The Power of Fatherhood

As we enter into Father’s Day weekend, I reflect as I do each year, about the importance of Fatherhood and the impact it has on others.

My father has played an important part of my life and has helped shape who I am today. I continue to learn from his strength and compassion.

I’ve tried my very best to teach and inspire my own children. And yes, I have learned and have received inspiration as well.

Fatherhood has been very rewarding for me.

As I reflect on this weekend, I’m reminded of men who don’t have biological children of their own, so they think they lack the power of fatherhood. My message is very simple to those who lack those types of ties to a child, yet provide selfless mentorship to those in need of it – Happy Father’s Day!

I’m also reminded of powerful fathers who have reached deep within to lift up and inspire their children and the entire world in the process.

Dick Hoyt was not a runner in 1977 when his son Rick asked him to participate in a 5-mile benefit run. The obstacle may have been too large for most, as Rick was diagnosed as a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, at birth.

Together they participated and together they have inspired by participating in over 1,000 races, including marathons, duathlons and triathlon. In 1992 they biked and ran across the United States on a journey that took 45 days to complete.

Dick and Rick Hoyt are known as Team Hoyt, and they serve as an inspiration to many.

Fatherhood is very powerful in its simple and dramatic forms.

I came across this video on YouTube and wanted to share it with you.

To learn more about Team Hoyt, you may visit http://www.teamhoyt.com/

Happy Father’s Day.

Honoring and Remembering

This Memorial Day weekend we take time to honor and remember the brave men and women of the United States armed forces who went away to serve and never came back. They and their families have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Cpl George A. Lutz II paid the ultimate sacrifice to his country while serving in Fallujah, Iraq on December 29, 2005. With the shot of a sniper’s bullet, he joined the ranks of those we honor this weekend.

But is a weekend truly enough to take time to pause and reflect?

George Lutz, and many other Americans think there is more that we can do to honor and remember the fallen.

As the father of a fallen service member, Lutz has the unique perspective of speaking openly to the grieving families of our fallen heroes. As one might guess, the concerns that the families typically have are that their sacrifice not be in vain and that the nation never forget.

At the present time, there is not a unified national symbol to honor and remember all of the brave men and women who died in uniform serving our country – from the Revolutionary War until last week. Not one symbol... Thus the Honor and Remember flag was conceived.

George Lutz, Founder and Executive Director of Honor and Remember, Inc., works tirelessly to ensure that the Honor and Remember flag serves as a continuous reminder of those who lost their lives defending our liberty.


The following Mission, Rationale and Goals can be found on the Honor and Remember web site:

Mission: To create, establish and promote a nationally recognized flag that would fly continuously as a visible reminder to all Americans of the lives lost in defense of our national freedoms. All Military lives lost not only in action but also in service, from our nation's inception.

Rationale: In our over 200 year history there has never been an official national symbol that recognizes in gratitude and respect the ultimate sacrifice made by members of the United States military in service to our nation. The Honor and Remember Flag was created for that purpose.

Goals:

1. To promote the vision of the Honor and Remember Flag and request that visitors to the website sign a petition and pass the word about the importance of this new symbol.

2. To build a consensus among the branches of the United States military, veterans organizations, service and civic groups, businesses and individuals in order to collectively solicit the Department of Defense and the United States Congress to propose and accept the Honor and Remember Flag as the official flag for honoring all fallen servicemen and servicewomen.

3. To promote broad national awareness of and groundswell interest in the flag, so that military, government and educational facilities as well as households throughout the country would begin flying the Honor and Remember Flag in recognition of our nation's fallen warriors.

4. To place one personalized Honor and Remember Flag in the hands of immediate families who have lost a loved one in military service to America.

At the present time, there are a few official state endorsements. However, endorsements from nationally recognized organizations have been strong. The journey will be a long one, but I look forward to the day when the Honor and Remember flag is flown across all fifty states.

So as I reflect on Memorial Day weekend and its meaning, I think of Cpl George A. Lutz II and the love of a father yearning to ensure we have one unified symbol to honor our fallen.

