• 1:26
  horrible car accident which resulted in paralysis and speech loss. By God's mercy and
• 1:34
  grace, she overcame her paralysis, speech loss, and speech impairment. Betty
• 1:44
  will share more about her story in today's conversation. She also shares much more
• 1:51
  in her book Against All Odds. I'll tell you how to get a copy
• 1:56
  of her book later on in this episode. In addition to writing the book,
• 2:01
  Betty hosts a series of monthly forums which she calls Against All Odds talks.
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  These talks are absolutely and positively purpose driven, and Betty's purpose is to
• 2:17
  inspire hope and resilience and to transform lives. Betty is also the founder of
• 2:27
  the Betty Ogiel Foundation in Uganda. Her foundation is a charity organization that educates
• 2:34
  destitute orphaned girls, especially from Karamoja, an impoverished region in Uganda. She's
• 2:42
  also a multiple award winning human resources professional and she is a John Maxwell Team
• 2:50
  certified coach. Today's topic is all about resilience and leadership, two topics that
• 2:59
  are near and dear to my heart. And I can't think of a better
• 3:04
  person, a better leader, a better human being to address this topic than
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  Betty. I met Betty several years ago when I was attending an International Maxwell
• 3:15
  Certification conference in Orlando, Florida. When I met Betty, we just had
• 3:23
  this residence. We just clicked, and when I had an opportunity to hear
• 3:28
  her speak, she spoke so passionately about her life and her purpose. I
• 3:35
  mean, she was on fire. So I can't wait to host this incredible,
• 3:40
  amazing and lovely human being. My friend, my colleague and mentor,
• 3:47
  Betty Ogiel now Before I bring Betty on, I just want to take a
• 3:53
  moment to connect the dots between today's topic on resilience and leadership and legacy living.
• 4:01
  And there are many ways that resilience and leadership connect to legacy living,
• 4:08
  which you'll hear more about later. For now, let me just say that
• 4:12
  legacy living is a way of being and a way of living and moving through
• 4:16
  the world so that we make the conscious choice to be the difference we want
• 4:24
  to see in the world. We make the conscious choice right here, right
• 4:28
  now, not in some distant future. We make that conscious choice day in
• 4:33
  and day out, three sixty five, twenty four seven. Now, more
• 4:40
  about that a little bit later. One more thing before I bring Betty on.
• 4:45
  Today's conversation will be aired in two parts. That's right, Betty was
• 4:50
  so inspiring and shared so much great stuff. We're running our conversation in two
• 4:56
  parts. So now let me introduce you to my friend, my mentor,
• 5:02
  and my colleague, Betty. Thank you for joining me today, Betty,
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  I can't wait to have this conversation with you. As you know, you're
• 5:15
  one of my favorite people on the planet and just love the work that you're
• 5:19
  doing. So I want my listeners to hear from you and to hear your
• 5:25
  story. And I'm going to begin by asking you just to say a little
• 5:29
  bit about who you are, where you're from, and this question and that
• 5:35
  is about resilience. Okay, So your name, where you're from, and
• 5:43
  if you can answer this question about who is a resilient person? Okay,
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  thank you, Gloria. It is always an owner to speak with you.
• 6:00
  And UH two, just pick from your wise mine my name is Betty O'Gill
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  Rubanger. Rubanger is my husband's name. And I am you Gandhan, living
• 6:24
  in your Ganda, born and bred in your Ganda. And UH I am
• 6:33
  also a mother of three handsome boys. Of course, I am married to
• 6:42
  a man, one man, and UH in the market place, I am
• 6:51
  a human resource professional and also a coach with the John Maxwell team, so
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  I wear many hurts. I am an author of the book Against All Odds,
• 7:15
  and I founded a foundation UH which helps the education of often girls from
• 7:29
  the impoverished regions in Uganda. And to do that, I also UH established
• 7:46
  and he started Against All Odds talks which aimed to inspire up and transform lives.
• 7:58
  So I am very happy to be here and just for my my listeners
• 8:11
  who are hearing me for the first time. I normally like putting the Westerns
• 8:22
  the Wonder to rest. Yes, I am an inspirational speaker who speaks majestically,
• 8:31
  not by choice, but by its circumstances beyond my control, which is
• 8:43
  why I'm more passionate about resilience. So a resilient person is the one to
• 8:52
  me who is able to rise again above their circumstances, to to wear a
• 9:05
  smile on their face despite the fact that they are still in the tunnel in
• 9:16
  the process, in the pre purification line, you know, So resilience,
• 9:30
  A resilient person is one who is able to achieve their dreams despite the circumstances
• 9:48
  life will you throw at them? Yes, thank you, Betty. So.
