What do Miss America and Amachi Pittsburgh have in common?

On January 14, 2012, the newly crowned Miss America, Laura Kaeppeler, had the opportunity to assert the value of children of incarcerated parents to 8 million viewers. She is herself the daughter of a formerly incarcerated parent. The Huffington Post reported, ”While her competitors pushed platforms including promoting the health benefits of milk and protecting the environment, Laura Kaeppeler (KEP’-ler) said she wants children of incarcerated adults to feel less alone, to have mentoring and as much of a relationship with their parents as possible.”

On January 27-29, 2012, Amachi Pittsburgh will have a similar opportunity as we share our story with the international, Pulitzer Prize winning news outlet, the Christian Science Monitor.  Despite federal funding cuts, Amachi Pittsburgh is “staying alive”! (Ah ha ha ha stayin’ alive!) We remain committed to ensuring the unique needs of children and families of the incarcerated are recognized, prioritized and served in our region. But we can’t do it alone. Help us ensure more children of prisoners promise parade down the runway of success!  Join us and our panel of local experts in a…

 Community Conversation
 SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2012
10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
YWCA Greater Pittsburgh
Homewood-Brushton Center
6907 Frankstown Ave., 15208
Register Now!

Quit and Stayed

Seldom a day goes by that we don’t interact with someone who has quit and stayed — maybe the person at the check-out counter in the grocery store, a work colleague or a family member.  Maybe even you.   23 million American employees have mentally quit their job, but physically remain. They are no longer engaged in their work. They have checked out. 23 million. It’s an epidemic.

This epidemic is acutely felt by leaders who want to build engagement but find themselves talking to a wall.

The Ken Blanchard Companies is doing a free Livecast with over 40 thought leaders to discuss the challenge of employee motivation. On Wednesday, January 25 at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, join our President and CEO John Stahl-Wert as he presents with 40 other thought leaders as they discuss how leaders, managers, employees can increase productivity, enhance motivation, encourage creativity, and build loyalty. Register here.

Skip the Quick-Fix; Pick a Theme

Like so many other people, I approach a new year with great hope that this will be the year that I finally manage to stop ______________ or finally get serious about _____________.  But experience has taught me–and probably you, too–that this sort of resolution doesn’t actually work.  Habits cannot be formed or broken overnight and that expectation will always lead to disappointment.

So, rather than setting overly-specific and unreasonable expectations for my immediate metamorphosis into a right-eating, regularly-exercising, non-swearing butterfly…

…I am looking for ways to leverage the motivation of a new year into opportunities for consistent, incremental growth.

Last week, John Stahl-Wert reminded us that while New Year’s Resolutions are often broken, the choice to be resolved about some area of growth has a long history among great leaders. Our friend, Donna Brighton of the Brighton Leadership Group suggests defining a theme for the year.  A theme brings freedom and opportunity–a theme cannot be broken or failed.

The staff here at Serving Leaders have each selected a word which will be an organizing principle for our days throughout the year: Perspective. Align. Sell. Revive. Develop. Squirrel. Learning.

As we prepare our offices for our upcoming Office Warming Party we’ve been hanging photos, pictures, and art all around the space.  Please join us for the party and check our offices for small reminders of our themes.  We’ve got post-its, white board messages,  and symbolic art to remind us that transformation doesn’t happen overnight, but consistent, intentional attendance to themes will help us as we continue to grow in 2012.

Have you picked a theme for your year?  What is it and why?

Office Warming Party!

Bring Friends.  Make Friends.
Enjoy a Drink and a Bite to Eat.
Help Us Kick Off the New Year in Our New Home!

RSVP requested, but not required.

Resolved.

Many people consider New Year’s resolutions to be a waste of time. Commonplace are the declarations that chocolate will be resisted, mothers will be called more frequently, and pants will fit once again, even if snugly. Just as commonplace are the quick admissions that this year’s resolutions are already in the history books.

And speaking of history books, I’m reading one right now that is putting the idea of “resolutions” into a very favorable light. Resolved: 13 Resolutions for Life, by Orrin Woodward, looks at three of America’s greatest early leaders—George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Jonathan Edwards—who made a lifetime discipline of holding themselves accountable to carefully chosen character resolutions.

George Washington—from adolescence, the country-boy Washington laboriously copied and recopied one hundred and ten ‘rules of civility’ that were developed by the Jesuits. Richard Brookhiser, in Founding Father, said that Washington’s “attention to courtesy and correct behavior anticipated his political philosophy.” For the whole of his life, he wrote his rules, and in due course his rules wrote him. One example: “With me it has always been a maxim rather to let my designs appear from my works rather than by my expressions.”Benjamin Franklin—in his young-adulthood, Franklin was devastated to learn that he was detested by nearly everybody for his arrogance and selfishness. He responded to this discovery by resolving to change his character, which he did by establishing 13 virtues that he studied—one per week on a 13-week rotation—for the rest of his life. One example:  “Justice—wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.”Jonathan Edwards—also starting as a young man, Edwards began crafting what he called his “Resolutions,” a list that ended up totaling 70. He committed to read his 70 resolutions every week; in his lifetime, Edwards read his resolutions over 1,800 times. One example: “Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.”

The fact that these three early Americans measured their lives against a set of character resolutions reveals their point of view about our humanity.

1. They did not expect to get it right. Washington, Franklin, and Edwards knew they would fail to meet their “resolved” character goals. Indeed, they expected to fail repeatedly, daily, hourly, and as long as they lived on earth.
2. They knew that human beings require standards. Their purpose was to grow, to repeatedly and continuously measure themselves against a standard that would cause them to stretch.
3. They believed that their impact in the world would spring from their character; that their character would spring from their investments in character, and that character investment is a life-long pursuit.

Do you have a set of character “resolutions” that you intentionally remind yourself of on a regular basis?  Amidst all your “goals” and “resolutions” for the new year—personally or in business—are any of them about your character?