Making a Difference

September 4, 2015

It’s funny sometimes how things get connected.

In the last Newsletter I raised the opportunity of a community contribution focus for the WSJ Society.

Then, to support my work as a mentor at UWM, I read a report from the National Academy of Engineering, “Educate to Innovate.” In it, successful entrepreneurs interviewed often mentioned their starting point, their motivation, as solving a problem for someone, creating value for someone, or making a contribution to someone’s quality of life. That’s not far from the familiar theme ‘exceeding customer’s increasing expectations’ is it?

While reading the report, my grandson, a professional dancer with the Texas Ballet, asked for my thoughts on how he might start to prepare for his next career step. He’s at the top of his profession now, but like all athletes, peak performance has age limits. I included “Educate to Innovate” in my response. Career planning or just planning your day, based on a thought like “Who’s life can I make better today?” sounds like a good approach to me, regardless of age.

Then, the August 6th edition of the  Journal/Sentinel had a story about Genesis in Milwaukee, Arn Quakkelaar’s social service organization that helps former prisoners create a new life. How’s that for making a difference, after 40 years in engineering at Johnson Controls and Rockwell?

About that time I received an email from Dominic Silva-Martin, Chief Communications Officer at LearnHowToBecome.org. He found our resource page on WSJSociety.com and asked if we would include a link to their new “open-access, expert-driven guide to non-profit career opportunities.”

After checking it out, I did, you can find it as the Featured Resource at WSJSociety.com/Learn/Resources.

And, I sent their home page link to my grandson.

It’s nice to see “making a difference” popping up so often.

By the way, I remain interested in your ideas on how community contribution might fit into the future direction for the WSJ Society — or not. Please let me know your thoughts. Just send your Message to the Editor.

Regards,

Jude Anders
Editor WSJSociety.com