A terrific Veteran’s Day – tribute, rant & #leadership lesson: http://bit.ly/cq5caU from Mike Myatt – Thanks to all our faithful Veterans.
Recently I have been reading about individuals in history who have left some significant mark on society. Some are quite famous, and some you may have never heard about. In doing some personal reflection, I began to ponder, “What inspires me?” Who or what is my inspiration? What do I do as a result of being inspired? In careers and vocational choices are we inspired to pursue something enduring or is it simply about money, position, power, and pressures? In books and film, are we more inspired by Iron Man and Batman, or Chronicles of Narnia and Cinderella Man? In fact, isn’t it the deeper message that genuinely moves and inspires us? And where does that message take us? Where are we going and what are we doing as a result?
The Power of Authentic Inspiration
Last year Susan Boyle had over 125 million views on two particular YouTube clips where she sang “I Dreamed A Dream”, from Britain’s Got Talent. Without question the performance was terrific; but it wasn’t the actual performance as much as the message and the story that captured the world. How inspiring to see this sweet unknown lady have the opportunity to tell her story, share her gift to the world, and rise from the shadows of ordinary in a single moment. I submit that millions have not simply viewed Susan Boyle; but rather, have been inspired by her. Ms Boyle’s message and dream lights a torch which resonates with most people – “I can accomplish my dreams!” Every time I hear an audio clip from Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech, I am left with goose bumps. This is the power of authentic inspiration. This is not the same as getting excited about watching the World Series or the Superbowl, unless of course I were actually in the game.
Focused and Committed to Something Real
I am inspired when people have a vision for something, a dream bigger than them, and they pursue the promise of that dream with commitment and passion. Having the promise of mostly conviction and hope, they proceed with relentless determination and perseverance among many obstacles and challenges along this path to reach for fulfillment. Inspiration provokes vision and forward thinking. Inspiration will often take us against the constant pounding tides in life in pursuit of a new idea, an untapped direction, and a desired outcome. Don’t we all have the DNA to be pioneers, inventors, and reformers? I believe we do. We just need to be inspired, to focus and commit to something 
real. When was the last time you were truly inspired?
This is not just about excitement or getting charged (pumped up), but truly INSPIRED. Let’s dig deeper. When Louis Braille invented the Braille system of reading in 1824, how monumental was this for the visually impaired? Darkness and disconnect was enlightened by ingenuity and resourcefulness. We go to work, or go off to college, but what are we really inspired by, and what are we therefore inspired to do? Inspiration means: stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity. The definition alone should make us poised for something great.
The Key Drivers behind Inspiration:
- Being Filled, loaded, and consumed with something special
- Being Influenced, quickened,called, and ignited to do something special
- Being Aroused and awakened with focus from a feeling, thought, idea, or desire for something special
- Being Motivated, stirred and driven in forward momentum toward something special
True Inspiration does things to us. It searches and discovers problems, gaps, goals, strategies, paths. It demands a response, begs learning, guidance, willingness, and obedience to inner and outer convictions. It arouses energy through determination, skill, perseverance, and power. It stimulates action to take steps along that path; to focus and go. It solves problems looking for ways to fill those gaps and solve those problems, to reach for lasting desired outcomes. Finally, it motivates others also to action by influence and example, stirring others to likewise be inspired and take action.
Leaving a Lasting Legacy
Healthy inspiration will drive passionate purpose, produce lasting values, and encourage contagious commitment. The response from true inspiration will usually require courage and vision. If you don’t think this is true read about Janusz Korczak, or Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Consider Florence Nightingale who devoted herself to reforms in nursing and public heath. She left her wealthy prominent lifestyle to make a difference. With no government grants, no special advisors or venture capitalists, and little moral support, she depended on inner inspiration ignited by sense of calling and left a lasting legacy on this planet. She once said that “struggle must make a noise – and everything that I have to do that concerns my real being must be done with a struggle.”
Stop the Noise
I get the message, but it is more difficult getting truly inspired today (but not impossible) because of the plethora of competing alternatives and distractions – Hollywood, electronics, media, and downright laziness. Can’t we be inspired by a focused young woman giving her life in unassuming sacrifice and service? O yea, we rarely hear about these inspirational stories any more because the media does not consider it newsworthy enough. In the movies and virtual reality you can save a whole metropolis by blowing freeze breath on the villain. Our battle today is often set between what is real and what is pure fantasy. Consequently let’s all just slow down, stop the noise, read, look, and listen. We must become explorers and archeologists for inspiration; seeking, digging, venturing, and discovering for what achieves lasting value. We could be inspired by something right in front of us, even just around the corner. Whatever the case, you will discover as I have so many times that inspiration is vital, and contagious once caught and communicated.
