Taking time each week to take a member of your staff out for coffee may help you discover more about your business than any customer survey or consultant could tell you, especially if you don’t work in your business every day. Because your staff do.

Your staff knows your customers and suppliers; they understand what’s selling and what’s not; they have ideas about displays and sales systems. They have thoughts on customer service policies and staff scheduling. And they would like to share their knowledge with you.

One of the most common complaints from staff in front-line service organizations is that there isn’t enough communication between staff and management. Even in very small businesses.

So in today’s highly competitive market, why not use every tool available to you? The coffee chat allows you to enhance two of your most important business skills:

1)    Employee engagement

2)    Communications

Consider blocking 20-30 minutes of your week to take a different member of your team out for coffee on a rotating basis. That adds up to four insightful conversations each month. Not sure what to talk about? Here are a few ideas:

• Share your vision for the business or for your customer service experience with your staff. Ask them if they have ideas on how best to deliver your vision.
• Ask them if the staff schedule is efficient but also flexible. Is it supporting or detracting from staff satisfaction?
• Ask them if they have ideas about floor displays or product promotions that could result in higher sales?
• Ask them if they have what they need to bring their best selves to work each day.

And once your employee is done sharing their thoughts on the business, then make it about them:

• Ask them about their career goals and if there are things you could do to help them in achieving those goals.
• Ask them how they would like to celebrate team success – find out what’s meaningful to them.
• Ask them what they are passionate about and find ways to acknowledge and support that.

Whether you are chatting with them about your business or about themselves, your staff will respect your interest in them, especially if you take action following your coffee chats.

Creating a workplace where staff feel listened to, appreciated, cared for and valued will result in better performances from your employees and a happier, more effective workplace.

That’s an investment in your business that will pay dividends. All for the price of a cup of coffee.

~ Maureen Douglas, Certified Professional Faciltator-IAF

Sign up for the “Weekly Wisdom” blog or for Mobilize on the go, click here:

But no matter what the issue, especially once the election is over, community discussion, connection and engagement are essential to building a healthy community and a healthy country. Sharing your voice gives government and other agencies an opportunity to consider your ideas and respond accordingly.

Here are 10 ways to take part in public discussion or share your opinions and concerns:

1. Write a letter to the editor — Whether on-line or in traditional print, letters to the editor are one of the most read sections of a newspaper. If you live in a big city, consider sending your letter to both the major dailies and the smaller community papers.

2. Write a blog — On-line communications have made having your say easier than ever. But if you want to be read and taken seriously, keep it short, sweet and respectful. If you have an issue with something, don’t just complain — offer an alternative solution. Provide food for thought.

3. Comment on line and via social media — Share your concerns or opinion on-line via Twitter, Facebook or in the comment sections below news articles, etc.

4. Show up: attend public meetings — Public meetings are happening all the time, and engaging in person is a great way to make a lasting impression. Find out about upcoming public meetings through  your municipal website, library, community bulletin boards and the events section of your local paper.

5. Respond to request for comments — During official consultation periods for projects such as environmental assessments, rezoning approvals, etc., there is a call for public comment. If you have concerns, share them at a meeting or email them to the relevant parties. Public comment received on approval processes is taken very seriously.

6. Attend council meetings — Show up to see how your local community is run. Get to know your council members and engage with them directly. Elected officials need to understand your concerns throughout their term, not just during election time.

7. Present at council meetings — Once you’ve shown up at council, consider speaking directly to them. Meetings allow for questions from the floor or you can request to present to council on a specific issue, event or project.

8. Write letters to your elected officials — Before the days of email, one letter written to an elected official used to anecdotally represent the voice of 100 people. So write a letter — an old-fashioned, signed and postage-stamped letter — the effort it takes gives it more weight than an email and is now considered to be worth even more than 100 voices.

9. Join a community group or committee — “Put your money where your mouth is” or in this case, put your time where your concern is. Get directly involved in a group that represents your passions, concerns or ideas.

10. Start a meeting or discussion group — If you can’t find a group that represents your concerns or ideas, then start one. Almost all community or activist groups started with just one or two people having a conversation that led to a commitment to action.

So use your voice, have your say, engage in the conversation. You’ll likely be pleasantly surprised by the response you get from friends, neighbours, community leaders and yes, even, elected officials. And your efforts may inspire your friends and neighbours to engage in the conversation too.

~ Maureen Douglas, CPF-IAF

Sign up for the “Weekly Wisdom” blog or for Mobilize on the go, click here:

Their decision has resulted in a family that today looks like this: nine children (they had their “Canadian baby” in 1962), 23 grandchildren, 35 great grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. So when I gathered last week with roughly 40 of my family: parents, aunts and uncles, siblings and cousins, I was once again awed by my grandparents’ legacy.

The sound in my aunt’s kitchen and living room last week was deafening. As one of my cousin’s put it at the end of the night, “I feel like I’ve just been at a rock concert. My throat is hoarse from all the laughing and shouting over the sound of everyone else. And my ears are ringing from the noise. Awesome!” The energy was electric.

The evening was filled with the excitement of connection, the sharing of personal updates and the raucous laughter of people who not just love each other, but genuinely like each other, too. It made me realize that, as someone who is fortunate to have an intuitive ability for community engagement and communications, I was standing amidst the source of those skills.

Family is our first experience with community engagement. And my family has helped me foster the engagement skills that I use daily:

• Honesty
• Kindness
• Compassion
• Good listening skills
• Quick wit
• Personal responsibility
• Positive thinking
• Can-do attitude

The grandchildren are no longer children — our ages currently span from 24 to 50. As adults, “the cousins” are good communicators, outgoing, kind, side-splittingly funny people who use their skills to bring something good to the world — in their work, in their community or simply within their own family. We trust each other deeply and can share the good, the bad and the ridiculous, no matter how long it’s been since we’ve seen each other. It’s candid and kind community engagement at its best.

