This week (April 17-24) is National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week. As you know if you read this blog, I am the fortunate recipient of a heart and two lungs. So every year when this week comes around it is a special time for me. We work hard as a family to promote organ and tissue donation all year long, but this time of the year is especially important.
Last night I was blessed to be able to attend the Celebration of Thanks. It is a service where the families of those who have given or organs or tissues, are given a medal to commemorate the gift of their loved one. It's always a powerful ceremony and last night was no exception. Powerful testimonials were given by the mother of a heart transplant recipient and the mother of a young donor. Both mom's were great examples of why organ and tissue donation are so important.
So if you haven't already, I encourage you to have a conversation with your family about organ and tissue donation. Of course I hope that you never have to make such a tough decision in such horrible circumstances, but if you ever do, I hope it will be the decision to give life.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Quebec City - NAR Conference
I was fortunate enough this past weekend to be able to keynote the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Association Executives Conference. It was a great experience!
The conference was held in Quebec City,QC. It is an absolutely beautiful city. If you ever get a chance to go visit, do it. It's like visiting a little piece of Europe in Canada. The streets are cobble stone, the buildings are old, wonderful.
The conference itself was also a great experience. I worked with a wonderful meeting planner who was organized and patient and she took great care of me. I was able to meet many wonderful people and I think I was able to touch some hearts.
Next week it's off to Newfoundland and Labrador. I'm sure it will be a great experience as well.
The conference was held in Quebec City,QC. It is an absolutely beautiful city. If you ever get a chance to go visit, do it. It's like visiting a little piece of Europe in Canada. The streets are cobble stone, the buildings are old, wonderful.
The conference itself was also a great experience. I worked with a wonderful meeting planner who was organized and patient and she took great care of me. I was able to meet many wonderful people and I think I was able to touch some hearts.
Next week it's off to Newfoundland and Labrador. I'm sure it will be a great experience as well.
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Clean a Bathroom Every Week
It's been a while since my last post. My apologies. It's been a busy time and I've slipped in my blogging habits.
I was inspired to write this post as I was cleaning the bathroom upstairs at our house this morning.I thought I was doing it, what a great way to stay humble. To me at least, there are few tasks more undesirable to do in the house, than cleaning a bathroom. There is something about getting on your hands and knees and scrubbing a toilet that just leaves no room for ego. It's pretty hard to consider yourself to be superior while wiping a toilet bowl!
As I finished I wondered to myself if maybe that's the problem with many of us today. Especially as we witness an increasing trend among athletes, actors and now reality stars, who seem to think that the world revolves around them, I wonder, do any of these people still clean their own toilets? My guess would be no. Maybe if they did, they would be better connected to what REAL life is and be reminded that we are all equal no matter how much or how little money we have.
There is a great show on TV now called "Undercover Boss". I've only seen it a few times, but it does a great job of teaching this same lesson. If you haven't seen the show, each episode profiles a CEO who goes "undercover" within their own company, doing the jobs of a variety of employees at different levels. What's amazing to see if how after the CEO is able to live a few days in the life of their employees, they suddenly make changes. The bottom line becomes slightly less important when they are able to see the impact that attitude has on the people who make their company tick.
Last week, the episode was about Rick Arquilla. Watching Mr. Arquilla snake a sewer and crawl under a house to check a poor woman's plumbing was fun. But what was better, was watching how moved he was when he learned how his strategic business decisions had impacted the lives of his employees. And then, not content just to "learn a lesson" he actually made some significant changes and helped each of the people he met in a special way.
The phenomenon of losing touch with what matters and forgetting those "below" us, isn't unique to the rich, famous and powerful. It can happen to all of us. So remember always to conscious of how you look at the world and be sure you aren't forgetting the plight of others. If you want to be sure you won't let your head get too big, just remember to clean your toilet this week. It should do the trick!
I was inspired to write this post as I was cleaning the bathroom upstairs at our house this morning.I thought I was doing it, what a great way to stay humble. To me at least, there are few tasks more undesirable to do in the house, than cleaning a bathroom. There is something about getting on your hands and knees and scrubbing a toilet that just leaves no room for ego. It's pretty hard to consider yourself to be superior while wiping a toilet bowl!
As I finished I wondered to myself if maybe that's the problem with many of us today. Especially as we witness an increasing trend among athletes, actors and now reality stars, who seem to think that the world revolves around them, I wonder, do any of these people still clean their own toilets? My guess would be no. Maybe if they did, they would be better connected to what REAL life is and be reminded that we are all equal no matter how much or how little money we have.
There is a great show on TV now called "Undercover Boss". I've only seen it a few times, but it does a great job of teaching this same lesson. If you haven't seen the show, each episode profiles a CEO who goes "undercover" within their own company, doing the jobs of a variety of employees at different levels. What's amazing to see if how after the CEO is able to live a few days in the life of their employees, they suddenly make changes. The bottom line becomes slightly less important when they are able to see the impact that attitude has on the people who make their company tick.
Last week, the episode was about Rick Arquilla. Watching Mr. Arquilla snake a sewer and crawl under a house to check a poor woman's plumbing was fun. But what was better, was watching how moved he was when he learned how his strategic business decisions had impacted the lives of his employees. And then, not content just to "learn a lesson" he actually made some significant changes and helped each of the people he met in a special way.
The phenomenon of losing touch with what matters and forgetting those "below" us, isn't unique to the rich, famous and powerful. It can happen to all of us. So remember always to conscious of how you look at the world and be sure you aren't forgetting the plight of others. If you want to be sure you won't let your head get too big, just remember to clean your toilet this week. It should do the trick!
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