In response to a One-Word post I wrote HERE, a former client and my friend, Gary Fly, offered up his Three Words as well as the inspired story buttressing those words.
Gary is the Founder and President of Performance CXO, a management consulting firm focused on increasing revenue, EBITDA and enterprise value. He wrote the following:
I have spent a great deal of time this past year in contemplation. As I have gotten a bit older, I have become consumed by the idea that I want to live a life centered on faith, family, service and joy. To that end, I have spent time praying, reflecting, reading, observing, and talking with friends, family and co-workers to better understand how/where I fit in the world.
My aim is to live my faith in a way that is aligned with God’s will, to be a better husband, father, brother, uncle (and friend), to be of service to my faith, to those I encounter and to my church, and to do it all with joy.
This process has led me to the realization that my talents/skills/abilities are that I have a gift to organize, energize and mobilize people/teams of people to work towards a common goal and, when I am doing this in service of something important, I feel that I am being of service with a joyful heart.
So, my words are energize, organize, mobilize, and I now use them to filter what I do, how I spend my time, and I use them in prayer to ask/discern what God is calling me to do.
Codifying the Idea Through a Journey of Opportunities
It is interesting to me that over the last 20 years I have been called on many occasions to use these skills, but it truly wasn’t until the last year that I codified the idea.
The journey started in a meaningful way when our Pastor asked me to join, and then later chair, our school board. The school was in a fragile condition on many fronts and over the course of 5 years we were able to create a situation of strength and stability; ultimately, we were recognized by a national organization as a school board of excellence.
This then led to me chairing two capital campaigns raising $13M for the church and school, organizing literally hundreds of volunteers, and again, ultimately being recognized by an international stewardship organization for our marketing, organizing and fundraising efforts.
These opportunities led me to an opportunity to join an international organization dedicated to service to the poor and sick. At the time, there was no region in our area, and I had to travel to Charlotte for meetings etc. However, within 3 years of becoming a member, we were able to start our first region of which I was the first leader, and since that time, we have grown to 40 members locally and have been able to place 5 of our members into key leadership positions with the broader association.
Separation Created an Emptiness Leading to a Year of Contemplation + Ultimately the Selection of My 3 Words
As I wrote, while I was involved in all of these activities, I was focused, engaged, joyful and part of something bigger, so I let it all fade away and became distracted with the mundane, the busy, and really entered a period of some separation from all of this –and for the life of me I can’t figure out why — but I think that this separation created an emptiness that then led me to the year of contemplation ultimately landing on organize, energize, mobilize (my 3 words).
Opportunity to Be a Force Multiplier
As I reflect on these words and think about the success we have had with the initiatives I mentioned, the clarity I gained is that while I am okay as a contributing member of an organization, where I truly believe I am aligned with God’s will is when I am helping a team of people do something bigger. I feel as if I can be a force multiplier when I am using these gifts. Here is how I landed on that…
- In the building of a new church, our parish has grown from 850 families to 1,800+. We now have 81 ministries that serve our community, we have a vibrant youth ministry and senior’s ministry, we collect literal tons of food for local food banks, we have hosted thousands of weddings/baptisms/funerals, and the church provides a place of rest, hope, and rejuvenation for thousands on a weekly basis.
- The school board work allowed the school to strengthen its finances, to implement a plan to increase pay, to have a strategic facilities plan, and to create a proactive outreach/recruitment plan. This has resulted in years of stable/growing student population, a stable base of qualified teachers and staff, the addition of an early education building and programs, an active arts department and a competitive athletics program. Ultimately, we have been able to create a very traditional learning environment for 450 students a year to grow, develop ,and develop a strong foundation for success as adults.
- Since becoming our own region, the service organization has been able to provide significant, hands-on, help to the poor and sick. For example…
- We have served thousands of Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving meals to low-income seniors. We have served thousands of meals to men and women in last-chance drug and alcohol treatment facilities. We have provided comfort to hundreds of prisoners through a pen pal program, have donated over 5,000 books to prison libraries, and are now establishing an in-person visitation program.We have donated hundreds of specially designed and constructed coats for the homeless.
- We are now setting up an on-going relief effort to help people in western NC displaced by hurricane Helene.
I mention these things to highlight what I think are the gifts God wants me to use, and the way I am supposed to plug into the world. The list is in no way intended to indicate that I did this alone but rather it was through reflecting on these items that I was struck with the idea that I should focus on organize, mobilize, and energize and to realize that when I do, I am of service and filled with joy.
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This guest post was written by former CareerTrend client, Gary Fly. Gary is the founder and President of Performance CXO, a management consulting firm focused on increasing revenue, EBITDA, and enterprise value. Performance CXO helps companies harness decades of executive management experience without the expense of hiring a full time senior executive.
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