Therefore, let’s get inspired!
Joe Mascia | Nobilify
joemascia3@gmail.com
How many of you go to work on any given day expecting a fairly normal routine day, somewhat ordinary and predictable? Most days, I confess that I do.
Today my wife Jackie and I took our daughter Gabrielle to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford Connecticut. It is a facility that we have probably become way too familiar with. We saw a nurse named Amy that will forever be remembered and loved by us, especially me for a “day” that was anything but ordinary.
Gaby spent about 8 months out of the first two years of her life at CCMC. We knew every doctor, nurse, respiratory therapist, intern, nurses aid, cleaning staff and fellow that ever walked the 3rd floor of that facility from 2002-2004. Most of these unplanned trips were due to Gaby contracting pneumonia and the trips had many stories that were scary, stressful, and exhausting; but believe it or not they became somewhat routine for the life you lead as the parents of a child with congenital muscular dystrophy.
This day was different though, very different. Kind of like that bad storm or tornado day that you never forget, and you remember the look of the sky that day, and it makes the hair on the back of your head stand up. Gaby had pneumonia, and had been in the hospital for about 2 weeks. Jackie was exhausted and I told her to go home as we “routinely” rotated every other day staying at the hospital or at home with our other 3 children. It was my turn to be with Gaby on this night, a night I will never forget. She was getting a breathing treatment not unlike what asthma patients get with a nebulizer and inhaled medicine, something she had received probably more than 100 times in her life. I was talking casually to the respiratory therapist as we were the only other individuals in her room. I checked her monitors which included breaths per minutes (normal about 30), heart rate (normal about 100 beats per minute), and oxygen level in the blood (normal over 90%). All were fairly ordinary when the treatment began.
Then I noticed that her blood oxygen was a little lower than usual at 90%, but didn’t give it a second thought as like a fire drill, most of the time these readings can be false alarms. Not this time. Within minutes the room was filled with a dozen staff (nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, etc). I was confused and scared, then I started to pay attention to the monitors more closely, heart rate dropping to 70s while blood oxygen dropping into the 60s. I never saw her vitals that low. When I looked over at Gaby surrounded by medical professionals, she appeared grey and lifeless. I began to pray. This is when Amy jumped on the bed and began using a rescue breathing bag to attempt to revive my daughter. People were screaming, and Amy was working feverishly while my daughter’s numbers dropped like a rock; heart rate 50 and blood oxygen 40s. I was almost at the point of passing out when her life which looked to be fading away, began miraculously to turn around; and her vital signs slowly (and I mean slowly) were creeping back to acceptable levels. As Gaby stabilized, Amy got off her bed, completely drenched in sweat, and her face was white as a sheet. I think she wanted to hug me and I know I wanted to hug her, but neither of us had the strength to even speak.
I’m sure Amy thought that being a nurse in a pediatric intensive care unit would be satisfying and intense at times, but something tells me that being a part of saving my daughter’s life that day was more than she bargained for. How do I know this? Every year we return with Gaby for a routine overnight to check out her tracheotomy, ventilator, etc and we see Amy. For six years straight now, I always thank her for that day; yet Amy has never said a word to me in response – she is clearly uncomfortable, and usually just leaves the room. She also remembers that day was not an ordinary day, even for an experienced intensive care unit nurse. Amy was a part of something EXTRAORDINARY that day, and it was this EXTRAORDINARY event saved my daughter’s life.
Are you ready for an EXTRAORDINARY day today? Are you in the place where you feel you can be a part of an EXTRAORDINARY life changing event? If not, it may be time to seek these types of opportunities and arrive at work ready to change someone’s life forever.
Let’s check the pulse
The BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) reported that by the end of 2009, the jobless rate stood at 10.0 percent and the number of unemployed persons at 15.3 million. Among the unemployed, 4 in 10 (6.1 million) had been jobless for 27 weeks or more, by far the highest proportion of long-term unemployment on record, with data back to 1948. As unfortunate as it is on many sides of this economic downturn, one side does have an upside. In recruitment and hiring we are witnesses to a crossroad in history which has produced one of the greatest infusions of quality workers into the global talent pool in about seventy-five years. The separation and ultimate displacement of high quality workers is quickly becoming a manifestation of opportunity that we must recognize and embrace. The problem is that rather than keeping warm in the talent pool, workers are in the showers.