In the course of three emails sent amongst the 23 cousins, we organized a memorial bench for my grandparents that we surprised our parents with at the memorial. The “get ’er done” attitude of my cousins blew me away. It made me wish that I could harness that collective energy daily and make miracles happen. And then I realized that I can.

Every time I positively connect with people — clients, stakeholders, audiences — I have my family to thank for the skills, approach and energy that helps me do good work.

So this week, consider the attributes that make you good at what you do, and how many of those characteristics were developed within your family. Commit to passing those gifts onto future generations. My grandparents did. And I am eternally grateful for their legacy.

~ Maureen Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here:

The www.dayofthegirl.org website explains why society needs this (content in italics):

History shows that it hasn’t ever been easy to be a girl, and, despite awesome changes in the status and perception of women and girls, herstory is still a complicated and challenging one.

There are a billion reasons why we need the Day of the Girl, but let’s start with just a few facts:

ILLITERACY – By 2015, females will make up 64% of the world’s (adult) population who cannot read.

FORCED MARRIAGE – One in seven girls in developing countries is married off before age 15.

VIOLENCE – One in 5 high school girls has been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner. Worldwide children as young as age 11 are forced to work as prostitutes. Some estimates have as many as 1.2 million children being trafficked every year.

BODY IMAGE – More than half (54%) of 3rd-5th grade girls worry about their appearance and 37% worry about their weight. More than half (57%) of music videos feature a female portrayed exclusively as a decorative, sexual object.”

Few Female Role Models

• Fortune 500 Companies Chief Executive Officers – Only 3% are women.
• Top Positions in Media (entertainment, advertising, telecommunications) – Only 3%
• Hollywood Top Filmmakers – Only 5%
• US Senate – Out of 100 Senators, only 17 are women
• School Superintendents – Only 24%, even though most teachers are female
• Mayors – Only 8 women run the largest 100 cities

So, here are 10 things each of us (men and women) can do to improve opportunities, self-esteem and awareness for girls right here in our communities:

1. Actively mentor girls. Offer to help at a local high school, with a youth group or with a high-school co-op program.

2. Speak out against sexist comments, advertising and assumptions about women. Oppression and inferiority jokes aren’t funny — they mask an underlying belief.

3. Support education for young women by giving to charities, endowments and other funding agencies that focus on women’s and girls’ learning and capacity building.

4. Help girls understand their rights and the power of saying no. No means no, whether it’s about sex or getting in a car with a drunk or anything else they don’t want to do.

5. Speak out against anti-choice legislation. A girl’s understanding of her potential needs to start with her (and everyone else) understanding that only she is in charge of her own body and her life choices.

6. Help girls understand their value in society. Ensure they get access to every opportunity made available to boys and the self-esteem to believe they deserve it.

7. Eliminate the tyranny of perfection by letting girls know that it’s okay to make mistakes along the way — some of our best discoveries and lessons have come from “failures”.

8. Raise your daughters to be self-reliant by helping them develop practical and tactical life skills.

9. Teach girls to be critical, logical thinkers. Girls often feel judged solely by their appearance. With strong critical thinking, they’ll look past that to understand so much more about themselves and their world.

10. Help girls cherish their individuality while embracing their place in the community. Let girls know that there are as many ways to be women as there are women in the world.

Lastly, simply love, support and encourage the girls and young women in your life to reach their full potential, by teaching them that they are equal, worthy, respected and loved. When girls become women who truly believe this, then all of society will benefit.

~ Maureen Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here:

A remarkable thing happened to me last week. I was at an International Day of Peace event in Whistler, sharing the Hello Pledge and encouraging participants to sign on to the Hello movement.

It was a lovely event, with shared songs, a candlelight meditation and powerful words spoken on the importance of peace — not just as an end to war and conflict — but for peace within each of us, because that’s the only way any of us will find true peace.

When the event was done and I was packing up, a young woman approached me and introduced herself with, “Hi Mo, I’m Susan Smith*. I don’t know if you remember me, but I sent you a very mean and nasty email a few years ago and I’d like to apologize for it.”

Wow. This isn’t something that most of us experience everyday. But I worked as Director of Community Relations for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games for eight years, and during that time, not everyone loved the idea of the Games or the plans we had for staging them. So over the years, I received my share of passionately negative emails.

I respectfully responded to these emails and, while some of them stung in the early days, I had to get used the fact that this was part of the job and learned to not take them personally. So when this young woman approached me about her email, I thanked her for her apology and let her know that she wasn’t the only person who shared their feelings with a negative email. I reassured her that dealing with challenging emails was part of my job but I sincerely appreciated her apology.

I was impressed by her courage as it was evident that this was not an easy thing for Susan Smith to do. She even asked if she could give me a hug at the end of our conversation, and being a hugger, of course I obliged. What an inspiring moment to experience at the end of a peace celebration — this young woman had found some peace by bravely apologizing for a communication she wished she had handled better three or four years ago.

She shared that her email, sent in haste and frustration, had bothered her for years and she seemed relieved to have an opportunity to apologize and find some peace in doing so. Not everyone has such a chance. So before you send a communication that you regret, think about how you may feel about it in a week, in a month, in a year from now.

Even when angry or frustrated, does your communication reflect your values? It’s important that we don’t just consider the impact of our words on others, we need to consider the impact of our words on ourselves. When we write, say or even think mean and nasty thoughts, we give them power over us. And if we are not mean and nasty people, then these words can eat away at us, knowing that we communicated in a way that contradicts our values.

This experience provides a lesson for us all — take the time to breathe and reflect on the impact that words can have, both in the moment and into the future. Apologies are important and appreciated when delivered with sincerity but it’s a whole lot easier to lead a life where your communications and interactions with others don’t require apologies.

When you communicate from a place of peace and respect, you don’t have anything to apologize for.

