Tiny Breaks are Big

Because I've spent my life swimming, water skiing, fishing and being flown in small planes, I'm likely more weather wary than many.  I'd planned to run after work on Friday, but a darkening sky and rumbling thunder accompanied by a light rain shower thwarted my plans.  However, within 30 minutes, the sky lightened slightly and the thunder and rain stopped.  I decided to take this tiny break in the weather to at least run around the block, thinking a bit of exercise was better than inactivity.   As I rounded the first block the sky began to clear and my tiny break turned into a lovely 3 mile run.

When we take advantage of tiny breaks, the impact can far exceed our expectations.  

Beautiful Timing

Though I was happy for Gar as he began his nice adventure yesterday, my heart always hurts when I must be apart from a loved one.  Fortuitous timing brought the arrival, within an hour of his departure, of a beautiful monthly floral delivery from Julia.

When we do nice things for others we don't always know how significant the impact may be.

Connecting Willing Volunteers with Fulfilling Opportunities

Comerica Bank hosted an event today, featuring a stellar panel of community leaders, who shared their reasons for volunteer engagement and practical ways to maximize impact.   My aha moment occurred when one of the panelists I'd invited, shared that his community engagement prior to 9/11 had been two-fold: supporting his wife's volunteer leadership and writing checks/attending nonprofit events.  I've only become friends with this successful lawyer and incredible community leader since his immersion into board service.

My assumption, prior to today, was that successful folks included board service or other significant volunteer commitments in their way of being/doing/operating.  My aha discovery was that the "engagement gene" may well evolve as an individual has more control over her/his schedule.  Sometimes it is inherited - and sometimes it evolves.  

Regardless of how an individual invests time, talent and/or treasure, passion is the key.  Excitement about the organization's mission will ideally inspire engagement and commitment.

2:1

We just returned from a delightful road trip to Austin.  We made this 5 hour round trip trek on great highways, through beautiful country to spend 2.5 hours with Gar.  Ratios are great for measuring business success, but can't begin to capture the benefit of time spent with those we love.

This experience reminded me that impact and importance trump statistics in our personal relationships.

Permission

Perhaps the start of school, and the memory of years of permission slips, made me realize that we all need them.  Fortunately, we don't need to officially document and return paper forms.  However, we all need to give ourselves permission to:

• enjoy every day
• take care of our own needs, before or on parity, with the needs of others
• laugh a lot
• exert influence, power and impact wherever we are
• be successful where we are, not where we strive to be
• pursue our passions
• ask for help or advice
• make small, inconsequential mistakes or omissions
• do nothing for a day
• be rather than do

Flock-upy West Loop

The main stream media has focused for months on the various "Occupy" (name a city) efforts.  Yesterday's short commute home experience was stunning because of a different "occupy" venue and occupant.  Untold numbers of black birds converged upon one of Houston's busiest intersections - 610 Loop @ Westheimer.  Though they had no agenda, they captured attention by their presence. 

When we choose to influence an impact, we must consider all elements: who, what, when, where, why and how rather than just "flock-upy" a site.

Objectivity

Daylight Savings Time prompted me to complete a fast-paced 30 minute walk before starting my business day today. As I moved briskly through our 10-street neighborhood, I noticed possible subtle improvements, with potential for big impact, that existing homeowners could easily make if they only recognized them.  Too often we see things in our personal and business lives as they are, without examining how they might be incrementally or significantly better.

We owe it to ourselves, families, friend groups, nonprofit organizations and companies to periodically objectively consider what incremental and monumental steps we should consider to maximize our impact.

Exceptional Unexpected Impact

I recently had the opportunity to hear and meet New York Times best-selling author Harvey Mackay.  His first wildly successful book is Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive.  As a sponsor for the Houston event he was keynoting, I had the chance to meet him before his presentation and notice and positively comment on his shark tie.  After the event, I waited, not only to have one of his books signed, but to give him what I perceive to be a perfect marketing tool - shark mints (in which I have no financial or other interest).  As my small world connections would have it, his friend (that he was visiting with after our event) and I have known one another for some time, serve together on a community board, and shared a common graduation ceremony later in that week (his grandson and my son).

Yesterday, I was like a kid at Christmas, when I received a personal note from Harvey Mackay with a collection of his special books (yes, I love business books!).

Superior Impact

My Junior League involvement predates my motherhood.  My reason for mentioning this is that motherhood is the way to timestamp many of my Junior League experiences.  I love the incredible friends I've made, the amazing organizations we've benefited, the leaders we've trained, inspired and launched, and the legacy we imprint upon the Houston community.  Our impact is multiplied through our time, volunteer hours and monetary contributions. 

My volunteer roles are all important to me and the community.  I benchmark many of my involvements against the superior impact of the Junior League of Houston.

