New Adventures
Steve Maloney, Director of Training

As some of you may know, I re-joined MACNY as Director of Training about four months ago after a 10-year period in Human Resources executive roles. I originally led the Training department at MACNY for eight years before leaving in 2015.  It all came full circle when I was going through a career transition last year.  Fortunately, my purpose and career goals aligned with MACNY’s direction at the perfect time, and I am back home!

Between conducting training and coaching sessions throughout the summer and re-connecting with so many colleagues throughout the manufacturing community, it has been an adventure already. Here at MACNY, there is so much potential for growth and new opportunities in our programs and services. At the same time, my level of awareness for the need to be on a personal journey of growth has been amplified and I have started on that path.

I had the unique opportunity to participate in John Maxwell’s leadership conference this past March—completing the training to be a John Maxwell Certified Trainer, Speaker, and Coach all before even starting my new job at MACNY. I was already preparing to work at MACNY even before my start date. But the real starting point for my new adventure was back in November of 2024 at MACNY’s Live2Lead retreat. David Freund, my leadership partner and coach at MACNY, strongly recommended that I attend, and I am so glad I did. It was at this event that I began shifting into a new mindset of abundance and anticipation of growth. This is ultimately what would prepare me to take on my new adventure at MACNY with renewed purpose and invigoration toward achieving my new goals.

At the time, I was experiencing a lot of disappointment with my job situation and having to lead a reduction-in-force for most of 2024. I was also dealing with some family health issues and quite frankly, feeling sorry for myself. I attended Live2Lead with a smile on my face, but I wasn’t feeling satisfied or happy with my situation. At the retreat, I had the opportunity to learn from Chaunte Lowe, a world champion high jumper and breast cancer survivor. Her story of courage and practice of getting out of bed even when you don’t have the mental or physical strength to do so made me realize it was time to pull myself together and focus on an abundance mindset. This was the start of a new journey of personal growth.

In addition to the mindset shift Chaunte Lowe inspired, my key takeaways included:

• Lead yourself!
• Hope forward past your current adversities – set a new, achievable horizon
• Put on your full armor – shield yourself from self-doubt and low self-esteem
• Yearn to learn – fix your eyes, ears and mind on the prize
• Be healthy and practice self-care
• Exercise the muscle of resilience every day
• Speak life into yourself – not death into your situation
• You can’t be stressed and thankful at the same time and…

When you change your thoughts, you change your reactions!

In two weeks, I will share more about the Abundance Cycle and its impact on me personally. In the meantime, I’d welcome the opportunity to hear from you about how you’ve shifted your mindset or how you’d like to shift your mindset. You can contact me by email at [email protected] and I look forward to hearing from you.