Find Your Good and Do It!
December 18, 2019
The year’s not quite over yet, but I’ve already found my favorite quote of 2019:
“Find your good and do it!”
That’s Jon Bon Jovi’s closing comment on this CBS News story on the JBJ Soul Kitchen located in Red Bank New Jersey.
The theme for the restaurant is that everyone is invited, pay what you can, volunteer if you can, everyone should have a healthy meal together.
How about that?
In this time when the values of integrity and mutual respect are under repeated and open attack, Dorothea Bon Jovi suggested a way of doing something about promoting mutual respect and relieving hunger. The couple, Jon and Dorothea, have found their good and we all benefit from it, not just the folks in the Red Bank area — good stories travel well.
I found another example of contribution in my search for ideas to be a better coach for the startup companies I work with here in Milwaukee. The book “Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell,” by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle, each former Silicon Valley CEOs who received coaching from Campbell, tells the story of Bill Campbell, who was CEO of Intuit at one stop in his career. The ‘trillion dollar’ idea came from a conservative estimate of the annual revenues of companies whose CEOs Campbell mentored in his ‘retirement’ at no cost to them. He had a wealth of wisdom to share and he literally did it freely.
I’m no Bill Campbell, and none of us have the celebrity of Jon and Dorothea Bon Jovi, but each of us can find our good and do something about it. So many of our members, past and present are prime examples of that fact. If you are looking, here’s a suggestion recounted in the book that was created by John Donohoe a CEO of eBay as he was preparing for his ‘retirement:’
Be Creative: Your post-fifty years should be your most creative time. You have wisdom of experience and freedom to apply it where you want. Avoid metaphors such as you are on the “back nine.” This denigrates the impact you can have.
Don’t be a Dilettante: Don’t just do a portfolio of things. Whatever you get involved with, have accountability and consequence. Drive it.
Find People Who have Vitality: Surround yourself with them; engage with them. Often they will be younger.
Apply your Gifts: Figure out what you are uniquely good at, what sets you apart. And understand the things inside you that give you a sense of purpose. Then apply them.
Don’t Waste Time Worrying about the future: Allow serendipity to play a role. Most of the turning points in life cannot be predicted or controlled.
(John Donohoe, former CEO of eBay as recounted in “Trillion Dollar Coach” by Eric Schmidt et. al.)
To all, enjoy the upcoming holidays with family and friends, share your good with them. I’m looking forward to a the new year with you. Maybe you’ll share some of your stories with us to spread the good word and your good work!
Jude
Editor, WSJSociety.com