* Name has been changed.

~ Maureen Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here:

I love summer, especially given that I live well above the equator, in a place that experiences four distinct seasons. But where I live, spring, summer and fall all move through quite quickly. Spring is here for May and June, summer visits in July and August, then fall flies in for September and October. Winter is the show around these parts — it rules from November to April — which is a good thing when your primary economy is as a winter tourism destination. But that long winter serves to make our short summers all the more precious.

It’s not just the warmth and sunshine that I love about summer — it’s the way our social energy changes. In the winter, people tend to hibernate. In summer, people live much of  their lives outdoors. You see friends and neighbours working in their yards, out for walks or bike rides, taking in outdoor shows, hanging on a local restaurant patio or playing on the ball fields. In summer, you tend to see faces you haven’t seen for months, and everyone is friendly. People say hello as they pass, they stop to chat, they spontaneously come join you on the restaurant patio, or decide that you should come on over for a spur of the moment barbecue.

So, this year, as we head into the fall, that invariably leads to winter, I’m going to try to bring some of that summer friendliness and social energy with me into our season of hibernation. And it will start by continuing with the Hello Pledge. If you’re new to the Hello Pledge, it’s a website that invites you to make a simple conscious commitment to saying hello to people you pass throughout your day.

The Hello Pledge addresses the need to actively bridge the growing disconnect in our communities. For all the reasons I mentioned, and then some, this is less of an issue in the summer but it still exists. I did a daily walk every morning through this summer and made a point of saying hello to everyone I passed along the way. Given our weather, I won’t be doing that walk everyday through the winter, but that doesn’t mean that I should give up on saying hello to passersby that I meet throughout my day.

In our seasonal world, there’s still opportunity to say hello or engage someone new in a conversation no matter what the season — at work, at your local shops, during your commute, when you’re walking down a quiet street. Imagine the power of a simple, enthusiastic hello said to someone you pass by on a gray, rainy day. They’ll be shocked, and hopefully, delighted. Fall and winter can be a tough time for the less connected folks in our communities. Keeping your Hello Pledge commitment active during this time of year may do more good for others than you’ll ever know.

So as we move from “social summer” into “nesting autumn”, I invite everyone, and I mean everyone, to sign on and commit to saying hello to folks in their communities or wherever they may find themselves in our interconnected world. No matter what the weather, no matter what the season, it’s always a good time to say hello.

~ Maureen Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here:

A community relations expert, she has launched the The Hello Pledge, a simple act that can make a huge impact on a neighbourhood or community.

Mo told Choose Pemberton that saying hello to people costs nothing.

It takes only a tiny bit of time, energy, kindness and courage to offer a hello to a stranger.

Last weekend, Mo rode out for the Slow Food Cycle. She writes in her blog that this special annual grassroots event is a total blast because everyone is so friendly.

The road is filled with bicyclists leisurely (it’s a SLOW food CYCLE) riding from one farm to the next, enjoying the incredible scenic valley, talking about what they’ve seen, tasted or bought to enjoy at home later. The conversations are buzzing along the road and at the farms. And everyone is friendly. Strangers offer one another sunscreen, water or whatever else may be needed  —  Band-aids, bug spray, dental floss (corn was popular this year). Old friends squeal with recognition and delight at running into one another. Strangers strike up conversations about how great the day is and how many friends they’re bringing back with them next year.

Dozens of volunteers make the day function smoothly and then thousands of people show up to enjoy it all. And everyone is friendly, happy and connected.

People feel a part of something bigger than themselves, they feel closer to their community, to the land and to the food that eventually reaches their table. They feel welcomed.

So, a big thanks to all those folks who make the Slow Food Cycle possible!

People come from all over to participate in the Slow Food Cycle. Participation well exceeds the population of our teeny, tiny town. Visitors from greater Vancouver, the Sea to Sky Corridor and well beyond, descend on Pemberton to get a peek behind the workings of our local farms, to sample and purchase fresh produce, baked goods, artisan crafts and the locally-distilled gourmet vodka (We’re a potato-growing people — pretty smart, hey?).

The road is filled with bicyclists leisurely (it’s a SLOW food CYCLE) riding from one farm to the next, enjoying the incredible scenic valley, talking about what they’ve seen, tasted or bought to enjoy at home later. The conversations are buzzing along the road and at the farms. And everyone is friendly. Strangers offer one another sunscreen, water or whatever else may be needed  —  Band-aids, bug spray, dental floss (corn was popular this year). Old friends squeal with recognition and delight at running into one another. Strangers strike up conversations about how great the day is and how many friends they’re bringing back with them next year.

But at the heart of the Slow Food Cycle is community engagement and an engaged community. The event is produced each year by a volunteer committee, the farmers volunteer to be “storefronts” for the day as most of them are not usually gate-sales farms, dozens of volunteers make the day function smoothly and then thousands of people show up to enjoy it all. And everyone is friendly, happy and connected.

There is a happiness and joy attached to that spirit of connectedness that makes the day so special. People feel a part of something bigger than themselves, they feel closer to their community, to the land and to the food that eventually reaches their table. They feel welcomed.

Events are a powerful tool to build community engagement. And when done right, they do more than just engage the community that participates — they connect the participants to each other. I’ve met folks who have done the Slow Food Cycle in previous years and love to share stories of their experience. They feel connected to it and to all other participants, even on the years that they can’t attend.

So, a big thanks to all those folks who make the Slow Food Cycle possible. And yes, I said HELLO! to many, many people along the way and I’m pretty sure that I passed a few enthusiastic Hello Pledgers as well. It was a great day to practice the Pledge!

Does your community have a grassroots event that fosters connectedness, friendliness and fun? Tell us about it — let’s share the love.