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  I love how you talk about being able to overcome, come and triumph
• 10:01
  over your circumstances. And could you just tell us a little bit about you
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  know, you have gone through so many changes in your life, Betty,
• 10:13
  you know and we all have, but your your changes have been brought about
• 10:18
  through external circumstances. And I wonder if you can tell our listeners about,
• 10:22
  you know, how the accident that affects your your speech and affected your resilience.
• 10:33
  Thank you, Gloria. That is a very good question. Now.
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  James Allen said that our diversity introduces a man to himself. But for me,
• 10:52
  a diversity of the accident re introduced me to myself because it was not
• 11:03
  the first a diversity I went through, and it was it was a man
• 11:15
  and it is still among the air diversities I went through. So Maybay to
• 11:26
  give a little background to it. Fourteen years ago, I got a motor
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  car accident which left me with a brain injury, a broken neck. I
• 11:46
  was paralyzed from head to top and I I lost my ability to speak because
• 11:58
  the sigh my but my speech center was bruised in the brain. So I
• 12:11
  became a very vegetable. I was wheelchair bound. I could not say hm
• 12:22
  a thing, or even make a sound. It was a prayer quest for
• 12:30
  me to just make a sound, things that we take for granted every day.
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  So how the accident affected my resilience. In fact that the accident only
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  most made me to give up. But I remembered what I had already gone
• 13:03
  through in life. I remembered how I lost my father at the age of
• 13:15
  three. I remembered how I was abandoned at the age of fourteen. I
• 13:26
  remembered how I was poisoned by a neighbor who got tired of looking after and
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  abandoned of an girl. I remembered how I walked twenty one hundred and twenty
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  kilometers with the twenty lid jerichan of local potent gene on my head, working
• 13:56
  on bare feet, smuggling local potent gin across the border to Kenya, the
• 14:09
  neighboring country, to Uganda to look for school fees and to look for survival.
• 14:20
  Then I remembered how shortly after going back to school, I was beaten
• 14:31
  by his poisoners snake. I remembered how several times, many times I almost
• 14:43
  became a school a school drop out. I remembered how I slept on the
• 14:54
  benches of the sports ground changing room for three years while pursuing my degree course.
• 15:07
  Then I remembered all that. Then I looked at my medals, athletic
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  medals. Then I looked at the chair with the wheelchair I was on.
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  Then I that gave me back the resilience to fight on for my life,
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  for my dreams, for my future. So the accident really mean juvenated my
• 15:50
  result to achieve my dreams. Yet again it reminded me that I had to
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  take charge over my life again. Thank you, Betty. You know,
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  you have been through so many, so many valleys and peaks, you know,
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  and they go together, right, and God puts them together in our
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  life. And you know, praise the Lord that he was able to send
• 16:25
  you into this place of remembrance of all of the places that you you know,
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  have triumphed, you know, the valleys that you were in, as
• 16:34
  well as climbing back up into the mountaintop. Right. And so when I
• 16:40
  think about resilience, you know, I think about many many different qualities and
• 16:45
  we'll get to that a little bit later. But you know, I wonder
• 16:48
  if you might share a little bit with our listeners about your COVID nineteen journey.
• 16:57
  You you know, just recently went through that with your husband, and
• 17:02
  could you tell us a little bit about that, because that seemed like another
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  you know valley, right the God that God put you in. Yes,
• 17:15
  Actually God works in mysterious ways, yes, And through our pain it makes
• 17:30
  us realize our purpose. So the COVID nineteen was recent yet another challenging obstacle
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  that I had to wait to go through and it it was I could say,
• 18:07
  one of the worst moments. It reminded me of the accident where your
• 18:18
  life just changes in a in a blank of and I so, yeah,
• 18:30
  there's stage t's score changed for us. My husband and I were all diorganized
• 18:44
  with the COVID and my husband was a more serious serious stage. And we
• 18:57
  had two big picked by an ambulance from home. So you can and you
• 19:07
  can imagine we were. We were bounced from hospitals because hospitals were full of
• 19:23
  COVID questions. The first hospital bounced us and we had to go to the
• 19:32
  next. Thank god, my employer was footing the bills, but the bills
• 19:41
  were quite a huge. So you're being transported by ambulance, which is very
• 19:55
  expensive. Yes, yes, yes, and from one hospital another yes yes,
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  And and all this time my husband is I could say, getting satious,
• 20:15
  convalising every two minutes. I was like a crazy mad woman in the
• 20:29
  ambulance and not knowing what to do. So I was the status call had
• 20:38
  They changed in a matter of seconds from all the time my husband started convosing
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  from a comfortable home to a hospital bed and and being taken care of people
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  who were addressed like they are going to the moon, like all covered up.
