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Personal Initiative Is Not Dead

Guest post by: Michael Hume

Article Overview: If you want to be a more inspirational leader (as do most of my clients), you have to be inspired. One way you'll know you're getting there is when you find yourself inexplicably driven to take on big challenges against tall odds....

Personal Initiative Is Not Dead

Inspirational Leaders Start By Taking On Challenges If you want to be a more inspirational leader (as do most of my clients), you have to be inspired. One way you'll know you're getting there is when you find yourself inexplicably driven to take on big challenges against tall odds.

I'm humbled to have been able to sing a lot of Christmas carols this year with America's premier caroling group, The Original Dickens Carolers here in Colorado. Recently, I worked with an agent who gave me a new lesson in the meaning of personal initiative and inspirational leadership.

Over the years, I've worked with a LOT of agents in my artistic endeavors. I have respected them all, because agents are a big part of bringing creativity to the world in a commercially-viable manner; they're both discriminating appreciators of the arts AND entrepreneurs, two types of which I'm a big fan. That said, in my experience, many agents have allowed themselves to become jaded and cynical, and for some, getting gigs for creative people is just a job they do for money. My new friend, though, seems to be a real exception to this sweeping generality: she's inspired, and inspiring.

Here's the story she shared with me recently (but not until after I'd worked with her): turns out she has a grandson who, last Christmas, was very ill with autism. One side of his brain had quit functioning. Thousands of bucks had been spent on this kid throughout his life, all in a fruitless search for an answer.

The kid had some assets, thank God: his grandmother (my agent friend) had been a teacher in Texas, and had experience teaching autistic kids. And his mom was a social worker. They were constantly on the lookout for the latest treatments and approaches, and they were uniquely positioned to find out about innovative solutions (and to recognize the good ones when they found them).

As the search progressed, they interviewed families who'd used a certain center which treats all kinds of brain disorders. One dad told my agent-friend that, after three months with this center's unique approach, he "met" his five-year-old son for the first time. He laughed with him. He danced with him! Another kid's brain turned on and he started talking like he couldn't before, and I can only imagine how his mother felt when he said the word "Mom." They'd found something, my friend and her daughter, that seemed well worth a try.

As you might guess, this sort of treatment ain't cheap. So these ladies just sat down on the sidewalk and moaned and cried about what victims they were, and how other people weren't doing enough to help them... right?

Wrong.

With the help of no one, my agent friend took on the challenge. She needed to raise the money to get her grandson into this amazing program, so she did it the way she knew best: she ran around town, setting up entire festival-like events to promote businesses in her city. She talked performers into donating their time (myself and my group happily among them). By the time the dust settled, everyone in the community benefited; and her grandson made it into the awesome brain center.

He went from "age three" to "age eight," as mental development is reckoned, then to "age thirteen," in THREE months. Through special exercises, they were able to stimulate the side of the kid's brain that wasn't working, and it woke up. And he's still improving, every single day.

My agent friend didn't stop there. This year, she's already raised enough money through events to send another kid. She offered to help any kid I know who has attention-deficit disorder, attention deficit with hyperactivity, autism, whatever.

She recently asked me if we'd sing for her again next year. The answer, of course, is a resounding "yes." Here's how I see it: if the gifts God gave me can help, even in such a small way, a kid like her grandson make such amazing progress... I'm all in. And my friends in the Original Dickens Carolers feel the same way.

Maybe you don't have a similar challenge in your life. Thank God for that! But somebody in your circle needs help, and you are good at something that could come in handy. If you want to be inspirational to others, get inspired yourself... and taking on a challenge like the one my agent friend tackled is a great way to do just that. Your family, your business, and your conscience will thank you. Because the best way to help yourself, it turns out, is to throw yourself whole-heartedly into helping others.

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Article Tags: entrepreneurship, health wealth and happiness, inspirational leadership, personal responsibility



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