A WONDERFUL NEW EXPERIENCE

Last weekend I was asked by Guideposts, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale’s organization, to be the Master of Ceremonies for a four day fundraising event at the Ritz Carlton in Naples, Florida. Although I have been speaking for years, I had never done this before, so I spent time preparing and talking with others who do this as a career; however, I also wanted to put my own special touch on the weekend.

They used a consultant who has developed a “formula” for these events, and my concern was that the focus might be too much on the business of the ministry and too little on the human level of creating an emotional connection with the attendees, since we give from our hearts as well as from our heads.

I convinced them that I needed a few minutes of inspiration at the beginning of each session, so I chose a theme for each of the six meetings – Gratitude (vertical), Appreciation (horizontal), Community (connection), Joy (sharing), Enthusiasm (“of or from God”) and finally, Letting your Light Shine (using all the other attributes to make a difference in the world). With each theme I either told a story, shared an idea, or read something that had touched me.

The other thing I did was to ask everyone I was introducing to share with me something funny, unusual, or that no one knew about them, so that the introductions were a delight and not nearly so formal as they usually are. These things, along with the touching stories and DVDs about the Guidepost’s ministries, created a human level sharing that brought everyone in the group together, so that a community was truly created in those few days.

I am deeply impressed by the ministry of Guideposts, and I encourage you to go to www.guideposts.com to see the breadth of what they are doing to make a difference in this world. They reach 80,000 people a day! Dr. Peale’s most well-known book, “The Power of Positive Thinking,” is still a best-seller, and it was first published in 1952.

My favorite ministry is called “Comfort Kits for Kids.” Any hospital or pastor can request these darling little treasure boxes to take to children who are ill or in the hospital. Since this is such a frightening and lonely time for children, these little kits bring them lots of love and joy. Guideposts hopes to give away over half a million of these kits in the next couple of years.

Most people know the little magazine titled “Guideposts;” however, they also have many other wonderful publications and pamphlets based on the concepts of positive thinking and God’s love that they distribute free to prisons, the military, hospitals, retirement homes, and any place where people need hope.

They also have a prayer ministry that allows people to call in 24 hours a day and reach a live person to pray with them, or they can write their request online and receive an almost immediate reply. This whole ministry functions with volunteers.

Even though I had some trepidation about this being my first time to emcee a group, it was one of the most affirming experiences I have ever had. I was deeply honored to be with the caring staff of Guideposts and to feel a small part of their life-changing ministry of love. The other blessing was to get to know the guests for the weekend whose lives, resources, and influence are making a difference in many ways in this hurting world.

If anyone needs a Master of Ceremonies now, I am ready and willing! 😉 You can learn more about my work and how to contact me at www.barbaraglanz.com.

Weekly Question and Answer

How can I create loyal employees and customers?

Click on the link to watch Barbara answer this question!

For more ways to thank your employees and customers this holiday season, why not consider purchasing a copy of The Simple Truths of Appreciation at the special November rate of $12 for the book or $15 for the book with DVD? For more details, visit www.barbaraglanz.com/products/books.php3#appreciation.

Another way to show your customers, employees, friends, and family members how much you care is by sending a “Red Plate.” Read more about this wonderful tradition by visiting Barbara’s “Idea of the Month” section at http://barbaraglanz.com/ideas/.

A friend sent me this email and I want to share it with all my friends and readers.

When the thirteen colonies were still a part of England, Professor Alexander Tyler wrote about the fall of the Athenian republic over two thousand years previous to that time:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequences: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.”

Alexander Tyler

My question to us all is — Are we going to let this happen to the United States of America? My hope is that we have broken the bonds of apathy with the number of people who voted in this election. Yet did they vote only for the candidate who promised “the most money from the public treasury?” If so, we need to be ever vigilant so we do not become dependent and, as history has so often recorded, revert back to governmental bondage.

A THANKSGIVING IDEA FOR YOUR EMPLOYEES AND CUSTOMERS

Are you looking for a creative, meaningful way to appreciate your employees and/or your customers this Thanksgiving? 

Send their families a copy of The Simple Truths of Appreciation!

THANKSGIVING SPECIAL:
BOOK $12.00 (Retail $15.95)
BOOK WITH DVD $15.00 (Retail $19.95

One of my new books is titled The Simple Truths of Appreciation-How Each of Us Can Choose to Make a Difference. There is so much negativity and cynicism all around us today that people are desperate for positives and hope and a focus on goodness. I find that everyone can seem to share what is going wrong but have difficulty coming up with what is going RIGHT, so we need to become more positive, grateful people, focused on what is good in our lives. 

The #2 thing people want from their jobs is “Full appreciation for the work they have done”, yet 65% of the workers interviewed said they got NO appreciation for the good work they did all last year. Isn’ t that sad? 

The other need we are seeing in the workplace is a desire for employees to have more connection between their families (home life) and their work life. When Baxter Labs did a worldwide study asking their employees, “What can we do to make it better for you?”, the answer most received was that they wanted to be recognized as “whole human beings with a life outside of work.” I am seeing this over and over in my work in corporate America.
Finally, new research from Gallup says that only 12- 15 % of our American workers are giving their very best to their jobs. 8 – 10 % are burned out, but that leaves 75 – 80- % just doing enough to get by. I believe that is primarily because they do not feel a sense of purpose in the work they are doing and they do not feel valued by the company.

SO, MY IDEA WOULD COMBINE ALL THOSE NEEDS, and Thanksgiving is the perfect time to do this. I would like to suggest that companies purchase copies of my book, The Simple Truths of Appreciation, and send them to their employees’ homes as a Thanksgiving gift, thanking the families for sharing the employee with them and for all their sacrifices to help them do their very best work. I think it is a gesture neither the employee nor the family will ever forget.

The book is a short book with lots of beautiful pictures, and it is filled with stories, both personal and business, of people who are making a difference through appreciating others. Even non-readers are enjoying it, so it would be a book for the whole family. Another idea is to also send it to all the organization’s best customers to thank THEM for their business.

I am always trying to think of creative ways to encourage people that they CAN make a difference. This book, containing some simple strategies of how to remember to appreciate people, like putting five pennies in one pocket at the beginning of the day and each time you appreciate someone, moving the pennies to the other pocket with the goal of not ending the day without having moved all five pennies, can help make this spirit of appreciation actionable. And that is what we need more of in this hurting world!

THANKSGIVING SPECIAL:
BOOK $12.00 (Retail $15.95)
BOOK WITH DVD $15.00 (Retail $19.95)

ACT SOON AS THANKSGIVING IS NOT FAR OFF! Special runs November 1-November 30.

To order, visit www.barbaraglanz.com/products/books.php3#appreciation.