High Impact Introductions

We rarely know the impact of introductions we make. My daughter, Julia, made two special introductions, one intentional and one by chance, that have tremendous benefits that can be tracked. Julia's fabulous gift of a Kiva gift card introduced me to this remarkable micro-lending site.  My original two loans have grown to a total of seventeen.  I've also made contributions toward Kiva's operations.  And I'm thrilled to report that all of my entrepreneurs have repaid or are repaying as agreed.

The second introduction was to DonorsChoose.org.  Julia and I went to see "Waiting for Superman".  A $15 DonorsChoose gift card that was distributed to all viewers prompted me to investigate.  After using the gift card to benefit a Houston classroom, 28 classrooms in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio became the beneficiaries of Sterling Bank's Thanksgiving Grants.

I've shared information on these projects in the following previous posts:

Funding Classroom Projects
Incredible Fun and Impact for $25
Gifts that Keep on Giving 
Making a Difference in Classrooms 

As these two examples illustrate, it doesn't take a lot of money or a detailed plan to make high impact introductions.  When we act with good intentions and natural curiosity, we can create high impact introductions.  In addition to loans and donations, our introductions can lead to friendships, jobs, contracts, recognition and awards. 

Who Has 500 Things to Share?

Amazingly, I've created 500 posts to share in the past 16 months, one post at a time.  We need to encourage our family and friends to share their thoughts, experiences and recommendations.  When we gain and share the input of others, we expand our influence and impact.

Life is Like a Mighty Oak

A tiny acorn with proper conditions in fertile soil, over time becomes a magnificent oak tree. Other acorns become victims of squirrels, gardeners and inclimate weather. The mighty oak tree has a strong core, hardy branches, beautiful leaves and bountiful acorn production.  Each tree is unique.

Just like the oak tree, a strong core determines our overall health and well-being. We need the proper conditions - nutrition, exercise, safety, encouragement, education and opportunity. The limbs are illustrative of our many beliefs, values, skills and abilities.  The leaves represent our countless decisions, choices, thoughts and actions.  And the acorns are indicative of our impact - giving new life, making life better for others and making a positive difference. Each individual is unique.

We each have the opportunity to make a unique and mighty impact.

Ideas

We all have many ideas each day.  Some have the potential for incredible impact.  Some we need to note that we've considered and consciously opted not to pursue. Other ideas provide for incremental improvement to our lives and to the lives of others.  Those ideas that we don't voice, act upon, share or record for future action that have potential for positive change are costly, missed opportunities.

Ideas are one of our continuously renewable sources for personal, community, national and global economic growth.

By productively thinking and acting we do our part to help our (everything's connected) circle thrive.

Mine!

We are all influenced, positively and negatively by all of our experiences.  We are sometimes discouraged from emphasizing individual priorities v. team accomplishments.  Generally it's appropriate and beneficial to broadly give credit.

Though I enthusiastically credit the others who are involved, I eagerly claim the following as mine:
my name
my family
my reputation
my experience
my offspring
my salvation
my influence
my attitude
my impact

Sterling Community Impacts

Sterling Bank and our bankers recognized that 2009 was a most difficult year for many Texans. We were able to touch countless lives through corporate contributions and volunteer hours. More than 200 non-profits across the state were grateful beneficiaries of our corporate contributions. And we’ll never know how many lives were touched by the 214 dedicated bankers who invested 8,638 hours of volunteer service.

A record number of Sterling Bankers devoted 50 or more hours to community service in 2009. By giving our 50-hour volunteers the ability to direct $500 grants to organizations that are important to them, we allow additional non-profits to benefit from Sterling time, talent and treasure.

Sterling was once again awarded the Texas Banker’s Association Cornerstone Award for our community program. And one of our bankers, Steve Harker, received the coveted Making a Difference award from the Independent Bankers Association of Texas, acknowledging his 2,462 hours of service with the Red Cross from 2006 – 2008.

Our bankers didn’t let a challenging economy thwart their fundraising efforts. Sterling Bank posted an increase in March of Dimes contributions in 2009, rising 5 places to become the #7 Corporate Houston Fundraising Team. Shelley Cruz and Daran Landry emerged as the #9 and #10 Individual Fundraisers amidst a very competitive field.

By hosting blood drives at 8 week intervals, we’ve increased blood donations each year since 2005. Our 18.8% increase in 2009 donations over our previous record year in 2008, represents a significant number of additional lives saved.

We celebrate and thank, not only our volunteers, but all of our bankers and their family members, who are bravely serving in the U.S. military to protect the freedoms we hold dear.

Power Lines

Power lines along our thoroughfares provide a vivid reminder of how dependant we are upon electricity.  But what about the other lines that power our lives? 

• Email provides the power to communicate quickly with one or many of our connections. 
• Cell phones and Blackberrys enable us to stay in touch from nearly any location. 
• Prayer connects us to God and provides hope and comfort to us and those we include.
• Memory is the line that powers relationships.
• Friendship and love are the power behind our happy lives.
• Laughter is the universal connector.
• Encouraging words have the power to change an outlook or an outcome. 

We all have far more power than we realize.