Choosing Optimism

In my early 20s I was introduced to a better way to live life: with hope.?Prior to that moment I often let my circumstances and surroundings have an influence it didn’t deserve on my personality, my outlook, and the way I engaged others.?Regardless of accomplishments or success, I could only see the exceptions to my life plan and distance from milestones.?After undergrad I moved to Louisville for my career, and while there had my spirit awakened for the first time, choosing to a new Way of life I wanted to follow.?It was after that moment I saw many of my dreams start to happen, most significantly falling in love with my wife (17 years and 4 sons!).?In reflection, I first chose to be optimistic while living in Louisville.

The years that followed have had various setbacks from miscarriages to professional disappointments, but facing them with a belief that the best is yet to come has made it much easier.?I still get skeptical, and my exception focused nature remains (retail is detail!), but I begin and end each day focusing on a hope that something much better is ahead.?And that gives me the power needed to press forward.?One of my friends has a phrase, “I’ll just go on anyway.”?I like that, and I know why he chooses to do so.

This optimism is not exclusive to me, it exists in my family and certainly in my community.?And I am proud to say it exists in my company.?There is no better proof point to that than the inaugural Impact Report which our Communications & CSR team published today.?It highlights our purpose, which I have discovered is a noble one.?And it captures our CSR (corporate social responsibility) philosophy, our DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) strategy, and our ESG (environmental, social and governance) approach.?But the main thing it captures, quite beautifully, are the people who have created it and brought it to life.?No one person, and especially not me, is responsible for the way our purpose has come to life.?Many fingerprints are on its creation, and even more on its activation.

I want to thank April Mock and Jessica Printy Groves for leading the creation of this report. You crushed it!

and its influence is multiplying.?I see so many teammates (leader, career, and flex) from across our facilities and functions doing things because they want to make a difference … and guess what, they are!

They’ve made a difference for me, inspiring me to try even harder to make this world better.?They replenish my optimism, and double my joy.?To say I love them isn’t an overstatement, and to say I believe in them is also true. I’m convinced that together their impact will be even greater in 2022; bringing hope and optimism to each community we serve.?And hopefully beyond our geographic reach — because the challenges are more than we can solve alone.

Brighter days are ahead, and I truly hope you choose to help create them with us.