The Lift | Brian@GrowthWorks

Doing the Right Thing--Not Winning--Is Everything...

2019-01-21T14:29:47-06:00

This is a refreshing and challenging reminder about what it means to be a good person. I really appreciate CBS's Steve Hartman's work.

(Email subscribers can watch here.)

Love for a Thousand Years...

2018-03-23T11:24:14-05:00

Need a shot of joy and heart-busting love? Here ya go...

Make a Difference,

Brian

Lessons from an 8-Year Old about How to Make the World a Better Place...

2017-06-01T10:25:25-05:00

Kudos to State Farm for sharing this story about a child who knows how important it is to see the world beyond our own playgrounds...

(Email subscribers can watch here.)

If you are a parent looking for ideas and resources to raise children like Katharine, check out Doing Good Together, an organization founded by my good friend, Jenny Friedman.

Make a Difference,

Brian

Elevating Humanity: It's a Lifelong Opportunity about Learning and Leadership...

2017-05-22T11:33:55-05:00

If any part of what you do for a living relates to making the world a better place, I think you'll find context, inspiration, and insight in this 20-minute video. It's a commencement address by a lifelong friend, but it's for anyone who looks at life with a bent toward always learning, always growing, always trying to understand the value of connections, collaboration, and relationships.

(Email subscribers watch here.)

Make a Difference,

Brian

It's All about the Conversations...

2017-04-27T10:02:56-05:00

The most important thing I've learned in a whole bunch of years facilitating biz meetings and processes: It's all about the conversations. Getting people to talk to each other in productive creative ways may not be the quickest or easiest route to resolution, but it is the best.

Heineken – yup, the beer maker – and Francis – yup, his Holiness the Pope – created videos that help make that case, and that are inspiring and insightful if you’re looking for ways to make your business a better place to work or to make the world a better place to live.

Pope Francis prepared his video for TED2017. Addressing the conference’s theme, “The Future You,” he stresses that everyone and everything is connected, and that looking into the future about ourselves invites us to open a dialogue today about the role each of us has play in helping each other – regardless of race, ethnicity, sex…

I’m glad I watched both: 4 minutes and 25 seconds, and 17 minutes and 44 seconds well spent. Good alone, better together.

(Click the CC tab on the bottom bar for Closed Captioning on the Pope's video.)

(Email subscribers can watch here.)

Make a Difference,

Brian

A Clarion Call for Intelligence...

2017-04-21T16:54:10-05:00

Neil deGrasse Tyson has challenge for Americans who care about the future. Despite lapses by those who are supposed to be leading the way, he's warning that without a return to intelligent scientific diligence and reasonable political discussion our country and planet are in trouble. Alternative facts and choosing to not believe in inconvenient facts are not what made America great, and certainly are not a path to a brighter future.

There's some stuff we all need to deal with in whatever small ways we can, and he does an unsettling job of sounding the alarm.

(Email subscribers can watch here.)

Make a Difference,

Brian

Such Is the Way of Goodness...

2016-10-27T11:01:48-05:00

This is a great story about the power of kindness -- a bit of an antidote, perhaps, for getting through the final ugly unkind days of the 2016 U.S. election season.

As Steve Hartman, the storyteller, puts it, "Acts of great kindness are done without expectation... but such is the way of goodness. The more likely you are to live for others, the more likely you are to live happily ever after."

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BONUS: If you are a parent looking for ways to help your kids come away from the election vitriol with as few scars as possible, check out How Kindness Can Win the Election, an article by Dr. Jenny Friedman, executive director of Doing Good Together, an organization focused on empowering families to raise caring, engaged children.

She says, "The spiteful, unfiltered rhetoric of this 2016 election has made me more concerned than ever about the decline in compassion among young people. The decline is becoming pronounced not just on TV but in classrooms, where teachers report more hate language and an increase in bullying as kids model what they’re hearing from candidates and their surrogates. Children, especially children of immigrant families and children of color, are expressing fear about their safety – and their families’ futures."

The article includes concrete things parents can do to keep children focused on their higher angels.

Make a Difference,

Brian

The Power in Thinking about Why Do You Do What You Do...

2016-08-04T17:49:27-05:00

The idea of purpose driving performance has been showing up frequently and with renewed potency recently in the facilitation work I do . I have long referred to the Simon Sinek TEDTalk video outlining his "golden circle" as an inspiring resource. The Michael Jr. video is a new and equally inspiring discovery for me.

The Sinek video speaks to the head. The Michael Jr. to the heart. Together, in about 10 minutes, they make a compelling case for making time to ask the question, Why do I do what I do?, before getting too swept up in figuring out how to do what you do.

You can find the Amazing Grace video here on Michael Jr.s' YouTube Channel...

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Michael Jr. (YouTube Channel)

(Email Subscribers Watch Here)

Simon Sinek (Start with Why website)

Make a Difference,

Brian

Changing People's Lives Is Freakin' Cool...

2016-05-11T14:52:04-05:00

I was looking for something to offset all the unpleasant noise from the US Presidential election campaigns and found this -- a story about a teacher changing lives, one kid at a time.

