Yonason Goldson - The Ethics Ninja’s Post

Grandpa Cecil. …where I got my good looks. Three brothers, Cecil, Faye, and Babe. Two pairs of overalls, each. Work overalls and go-to-church overalls. Sisters Iva and Wanda cooked pies all day for church fundraisers in their eighties. Cecil, an excellent electrician and machinist, could not find work during the depression. His family was in Oklahoma during the Great Depression. He earned money to feed his family by working as a “honey dipper.” With a bucket and a rope, he bailed outhouses. His daughter, Aola, sackcloth dress and no shoes, picked okra for a penny a pound. She was six years old. Aola, my mother, went on to have a family of six. She became an author of twenty historical romance novels with a series selling seven-million copies. Dad was kicked into the Oklahoma oilfields at age 15, had a 34-year Fed career, then served as the first FRESHMAN chairman of the New Mexico State Senate Education Committee. Fifth of six children, and I was the first of only two to get a college education. The four-year degree took eight years. My earliest of my dozen college jobs was wearing a trash bag as a rain poncho while cleaning stadiums of trash. It is viewed in hindsight as my bucket-and-rope job. When Mom called and asked if I needed money, my response was always, “I got this.” Political issues are being driven like locomotives* with division and fear. Vote for Cecil’s America, even though it was a hardscrabble world. Support the Good People who provide Faith and Hope even when the times are tough. Vote Cecil.

Find out what makes PlannedGiving.Com founder and CEO Viken Mikaelian tick, how planned giving marketing has changed over the years, and what he sees for the future of legacy giving. #plannedgiving #nonprofit #fundraising https://lnkd.in/erdZzt9V

Find out what makes PlannedGiving.Com founder and CEO Viken Mikaelian tick, how planned giving marketing has changed over the years, and what he sees for the future of legacy giving. #plannedgiving #nonprofit #fundraising https://lnkd.in/erdZzt9V

Find out what makes PlannedGiving.Com founder and CEO Viken Mikaelian tick, how planned giving marketing has changed over the years, and what he sees for the future of legacy giving. #plannedgiving #nonprofit #fundraising https://lnkd.in/erdZzt9V

Thinking about what kind of legacy you’d like to leave? A charitable foundation may be right for you. Check out the video to learn more:

I encourage you to view the resources in the original post.

In 2015 I undertook an adventure to raise money for wounded veterans so they could travel to the USA on the back of Harley Davidson motorbikes, a subject close to my heart The challenge was to ride a motorcyle from John O’Groats to Lands-End using trails and staying off the tarmac as much as possible. I was surprised to learn some valuable management lessons as the enormity of the challenge finally dawned. Lessons are fundamental for the success of any high performing team. Lesson 1: Be vulnerable, you will question more, listen harder and welcome support. Lesson 2: Be resilient, and accept failure as an opportunity for growth. Lesson 3: Celebrate successes, it motivates team performance and in my case, I certainly needed a team to drag me and my bike out of rivers when I inevitably fell off. Lesson 4: Create a plan which achieves your goal, measure your risk and create strategies to mitigate this. Lesson 5: Optimise value rather than reduce cost. In my case having a decent bike which would complete the task was critical to the success of the plan. Lesson 6: Keep focus on your mission and purpose and remind the team. When the going gets tough, they will be pushing through alongside you. Lesson 7: Take time out with the team. The end-of-day beers in pubs up and down the country were moments to nurse bruised limbs, connect, unwind and reflect on the day's achievements. Lesson eight: Invest in quality tools of the trade. In our case, shortcuts in maintaining the bikes could have resulted in failure to complete the task, or in serious injury. Here’s a short film about that journey. https://lnkd.in/ebVJHXhr #leadershipjourney #teamworksuccess #highperformingteams #adventure #veterans #goingtheextramile #motorcylingadventure #leadbyexample #bebrave #bevulnerable

TRIGGER WARNING This post is not intended to be insensitive or disrespectful. It is meant to be a teachable moment in hopes of leveling the insensitivity currently being experienced by the Black community who is being triggered by the celebration of the career of Norman Lear. The Black community, is most impacted by the exploited story content and portrayal of Black culture. One can argue the pluses and minuses of that. But that’s not the issue being raised here. The issue is the controversy of Eric Monte, the uncompensated and uncredited creator from whom much of the material was stolen. The legacies of Norman Lear and Eric Monte are forever connected. So in praising the career legacy of Mr. Lear, one is simultaneously causing more trauma and harm to the still living Mr. Monte, who is equally deserving of respect, appreciation and sensitivity at minimum. It’s acceptable that most are acting with good intent and are not even aware of this controversy. Like most of our history, it’s been hidden. But in the words of Maya Angelou, when you know better, you do better. The ask is not that you change your mind, that’s a personal choice, but that you do your research to fully understand the facts. Know what you are actually praising and the impact it’s having to a community. For those who say the timing for this information is wrong for Mr. Lear, consider that the timing is absolutely right for Mr. Monte and every member of the Black community who is being triggered right now. No one takes joy in a life loss. We all mourn the loss of a life. That includes the “life” lost to Mr. Monte. This is a tragedy all the way around. Celebrate if you will, but this would be an appropriate time to consider a donation to the Go Fund Me linked here, stated by filmmaker Dara Tucker in 2022, to support Eric Monte. If you are unaware of the controversy, and want the education, there are helpful links in the comments or simply do your own research to learn more. Yes, this is a bold post to make, but leadership requires doing difficult and sometimes unpopular things in order to do what’s right. Sensitivity is not a privilege reserved for the privileged. In a Just society, it has to be applied to all. #fortheculture

Ten years ago, I was asked to go back to my alma mater and speak to a class about my experiences in my first professional season, what it entails and the business aspect of the game. I remember walking away from that group thinking, "I would love to do this when I'm done playing, but there's no way you can make a living speaking to others." Ignorance is bliss. Last week I delivered two keynote speeches to more than 2500 people across the two evenings. The first, for a corporate fundraiser, the other to a dinner for 23 schools. Both nights consisted of the same theme: what it means to be a PRO and how winning in every part of your life brings the success in the areas you want it most. Ten years later and that ignorant young man is doing what he loves for a living: not only inspiring but giving the tools to helping others overcome their own battles. As I reflect, there are two major themes that continues to present themselves to me: 1. If there's something you truly want in the world, it is attainable, you just have to be brave enough to go and get it. 2. Don't try to map everything out because life is going to happen the way it is meant for you. The harder we fight it, the less we are capable of seeing. Dream big. Take action. Enjoy the journey.

It's not what you know... It's not who you know.... It's who knows you. When you "own" a specific problem, you become the person people go to to get it solved. It makes it easy for people to tell others about you and refer business to you. A great example of this in the online course world is Susan Garrett. Susan is a dog trainer. If she had an "I'll train your dog to be "good" course," she would have struggled. But she led with a specific problem... Recall - "I'll show you how to get your dog to come back to you every time" She became known for recall, and because she was solving a specific problem, her students saw real and demonstratable results and referred others to the program. The great thing is that once you have a client, you can offer them a wider selection of services on the back end. It also helps if the problem you own is the top-of-mind, #1 pain point that's keeping your audience awake at night.