President’s Message
This message’s theme evolved just after our December BWNA general meeting where we enjoyed a delightful musical performance by a group of Beaumont Middle School students. A few days after the meeting I visited BMS, and as I was leaving a student with an accompanying adult was walking towards me heading into the school. Without any initiation by the other adult or myself the student volunteered a strong and hearty “Good day, sir” that caught me off guard, but I managed a mumbled thank you. Recovering a bit, I believed I recognized the student from the BWNA performance, so I turned around and strove to catch up with him. Sure enough when I asked if he had been one of the singers, he excitedly responded with a very positive “yes, sir.” I took the opportunity to thank him and say how much the neighbors in attendance had appreciated their performance, upon which he extended his hand to shake mine while beaming a broad smile. I’ll admit that brief encounter bolstered my whole day, as I hope it did his.
That same week I had the opportunity to take three of my grandchildren out for dinner at one of their favorite Chinese places. Opening my fortune cookie at the end of the meal, I read the line “Courtesy is a habit that never goes out of style.” This prompted a discussion about how the act of extending simple courtesies to others tends to come back to you many times over, often in ways you aren’t expecting.
Reflecting back on my early days in production management, I remember quickly learning that just by acknowledging the small extra effort by operators with simple “thanks” or “good job” gained me more loyalty and support then just about any other actions I took. As the saying goes, a little recognition goes a long way.
While we don’t often get a chance to do something that has a significant or even life-changing impact on others, we do get dozens of opportunities daily for those little things such as holding that door, saying excuse me, pulling over to yield to an on-coming car, picking up that dropped item when someone is struggling with a child at checkout; the list is endless. As a neighbor, it might be knocking on the door if you see a few papers on the porch, righting a garbage can blown over, corralling the dog that escaped or cutting someone’s grass while they’re on vacation.
I’m reminded of that recent ad on TV showing people observing tiny good deeds done by others and then performing their own simple acts that in turn are seen by others and so on and so forth. Just imagine the impact if two or three people observe a kind act and pass it forward; the impact mushrooms in a compounding fashion. In fact, I have named this social phenomenon in a work entitled “Theory of Propagation of Little Things”—ToPoLT for short—and I’m patiently waiting by my phone for a call from that “noble” organization in Oslo.
In retrospect, the real key to my theory are those folks who travel through this life—often unknowingly, acting as constant initiators—such as that student I encountered at BMS, for they are the true winners.
See the picture of the Beaumont Middle School performers on page 9.