~ Maureen Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here:

The Olympic Games is about so much more than sport. Cynics would say, “You’re right – it’s about corporate advertising, athlete endorsements and big money.” And while that has some truth to it — more importantly, it’s about fair competition, fostering peace through sport, forging “borderless” friendships and increasing global awareness through international participation. And there’s not much else in this world that delivers that to us every two years.

I had the good fortune to work on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and the opportunity to attend the past four Paralympic Games. The Paralympic Games (celebrating the world’s best athletes with a disability) take place 10 days following the Olympic Games and are a truly extraordinary display of athletic achievement, tenacity, commitment and optimism. And they enjoy the same and passionate, collective spirit that the comes with the Olympic Games.

Working in tourism for many years, I’d understood the importance of welcoming the world to your destination, to having a global perspective and an appreciation and gratitude for international visitors. But I had never experienced the idea of a “global village” until I was at a Paralympic Games. The Olympic and Paralympic Games bring this concept to life like no other event or gathering on the planet.

Everyone is your friend at an Olympic or Paralympic Games. Whether you’re from the host country or from halfway around the world — you are part of the experience. People cheer for their nation but they also cheer for great athletes from around the world. They celebrate excellence and heart and soul, regardless of nationality or a nation’s politics. What happens on the field of play can transform us, whether we are athletes are not. It’s a showcase of the shared human experience — triumph, tragedy, disappointment and celebration. And that’s something we can all relate to.

People connect at the Games and strangers quickly become friends. We hug, we take photos of people we don’t know, we buy you drinks, we let you go ahead in the bathroom line, we return lost items (more cameras turned into lost and found than you could ever imagine), we help you find your way and we find out that we are much more alike and that the world is a much kinder place than our daily news would have us believe. It’s remarkable and I wish I could bottle it and then release the spirit of global friendship and affection over every country in the world, like some crazed hippie crop duster.

And we don’t even have to be there in person to feel this impact. As broadcast statistics start to roll in, the London 2012 Olympic Games are shaping up to be the most-viewed Games in Olympic history. The personal stories, the unfolding dramas and the remarkable achievements draw so many of us to our screens for 17 days every two years. We revel in the spectacle and it consumes our water-cooler talk for the entire run of the Games. We connect with colleagues, friends, family and even strangers to discuss Olympic controversies and celebrate unexpected victories. And we’re surprised at how connected the Games make us feel — both to our neighbours and to every other citizen of the world.

Community engagement is an understatement at the Olympic Games. It’s global engagement at its best. And I hope that we can find a way to keep that engagement alive every day, not just when the Olympic and Paralympic Games are on.

P.S. Here’s one simple way to start. Try hello. (click me.)

~ Maureen Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here:

Several people have come up to me to say a very intentional “Hello Mo!”, leaving me slightly confused. But their greeting was usually followed by “I read your blog and I’m working on saying hello more.” Or, “I usually say hello but yes, I’ve noticed not everyone says it back”. One colleague, the fabulous Michelle Leroux, editor of Whistler Is Awesome (and awesome in her own right), even chronicled the reactions she got as she experimented with saying hello along the Valley Trail in Whistler. You can read about her hilarious and scientifically undefendable experience here.

I also received many notes from friends and complete strangers, sharing their enthusiasm for The Hello Pledge. Here’s a sampling:

What a great idea, Maureen! As it’s already something I regularly do it’s something I am happy to sign up. Neighbourhoods where people simply say hello are few and far between but it does make a difference. But if we all make an effort to be friendly, this is how friendships can happen. And then that strengthens the communities, which encourages more people to be friendly, etc. A virtuous circle. Let’s pledge! ~ Cynthia Games

I am indeed a big fan of saying hellooooo… an amazing initiative Mo! Thank you. We all need to smile and say hello a wee bit more often. ~ Cathy Goddard

From one Maureen to another: Thanks for this link. I love the idea of The Hello Pledge. This is an action we can see working before our very eyes. We can also experience the health benefits that derive from this engaging approach to community. ~ Maureen A. Jung, PhD

I always like to do this and I like it in return, who wouldn’t? I will make an even greater effort though and spread the word too. ~ Dave Manuel

To date almost 100 people have signed up to “officially” commit to saying hello to passersby. Thank you. It’s a great start. But it’s JUST A START. Let’s keep the momentum going. Let’s each encourage five people to sign on to The Hello Pledge here. Then ask them to encourage five more people and so on – the results will eventually be exponential and we’ll have many, many more people working toward creating friendlier, more connected communities.

So, as we put this into practice, please share your stories of saying hello to passersby. Are they surprised? Do they respond? Do they avert their gaze? What’s been your experience? Other Hello Pledgers would love to hear about it.

Share the Hellos. Take the pledge. Tell five friends. And my huge thanks to each of you for being part of this little initiative that could. Let’s go big! www.thehellopledge.com

~ Maureen Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here:

Ta Da!

This week’s blog will be short and sweet as all I want to share is the Hello Pledge.

After a few weeks of writing about community connectedness and engagement (more specifically, the growing lack thereof), I have launched the Hello Pledge, a site where you can make a simple conscious commitment to say hello to people you pass throughout your day.

As I said in last week’s blog — we need to start somewhere to actively bridge the growing disconnect in our communities. There’s no better way to start than with hello. So I’m starting a movement — right here, right now. The Hello Pledge is now live at http://www.thehellopledge.com. I invite everyone, and I mean everyone, to sign on and commit to saying hello to folks in their communities or wherever they may find themselves in our interconnected world.

And please spread the word. Imagine the exponential impact this simple initiative could have.

Join the Hello Pledge here.

~ Maureen Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here: .

While the lack of the passing “hello” is contributing to a pervasive sense of community disconnection and even loneliness, it’s also the easiest thing to change. So let’s change it.

I had an epiphany over the past few days. I wrote about our shocking state of disconnection in my June 26 blog “You Had Me At Hello” and challenged folks to introduce themselves to two neighbours that week. But this issue needs an even simpler solution: start saying “hello” to people on the street.

