Paying it forward: Choose wisely

Jack Browne
·2 min read

Change is hard, but natural — my paraphrasing from Thomas Friedman’s 2005 bestseller, "The World is Flat."

Writing as a fledgling internet enabled outsourcing, linking tasks and workforces independent of locale, he observed, “Goods are traded, services are consumed and produced in the same place.”

Fast forward 20 years, work from home allowed relocation in cities far from office desks meeting via Zoom.

Volunteers, will they follow your lead?
Volunteers, will they follow your lead?

My friend David is licensed to sell in Texas, and customers enjoy his service for insurance. He can handle my brother’s needs in the Metroplex from Wichita Falls; I gave a referral.

Spring heralds change, cabin fever increases our want for social engagement with volunteer opportunities of interest in reconnecting. The ongoing confluence of AI, algorithms and Big Data changes roles, workflows and best practices.

Add in new leaders and new processes, and things don’t work the way I’m used to. I just want to volunteer like I did before.

Gen Z, born 1995–2009, enters today’s workforce with less trust in corporations. They are also more concerned about career opportunities and also more likely to have “side gig” income streams than prior generations.

Best leadership practices favor influence rather than direction.

Egg My Yard: Sign up, you catch a breath while Big Brothers Big Sisters hides the eggs, and your kids wake up Easter morning ready to hunt eggs full of chocolate candy and treats. First come first serve. To set up, email amcdonald@bbbstx.org, call 940-767-2447 or use a google form at https://forms.gle/KsBrTfjeruuviyXg8.
Egg My Yard: Sign up, you catch a breath while Big Brothers Big Sisters hides the eggs, and your kids wake up Easter morning ready to hunt eggs full of chocolate candy and treats. First come first serve. To set up, email amcdonald@bbbstx.org, call 940-767-2447 or use a google form at https://forms.gle/KsBrTfjeruuviyXg8.

The Salvation Army shares these leadership lessons after more than 150 years of experience:

  1. Real leadership is based on integrity

  2. Treat everyone in your care with civility, and respect.

  3. Lead by listening.

  4. Know where you stand in a sea of change.

  5. Realize that you didn’t get here alone. (“perhaps echoes most strongly,” Salvation Army footnoted.)

Generations see things differently. I played Family Feud with my son’s extended family, five generations.

Question: Name one thing that wears out? While I’m thinking “knees or eyes,” Taylor, Gen Alpha, answers, “File Folders!”

A community cleanup for Eastlawn Memorial Cemetery was slated for 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at Farm-to-Market Road 369 and Bacon Switch Road.
A community cleanup for Eastlawn Memorial Cemetery was slated for 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at Farm-to-Market Road 369 and Bacon Switch Road.

Texas Panhandle fires need volunteers and donations: hay, feed, fence supplies, cattle feed, and wildlife feed, https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/2024-panhandle-wildfires/.

Can I make a difference? In the 38 counties served by the Big Country Chapter of the North Texas Red Cross, 144 volunteers interacted over 12,500 times in serving the 770,000 Texans living in those counties.

What can you do? What do you like to do? Why not? Make the world better. Share your heart and hands.

Big Brothers Big Sisters provides Easter magic! They’ll hide eggs full of candy and prizes in any yard inside Wichita Falls city limits; first come, first serve. Email: amcdonald@bbbstx.org or call: 940-767-2447 or https://forms.gle/KsBrTfjeruuviyXg8.

Jack Brown
Jack Brown

Jack Browne is a community volunteer and retired tech sales and marketing executive who worked 40 years at Motorola, MIPS Technologies and other companies. How are the children doing? Visit his website at www.newcollarcoach.com.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Jack Browne: Paying it forward: Choose wisely