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Do something wonderful, people may imitate it. Albert Schweitzer
Juan Mann of Australia was at his lowest point, had nobody to welcome him home after he had some troubles and decided to he needed a hug. So he acted instead feeling sorry for himself. He made a cardboard sign that said “Free Hugs”. Sounds nice. Then why did officials ban it? Read his story by clicking on the photo below:
If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a nation. African Proverb
Sandra E. Aguebor went against tradition when she started the Lady Mechanic Initiative in Lagos, Nigeria. The country has a strong educated elite that includes many women who have risen to power. Yet poor women in the country struggle to feed their families by working notoriously underpaid occupations as hairdressers, maids or other trades with low status as well as little money. Ms. Aguebor, a single mother of two, saw many women who could not deal with their own car repairs and that sparked an innovative idea- teach poor women to become mechanics. Previously a job only for men, thanks to Ms. Aguebor there is a robust training program for disadvantaged young women to take up this good paying career. In fact, she is not just training women to work for others. The graduates from her program are learning to open their own garages. Not only can Ms. Aguebor do car repairs and teach others how, but she has marketing talent as well. She has won awards and serious financial support, even traveled to the United States as a result of her brilliant work. This is one lady determined to help more women climb into the driver’s seat and stay there.
If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded- Maya Angelou
In American business the common wisdom is you have to be cut throat to get ahead. Just look at the reality shows that are highly rated- Survivor, Top Chef and The Apprentice. Millions watch each week to see who will win, but also to watch who gets elbowed aside, dumped on and who hears those dreaded words- “You’re fired!”. Well as it happens Donald Trump’s style isn’t the last word on how to make it in the world of commerce. One highly successful ad agency in NYC of all places has found that being NICE is not only the right thing to do, but it’s great for the bottom line. Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval have moved to the top of the food chain not by clawing their way up, but following one simple guiding principle- it pays to be nice. What a concept!
Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which man ceases to live unreflectively and begins to devote himself to life with reverence in order to raise it to its true value. Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)
Appreciative Inquiry was born in 1980 when two researchers realized that an organization they were studying was at its best when there was a spirit of cooperation and egalitarian governance. From there the theory of Appreciative Inquiry developed, that organizations are most effective when management teams analyze the strengths of their organizations or businesses. This turns our usual way of dealing with issues upside down. If you’ve ever been on a committee or part of a work group you know the routine- a group of people sit around laying out the problems, roadblocks and what went wrong as the start to fixing things. We don’t just do this at work, but in most organizations. Appreciative Inquiry proposes that leaders take a very different approach. Instead of having meetings to talk about what isn’t working and past failures the more effective method is to list the past successes, assets and potential for positive change. What a concept! In fact, research has documented that this method of management and leadership yields more and better results.
As the years passed this way of looking at creating positive change has spread from just a business perspective to all kinds of groups, including religious organizations. In the early years the founders were laughed at and mocked, but gradually major corporations learned that accentuating the positive helped the bottom line.
Just think of how this can apply to you as a person. Many times we examine our lives, relationships, careers by looking at what has gone wrong so we can “fix it”. What about looking at what you’ve done right? Talking to your mate, sister, friend about the good in your relationship? Listing out all your successes in your career? You get the idea. Accentuate the positive and you just might find that this way of creating change is more gratifying, even more effective. Now this isn’t some airy-fairy Pollyanna way of looking at the world. Using this approach means looking back at the real things that have worked, not coming up a list of some idealized “wish list”. So look at what you’ve done in the past that has worked, list your strengths and build on those.
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