To learn more about Honor and Remember and its mission, please visit www.honorandremember.org

There is also an area on the site where you may sign a petition, to show your support.

A Challenge to Entrepreneurs During National Small Business Week

This is the week designated as National Small Business Week, by the US Small Business Administration (SBA). There is no doubt that small businesses play a key role in driving the US economy.

Small businesses often start off as dreams. The dream to create something of value, the dream to work for oneself, the dream to create wealth….. The list goes on and on.

These sorts of entrepreneurial dreams have sparked imaginations and made nations great. They have caused people to stir at night and strive for greatness.

Often times, however, a person can be so very close to their dream and yet never quite achieve it.

Perhaps there is only an idea and some passion. We all know that these two things are often not enough to realize the dream of building a business, or growing it into a larger venture.

In our current world economy, there are many times when an entrepreneurial dream cannot be achieved without a spark.

I’ve decided to celebrate National Small Business Week by providing a small spark, on a global scale.

While my spark is small, it will make the difference to a yam producer in Togo, a food market owner in Uganda, a poultry producer in Uganda and a seafood retail establishment owner in the Philippines.

I’ve created an account on KIVA.org, so that I can assist these small business owners and fellow dreamers with some micro-financing. I’ve joined the ranks of more than 450,000 others who have contributed towards the small business owner’s goal, by making a micro-loan.

By doing this, I am able to assist the small business owners in a mutually dignified and respectful way. Also, the manner in which I help is providing accountability to the business owner, since it is indeed a loan that will be paid back in full. Once the loans are repaid, I can then lend funding to additional small business owners.

So how much money am I talking about? Perhaps it is the cost of eating out one night.

For as little as $25, you may provide assistance to a business owner somewhere in the world who possesses the same entrepreneurial spirit that you do. The same determination…. The same desire…

So what do you get out of it? You receive the knowledge that your micro-loan is providing someone with the opportunity to create or grow a business. Your small contribution can go a long way!

As I write this blog post, more than 450,000 people from around the world have felt the satisfaction of seeding entrepreneurship. To date, nearly $139 Million worth of loans have been made to 197 countries through KIVA contributors. Perhaps you have already participated in this effort.

Maybe you’re thinking that times are tough and this isn’t the right time to participate. Perhaps you have started your own company and don’t feel like you have the resources to get involved in something like this. I completely understand, as I have started up a company as well. Like everyone else, I am feeling the effects of this great recession.

However, it is times like these that cause me to think about the importance of going beyond myself and my community to make a difference.

If you’re a small business owner, I challenge you to help spread the seeds of entrepreneurship and fertilize them with hope. I believe there is no better time to make this statement than during National Small Business Week.

While your monetary commitment can be quite small, your impact is sure to be great.

Join us in sending the message around that world, that entrepreneurship is alive and well!

To learn more about KIVA and how you can help, please visit www.kiva.org.

A Flight to Holland via Dacula, GA

Words can stir the soul when they come from the heart.

The Dacula Lions Club was informed and inspired last week by a visit from Angie Jinright and Bill Russell. They joined us to discuss the journey of three year old Jackson Jinright and his struggle with Peroxisomal Disorder, a rare congenital affliction caused by the absence of cell components.

While a cure is currently lacking, it was clear that there was not a lack of Faith or Determination by Jackson’s mother, Angie Jinright, or Jackson’s grandfather, Bill Russell.

It was evident that the quest for a cure and enhanced quality of life for Jackson is a constant goal for Jackson’s entire family. Every six months, the family travels to Barcelona, Spain in order for Jackson to receive treatment from Dr. Manuela Martinez and the staff at The Manuela Martinez Foundation for Children with Metabolic Diseases. The treatments consist of a fatty-acid DHA dietary supplement to aid development, combined with intense therapy. The treatments to not act as a cure, but do assist in weight gain and a general improvement in health. In between treatments in Spain, Jackson is immersed by the love of his family and various occupational, physical and speech therapies back in Georgia.

