THE JOY OF GIVING

By Jody McPhearson
An Inspirational Speaker @ The Re-De-Fined Project

It's almost Christmas time! Are you as excited as we are here? Let me say that some of my best memories are centered around Christmas time. However, it seems that over the last several years, Christmas has become all about getting. Have you noticed that? Kids list get longer and longer. The items get more and more expensive. Even adults seem to be all about the presents. What happened to the Joy of Giving?

Years ago, when our son was in middle school, we began a tradition of giving. Anytime he got two new shirts, he would have to give two shirts away. He would have to research the local charity, or select a family, as together we would go to donate the clothing. On year, as Christmas approached, it dawned on me that there was an opportunity to do the same with Christmas. However, this time, we would go through his closet and toys prior to the holiday and get rid of items that did not fit, that he no longer played with, wore, or just didn't use anymore.  We found great joy in giving as a family.

If more families incorporated some sort of charity into their holidays, I believe that the joy of giving would make our communities better. Many families that have small children and need help with Christmas items would be overjoyed to receive a gift from friends and neighbors. The holidays are some of the fondest memories for many people. It would be a tragedy if those happy memories were to be replaced by sadness and depression due to these economic times!

As we go about celebrating the holidays, let us make certain to keep our neighbors in mind. Let us be  do more than just wave a happy holidays, and check off our excessive Christmas list for ourselves. 

Let us look to programs such as the Buckeye Outreach for Social Services' "Joy of Giving". They are accepting  donations of toys, jackets, blankets, household items and non-perishable food to help local Buckeye families this holiday season.  Literally, they are bringing back the Joy of Giving, and we want to be apart of it!

So, for our part, we will be there to donate and volunteer.  We hope that you join us as we welcome back, the "Joy of Giving"!

3 KEYS TO LEADERSHIP

By Travis Hardin
An Inspirational Speaker @ The Re-De-Fined Project

One of the joys of being a Communication Consultant and Team Member Network Co Chair is that I sit on executive leadership teams. This mostly means that I spend a large amount of my time in meetings trying to effectively move business and others forward. But it also means that many of those meetings are led by leaders and mentors of our community!
Recently, one of the leaders shared what they consider to be the 3 most important skills of a leader. I don’t think I’ve ever heard them talk about this before, and I don’t think it is written down anywhere. And, I’m sure I’ll shortchange some of their brilliance by trying to pass it along…but it was so good, I have to try:

- The ability to clearly articulate the present reality
- The ability to visualize the future

- The ability to be self-aware

It was the TEAM’s opinion that the easiest skill of these three is the ability to visualize the future. Anybody can have a vision of the future! You really don’t have to be a leader to visualize the future, but you can’t be a leader if you don’t.

It was the TEAM’s opinion that the toughest skill is the ability for a leader to be self-aware. Because leaders are good at a few things, they assume they are good at everything. Many leaders often lack the ability to recognize where they actually get in the way, causing bottlenecks to progress and productivity from fruitfully occurring.

Questions for you to ponder:

- What is the CURRENT reality of your leadership/mentor ability? What are your strengths, weaknesses, barriers to growth, perception amongst teens and adults? Is it a safe place for students? How healthy is your volunteerism? Do YOU believe in YOU?

- What’s your vision for the future? Have you dreamed any big dreams lately? Have you had a “God Idea” recently (an idea so big that only God could make it happen)?

- When is the last time you looked in the mirror? What are your weaknesses as a leader? What do you insist on holding onto that may actually be holding your ability to be an effective leader at a standstill? Have you truly tried to identify some of your blind spots?

I challenge you to consider these 3 keys and ask yourself, “Am I really being effective in the life of a young person?” If you are honest with yourself, your answer just may be NO. Let’s work together and make sure we pass these keys onto our youth. They will thank you later.

The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being. – Lee Iacocca

Pay it forward

Travis Hardin

TERRIBLE ROLE MODELS...WHAT WE'VE TAUGHT OUR YOUTH

By Jody McPhearson

An Inspirational Speaker @ The Re-De-Fined Project

 



Over the last few month's I have spoken with young adults who would be voting for the very first time in their lives in this past election. I must admit, many were not excited. I asked why and begin to get typical 18 year old answers such as, "I don't really know any of these people", "My vote won't matter", and my favorite, "Who cares?".
I began to wonder if what were the underlying reasons. I would continue to speak to these young people, pressing upon them the importance of voting. I also began to really focus on the election, listening to the candidates, watching campaign commercials, and listening to many very opinionated supporters.
I began to realize that these young people felt negatively about voting because of the way we behave. We are worst than over enthusiastic, drunken, belligerent sports fans cheering for our team versus our archenemies. We not only support "our" candidate, we root for death, (in many cases literally death), of the opponent. Is this how to engage young people in politics?
If that were not bad enough, after the election is over, just like in sports, we start in with all of the excuses as to why our team lost, then we blame others, then we began to tear down the other team, and belittle their victory. The biggest difference between the sports fan and the political supporter is that the sports fan eventually moves on to the next game or the next team whilst the political supporter began to spew hateful language and set traps and roadblocks to ensure failure of the opposed candidate. This is the most asinine action that I can think of! If the leader of our country fails, we all fail! If our candidate had the answers and lost, if our candidate is the man/woman that we believed in, one with integrity, honor, and a desire to get our country back on track, I would expect to see such candidate sitting at the table and helping to create and implement solutions. That means that he/she will not function like John McCain and Sarah Palin and continue to spew venom and attempt to undermine the presidential office.
I never intended for this blog to be a rant, however, I am disgusted with the behavior of many of my fellow Americans both pre and post election. And so are our young people!

STOP BEING SUCH A TERRIBLE ROLE MODEL!

Photo Courtesy of MileyCyrus.com