Tossing Starfish Back into the Ocean: A New Tribute to “Memo” the Unsung Leader

 

“No one has ever become poor by giving.”

Anne Frank

 

One of my favorite motivational stories to tell is an adaption of the “starfish story” by Loren Eiseley and as many of you know popularized by Joel Barker. 

In the story, a man walking at the beach approaches a boy who is vigorously throwing back stranded starfish.  He stops and asks how the boy can really make a difference with so many starfish laying on the beach. Without hesitation and throwing another back another into the ocean the boy replies, “I bet I made a difference for that one.”

We all know that leadership behavior makes a significant difference in followership engagement, retention and level of stress ((Nowack, K. (2006). Emotional intelligence: Leaders Make a Difference. HR Trends, 17, 40-42)).

I’d like to devote this updated Blog to an unsung leader who has taught me a lot about leadership practices, passion, patience and caring who has made a real difference for those he has helped and those who he has recruited to help him…His name is “Memo” Bradley (aka, Bill, William, and Bo). 

Bill is headed back for perhaps his last trip with donations, financial assistance and clothes along with a giving spirit that makes me proud to be one of his best friends.

“Memo” has spent amounts of time each year after first visiting in 2007 since he semi-retired from the Los Angeles Times as a senior human resources consultant and doing other independent HR consulting work.  The town is  and his work has involved working with less privileged children trying their best to grow up and get an education in some of the poorest parts of this city.

Memo has given his heart, taught lessons of life and orchestrated local and non-local volunteers to give money, clothes and time to “make a difference.”  It would be too long to share all the things Memo has done since he arrived (some of which are summarized in his living Blog called “ZihuaBill’s Weblog at http://zihuabill.wordpress.com) but I thought I’d try to summarize just a few more recent things he has done.

Each gesture, behavior and act of giving by Memo has truly made a difference in one or more lives of the children, the schools they attend, the teachers who receive no real salary but teach every day, and the children’s families:

• Financially sponsoring a college student named Karen who is attending and doing fabulous at the prestigious University of Guadalajara
• Financially sponsoring three children so they may attend school. He has been mentoring Bernabe, Lizbeth and Jose Angel since they were in the 4th grade. In an effort to help them, he hired friend and out of work teacher Lucy to tutor them for an hour a day, three days a week
• Helped collect financial contributions to fund schools supplies and suplement almost non-existent annual salaries
• Brought enough clothes/supplies for a school sale in November 2011 and more for February 2012
• Sponsored a “school beach day” for a very large group of hard working students who enjoyed a party at the beach to celebrate their hard academic work and play with some American volunteers who wanted to share in the work of “Memo”

Some of us talk about what we want to do, some of us dream about what would be nice to do, and others “just do it” (Isn’t that a slogan?).

Memo has taught me some valuable lessons about leadership without holding a formal title of “leader” or the authority to officially make anything happen.  Memo has been a great model to watch and learn from.  Hopefully, some of these “leadership tips” will be helpful to all of you trying to make change in yourself, in your teams, and in your organization:

1. Passion First, Vision Second.  “Memo” talked about what he wanted to accomplish in a way that made all of us understand what he wanted to accomplish but it was his passion that was so contagious to engender the greatest followership from others he met and touched.  Great leaders know where they want to go but it is their passion that ignites true followership.

2. Manage Short-Term, but Lead Long-Term.  Most leaders are stuck in too short a time perspective to try to evoke change (some financially and personally driven).  The most effective leaders have a longer term view of the life cycle of their businesses. Memo wanted to make things happen fast but quickly understood that a longer term view would build a greater infrastructure for future success of those things he was working to build.  As he leaves this week for one of his last trips he can begin to see that the changes he has helped to create in the children, school system and families will carry on to benefit other children in the future.

3. Reward Results First and Then Recognize Effort.  It’s easy to confuse these two but the best leaders are tough, fair and compassionate without giving every last place finisher in a contest a big trophy just for showing up.  Memo rewarded the kids that completed assignments on time and taught those with “good intentions” that not everything in life comes to those of us thinking that a large percentage of success in life is just showing up.

4. Leave a Legacy of Doing for Others and Not Just for Doing.  Great leaders all understand that organizations ultimately exist for people, rather than,  people existing for organizations.  They hopefully leave a legacy of creating a “better tomorrow” for those they lead.  Memo accomplished a lot in the last 6 months he spent at his “office” but he never lost sight of how “giving forward” is really the legacy of what he has given.

Each week Bill also writes a special Blog for Envisia Learning called TGIF that always has a special call on becoming more involved as a volunteer in areas where you might have a passion and some skills/experience to offer others.  As Henry Drummon said, “There is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving.”

Memo, keep throwing those starfish into the ocean. Turn around when you can because there are a lot of others at your “office” continuing to be willing to also lend a hand…See you February 17…..

My friend, YOU continue to make a difference….Be well…..

Ken Nowack

Kenneth Nowack, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist (PSY13758) and President & Chief Research Officer/Co-Founder of Envisia Learning, is a member of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Ken also serves as the Associate Editor of Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research. His recent book Clueless: Coaching People Who Just Don’t Get It is available for free for a limited time by signing up for free blog updates (Learn more at our website)