Jackson’s family takes great care to increase his quality of life, while keeping a firm eye towards finding a cure. They have tirelessly to raise funds for a cure and their efforts have been an inspiration to many – including myself.

So while the poem Welcome to Holland was written by Emily Perl Kingsley, and describes the journey that many parents relate to as they reflect on the beginning of a journey of caring for a child with a disability, it was our guests that caused everyone’s soul to stir at the meeting.

I salute Angie Jinright, Bill Russell and everyone else in the world that makes “Holland” a much better place.

Welcome to Holland

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability to try to help people understand it, to imagine how it would feel. Its like this.

When you are going to have a baby, its like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michaelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. Its all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, Welcome to Holland.

HOLLAND?! you say. What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've land in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would have never met.
Its just a different place. Its slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy.

But, after you've been there for a while you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, Yes, thats where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned.

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.

But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to go to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

To learn more about Jackson Jinright and follow his progress, please visit http://jinright-family.eachday.com/.

You may also learn more about Peroxisomal Disorder and the Manuela Martinez Foundation for Children with Metabolic Diseases by visiting http://www.martinezfoundation.com/.

Still Wearing Your Green?

Did you remember to wear something green yesterday?

I was tickled when my daughter told me one of the morning announcements at school yesterday was that the students couldn’t pinch others who weren’t wearing green. When I was in school, receiving the pinch was almost a “badge of honor” to this Irish kid, as I was being recognized from standing out from the crowd.

Are you still wearing green today? We’re all wearing a little green these days. By that, I’m referring to the fact that many of us are “greenhorns” in today’s ever-changing environment. Changes in the economy. Changes in the workplace. Changes in required skill sets.

We’re “green” in the sense that many of us are newcomers in new ways of doing business, or in a new industry. Or perhaps it’s just time to “sharpen the saw,” as Dr. Stephen R. Covey notes as the seventh habit in his classic book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

In today’s information age, there is no reason why we cannot convert the car into “Automobile University.” I picked this term up from listening to a Zig Ziglar podcast, in heavy Atlanta traffic.

There are so many podcasts out there, so many Internet sites, so many Audio Books – so many resources at our fingertips!

As the old Irish saying goes, “There are fish in the sea better than have ever been caught.”

Each day serves as a valuable opportunity to ditch some of the “green” for as we do, we get much closer to the “pot of gold” mentioned in Irish lore!

Keeping Social Media Social

Of all the Social Media tools available for communicating today, Twitter is my favorite (tied of course, with Blogs). Many of my friends would think this is strange since my “old school” Nokia phone doesn’t have the capability to do much more than handle phone calls and text messages.

So what is it that I like so much about Twitter? The ability to communicate! I enjoy the interaction that takes place on Twitter, in “real time.” I’ve called friends whom I first met on Twitter. I’ve run into people that I’ve been following and vice-versa, in social settings around Atlanta. I’ve even had someone come up to me who knew my name, based upon my Twitter background and say hello. And of course, there are the “Tweetups” where people can bring Social Media relationships to real time. Quite simply, I enjoy the communication!

I enjoy the ability to get a sense for what others are saying and what is important to them. For that reason, I typically “listen” on Twitter much more than I “tweet.”

A few days ago I came across a new post by Scott Stratten, on his Un-Marketing Blog. In his post, Scott discusses why he believes automated tweeting is not a good thing and refers to the practice as “Mannequin Marketing.” I laughed out loud, as I typically do when I read Scott’s cleverly written posts! I could not have agreed with him more!

Perhaps it’s the BtoB Marketer in me who values the interaction. I believe that engagement is critical in sales and marketing. Without engagement, we cannot learn what it is that the customer needs and cannot handle any of the customer’s objections.

Without engagement, the opportunity to learn is lost!

I have to confess, I’m not totally pure when it comes to my belief, since I use SocialOomph to send automatically generated welcome messages to others as they follow me.

However, I’m not in favor of automatically generated tweets. In fact, I can typically tell which tweets have been “scheduled” to run, since they typically offer no value to me and are used to “tweet the horn” of the Twitter user. I don’t have enough time to read through these types of messages, so like a billboard, the effectiveness is lost on me after the first couple of times I see something from the sender.

