40-Day Series: Thank You Rebecca Caldwell

I always admired the job Rebecca had....she was responsible for leading the national community service initiatives at Sprint. Her big time programs were the United Way, Harvesters and March of Dimes. It was the March of Dimes program that would bring us together. My boss happened to be the Corporate Executive Sponsor so I was on point to make sure the effort was a total success and surpassed the company goals. Easier said than done and without Ms. Caldwell leadership we wouldn't have come even close to the goal.

Rebecca had an uphill battle with the campaign. We were coming off a down year with the previous year's campaign missing the goal. We were in the midst of a company lay-off so the environment wasn't necessarily in the mood to give what they didn't have. All this and my boss was adamant that we find a way to help the babies and meet the goal she set which was even more than the previous year. Many would have not accepted the challenge but Rebecca not only accepted it, she embraced it with arms wide open.

We knew we had to find new ways to encourage participation to generate donations. Rebecca was completely open to suggestions, changes in process, and sharing others creative ideas to get the whole company on the same page. She displayed the rare skill of accepting help which is a true character of leadership. She knew the power of appreciation and was constantly sharing her thanks which made people want to do even more to help the campaign. The ultimate proof of her skill and more importantly her heart was the company raising 6X the funds from the previous year and blowing out the company goal.

Golden Nugget: Embrace community service and let others help you to achieve the "impossible"