InSPIRED to Share

So, I posted exactly one blog post in 2019. I can't believe that I went an entire year and only posted one blog post, especially after being so consistent for years before. Well, there is a reason for the hiatus, I took on a role to turnaround a company called Corporate Alliance. I did write a short post every 2 weeks as part of our company newsletter, yet it wasn't about the things I had posted on this blog. I believe it's time to re-engage and start sharing the new story, especially since we've just rebranded Corp Alliance as SPIRE!

I believe we're through the hardest part of the process and this rebranding provides us with so much material to share. So, it's time to start sharing what I'm thinking and processing on a more regular basis. This post is all about what's inspiring me right now, and that's this new brand and positioning. First of all, I need to thank a few people that have been critically important through this process. There are two people specifically, Bobby Buchanan and Greg Chapman. Together, they have redesigned our messaging and the look and feel of the organization.

The new message is all about bringing together business leaders that have a set of shared values. Those values include things such as Trust and Respect, as well as Vulnerability and an Entrepreneurial Spirit. There are a number of organizations that might post similar values, yet I've not yet been part of one that actually lives these values. At SPIRE, we will live them because we need to. The world is full of good natured people that I believe have been so influenced by our desire, or dare I call it a need, to create wealth that we've lost our way. I have been studying this market segmentation of people that are interested in the win/win/win vs the win/lose mindset for a while now. I believe that about 15% or so of our business community are 100% committed to win/win/win. I believe that there's 50% of the business community that is totally, 100% focused on winning at all cost and doing everything they can to maximize their personal return. That would leave 35% of the people that will show up however the people around them are acting.

I believe it's time to shift the landscape and support people that want to make an impact and make it easier for them to do so. I've spent the better part of a decade trying to figure out the best way for me to make an impact. I've traveled to other countries, I've spent tons of money attending conferences and meeting people that have so much more wisdom than I do and I've come away with a few conclusions. First of all, social change is hard work and most people don't know where to start. After a decade of searching I'm still at the beginning of my journey. So, if you don't know where to start and you feel overwhelmed, the obvious next step is to ....... do nothing! That is where I believe our culture is stuck.

I believe that so many people would like to do something good yet they have no idea where to start. Or, they've tried a few things and they didn't produce the results they had expected compared to the effort invested. If this is the case, how do we help them start? First, I believe, we need to earn their trust and let them know that we understand them. Next, we need to help them decide what it is that moves their heart. Everyone is different and we need to find our individual calling, that thing that we feel at our core we need to focus our energy on. I believe that it's different for everyone yet there are themes and causes that many people share.

So, once we figure out what moves someone's heart we then need to introduce them to others that have a shared passion. We need to create cohorts of individuals that have shared passion. In the past we used to meet other with shared passion when be joined the board of a non-profit. In today's society, the non-profit community is being asked to solve all of our problems and the business community seems to focus all of our energy on them. Maybe there's another way, a way that is in alignment with helping non-profits be more successful in their swim lane, yet providing alternatives that are much more capitalistic and focus on revenue generation rather than philanthropy to fund them.

There is so much we need to learn and for the next few years, maybe even the next few decades, we need to work together to find alternate solutions to our societal challenges. Feeding those that are homeless is nice, yet many of those that are homeless really need jobs and they need to get back on their feet. They need to be retrained and supported through the process. There are many examples of this in our society today, including an organization in Utah called The Otherside Academy. This organization take ex-cons and recovering drug addicts and employs them with peers to hold them accountable. Most people I know need to feel like they're accomplishing something to feel fulfilled. Giving them food is nice, yet that is a bandaid to the real problem.

There are so many issues that are similarly as powerful and overwhelming and the only way we're going to solve them is TOGETHER! It's time to stop worrying about who's going to take care of all of these challenges and we need to become the solution. Too many people that I've met want to have the answer, when what we really need is to find solutions that are working in other parts of the country, and the world, and bring them to San Diego.

In this blog right now, I am committing the next decade of my life to the city of San Diego and doing everything in my power to leave this city much better than I found it. If you have any interest in joining me, I'm all ears. We only live once and I promise you that this is not a dress rehearsal. It's time to work together and share a journey that is worth living and dying for!

To a live well lived.