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Make a Difference,

Brian

Cutting through the Ugliness: Kindness is the Only Currency You Need...

2015-12-12T12:48:19-06:00

This Secret Santa has been handing out $100,000 worth one-hundred dollar bills to strangers for a decade. People clearly appreciate the cash, but this version of the giveaway has this other message that has nothing to do with money. Listen and you'll hear this message:

"Kindness is the bridge between all people.
Kindness is the one thing that cuts through everything,
regardless of your station in life."

(Email Subscribers Watch Here)

Make a Difference... Be Kind,

Brian

P.S. Thanks Steve Hartman. Love your work.

Rewire: Where Has the Human Connection Gone?

2015-10-31T12:49:50-05:00

The desire for personal and community connection is universal, healing, and powerful, and I can feel it in this 3-minute video experiment when even strangers simply take a minute to look into each others' eyes.

Eye contact isn't for everyone. There are cultures that discourage or even prohibit it. But I'm a dreamer, so this makes me wonder what might happen to bipartisanship in Washington DC or what mending might happen with frayed personal relationships by trying this simple experiment to reconnect.

(Subscribers Watch Here).

Make a Difference,

Brian

Hope and Forgiveness...

2015-08-31T13:18:39-05:00

The nine women in this chorus, The Lady Lifers, are serving life sentences in prison in Pennsylvania. Under that state's laws "life" means there is no option for parole. Their only hope for ever walking free is for commutation by the governor -- something that has happened twice since 1989.

I clicked to watch this 9-minute video not knowing most of those details. I was compelled by current events and questions about social justice to follow the link. I come away still not knowing the full individual stories, but compelled again -- this time to spread their shared story... our shared story.

We've been dealing with race and poverty issues in the United States for a long time, and we don't have things figured out. Until I saw this video, these women were out of sight out of mind. The thing that moves me most is that they are not pleading innocence, but they are posing a universally important question: Is it right or even beneficial for our society to broadly and irrevocably strip part of our community of all hope of freedom and mercy? Is that who we want to be?

I believe it's worth seeing these issues through different eyes and hearing them through different voices. If you agree, watch and please share this video.

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Make a Difference,

Brian

Toys from a Tot... and a Shot of Pure Joy

2015-08-14T10:32:30-05:00

He's six. Maybe he doesn't truly understand what it means that he has lost both his parents. Maybe. But for sure he know what it means to spread joy.

Remember?

(Email subscribers Watch Here)

Make a Difference,

Brian

Just Breathe: Lessons on Dealing with Anger--from Kids...

2015-05-25T12:05:45-05:00

The world can be an angry place. Hang in for the final breathe of this 4-minute video and you will come away with insights and hopes about redirecting energy that is often so poorly spent.

These are some really smart kiddos...

(Email Subscribers Watch Here.)
Thanks to Julie Bayer Salzman & Josh Salzman at Wavecrest Films!

Make a Difference,

Brian

Remember Zach Sobiech...

2015-05-20T20:35:35-05:00

Zach Sobiech died two years ago today. I'm holding onto the lessons his story left with me.

Here's what I wrote and the videos I shared in 2013... (Email Subscribers Watch Here)

This is a powerful 22-minute documentary about "a kid who went down fighting and didn't really lose." It's heart breaking to know the 17-year old star, Zach Sobiech, died today (May 20, 2013) , but he lived his short life so well that his story is going to live and inspire a long time. It has and it will change lives. Maybe yours.

In February (2013), I posted a Blog item about Zach under the headline: If I Only Had a Little More Time... Inspired by the song, Clouds, which he had written, performed and posted on YouTube, I asked, "If you only had a little more time, what would you do? What would you change?" Zach, a high-school senior in Stillwater, MN, had osteosarcoma cancer and was told it would take his life by this month. He was about out of time.

He made the choice to embrace every day with hope and joy. And in this documentary from director, Justin Baldoni, he puts it pretty straight: "You don't have to find out you are dying to start living."

Watch... and please share.

And this is the original music video:

Make a Difference,

Brian

The Power of Giving...

2015-04-13T16:29:51-05:00

What I appreciate most about this story is the glimpse it provides into homelessness -- especially in the final segment.

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A link to an article in The New Yorker about a decision in Utah to give homes to the homeless. "Handing mentally ill substance abusers the keys to a new place may sound like an example of wasteful government spending. But it turned out to be the opposite: over time, Housing First has saved the government money."
A link to an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about a tiny-homes initiative in Madison, Wisconsin.

Make a Difference,

Brian

Street Cuts...

2015-04-07T17:14:46-05:00

Another individual doing small things that make a big difference for others.

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Thanks: Video from KarmaTube

Make a Difference,

Brian

A Slice for Life...

2015-03-14T18:28:13-05:00

A great story about how a small gesture can make a big difference.

(Email Subscribers Watch Here -- 3 minute video)

Thanks Upworthy!

Make a Difference,

Brian

The Heart Remembers...