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  Oh yes, yes, so, and not knowing what could happen.
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  Mm hmmm. And in the same period I lost many close people, including
• 21:45
  my former boats in my former workplace. It it passed away when I was
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  on the day I was declared COVID was still then while in the hospital,
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  many other close friends, including members of parliament and ministers, dying with something
• 22:18
  that is in your body that you're in the hospital with. So the level
• 22:27
  of uncertainty required. Resilient, yes, absolutely, and hope and hope and
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  hope yes and so Betty, my just my deep condolences. I know that
• 22:42
  you're now through that episode where you had to be hospitalized with your husband.
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  My condolences for your losses of your friends and people that you knew and very
• 22:56
  close to. And you talk talk about not only resilience but hope, Betty,
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  and so I'm wondering if you can share with our listeners you know what
• 23:06
  the power of hope is for you and for them. Hope is is a
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  very crucial uh thing in our life because if you lose it, you have
• 23:34
  lost the will to leave you. I've lost all hope and that is why
• 23:44
  you see people committing suicide. The person who commits suicide has lost hope.
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  So what is hope. Hope is finding a reason to living. Hope is
• 24:04
  hoping for something. Hope is maintaining a positive mindset. Even a minist challenges.
• 24:19
  Hope is uhh acknowledging that there is this situation which is huge, huge,
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  and it is not under my control. But I hope some mhm,
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  some way that there is a power which is greater than I can perceive.
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  There is a good somewhere. There is that that power which caused me to
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  come to existent, and that power is there, Yes, and and and
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  and yes, just knowing that, yes, there's a power greater than you.
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  Yes, and hanging on that power hanging I'm talking about God, the
• 25:37
  Almighty God. You know, I couldn't agree with you more, Betty.
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  Uh. You know, we often hear about hope and the popular media,
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  and uh, for for people who believe in God, we know that the
• 25:55
  ultimate hope is believing in God's strength right and his faithfulness. And so that's
• 26:02
  how I hear you talking about it as well. Bettie, what would you
• 26:06
  say to our listeners who maybe they don't believe in God? I don't know,
• 26:12
  But what might you say to them about the power of hope connected with
• 26:18
  you know, shattered dreams. Some people's dreams are shattered by COVID, others,
• 26:23
  you know, circumstances in their life. But what would you say to
• 26:26
  them about the power of hope and resilience. Scripture says that even when you
• 26:37
  face a fire, uh, we should do big blood because there is joy
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  ahead of the fire. Yes. And I guess everybody has heard of the
• 27:03
  saying, the common saying that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
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  Yes, who brings that light? It is good? It is good?
• 27:18
  Who walks you through the tunnel? It is God. Imagine what power
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  do you have to get yourself out of that tunnel? It is a power
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  beyond as Yes, even in the fire, you can flourish. Yes,
• 27:45
  even in opposition. This COVID has opposed many of our dreams, and its
• 27:53
  shattered many of our dreams. But I can tell you that there are people
• 28:00
  and companies who have made a lot of money and success in COVID. Why
• 28:11
  because they focused on hope. They had hope for for for better tomorrow.
• 28:22
  But they they phone something that they could do in that situation they are in.
• 28:37
  They maneuvered around COVID and UH they they did not let COVID define them.
• 28:52
  They defined what COVID could do to them. They took uh charge of
• 29:03
  what they can do. They focused on what is working. If you look
• 29:11
  around you, at least something is working in your life. If you don't,
• 29:21
  if you you you you're listening to my voice and you think that all
• 29:29
  is shattered, all is gone. I am here to encourage you that because
• 29:38
  you are alive, there's something working around. At least you are able to
• 29:47
  breathe without oxygen support. Hung on that thread. I saw people in hospital
• 30:00
  of it isolation, struggling to breathe. They could not breathe without help of
• 30:15
  occiden. Now you and me, who are able to breathe by our slaves
• 30:26
  busy complaining about what is not working? Okay, So hope, hope is
• 30:40
  UH acknowledging that even if this sickness is there, but it can't stop you.