Social Media has provided such a valuable way to interact with others, share ideas and promote brands (both personal brands, as well as the ones we purchase in the marketplace). I believe that it’s a mistake to desensitize people with a message that gets lost before it can ever be “scheduled” to run.

Simply put, I believe in keeping the “Social” in Social Media.

This doesn’t mean I spend many hours on Twitter, or get up in the middle of the night to reach people halfway across the globe. When it comes to relationships, I’ll take quality over quantity any day.

When I retweeted Scott Stratten’s blog post, someone responded to me in disagreement and mentioned that he/she didn’t see any harm in automated tweets. I understood the points that were made to me. The good news is that we had an interaction – precisely what I enjoy about Twitter!

I would enjoy hearing what you have to say. Drop me an e-mail if you have a chance, or of course, you can always send a tweet to @wolfejeff

A Time to Stand Up

Two weeks ago, I hung up the phone after speaking with a good friend that I used to work with. I was totally shocked and saddened to learn that someone we both knew had just taken his life. The gentleman worked for a competitor and was very well known and respected in his industry. I would go so far as to say that everyone who ever met him, liked him immediately. At least I did. We met once at a customer’s site and I was immediately struck by his presence and vitality. Now he is no longer with us.

This was the second instance of its kind that I had heard about that week.

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of attending the first on-site meeting of Christian Professionals of Greater Atlanta. The group was formed on LinkedIn, as a subgroup of Christian Professionals Worldwide. I always enjoy opportunities to bring Social Networking to real time by meeting people in person. I had a great time meeting so many wonderful people at this event.

During the course of the evening, Peter Bourke, volunteer Chairman of Crossroads Career ® Network (www.crossroadscareer.org ) and Principal at The Complex Sale spoke to our group. He made several references to his newly published book, A Better Way to Make a Living… and a Life during the course of his powerful presentation. To learn more about Peter Bourke’s book and his purpose for writing it, you may visit www.betterwaytomakealiving.com.

The messages that I send in this blog post are inspired by the content of Peter Bourke’s presentation.

Message to Career Seekers:

Stand tall and remain strong! You are still who you were before – perhaps even better!

While times may seem difficult now, this too shall pass.

One may ask what gives me the right to say these things? It’s quite simple – I too am in transition. My last day with my previous employer was December 18, 2009.

I believe that I am even better now than I was then and am using this time to seek out an opportunity to serve a new organization. In the meantime, I’ve created an LLC which I intend to use to provide value to clients seeking to bring their sales and marketing efforts to the next level.

I have been abundantly blessed by the support of my family and friends during this time of transition. My time of transition has been made much less difficult by knowing that I can pick up the phone and call my family or friends and they will be there to listen and offer guidance.

Is this the time for you perhaps pursue a dream that you may have of starting your own business? My response is a resounding yes!

Message to People of Faith:

We are called upon to serve and rise up in the name of our creator to help others. While I approach this topic from a Christian perspective, I know that every religion professes to have this mission. The time for us to proactively reach out, lend an ear and provide positive words to others is today and everyday.

People are hurting all across the world today and are looking to People of Faith to see whether we walk the walk, or just talk the talk. Join me in walking the walk and reaching out to others. I know that when I walk the walk, Jesus Christ is right there beside me.

Does this just pertain to reaching out to career seekers? Absolutely not! Peter Bourke references the fact that there are seventy-five million people working across the US today who are “chronically miserable” in their work.

Add to that the fact that many people have become underemployed or have received drastic cuts to their salaries.

In fact, the two people whom I mentioned earlier were both employed at the time that they took their lives.

If you are one of the “chronically miserable”, I challenge you to change your situation by reaching out to others. It will make a world of difference in the lives of others, as well as your own life.

So, let’s get out there and do what we are called upon to do! Let’s reach out, reach up and stay in the game!

I challenge everyone to use this time to draw upon your faith, as we are called upon to do, and become a difference maker in the lives of others!