Saying “hello” costs nothing. But the investment has the potential to pay enormous dividends. The most basic of community engagements — the word “hello”, “hi”, “bonjour” “hola”, etc. — has the power to change lives. It lets people know that they are recognized, witnessed, acknowledged. That simple act could be the most powerful exchange that a person has all day: “A stranger said hi to me today, maybe the world isn’t so bad.”

Your “hello” may be met with a little distrust at first – but that’s okay. A “hello” offered along with a friendly smile usually eliminates the suspicion, especially if you keep right on walking. But once they realize that it was a simple gesture of friendliness, it may inspire them to start doing the same.

In short — we need to start somewhere to actively bridge the growing disconnect in our communities. There’s no better way to start than with hello. So I’m starting a movement — right here, right now. Well, officially, about one week from now. I’m starting “The Hello Pledge”, soon to reside on a website near you. I’ll invite everyone, and I mean everyone, to sign on and commit to saying hello to folks in their communities or wherever they may find themselves in our interconnected world.

Saying hello could lead to new discoveries, about the community around you and about yourself.

So, please stand by as I get the website ready to launch. Once I do, then it will be your turn to act by:

1. Visiting the website
2. Signing onto the “hello” pledge
3. Sending an invitation to your friends and family to do the same.
4. Then start saying hello – everyday, everywhere.

If you want to start practicing it now, that’s okay too. There’s no instruction book required.

Let’s start a hello revolution. I can feel the love already.

~ Maureen Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here: .

However, there is a common perception that no matter what our opinion or concern may be, if we share it, we won’t be heard. The June 26th Mobilize blog touched on the disconnection that residents around the Metro Vancouver region are feeling — information garnered from a Vancouver Foundation study on “Connections and Engagement”.

Having your say has never been easier. Here are 10 ways to take part in community discussion or share your opinions and concerns:

1. Write a letter to the editor — Whether on-line or in traditional print, letters to the editor are one of the most read sections of a newspaper. If you live in a big city, consider sending your letter to both the major dailies and the smaller neighbourhood or community papers.

2. Write a blog — On-line communications have made having your say easier than ever. But if you want to be read and taken seriously, keep it short, sweet and respectful. If you have an issue with something, don’t just complain — offer an alternative solution. Provide some food for thought.

3. Comment on line and via social media — Share your concerns or opinion on-line via Twitter, Facebook or in the comment sections below news articles, etc.

4. Show up: attend public meetings — Public meetings are happening all the time, attend one to see what’s going on. Engaging in person is a great way to make a lasting connections and a lasting impression. To find out about upcoming public meetings, check your municipal website, library and community bulletin boards and the events section of your local paper.

5. Respond to request for comments — During official consultation periods for projects such as environment assessments, rezoning approvals, etc., there is a call for public comment. If you have concerns, share them at a meeting or email them to the relevant parties. Public comment received on approval processes is taken very seriously.

6. Attend council meetings — Show up to see how your local community is run. Get to know your council members and engage with them directly. Elected officials need to understand your concerns throughout their term, not just during election time.

7. Present at council meetings — Once you’ve shown up at council, consider speaking directly to them. Meetings allow for questions from the floor or you can request to present to council on a specific issue, event or project.

8. Write letters to your elected officials — Before the days of email, one letter written to an elected official used to anecdotally represent the voice of 100 people. So write a letter — an old-fashioned, signed and postage-stamped letter — the effort it takes gives it more weight than an email and is now considered to be worth even more than “100 voices”.

9. Join a community group or committee — “Put your money where your mouth is” or in this case, put your time where your concern is. Get directly involved in a group that represents your passions, concerns or ideas.

10. Start a meeting or discussion group — If you can’t find a group that represents your concerns or ideas, then start one. Almost all community or activist groups started with just one or two people having a conversation that led to a commitment to action.

So use your voice, have your say, engage in the conversation. You’ll likely be pleasantly surprised by the response you get from friends, neighbours, community leaders and yes, even, elected officials. Because saying nothing is a sure way to NOT be heard.

~ Maureen Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here: .

Survey responses resulted in the following key findings:

1. Metro Vancouver can be a hard place to make friends.
2. Our neighbourhood connections are cordial, but weak. (We’re polite but not friendly).
3. Many people in Metro Vancouver are retreating from community life.
4. There are limits to how people see diversity as an opportunity to forge meaningful connections.
5. The affordability issue in Metro Vancouver is affecting people’s attitudes and beliefs.

Even though the survey focused on Metro Vancouver, you could safely insert “large city of one million+ residents” into the key findings, with the possible exception of number five. Not every city in North America shares Vancouver’s affordability challenges, but sadly, most cities are experiencing the social disconnect expressed by Vancouver-area residents.

We refer to ubiquitous on-line engagement tools like Facebook and Twitter as “social media”, but social media has fostered complacency for real, live social connections. How many Facebook friends would you trust with gathering your mail while you’re on vacation, or could call upon in an emergency? Humans need connection — real connection, as in “I actually know you well enough to call you up for a face to face coffee” connection.

Connections come in several forms:

• Family – who in our extremely mobile society may not live close by
• Friends – some of whom may be near, but many whom are farther away
• Co-workers – with which you may or may not have an outside work, personal friendship
• Neighbours – who, on average, we only the names of two and do not regularly offer a hello to the rest

Given the number of people who reside in condos or apartments, knowing only two of your neighbours is a shockingly low statistic.

So, why don’t we connect? Well, many respondents said that they don’t connect with their neighbours or make new friends because they feel that they don’t have much to offer others. How did we develop such a pervasive and shared sense of unworthiness? How did we get so isolated? It’s a painful irony to realize that if so many city dwellers share this feeling of isolation and loneliness, then needing to make stronger connections is something we all have in common. And we do have something to offer others — friendliness and kindness — which is all most of us need to ignite a human connection.

