What gets discussed when two CEO’s get together to discuss LOVE ❤️and helping others?
I met up with a fellow CEO this week
His name is Sam Watts
He is the CEO of the Welcome Hall Mission
This is an organization that helps human beings
A lot of them!
More specifically, those who are struggling with poverty and homelessness.
Sam invited me for a tour of this organization this week
This is what was written on his business card
“Shelter. Food. Love”
Love
The L word.
I certainly witnessed and felt a lot of LOVE during the tour
But there was another L word that came to mind to me as well
That word was LEVERAGE
From what I could see,
The love was being leveraged, big time!
Leveraged in a very systematic, organized and structured way
Usually I don’t like the word organization and systems and structures because they conjure up thoughts of big and bureaucratic and wasteful
But in this case, it was the SYSTEM that impressed me so
This is a non-profit organization yet they seemed more efficient than a for profit organization
What gives?
My supply chain practice friends would be envious
I had just lunched with one of them earlier that day, before heading off on the tour
She had mentioned how frustrating she found the waste in many of today’s organizations
Many of them, with a mandate to serve the greater good of the people of their community ☹
When it comes to giving back to the community
I have always admired the volunteers on the front lines
But I have a newfound appreciation for the impact that the folks in the back of the house and the office can make
I have a new found appreciation for engineers and strategists and accountants and change management professionals
In this case, they have created what looks like quite the LEVERAGE model
And in this case, the results and impacts of the leveraging results in more sharing and caring and a lot more love
Love and caring for some very beautiful people, who at this point in their lives, can use a little extra
I am going to take off my CEO hat for a bit
(I am keeping my storyteller hat on)
And I am going to put on my management accountant hat
One of the eye openers for me during the tour
Was how efficient everything was
The system was set up in such a way that most of the waste was eliminated
And economies of scale came into play in a big way
The results, from a supply chain point of view, were that
Perishable food from the donors got to the people who needed them the most, in as timely a fashion as possible
And they got there at a lower cost and a lower impact on the environment than could have been done without that system
That lovely system that is taking care of so many lovely people
I told Sam that my kids and I were doing our part
We had put together some food to share with some food basket drives
Then Sam explained to me how I was better off just giving him the money in the first place
How their leverage model would leverage our money and our time spent providing our food contribution
What he described made sense but then he quantified that impact
As follows:
Dave, “a $20 donation turns into $200 of food due to our efficiency – and the donor gets a tax receipt”
Ten times the ROI of our cash plus a tax receipt.
Wow! Talk about magic!
Now, don’t get me wrong
There is no system without the people behind the system
I don’t want all of those beautiful people to get lost in this story
But I have seen lots of examples where we throw a lot of good intentioned people into ugly systems
Ugly systems that waste time and energy and resources and cash and ultimately people
Having seen both types, I prefer the lovelier version 😊
What am I going to do differently based on my tour?
MY holiday and new years resolution all wrapped into one:
In Cash:
The kids and I are going to do our best to reduce food waste in our household
Supposedly, there is enough food to feed everyone in our community but it gets wasted
There is also an impact on the environment of that waste
We will then take some of those cash savings
And we are going to turn them over to Sam and his people
In order that they can do their magic and leverage it to help a whole lot of other people
In Kind:
It would be nice to see the result of all the magic on the faces of some of the beautiful people who are feeling it
The people who are being helped in the first place
Helping them, help themselves, get back on their feet
Which is part of the mission of the Welcome Hall Mission
So, to that end
The three of us are going to spend a shift helping out in the grocery store (i.e. Marché)
Watching that food pass through the tail end of that system
And into the hands of the lovely recipients
Oh! that lovely system!
What are you going to do?
There are a lot of ways to spread the LOVE
Feel free to join in
In cash and/or in kind
Here is the link to make a CASH or other type of donation https://welcomehallmission.com/ways-to-give/
Here is the link for more information and to volunteer: https://welcomehallmission.com/
And for all you engineers and supply chain specialists and members of other professions and trades in Montreal and elsewhere
You might want to take a peek at some of the systems of the organizations supporting the people in your communities
Quite likely that there are some efficiencies to be found there
Nothing a little love and effort can’t fix 😊
Enjoy the holidays everyone!
And thanks for helping a lot of other people enjoy the holidays as well!
And …..
Thanks for the TOUR Sam!
Thanks to YOU and YOUR wonderful and talented team!
Those on the front lines and on the back lines 😊
Without that team, there would be no system and a pretty empty and unloving organization
Cheers
Dave
Life Coach. Serial Storyteller. Change Champion. Elderpreneur. ….. and CEO of MY own business. Another business with a mandate to help others 😊
Is there an important change or transition that you would like to make in your life?
Let’s discuss how we can work together to make it happen.
Here is the link to schedule an introductory call
I am looking forward to helping you along YOUR journey of change!