• 30:49
  Sickness as long as you are alive, cannot stop you. People not
• 30:56
  liking you is something you can do with the handle. As long as you
• 31:06
  are alive. Not everybody will be like you. People not believing in you
• 31:15
  it's none of your business. I like, I like my My other mentor
• 31:26
  is less brown. I've never met him physically, but he says other people's
• 31:37
  opinion what other Yes, other people's opinion about you is none of your business.
• 31:47
  That's right. And he also he also goes ahead to say that it
• 31:55
  is a full time job to change yourself. So you can't change them.
• 32:02
  You can't change people from having opinion about you, either negative or positive.
• 32:14
  They are entitled to their opinion. So it is for us to realize that
• 32:22
  we have a life to live as long as we are still alive. That
• 32:29
  is hope. We have a purpose to feel, feel to feel feel as
• 32:36
  long as we are alive. We have a destiny to to to look forward
• 32:45
  too. So there's always there's always something working around us. Never lose hope.
• 32:55
  Yes, you can, you can, you can. You can achieve
• 33:05
  your dreams. They COVID might delay, Oh mit, I would delayed your
• 33:15
  dream, but it has not shuttered your dream sang on to it. And
• 33:22
  as long as you live a loose up, you really achieve your dream.
• 33:29
  Well, thank you, Betty, you know you are. You are a
• 33:31
  living testimony. And I truly believe that God puts us in these valley places,
• 33:37
  wilderness places to strengthen us and to equip us. And Les Brown is
• 33:44
  one of my mentors too, so and I've had the pleasure of meeting him,
• 33:49
  so I you know, I love I love that he's one of your
• 33:52
  mentors as well. Betty, could you talk to us a little bit about
• 33:57
  you mentioned earlier Against all Odds? And what is that for you? I
• 34:02
  mean, I know you have a wonderful book called Against All Odds. I
• 34:07
  know that your life has been about against all odds? But can you say
• 34:09
  in your own words, what is that about? For you? Against all
• 34:16
  odds? Is about? For me? Against all odds? It's like the
• 34:30
  high way to greatness, like odds, odds the grounds upon which greatness is
• 34:44
  bread, whether we like it or not. Because without some life defining challenges,
• 34:58
  obstacles, problems I don't think they are, will would be greatness for
• 35:07
  anyone oh there, whether it is an individual or any organization, There would
• 35:15
  be no greatness without heartache, without confusion, without diversitation. This life uh
• 35:29
  tastes that are breed hm as any prepares us to greatness. So without my
• 35:43
  obstacles, without the things I went through, I don't think I would be
• 35:50
  able to to to encourage anyone to to to give hope to any word,
• 36:04
  because I believe there's power in not telling people what you have not uh you
• 36:15
  have gone through, the power in telling people what you have gone through as
• 36:23
  opposed to what you have heard. Mm hmmm. Actually, my friends tell
• 36:31
  me any colleagues that there's a colleague who told me that. Bettie. The
• 36:40
  truth is that you are not only a resilience coach, you are rasilient it's
• 36:52
  self. Yes, you You. You don't teach people, You don't tell
• 37:00
  people about resilience. You actually walk the resilience journey. Yes, the ability,
• 37:09
  the ability to to to come to cross roads in life and years and
• 37:20
  and choose not to throw in the towel, the ability to phase and there
• 37:31
  the devil so inspiring rock solid gold. Be sure to listen in for part
• 37:44
  two of my conversation with Betty, and that part of our conversation she'll share
• 37:49
  more about resilience and about the charity organization she founded, the Betty Ogiel Foundation.
• 37:57
  Now I just adore Betty. Clearly she is a leader's leader. She
• 38:02
  makes a difference in her own life and in the lives of so many others
• 38:07
  in her own family in Uganda and throughout the world, in her work as
• 38:15
  an author and speaker, and as a certified John Maxwell coach, and as
• 38:21
  the founder and leader of her very own foundation, the Betty o'giell Foundation.