But we can fix this. It’s easy and it doesn’t cost money. It takes just a few minutes, a little confidence and an outstretched hand offered with a simple hello.

So this week, commit to making a change and ask two friends to make the commitment with you. Commit to introducing yourself to two of your neighbours. Once you do, ask them to do the same with two more neighbours. Share a short conversation. Chat about the Vancouver Foundation survey. Chat about the weather. But get out there and make two new connections in your neighbourhood. The ripple effect of your impact will likely be more powerful than you’ll ever know.

Life is a remarkable journey. But it’s a journey that’s much better shared. Invite people into your journey. Make a difference. Take the time to connect with your community and experience how both your life and your community are improved by the results.

~ Mo Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here: .

Good planning can set the tone and the stage for respectful and productive consultation. Here are 10 simple tips that help establish a positive connection with community members and stakeholders, from planning through to follow-up.

1. Understand Why.

Clearly understand the purpose of the meeting. Why is it required? Do your homework to prevent being blind-sided at the meeting. Area residents are likely to know the history on the issue. You should too.

2. Location. Location. Location.

Book a meeting space large enough for the potential turnout. Visit the meeting room before booking it. Find out if the windows open or if there’s a thermostat in the room — overheated rooms lead to overheated meetings. Make sure you have access to enough chairs — no one wants to stand through a two-hour meeting.

3. Come One, Come All

Whether they attend or not, everyone wants to be invited. Make best efforts to ensure that all impacted parties are aware of the meeting and that your invitation delivery system is dependable.

4. Setting Up for Success

Give yourself at least an hour to set-up for your meeting and plan to be ready at least 30 minutes before the meeting start-time. And unless you are in a really small room, always use an audio system. Not all presenters are loud talkers and neither are the public who may wish to comment or ask a question. Test everything — twice.

5. Meet and Greet

Every available person on your team should participate in welcoming and engaging people as they walk through the door. Thank them for coming, ask them to sign in and tell them that you appreciate them giving you their time. Give them a brief overview of meeting flow.

6. Presenters Should Only Present

Let the presenter(s) focus on presenting. Giving these folks extra tasks will only serve to distract them and possibly detract from the quality of presentation. While public meetings are a team effort, it’s important that each team member understand what their specific role is and how they can support their colleagues who are leading the presentation.

7.  Clear Roles, Clear Messages

Be clear as to who is note taking, answering questions, continuing to check-in guests, etc. And remind your team that it’s OK to answer with, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out for you” instead of attempting an inarticulate, inaccurate or inane answer that will only serve to confuse the audience and the issue.

8. Presenting with Purpose and Passion

Some staff may be great at their day job but that doesn’t mean that they’re great presenters. Presenters/staff reps need to step up and lead the meeting with the facilitator. The presenter must “own the room” by being confident in their knowledge of the issue and the presentation content. Consider mandatory presentation training for staff that present to the public.

9. Passing the Talking Stick — Speakers’ Lists Made Easy

Instead of the facilitator trying to keep visual track of people who have put their hands up, distribute numbered index cards (one to each attendee) that they can hold up when they want to speak. That way the facilitator can easily keep people apprised of the speaking order (e.g.: “Next we have number 14, followed by 7, 38 and 29).

10. Follow Up Protocols

The team lead needs to ensure that commitments made at the meeting are followed through on. This one critical step can do tremendous good for your organization’s credibility but getting it wrong can quickly result in negative public opinion. Efficient and accurate follow up builds credibility for staff and your organization’s public engagement reputation.

Engage, don’t enrage. Take the time to connect positively, professionally and respectfully with your audience. Let’s put the engaging back in public engagement.

A comprehensive 12-point version of the public meeting planning list will be available soon at www.mobilizestrategies.com. Visit us to download the full version.

~ Mo Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here: .

But in the age of digital media and 24/7 content overdrive, it’s not easy to break through the noise and grab someone’s attention. It’s even harder to secure a chunk of someone’s overtaxed time. But if done right, in-person public engagement can be a powerful and effective tool for increasing interest in local affairs and enhancing participation in community programs.

So how do we do it right? Engage and be engaging – in the true sense of the word. Here’s the definition from dictionary.com:

en·gage [en-geyj] en·gaged, en·gag·ing. verb (used with object)

1. to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons):

2. to secure for aid, employment, use, etc.;

3. to attract and hold fast:

4. to attract or please:

Notice the words in bold: “occupy the attention”; “attract”; “please”. When’s the last time you went to a public engagement meeting and it held your attention and truly “engaged” you? When were you last attracted to a meeting out of interest rather than out of frustration? And there in lies the challenge.

Public engagement, particularly in the public meeting format, has a lot of competition for your time — work and family commitments, hobbies, social time, television, Internet, email, etc. Most public engagement ads and meeting notices look like legal announcements — all small print, unreadable maps and graphs and way too much text. Where’s the sizzle? Where’s the appealing reason for me to show up? And where’s the promise of time well spent? If I’m going to give two hours to a public meeting, I’d like to know what some of the benefits will be, or at minimum, I’d like to know that I’ll be engaged.

And why shouldn’t public engagement be fun? Depending on the subject matter, there’s no reason why public meetings can’t be light, positive and dynamic. More often than not, a strong and positive moderator can find a way to share a laugh with the audience. The moderator sets the tone from the get-go and has a responsibility to maintain a positive, respectful tone throughout the proceedings.

Wouldn’t it be radical if public engagement meetings dared to not just inform, but were designed to truly engage us, connect with us, even inspire us? When I plan and moderate public meetings, my goal is to have the attendees not just say, “I’m glad I went”, but also “It was interesting, informative and fun. It was a good use of my time.”

