A Question to Leaders: What Do You Promise to Contribute to Society in 2017?

What’s Your Small or Large Vision for 2017?

Dear Leaders—those of you in small or large positions of power, with large or small staffs, with large or small budgets —I’d like to hear about your goals in 2017.

January starts with such promise for a year well-spent, and then (somehow) we end up in April thinking to ourselves, ‘I was going to change the world this year but I haven’t even started yet.’ 

For those of you that run a department or an office or a company or a large business or a small business, you are in a powerful position to make our community, country or world a better place.

I started to think about this the other day when I learned about Amazon’s Smile program which donates a portion of purchases to a favorite charity. This is an example of a business doing something positive which benefits our world. (Note: I have no business dealings with Amazon, nor any conflicts of interest.) It just seems like the right “spirit of contribution and giving” that I’m speaking about.

Crowd-Sharing Visions

As leaders, I believe you should have a yearly vision which you feel passionate about accomplishing. And I believe you should share it with all of us so we can collectively cheer you on towards success!

Let’s all consider “crowd-sharing” our visions—small or large—to make our world (through our work) better this year.

Crowd-Sharing Accountability

So in the spirit of creating a community of accountability towards creating a vision and making it happen, please (please) share with all of us your thoughts on what you plan to do this year to make it a great year. 

What do you promise to do to “better” society this year?

Visioning Questions to Consider

With that thought, I’ve got some questions that you could start to consider:

If you are a healthcare leader and run a hospital—how are you going to make care safer and kinder? How are you going to improve employee relationships? How are you going to collaborate with physicians to ensure they provide the highest level of evidenced-based care?

If you are a physician leader and run a practice with other physicians—how are you going to ensure that performance measurement and accountability are part of the overall compensation?

If you run a home healthcare agency or skilled nursing facility—how are you going to make sure that your care providers treat patients with dignity and respect? How are you going to raise the level of patient safety and quality?

If you run an oil company—how are going to protect our shared environment? How are you going to respect the earth that is providing this natural resource?

If you run an investment or banking company—how are you going to provide transparency to your investors? How are you going to give back to your local community?

If you run a “big box” retail store—how are you going to make sure you are providing jobs to those in the community? How are you going to support local parks and recreation?

If you run a small business—how are you going to engage your neighbors to ensure we all keep shopping with you?

This Is My Vision for 2017—What’s Yours?

For me in 2017, I plan to volunteer for organizations that support increased access to mental health providers. While more than half of all patients who see their primary care doctor have diagnosable mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and worse, there is a lack of services to help with these issues. That’s my promise of contribution in 2017.

What’s yours? 

I’d love to hear it and help support your plans in any way possible. Here’s to a more kind and positive 2017!

About the author: Recognized by LinkedIn as a "Top Voice" in Health Care in 2015 & 2016, author Julie Kliger is passionate about improving health care. She is a consultant, author and speaker. She specializes in healthcare quality, organizational change and improvement.