This fruit is ripe for the picking
But this harvest is very delicate and requires much care and attention. Issues related to whole industry crashes, job and workforce reductions, and unemployment compensation; coupled with needs for retraining and encore workers contemplating a sincere desire to switch gears and change careers are included in the backdrop of this harvest. Depression and anxiety are marked by hopelessness and despair for many quality U.S. workers. But we should have the capacity to get folks inspired and back in the game!
We should be looking for creative and innovative ways to ready this group of workers for the coming harvest. Just think back a few short years ago. Labor statistics were pointing to a time when we would have so few workers needed to fill the wildly growing job market. The BLS reported an employment gap of 23 Million workers before this economic downturn. Since December 2007, everything has completely turned around. We all know about the unemployment rate nationally, and how jobs continue to disappear at alarming rates. Yet, we keep extending unemployment benefits, paying for workers to survive on less in the showers instead of being inspired for more.
No one is warming up this talent
So, US Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis announces yesterday 6/25/2010 that the government will grant $75 million to provide workers affected by layoffs with on-the-job training opportunities. Although at face value this seems like a solid solution, my contention is that most employers will still lack the resources, savvy, and ability to secure or implement these grants under the current guidelines and restrictions. Additionally, this is a glass of water on a million acres of crops. Besides the HIRE Act, which is simply a teaser, where are the breakthroughs for employers and entrepreneurs? Where are the readiness programs, and the tutoring courses? What about mentoring and internship assignments? What about access to grants for new training and recruitment programs in newer industries, or the industries still experiencing a shortage of qualified workers like IT, Health Care and Human Services. How about lifting restrictions on these grants to staffing, recruitment, and employment organizations – the experts in this field, to help catalyze a real recovery effort.
Out there for the picking are top-notch educators, successful managers and business executives, dedicated clinical and health care workers, as well as smart hard-working U.S. laborers of all sorts. Some of the displaced are geniuses in their field. Echoes of “I just want to work and be productive” are the groans of the displaced workforce. Some are aspiring artists in their industry, who were just gaining traction and at the cusp of their emergence. Let’s not forget the graduates. The BLS reports that younger workers were overrepresented among the long-term jobless in 2009, making up 19.5 percent of all persons unemployed for 27 weeks or more. Consequently the graduates spend months searching for something in their field to finally land a job where they feel embarrassed to say they spent four years and $150,000 to achieve. Join the club, they are now displaced. Displacement in employment means they have been removed or relocated away from their proper placement. This is an economic issue, but it is also a social issue related to dignity and value, purpose and calling.
We need reforms not politics in business and industry
We need breakthrough creativity from the brightest people in our country. I have an idea: let’s look at job stimulus as a commodity and give Apple some money for research and job development and see where that goes. We have no choice but to get people inspired and ready for their next assignment – there is no excuse. If a pitcher does not stay warm in between innings, he will struggle to find command of his pitches when he finally does return to work.
Is the heart still beating in the U.S. talent pool?
Do they understand that just because they are displaced, it does not mean they are despised? Can they be inspired with some vision for what lies ahead already? Never before have we seen such a reservoir colonized by world-class talent needing to be placed into active service. So let’s at least get the group warming up in the bullpen, and let’s find them suitable expression for their unique gifts and talents.
Joe Mascia | Nobilify
joemascia3@gmail.com
One of the many blessings in my life has included coaching high school baseball teams for the past 23 years. Over that time, I have had the opportunity to meet and lead so many young men of strong character. When someone thinks of high school baseball they generally think of competition, championships and likely some funny stories about players, coaches, officials and parents.
The story I will be introducing you to has less to do with baseball other than that it provides the setting for a glimpse into the hearts of young men roo
ted in noble intentions and sound character. The 2010 Woodland Regional High School baseball team is 12-5 and having a strong season positioning for post season play, but that is not at the core of this 17 man squad. The “heart and soul” of this team is a young high school boy named Nick who will likely never get the opportunity to play the game of baseball. He attends every Woodland Hawks game and serves as the team’s scoreboard operator, but he means so much more to the Hawks than his “tangible” role. He is an inspiration to each and every player on the team, who treat him like a team-mate, usually busting and joking around with him as they await the start of each game. Nick dresses in a uniform shirt and is in every way a critical part of the Woodland Hawks.
