Norbert “Nobby” Lewandowski was so excited to speak at Kent State last evening that he was literally singing.

“And find I’m number one and top of the list,” Lewandowski began he speech singing to the Frank Sinatra song “New York, New York.”

Members of Delta Sigma Pi invited Lewandowski, a motivational speaker, to speak at their meeting.

Last night 60 members of the professional business fraternity listened to Lewandowski speak (and sing) about leadership, integrity and success in the Kent State Student Center Governance Chambers.

Megan Wombacker, vice president of activities, organizes all the speakers and the events for Delta Sigma Pi.

“The speech is about all the skills you learn from everywhere, and no matter what happens in life you pick yourself back up and you succeed,” said Wombacker, junior accounting and marketing major.

Lewandowski has spoken at Kent State before, but yesterday was the first time he spoke to the business fraternity, Wombacker said.

Lewandowski graduated from Kent State in 1959 with a degree in business administration. In 1964, he received his certified public accountant certificate and began his own accounting firm, Lewandowski, Zalick and Co.

With a speech impediment, a person can sing with 100 percent fluency, Lewandowski said to explain his impromptu performances. He’s had a speech impediment since he was a child.

“Everyone will find something that will make or break you,” Lewandowski said.

He overcame stuttering and accomplished many of the goals on his list, one of which was being a public speaker. Accept life as it is, make the best of it, enjoy what you have, he said.

Lewandowski told the fraternity members to recognize what they want to be better at, and write the objectives out. He said that will help them be better people.

“Measuring success by the inch is a cinch, measuring by the yard is hard,” he said.

He said 85 percent of people have low self-esteem.

“How are you going to show people confidence about yourself when you’re not OK with yourself?” he said.

Students should prepare themselves for where they want to be in the future, he urged. Being smart will not take you to the next level, but people can use their social and networking skills to help themselves succeed.

“If it is to be, it is up to me,” Lewandowski said. “It is a simple sentence but so profound. Life guarantees opportunities, not successfulness.

“Accomplishment is only limited by imagination. Let’s not wait for everyone else to accomplish what we want to accomplish,” he said.

He told the audience that “negativism is like sitting in a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but you will never get anywhere.”

Lewandowski gave the audience three rules to success: do what is right, do the best you can and treat others like you want to be treated.

Contact Greek life reporter Jessica Parmelee at [email protected].