Our Monday keynote Cam brought the Awesome with a powerful message about believing in yourself, building on failed opportunities, and being awesome. Throughout his keynote, he recounted his journey of being a scared child getting bullied in school to becoming a boxer with the most wins in the United States.

The Story You Tell Yourself

When Cam moved to Florida from New York as a senior in high school, the gym was six miles away. With no car or money for a taxi, he took three hours each day to walk. During his trips to and from the gym, he started making up stories about himself, but not just any stories. These were stories where he was the hero, the winner, the champion. After some time, he noticed he started to do better at the gym, so he kept going. He believed that if you tell yourself that you can’t do something, you won’t, so he focused on telling himself he could.

Turning Setbacks Into Strength

In 2008, Cam qualified for the Olympic trials but lost the first day. Over the next four years, he continued to box and win Nationals each year. In 2012, he won the trials and had the opportunity to go to the Olympics. Before he could go, however, he was suspended from the team for missing a drug test and he didn’t get to fight. He was clean, but when ESPN reported on his suspension it brought negative comments from the public that sank his spirits.

Creating the Cam Awesome Mindset

Over the next four years, he took an honest look at how he was speaking to himself. He legally changed his name to Cam Awesome and started telling stories to himself where he was the hero, the winner, the champion. He created an identity for himself and pushed himself to live up to it. He spent time thinking about how much grace he gives himself when something goes wrong and focused on how he would feel if other people started speaking to him this way.

Cam realized that he didn’t always have control over the outcome of a situation, but he did have control over how he talked to himself after a loss or setback — and this directly affected what would happen next. “If you can fail without being discouraged, success becomes inevitable,” he said.

What It Means For Us as Imaging Leaders

This was a great reminder for those of us who lead teams. As leaders and managers, we have an influence on the people around us. If they see how we talk to ourselves when we fail, they’ll begin to carry themselves that way, too. It’s our responsibility to set the tone, learning to be resilient in the face of challenges and obstacles.

Throughout his career, Cam experienced heartbreaking setbacks and 39 losses, but he allowed each of these experiences to teach him something: “Loss is an opportunity to gain experience.” After every loss he experienced in his career, he learned something and came back better the next time. Life will inevitably knock you down, but if you give yourself grace, you can get back up, smile, and stay awesome.