Public engagement meetings can even (gasp!) entertain. Given the competition for time, if we can be creative in our presentations, style, interaction and tone, then, yes, public engagement can move beyond engaging to entertaining. And with that goal in mind, we are on the path to once again filling town halls and meeting spaces with citizens who are interested and excited about the process.

Next week we’ll take a look at some of the basic requirements to hosting a successful public meeting. Because in creating a better big picture, the small things matter too.

~ Mo Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here: .

Does your organization have a set of shared values? Are these values written down anywhere or posted in a conspicuous place for all to view and practice on a daily basis?

If you haven’t adopted shared values for your workplace, here’s a few good reasons to consider. Shared values create:

• A strong sense of team
• A shared commitment to workplace behaviour, ethics and support of each other
• A tangible set of expectations for each team member

Creating shared values doesn’t have to be a complex exercise resulting in a massive document. The best shared values are brief, direct and memorable. When I worked for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee, we had a simple set of values:

• Team
• Trust
• Excellence
• Creativity
• Sustainability

These five words were easy to remember but more challenging to live by. But because they existed and were an important part of our corporate culture, there was a strong team commitment to demonstrate these values. And when someone didn’t, they heard about it. If someone wasn’t playing well with others they would be told, “Your approach isn’t very team or trusting. Please remember our values.” More often than not, simply pointing out that someone wasn’t practicing our values was enough to get their behaviour and commitment back on track.

Because the other valuable tool that is enhanced by adopting a set of shared values is this: ACCOUNTABILITY.

If your team doesn’t know what is expected of them, how can they be accountable? Shared values provide a clear picture of how an organization has decided to treat each other, their clients and others. And displaying these values says a lot about an organization, particularly to visitors. It’s a way to say, “This is what we stand for and this is what you can expect when doing business with us.” Developing, adopting and displaying a shared values statement increases the level of accountability for everyone in the organization. The further you share these values, the greater your accountability to them.

Creating a set of shared values can be as easy as answering these questions:

• How do we want to treat each other?
• How do we want to treat our clients?
• What do we expect from ourselves?
• What words do we want our clients to use when describing our organization and our team?

These values will become the tool that inspires people to improve, is a guideline for decision-making (Does this decision reflect our values?) and provides a framework for accountability and conflict resolution.

Most importantly, it strengthens your team. Practicing shared values builds team spirit and performance, reduces workplace conflict and reflects an organization committed to excellence, honesty and mutual respect. And that’s something worth sharing.

~ Mo Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here: .

When the potential for trouble arises do you take a “wait and see” approach or do you get ahead of it in an attempt to cut problems off at the pass? Trouble could be anything that puts you or your organization in a position requiring some damage control: a product flaw that must be addressed; a large-scale capitol project that will cause public inconvenience; or a rate increase that your customers aren’t expecting, to list just a few.

Undoubtedly, there are folks who believe that the “wait and see” approach has some merit. Sometimes our audience isn’t paying close enough attention to notice or the uproar dies down almost as fast as it ramped up. But nowadays that approach is its own form of risk-taking — an exercise in reputation roulette, rather than strategic issues management.

Occasionally we all mess up. But the rise and speed of social media means that our mess-ups and the public’s reaction to them can go viral in a heartbeat. As frustration grows, you can hear the public outcry of, “Why didn’t they tell us sooner?”

And why not tell us sooner? Talking about problems, challenges or changes BEFORE they occur doesn’t make them disappear, but it does give people a chance to better understand and prepare for the situation.

When I was working on the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, we knew that the scope of Games-time operations would cause inconveniences for businesses and residents who lived or worked close to the Games venues. But instead of staying quiet on the challenges, we got seriously proactive. We formed the Operations Engagement Team (OET), made up of communications specialists and operations staff. The OET worked directly with impacted businesses and residents to find mutually agreeable solutions and ways to minimize the disruptions to their daily lives.

We sat down with those impacted and outlined the problems likely to occur. We told them the truth about how they would be inconvenienced. We asked for their help in working through the challenges in the short-term, for the good of the Games in the long-term. We discussed compromises and solutions. Sometimes the people impacted had better ideas than we did on how to resolve the problems. Our proactive approach earned the public’s trust so they were willing to be part of the solution.

The process wasn’t without its bumps, but we it was infinitely better than the “wait and see” approach. We wanted people to be prepared and equipped to meet the challenges ahead. We wanted them engaged and enthusiastic about the Games. And we wanted to build relationships based on trust and shared problem-solving before the problems actually occurred. So when additional challenges occurred during Games-time we already had trusted relationships in place, making problem-solving much more efficient. Rather than risking our reputation, we enhanced it.

The big lesson: Don’t gamble with “wait and see”. Share your challenges and your truth early on to foster an environment for positive and shared problem-solving. It’s a safe bet.

~ Mo Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here: .

Many years ago, when still fairly new to the complex world of people management, I found myself in an uncomfortable communication challenge with one of my staff. Fortunately for both of us, I was lucky enough to have a very wise boss.

The challenge was this: my staff member was reaching that restless in-between place where she wanted more responsibility and opportunity but still needed more experience to develop and refine the required skill set. She needed coaching. But she was reluctant to receive my coaching because she perceived it as correcting or criticizing or felt that I didn’t trust her abilities. So after trudging through a couple of frustrating and tense workweeks with one another, rather than the fun, laid-back and supportive style we usually shared, I went off to seek some advice from my boss.

After explaining the situation to him, he instructed me to “Make a deal with her. If she wants to advance her job scope and responsibility then she needs to be willing to receive your advice and coaching to get there. She needs to embrace this as an opportunity and understand that when you coach her it’s intended to be a productive sharing of your experience and skills. And by accepting your advice, observations and experience, she is better equipped to achieve her goals. It’s a simple social contract. If she doesn’t like the terms then she can always leave.”

His abruptness took me by surprise, but he didn’t say it to be harsh. He simply meant that if any team member couldn’t agree to receive clear, honest feedback in order to improve and advance, then they were working in the wrong organization.

