Week 21.15 Orange You Grateful

A series of unexpected coincidences led me to stories of gratitude this week and the only thing that ties them together is the color orange. 

Some people have superpowers. Julie Carrier is a superpower. For those of you who don't know her, Julie is a positive energy generation machine that improves the lives of girls. When I first met Julie, she was the world's leading motivational speaker for young women. She is the CEO of Girls Lead Worldwide, a best-practice global consultancy specializing in supporting leading companies, colleges, girls' schools, organizations, and programs with the incorporation of leadership development best practices. As a speaker, author, and consultant she supports the world’s leading organizations including the United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up Program, The Women Economic Forum, Girl Scouts, Young Women Lead, Girls Inc., Future Business Leaders of America as well as best-practice-focused girls' schools and women’s colleges through innovative and neuroscience-based leadership keynotes, seminars, curricula, and best-practice program consulting. For the past two years, she has been building a new leadership curriculum for high school girls that will be in 100 schools. Her goal is to impact 1 billion girls within 10 years. I think she has a good chance.

This week I was speaking with her husband Bill who shared this picture with me of Julie coming home in her father's restored Bricklin. Bricklins were only made for a very short time and there were only 3,000 made, only 1,700 exist today. It was a unique car for its time - a sports car with gull-wing doors that put safety first, or at least on par, with performance and design. Seeing this picture of Julie in her dad's car, with all the joy restored, made me grateful for all of the unique people who have supported me and reminded me how special it is to have deep personal connections. 

It reminded my chief of staff, Jacquelyn Lane of her alma mater, Oklahoma State, whose color is orange. Jacquelyn, like Julie, is another superpower. Named one of the top ten freshmen at OSU, she was also awarded "Outstanding Senior " for being in top 1% of graduating class. Other notable awards include "Student Philanthropist of the Year" by Women for OSU, Love's Cup Entrepreneurship Business Plan competition winner, and W. W. Allen Scholar. 

Oklahoma State is home to America’s Greatest Homecoming Celebration. In 2015, when Jacquelyn was a junior, tragedy struck the homecoming event in which an out-of-control car ran into a crowd killing four and injuring 46 others. Her response was to co-found the Stillwater Strong t-shirt campaign as a fundraiser to pay the hospital bills for those injured. All proceeds were donated to the Stillwater Medical Center Foundation for distribution to those who were injured. This campaign raised $82,000 for the Stillwater Medical Center Foundation’s #StillwaterStrong fund, the single largest donation they received. For her inspiration, she was awarded the title of homecoming queen at OSU in 2016. The story is recounted in the book, Stillwater Strong by D Scott Petty. 

And when I think of orange and gratitude, I always think of my good friend Chester Elton. One of today’s most influential voices in workplace trends, Chester Elton has spent two decades helping clients engage their employees to execute on strategy, vision, and values. Chester Elton provides real solutions to leaders looking to manage change, drive innovation, and lead a multi-generational workforce. His work is supported by research with more than 1,000,000 working adults, revealing the proven secrets behind high-performance cultures and teams. He has been called the “apostle of appreciation” by Canada’s Globe and Mail. Elton is the co-founder of The Culture Works, a global training company, and a board member of Camp Corral, a non-profit for the children of wounded and fallen military heroes. Chester is grateful for his collaboration with Adrian Gostick and his amazing family. 

I am sharing these uplifting stories with you and suggesting that this week when you see the color orange, think of the first person that comes to your mind that you are grateful for and reach out to them and say thank you. (these were my kids at The Gates in 2005) Do we really ever need a reason more than a color to express gratitude? 

Week 19/52 weeks of giving Stillwater Medical Center Emergency Fund (in honor of Jacquelyn Lane)

Stillwater Medical Center has been named one of Modern Healthcare's Best Places to Work. The recognition program honors workplaces throughout the healthcare industry that empower their employees to provide patients and customers with the best possible care, products, and services.

“You’re On Mute” - Tips for Leading Effective Virtual Meetings by Jim Citrin

Good virtual meetings offer many advantages over traditional in-the-conference-room get-togethers, including the ability to leverage the tech for better collaboration through live chats, polling, screen shares, and an emerging class of tools. More importantly, many leaders who Jim interviewed for his soon to be released book Leading at a Distance have cited more significant advantages, including more democratized decision-making that accelerate cultures of inclusivity and broader and more diverse groups of participants weighing in on issues. Of course, it's relatively easy to manage yourself in virtual meetings. As the facilitator, it will help to be on the lookout for and apply these tips for defusing annoying team members. Find them here

The Heart of Business by Hubert Joly

Hubert Joly, former CEO of Best Buy and orchestrator of the retailer’s spectacular turnaround, unveils his personal playbook for achieving extraordinary outcomes by putting people and purpose at the heart of business. Back in 2012, “Everyone thought we were going to die,” says Joly. Eight years later, Best Buy was transformed as Joly and his team rebuilt the company into one of the nation’s favorite employers, vastly increased customer satisfaction, and dramatically grew Best Buy’s stock price. Joly and his team also succeeded in making Best Buy a leader in sustainability and innovation. In The Heart of Business, Joly shares the philosophy behind the resurgence of Best Buy: pursue a noble purpose, put people at the center of the business, create an environment where every employee can blossom, and treat profit as an outcome, not the goal. Order a signed copy 

Strengthen Your Career From The Weak Ties In Your Network (Without Social Media) by Alisa Cohn

You may think that developing your loose tie networking is hard to do while so many of the interactions we have with people these days are virtual. You won’t simply run into someone you haven’t seen in a while on your way to work or arrange to reconnect with an old friend during your next trip to her city. And you certainly won’t meet new people in your office and have a spontaneous cup of coffee with them. It’s actually a very good time to meet new people and reconnect with people you have lost touch with even if you hate Twitter, LinkedIn, and all the rest. Here are three strategies to use that don’t rely on social media.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my beloved teacher, Srikumar Rao 4/11

Srikumar is happy about "Am just happy, period. Not happy 'for' or 'about' anything"

And, as always, thank you, Marshall, for making all of this possible.

With love and gratitude

Scott