In life, we all face giants. For David it was Goliath. I’ve often wondered why an army of the bravest warriors of Israel did not have the courage to confront the giant Goliath, and yet a little boy (David) had the courage to take him on with just a sling and a stone. It took nearly 45 years for me to realize that the soldiers weren’t cowards, they were just focused on the wrong thing. The soldiers were focused on Goliath and he was an intimidating sight to see, but David was focused on something much greater, the God of Israel. In comparison Goliath was nearly invisible to David.
Nick serves as a constant reminder and inspiration to our players of the courage it takes to face greater giants than the outcome of a baseball game. As a result, I think these young men have learned to play with greater purpose and a courage that stares failure in the eye with no fear.
Meanwhile these same young boys that have been blessed by the inspiration that Nick brings, also carry him from the school bus to each away game and back into the bus after the game. They serve him unselfishly and with a noble heart that is usually absent in today’s world. Yet I’m certain they realize the inspiration, courage and nobility that Nick brings to our team, every time he graces the field.
Joe Steele
Recruiting and retaining quality talent within an organization will always be the great differentiator that sets the exemplar organizations apart from mediocre ones. In fact, quality workers demonstrate the pinnacle contributions realized in Healthcare, Human Services, Nonprofits, and Developmental Services; who historically have significant challenges around recruitment and retention of quality workers.
So, what is a quality worker? When we talk about quality workers, we are referring to our best people. The employees, who always find a way to stand out, perform up to and beyond expectations. They consistently demonstrate motivation, responsibility, commitment, and loyalty. A quality worker is the individual who you go to when you want something done right, and who you know will carry out the assignment and represent the organization well. From a professional standpoint a quality worker:
- Performs - one who achieves or exceeds in performance of the essential job functions of the average worker. In this sense, satisfactory performance equates to competence.
- Stays - one who achieves or exceeds the average length of service benchmarks with the company. In this sense, we are identifying the individual who stays with the company beyond the average length of time for his or her respective position, department, or other qualifying factors. They usually like their job.
- Fits - one who consistently works in harmony with the team and company culture. This is someone who compliments and works well directly with the work team and with the management assigned
. This is not a “yes-man” or woman, but one who understands the desired outcomes and works together for organizational common goals.
At a recent team meeting, one of our managers read a brief summary from a front-line staff person about a fantastic community experience they had with a particular person we serve in human services. Amidst all the logistics, necessary planning components, and program and performance reviews, we heard this testimony about a real life activity in the field. Everyone at the meeting, including significant stakeholders, stopped the noise and gave their undivided attention. Heads moved away from phones and computers, pens stopped writing, ears opened, and eyes filled – everyone at the conference table was inspired.
This is why we do what we do. It was not because of the super plan we were creating, but rather the super connection to what we do (in mission) through this simple story. A quality worker writes that summary with real meaning, to their own audience because it comes more from the heart than from the head. It is an authentic extension of what they do and they don’t apologize for their better grasp of the important. Each team member at that meeting recognized without question, what was the most powerful moment.
My conviction is that “Better Quality Talent Leads to Better Quality Outcomes!” The great differentiator is clearly about hiring and keeping the quality people who routinely turn out these peak experiences.
Joe Mascia | Nobilify
joemascia3@gmail.com
This blog is dedicated to all things Noble.
no•ble | possessing outstanding qualities: illustrious, famous, notable, magnificent: impressive in quality or appearance.
The perception of noble echoes integrity, commitment, respect, generosity, quality, and hard work as essential ingredients for enduring success. Our goal with this ongoing blog will be to discuss all things noble. To identify some magnificent ideas, highlight some fantastically kind and generous people, and point out some impressive programs or special events which capture this extraordinary attribute in life and work.
We encourage readers and bloggers to submit true stories and verified accounts which we can discuss and feature in this blog. At times we will share noble accounts and noble deeds which have stirred us from world history. Our hope and expectation is to ignite more amazing things through these meaningful and powerful reports. Each should certainly give rise to a more contagious case of the noteworthy.
“Noble refers to this distinctive, impressive, and revealing quality in life and business which stands out, featured as the central theme in a larger expression of lasting excellence.”
Joe Mascia | Nobilify
joemascia3@gmail.com
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