Often, we wonder if we can really make a difference in other peoples’ lives, if we can lift and build and really leave the world a better place. Well, this is Steve Shallenberger, and I want you to know that that is exactly what every single one of you can do. And one of the ways to do it is just keep in mind, live the golden rule, both in business or organizations, and in life.
Last night, I had the opportunity to attend a community prayer event. This was a wonderful event. It was interdenominational. The opening thoughts and scriptures were given by a Muslim. We had people and individuals from different faiths that prayed or shared spiritual thoughts, and then we had the speaker come on. The speaker’s name is Liz. Now, in this case, Liz has 25 years of composing music. She is a professional in music. She received an advanced degree in music from the University of Southern California. She is a professor at Brigham Young University.
And she, a number of years ago, decided that she…She had some friends who were going to go travel to Europe, particularly in the Kosovo area, and help refugees. And so she just got permission to tag along. She applied and they said “Yes, you can be part of this humanitarian effort.” There were a couple of friends that she knew in Southern California said, “We can’t go. We’d like to go, but we’d like to give you some money and see if you can’t use it in a good way.” She said, “Well, no. I don’t want to take other peoples’ money.” But she was talking to a friend and said, “Hold it, we can do some good with this money.”
And, all of the sudden, they started brainstorming. And she took her talent of music and said, “I think I can teach the young people there how to, with harmonicas and players, little flutes, learn how to do music, how to use music in leadership, how to fight extremism, how to be able to find peace and joy through the mastery of music.” And so, this is exactly what she did, and she told her story, how now she has touched the lives of over 17,500 young people in Syria, in Uganda, in Northern Ireland, and Kosovo. And she showed the pictures of these young people and the happiness that music had brought to them. And she would be there for two or three weeks and teach hundreds how to play these different instruments.
This is just one example. It’s a simple example, but with time, we keep working on this and it creates a ripple that never ends. And so, every single day as we think about this, you and I, whether we’re driving on the highway, whether we’re getting on a plane, we’re visiting with the neighbor or somebody within our company, or a customer, or a client, we have the chance to lift and build. And in the very process, what that does, is create more goodness within us.
So that is the principle of becoming your best that I wanted to just visit about today and how enormous it is in creating a culture of goodness, not only within our own lives, but it is fundamental to leadership as we create a culture of excellence. So that’s the message today. This is Steve Shallenberger with “Becoming Your Best.” We have some additional resources that are available to you in the 5minuteleadershipmakeover.com where you can find additional resources. So, wishing you a great day, and it’s great to be able to work together with you.