2015-01-02T14:04:09-06:00

There is so much to like about this story -- about a man with no memory who remembers to buy his wife flowers because his love is so instinctual.

A great couple of minutes to help start the new year...

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Make a Difference,

Brian

A Little Bit of Healing...

2014-12-15T07:59:46-06:00

Another Secret Santa story from CBS' Steve Hartman, this one with a little different twist -- a bonus gift of helping build a little trust between cops and the community, in what has been a tough year in law enforcement.

(Email Subscribers Watch Here.)

Make a Difference,

Brian

A Christmas Lift...

2014-12-13T12:37:07-06:00

"Whether you believe in Santa Claus or God or fate," Steve Hartman begins this video, you are going to love this story.

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Make a Difference,

Brian

Never give in. Never give in. Never. Never. Never...

2014-10-27T08:14:51-05:00

Lauren Hill is chasing a dream -- under the most dire circumstances. As CBS' Steve Hartman says, she is literally living for basketball, hoping she can hold off terminal brain cancer long enough to play in her first college basketball game. And in sharing her story she's breaking hearts and lifting hopes. Hartman calls her a new American Super Hero. Watch this 3-minute video. I think you will agree.

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Lauren's favorite charity: The Cure Starts Now (Curing Cancer, One child at a Time).
To purchase a Rally Towel to support Lauren: Never Give Up (custom designed by Lauren).

Please share this video and message, and consider making a donation to support Lauren Hill's other dream: to help save the lives of other kids fighting brain cancer.

Make a Difference,

Brian

The Great Boatlift of 9-11: Everybody Helped Everyone...

2014-09-11T13:32:31-05:00

This is an 11-minute story about "people just doing what they had to do"... about "everyone having a little hero in them." It's a 9-11 story about scores of average citizens who answered a call for help to get a half million people off Manhattan in 9 hours after the destruction of the World Trade Center Towers -- the largest sea evacuation in history. Narrated by Tom Hanks.

(Email subscribers Watch Here or click on the headline)

Make a Difference,

Brian

Helping the Homeless...

2014-09-05T08:30:56-05:00

This is an idea worth spreading.

Go here for more information about The Street Store.

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Make a Difference,

Brian

A Sermon at the Barbershop...

2014-08-12T13:45:01-05:00

To make a difference, "Sometimes you have to step up so you don't fall back," as it is so compassionately explained and played out by the woman in the final segment of this 8-minute video.

This is a hidden-camera program produced by ABC News for the show What Would You Do. This example of being challenged to step to do the right thing happens to be about race, but its questions and lessons go way beyond that issue.

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Make a Difference... Step Up,

Brian

With Perspective and Acceptance Comes Possibility...

2014-07-21T12:19:24-05:00

Six minutes of pure inspiration. An uplifting reminder about what it really means to be successful...

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Make a Difference,

Brian

Every Moment Makes a Difference...

2014-07-03T14:27:56-05:00

Money, power, titles, and influence do not a leader make, according to this inspiring and funny TEDx presentation by Drew Dudley. It's the "lollipop moments" of everyday leadership that make the biggest difference in people's lives, and those moments are often overlooked -- by those who give them and those who receive them.

Watch. It's six minutes that may change what you notice and what you do to help make the world a better place.

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Make a Difference,

Brian P.S.

Thanks, Drew! You made a difference -- again.

Color Blind or Color Brave?

2014-05-23T10:43:29-05:00

Race is an issue in America -- in businesses, in society, in families. So is diversity of many other ilks. (Read "Far from the Tree" by Andrew Solomon, who writes incisively and compellingly about what it takes to be a family dealing with the diversity of dwarfism, autism, Down Syndrome, schizophrenia, physical disability and more.)

The comments posted on YouTube about this TED Talk by Melody Hobson clearly demonstrate the extreme differences of opinion about how -- or if -- to deal with the issue. One suggestion, if you are willing to invest 15 minutes in watching this video — and I recommend you do: Don't lose sight of the main message by nitpicking the details. Don't look for flaws in her storytelling or points to flip against her rationale or to support the status quo. Consider openly Hobson's challenge: Color-blindness sounds like a good theory, but it's passive and comes up short of creating change. Instead, we need to be color brave. That's the conversation that has to happen. And it has implications for prejudices and limitations that go beyond race.

The TED promo says: The subject of race can be very touchy. As finance executive Mellody Hobson says, it's a "conversational third rail." But, she says, that's exactly why we need to start talking about it... that speaking openly about race — and particularly about diversity in hiring — makes for better businesses and a better society.

It won't be easy...

(Email subscribers watch here)

Make a Difference,

Brian

P.S. Another link for an additional site related to Far from the Tree

It Takes a Village... and Action

2014-05-05T13:45:52-05:00

They saw a problem that many might have ignored.They didn't. They knew what had to be done. Knew it would be difficult. But did it. And they saved at least one life in the process.

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Make a Difference,

Brian

Giving Back...

2014-04-03T15:19:27-05:00

She was giving back, expecting nothing in return. People noticed, and paid it forward. Lotsa lessons in here about how to live life well.

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Make a Difference,

Brian