What You Can Learn About Being Yourself From Duck Dynasty

How hard would it be to stay “yourself” after becoming extremely successful?

Last year the Storyline team got to spend a few days with Willie and Korie Robertson. To be honest, I was a little star struck. And more than intimidated.

What do you say to one of the most recognizable couples in America?

And yet, within a few minutes, Willie had us all in stitches. He’s literally one of the funniest, most disarming people you’d ever hope to meet.

Since then, Betsy and I have enjoyed watching their family positively influence the world.

In November, Korie will be speaking at the Storyline Conference in Chicago.

We asked Korie to come because the whole point of Storyline is to help people live the kind of story that changes the world around them. Few of us will be as impactful as Korie, but in our own little worlds, we can be just as influential.

Specifically, I’ll be asking Korie how she stays sane under such incredible pressure.

Her son is getting married, her daughter was on Dancing with the Stars, her Father-in-law is known to shoot from the hip on controversial political and theological topics, her husband is so popular that the Governor of Texas literally had to get between him and a crowd at an LSU game so he didn’t get mobbed.

Imagine that, being so popular that a Presidential hopeful acted as your body guard!

I’ll be asking Korie a few questions at the conference.

How does she keep her family together with this kind of fame?
How does she help keep her children sane? (They’re all killing it, by the way)
Does she have a philosophy on representing her faith publicly and if so, what is it?
And on and on.

We will learn a lot from Korie, but there’s one thing I’ve already learned from our short time with the family and it will stick with me forever.

It’s this: Never stop being yourself.

The Duck Dynasty family you see on television is nearly exactly the folks you meet in person.

Somehow, they are able to have cameras follow them around and, well, not act. They just “are”.

This is an unbelievably difficult characteristic to nurture. Usually, the more successful a person gets, the more likely they are protect that success and start playing a role. This is sad because the very thing that made us successful is often that we were willing to be “ourselves.”

After a few days with Willie and Korie, I realized I could just keep being myself and trust that everything was going to be okay.

No acting. No pretending.

Anyway, we’re honored to have Korie out to speak to the Storyline community this fall. Sign up and join us. And in the comments below, feel free to ask any questions you’d like me to pass along to Korie.

It’s going to be a terrific time.

What You Can Learn About Being Yourself From Duck Dynasty is a post from: Storyline Blog