As I have gotten older, life has become more of a collection of stories versus experiences. Life isn’t a checklist of accomplishments, but rather the differences that we have made. It’s amazing to see how we may be touching lives – professionally and personally. The following four stories show some of those differences that I have been fortunate to be a part of.
Professional – Automating Item Inventories and Exceeding Our Goals
Over the years we have had many opportunities to implement our solutions into large business operations for a specific outcome or set of goals. One of those organizations was a Department of Defense remanufacture base. Our goal there was to provide visibility on WIP materials and track movement during a reset process.
While we knew we’d be able to have a significant impact on their visibility and material tracking, we weren’t expecting the level of results that were actually achieved. For approximately a $5M investment (our portion) made over twelve months, they were able to reduce on-hand inventory by $500M and save 2M labor hours annually. This was far beyond their goals and won them awards within DOD.
Personal – Multiplying Impact of an Investment
My best friend of over 50 years has had an impressive impact on the world. After many years as a successful business professional, he entered into his latest mission of serving others. His focus has been on his faith and impacting those less fortunate overseas.
He’s had the good fortune to witness the multiplying impact of his work and what a small organization can accomplish with purpose, focus, and commitment. He has grown his network (from their sponsored training) of Pastor’s in Africa over the last few years from 60 to over 200. I have witnessed this explosive growth in many organizations domestically and internationally. A few people can make a difference!
Professional – Leveraging an Existing Investment into Emergency Relief that Saved Lives
One of our earliest DOD customers faced a challenge of armoring Humvee’s for use in the Iraq War. The U.S. was enduring high numbers of casualties when IED’s became commonly used by the enemy.
Working with our customer team, we were able to quickly adapt our solution into an emergency process to manufacture and prepare armored doors for field installation in the Middle East. This unplanned use of their solution not only earned them awards but more importantly, saved lives.
Personal – The Unexpected Result of a Planned Event
Recently a friend of mine shared a story with me that touched my heart and demonstrated that we never can fully plan on the results of our actions. My friend has been an Assistant Police Chief in the St. Louis area for 30 years. He and his wife have been active for over ten years working with other officers and their spouses in dealing with the stress of the job – serving others.
In 2016, he personally felt the need to go and help his fellow public safety community with the aftermath of the Orlando, FL nightclub shooting where 49 people were killed & 53 were wounded. These types of trips generally involve working outside the actual crime scene providing support (water, food, etc.) to the local teams working the incident.
On this particular trip, he was able to get engaged with the families of the victims. He was able to help them – and he ended up changing his own life in the process. We never know when the opportunity will show up for us to make an impact – and where that impact will land.
These are just some of my stories. I know all of you have many more that you’ve either experienced directly or heard about along the way. The bottom line is that when we are intentional in doing our best and delivering value, we will be able to achieve both planned and unplanned successes. It’s nice to see the multiplying effect we can make with our efforts.
