I come from a long line of story tellers.
"Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Editor's Note: A cancelled flight meant I missed Zinmeister’s Cleveland appearance but my host, Ron DiMattia, was kind to pick me up a copy of this book. It might just be transformational to our foundation’s work. (I’ll know more when my partners meet and discuss what we might apply from its reading.) But in any event you will doubtless enjoy this brief, easy to read commentary on how philanthropy is, has and could further change America. Who knew that the primary driver to an issue that our government was deadlocked on called slavery received substantial momentum from philanthropists from 1833 through the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War? I certainly did not. Or that the oft-lampooned Temperance movement was driven substantially by philanthropists and still has its desired effect today? Pre-abolition USA alcohol consumption was 7.5 gallons per capita, since Prohibition ended and still today it is around 2.2 gallons.
Listening to our customers is a key to organizational success but listening too well can be dangerous. I’ve learned to listen enough to tailor our strengths to address customer needs but not so well to become all things to all people. It is a thick, not a fine line to me.
Editor’s Note:
“I’ve been thinking and writing a lot lately about the use of time. It’s the only thing everyone has in equal quantity and yet it is also our only finite resource. A discussion the other day sent me back 25 years to this book, which is essentially just an elaboration of the 3rd habit in Covey’s seminal work – “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. It’s never a bad time to list your most frequent activities in Covey’s 2x2 matrix, shown below in favorite excerpt. To this day, I still spend too much time in 3 and 4.”
A line to think about:
"Gonna stand my ground, won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground and I won't back down"
