Small Acts of Greatness

A few things happened this past week that caused me to pause and think about the impact we're making.

First, I heard Mr. Salamone passed away at the age of 87. It's pretty likely you didn't know Mr. Salamone. He was a parent in the area of town I grew up in. He was a grade school football coach and for whatever reason took an interest in me when I was 11. I really wanted to play football, but my Mom hated football and was terrified I would get hurt. One evening Mr. Salamone showed up on my front porch and had a long conversation with my Mom. And I don't know what kind of gift of persuasion God gave him, but somehow he convinced her to let me play. That act of interest, of leaning in and stepping in to something that he had no personal benefit from, literally changed my childhood and in many ways changed my life.

I was thinking about Mr. Salamone in light of two other reflections this weekend, each about serving others but each very different than the other. One was caused by a book I'm reading called Going Infinite about Sam Bankman-Fried and the fall of his FTX crypto exchange and his trading firm Alameda Research. The story is fascinating but the backdrop of his work in some ways was even more so. While Bankman-Fried will likely go to jail for much of the issues that came out of these firms, he and many of his colleagues were seemingly well-intended and heavily influenced by a utilitarian philosophy called Effective Altruism. This philosophy emphasizes analytical approaches towards work and altruism that seek to maximize income in order to give to charitable contributions, relying heavily on algorithmic calculations to do work that maximizes the aggregate number of "lives saved". While I have limited knowledge of the philosophy, I couldn't help but observe how such a significant emphasis on large-scale macro, charitable impact could seem to cause a loss of focus or even recognition of real, personal impact.

The second reflection came from attending the Greater Cincinnati Regional Chamber's celebration of "Great Living Cincinnatians ". The event is always inspirational and the indivdiuals being recognized were clearly deserving. Congratulations to John Barrett, Donna Salyers, Sr Sally Duffy, and Delores Hargrove-Young. It's no surprise the common thread across this very diverse group of "Great Living" people was service. This shared commitment to serving others, both individually and en masse, was inspiring and relatable. And while this group was appropriately recognized for their lifetime commitment to their work and to others, their stories were relatable as, in them, we could see the individual acts of generosity and caring and kindness that added up through their lives.

All of these stories had me thinking about how we serve others. I believe greatness really is fundamentally about service; it's not what we accomplish in our work, but what we do to impact others that gives our work and lives meaning. And service in small scale is as important, perhaps even more important, as it is in large scale.

The opportunities for small acts of greatness are around us every day. These small acts of greatness happen in our relationships and in the interest we show in others. They happen in small conversations and in our advocacy and encouragement. They happen when we help others see the best of who they are and recognize possibility. They happen when we use our work to make human connection and to show we care.

Service to others is not an algorithm. It's not formulaic. It's not even utilitarian. The most meaningful impact we make through service is personal. In its greatest, most significant, sense impact happens one person at a time. For me, Mr. Salamone was "one of the Greats". While I didn't actually know him well, for a short moment in his life he made me a priority and it had a lasting effect. Each day we are faced with similar opportunities to be, in a small way, a "Great Living" person for someone else. May we never miss the opportunity for such small acts of greatness.

"Points of Impact" is a publication expressing thoughts on how we might approach our work differently to have a better impact on others and the world. For more related perspectives, check out the book Impact with Love: Building Business for a Better World - now available on Audible!