• 38:27
  Now, as I mentioned earlier, Betty's purpose is to inspire, hope and
• 38:32
  transform lives. Now you know why. To learn more about Betty's inspiring story
• 38:43
  and to buy her book Against All Odds, be sure to go to this
• 38:47
  website that's www dot Against all Odds dot life. Again www dot Against all
• 38:59
  oddss dot l I f E Life. To learn more about Betty's work,
• 39:06
  you can go to this site that's the Bettyogiel dot com site. That's www
• 39:12
  dot Betty b e t T y ogi l O g i e l dot
• 39:19
  com. I'm going to repeat that because I don't want you to miss Betty's
• 39:22
  work www dot Betty og l O g i e l dot com. Now,
• 39:31
  if you are just joining us, I'm doctor Gloria and this is Legacy
• 39:38
  Living. Make your life count. We just heard from my very special guest,
• 39:44
  Bettyogiel, author, inspiring speaker, and John Maxwell coach. Be sure
• 39:50
  to tune in for part two of my conversation with her. She will talk
• 39:55
  more about her charity organization, The Bettyogil Found. If you want to make
• 40:04
  your life count, if you want to be the change you seek, be
• 40:08
  sure to listen to this episode again and again. And hey, be sure
• 40:15
  to tell somebody. You can find me right here on iTunes, Audible,
• 40:20
  Alexa, SoundCloud, iHeart, tune in, Spreaker, dot Com, Talk
• 40:27
  Network, radio, and so many other places. Be sure to tune in
• 40:32
  again next time. Before I close today's show, I just want to give
• 40:38
  a shout out to all the women, men and our young people all around
• 40:43
  the world, because you know what, we are the ones. That's right,
• 40:50
  we are the ones we have been waiting for. Now. What do
• 40:53
  I mean by that, Well, I mean don't wait. Don't wait for
• 40:59
  somebody else else to step up and make things happen, because guess what,
• 41:04
  they might not step up, They might not do it. In fact,
• 41:07
  they might not even know that you're there waiting for them to do something for
• 41:12
  you. But you can be the one. In fact, can I just
• 41:17
  tell you something? You are You are the one. You are the one
• 41:23
  who can make a difference in your own life so that you make a difference
• 41:29
  in the lives of others. Now, remember this how you live, the
• 41:37
  choices you make, your actions, your behaviors, your thoughts. How you
• 41:42
  live is how you lead. It's how you do everything. Okay, remember
• 41:50
  how you live is how you lead. Now, if you happen to miss
• 41:55
  any part of this week's show or last week's, you can simply download the
• 42:00
  recording and listen at your convenience. You can even listen on the go.
• 42:07
  Check us out at www dot talknetwork Radio dot com. Forward Slash Hosts,
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  Forward Slash Legacy Living. That's Talknetwork Radio dot com. Forward Slash Hosts,
• 42:24
  Forward Slash Legacy Living. You can also learn more about my work and Legacy
• 42:30
  Living. Make your life count by visiting the Gloria Burgess website. And as
• 42:37
  I've mentioned before, if you love to be inspired, you can actually subscribe
• 42:42
  to my inspirations right on my website. Just scroll down a little bit look
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  subscribe to my weekly inspirations. It's that simple. Each week you get a
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  lovely photograph and a quotation that inspires you. Or by visiting me on LinkedIn
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  we go. Facebook dot com forward slash doctor Gloria Burgess, pH d.
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  And that's doctor with a dr. So that's Facebook dot com forward slash Dr
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  Gloria Burgess, pH D. You can also find me on the TEDx site
• 43:29
  and listen to one of my ted talks. Just type in my name to
• 43:32
  find me there. Before I close today, I want to thank each of
• 43:38
  you for tuning in to today's episode, for allowing me to share a bit
• 43:44
  about my journey with what Legacy living is all about, not just living and
• 43:49
  learning, but living and learning and serving so that you make a difference in
• 43:55
  your own life and in the lives of others. It's about being on purpose
• 44:01
  every single day. Three sixty five twenty four to seven. Legacy living is
• 44:07
  a powerful way to make your life count. Thank you again for joining me
• 44:15
  for today's episode. I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess, and this
• 44:22
  is Legacy Living. Make your life count. Please join me again next time
• 44:29
  for another episode of Legacy Living. Make your life count. Remember, don't
• 44:37
  just count the days in your life. Make the days in your life count.
• 44:44
  That's what legacy living is. All about. Have a fantastic day and
• 44:50
  remember make the days in your life count. God bless you. That's our
• 45:09
  show today. I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess. I hope you'll
• 45:16
  join me again next time. Until then, don't just count the days in
• 45:22
  your life. Make the days in your life count. That's what legacy living
• 45:29
  is all about. Here's to you. Have a fantastic day and be sure
• 45:34
  to make it a yes kind of day. Remember to celebrate the music of
• 45:40
  your life. Make the days in your life count.