HBJ Lifetime Achievement Award

The Hartford Business Journal Lifetime Achievement Award event was yesterday.  I was touched and truly honored to be included in this amazing group of leaders.

As a part of the program there was a brief panel discussion on leadership with the award recipients.  One question we were asked was, "Is there some trait or attribute of yours that has helped make you a successful leader?'

My answer:  "So much of who I am was shaped by my family.  I grew up in a small town, in a working class family.  My parents both worked full-time jobs and both often were doing part-time things like plowing snow or taking in other people's laundry, as well.  From them, I learned both a strong work ethic and the willingness to do whatever it takes to get a job done.

"And I was also imbued with the idea that if someone needs help and there is something I can do to help, I should just do it.  When I was in my teens, there was a large influx of Amish people moving into our part of northern New York.  My father, who worked for the railroad, learned one day of an Amish family who had been stranded on the train with no food for a couple of days.  He came home, had us pack up baskets of food from our very large garden and we headed off to give it to them.  When we got there, they were dressed very differently from us and the adults didn't even speak English, so the kids had to translate.  From that I learned that it doesn't matter if someone looks different from me or speaks a different language, if there is something I can do to help them, while preserving their dignity, then I should just do it."

I hope that I live out these lessons from my parents as well as they did!