Stedman Graham

Biography

As an executive, educator and speaker, Stedman Graham works with corporations, organizations and nonprofits in the areas of identity development, leadership, diversity training, personal wellness, and personal/professional branding.

Graham has authored ten books, including two New York Times bestsellers, You Can Make It Happen: A Nine-Step Plan for Success and Teens Can Make It Happen: Nine Steps to Success. Graham`s latest book, Identity: Passport to Freedom, published by Pearson Education, was released in February, 2012.

Stedman Graham is a former adjunct professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he taught a leadership course based on his Nine-Step Process. Graham also taught management strategy at Northwestern University`s Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Chicago, Illinois. He is a distinguished visiting professor at several colleges and universities throughout the country.

In 1985, Graham founded AAD Education, Health and Sports (formerly, Athletes Against Drugs), a nonprofit organization with over 500 professional athletes and other civic leaders committed to developing leadership in underserved youth. Graham serves on several boards, including Corporate Voices, the National Board of Junior Achievement (JA), the 7-Eleven Education Is Freedom Foundation and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.

He is also actively involved in leadership efforts and programs in South Africa and is the Founder of Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro and Concerned Citizens of Lake Waccamaw, NC. Graham holds a bachelor`s degree in Social Work from Hardin-Simmons University. He received a master`s degree in Education from Ball State University and an honorary doctorate in Humanities from Coker College, where he is also a distinguished visiting professor.

Publications

Identity: Your Passport to Success

Have you ever thought about the connection between knowing who you are and success? You might think you have a pretty good handle on who you are, your identity. Even if you do, your identity can change, evolve, and transform. The core idea of this book is this: Your happiness and success in life flow from becoming clear about who you are and establishing your authentic identity - first inside yourself and then externally in the world.

Comprehensive text that guides youths to a better understanding of themselves, their strengths and their desires, while helping them to set goals and devise and achieve plans for realizing their visions. Content includes practical exercises that help bridge the gap between education and the real world. Lessons provide teenagers with the means to boost self-esteem, avoid peer pressure, and handle the daily stresses that come with being a young adult. With the Nine Steps to support them, teens will find and follow their own road to success -- with conviction, perseverance, and pride.

In Part I, Graham provides a working definition of identity, and shares powerful insights about why happiness and success flow directly from establishing your authentic identity. Part II provides a process and structure you can use on your own journey to create your own authentic identity. Graham illustrates this process and structure by sharing others` process of discovery and creation. You`ll learn how some remarkable people chose values to live by, developed a passionate sense of purpose -- and linked their values and purpose to their work in the world. Finally, in Part III, Graham introduces his patented 9 Step Plan for Success, bringing this process to life through the stories of individuals who`ve resolved their questions of identity.

Guiding you along your journey, Graham and his extraordinary interviewees helps you wrestle with questions like: How will you change when you truly know yourself? How can you align your inner and outer selves? How can you keep them aligned, as the world rages around you?

Titles

You Can Make It Happen: A Nine-Step Plan for Success*

Teens Can Make It Happen: Nine Steps to Success*

Teens Can Make it Happen Workbook

You Can Make It Happen Every Day: A Motivational Guidebook

Build Your Own Life Brand!

Move Without the Ball: Put Your Skills and Your Magic To Work For You

The Ultimate Guide to Sports Event Management & Marketing

Diversity: Leaders, Not Labels

Who Are You? A Success Process for Building Your Life's Foundation

I Have a Dream: The Nine Step Success Process to Building Your Identity in 2010 and Beyond.