So I sat down with my staff member for a heart to heart. I told her that she was very good at what she did and that we wanted her to stay with us and develop her skills further. I also told her that I was very willing to help her become her best. And I told her that the plan had only two conditions: 1) if you want to improve you need to be open to receiving coaching; and 2) we need to be candid about the process and tell each other the truth.

This candor led to a constructive and honest conversation about what style of feedback and coaching she processed best, what tips she had already put into practice and the specific areas in which we both felt she needed to improve. It was positive, productive and paved the way for more honest and candid conversations. And it made us a stronger team.

While I first faced this situation almost 20 years ago, I’ve since used my boss’s advice on many jobs with many staff. It’s helped me maintain a truthful and open relationship with my project teams and they’ve always embraced the chance to be coached honestly and respectfully.

So the next time you’re worried about a potentially difficult conversation with one of your team, invite them to enter into a social contract with you – to listen, to learn and to respect and honour each other with the truth. Contracts don’t get any simpler than that.

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here: .

The truth hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s just very hard to see, hidden behind the “truthiness”, “spin” and lies that make up so much of the information we consume daily. According to The New York Times, we humans now process close to 34 gigabytes of information over a 12 hour period, each and everyday.

Our access to information is exponential compared to just 20 years ago – through websites, social media feeds, email, radio, television and yes, even newspapers. With such a glut of content, sensationalism in media is at an all time high. Getting it first has replaced getting it right as a journalistic value.

The line between news and entertainment (excuse me, “infotainment”), has all but disappeared. Accuracy, fairness and the simple truth have been frequent casualties of this media shift to the point where it’s hard to know what to believe. Luckily there’s help – and it’s old school. About 3,000 years ago, Greek philosopher Socrates came up with a handy method of separating fact from fiction: Critical Thinking.

Here are five simple steps to help you better assess the truth:

1. Critical thinkers don’t take media at face value. After digesting a piece of information, does it ring true for you? Is it being presented as fact or opinion? If a news story twigs your “Spidey-sense” that something is amiss, check other sources. Just because you saw it on the news doesn’t mean it’s true (remember the runaway balloon boy?).

2. Critical thinkers establish and compare the facts. When consuming media, consider if the facts being presented are reasonable and complete. Do you have all the information? Be aware that crucial information is sometimes omitted in order to support an opinion-based news story. Consistency in the facts across several stories makes the information much more credible.

3. Critical thinkers look for the holes in any argument. “Holes” refer to the ambiguity and vagueness found in unsound arguments, opinions and propositions. Look closely at what’s being said and, sometimes more importantly, what’s not being said. The “birthers” campaign around Barack Obama’s true place of birth comes to mind. With no facts to support their position, they attempted to plant doubt about his citizenship with opinion posing at fact (and Donald Trump’s hair posing as hair.)

4. Critical thinkers evaluate the facts that lead to logical conclusions/outcomes. When considering any information, you need to determine if the facts presented support the conclusion. That means figuring out whether or not what is being presented as fact is genuinely factual (e.g. We were told (not shown) that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, so invasion was imperative). If the facts hold up to broad media and public scrutiny, chances are the conclusions will as well.

5. Critical thinkers use all five critical thinking steps and ask key questions before coming to their own fact-based conclusions. Is there clear evidence that supports the assumptions of a given argument or idea? Who gains from not telling the whole truth? Is the information presented in a rational or hysterical tone? Do the facts give weight and credibility to the argument presented? Don’t support a murky, overly simplistic, emotional, incomplete or illogical argument; and, ask to see evidence when in doubt of the facts.

Finally, critical thinkers support and pursue the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It may take a little more time than just a cursory review of the media, but in a world of half-truths, going the distance to find the full truth is essential.

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here: .

<a href=”http://www.hypersmash.com”>HyperSmash</a&#62;

Which brings me to last week. I skied for the first time in eight years, with my 12-year old son serving as trusty guide. Riding the Whistler Village gondola from mid-station to the mountaintop takes a good 20 minutes and being a local, it’s always fun to engage with visitors — find out where they’re from and how they are enjoying Whistler. I struck up a chat with two 30-something American men and soon found out about their helmet-cam challenges, where they were from (South Carolina) and how the alpine temperature signs were freaking them out. Canada uses the metric system but the U.S. is still using imperial measurements so a temperature of -2 seemed awfully cold to our U.S. friends. Once they figured out their error, they laughed it off and joked about how “We Americans just can’t get it together to adopt the metric system.”

From there we proceeded to chat and laugh about the wild and crazy ride that is the U.S. Republican primaries; the challenges of religious extremists running for senior office; the fact that several U.S. government agencies told the Canadian government to scrap our newly-passed crime bill (U.S. lawmakers shared that the “imprison everyone” approach doesn’t work and has proven an expensive failure for them). We chuckled at our differences and our shared truths, but most importantly, we had an honest, friendly conversation about issues that impact both our countries. When my American gondola-mates exited at the top we wished each other a great day and one of them said, “Thanks for the chat about politics. I love talking that stuff!”.

Later in the day, I mentioned to my son how much I enjoy ski-lift chats with strangers. He replied, “I was a bit nervous about your gondola conversation, mom. You talked about all those things you’re not supposed to talk about – you know, like politics and religion.” He’s 12! Where did he get the idea about “taboo” subjects? In this time of the Internet and reality TV, can the concept of taboo subjects still exist? Does friendly conversation have to exclude politics and religion?

My answer to him was this: “If you speak your truth respectfully and with a sense of humour, it makes others feel that they can engage you in their truth as well. Being able to laugh at yourself while respecting other opinions opens the door to really great, memorable conversations.”

So next time you find yourself on a ski lift, give it a try. You may want to start with a simple “How’s your day going?” But with an open mind and an open heart, who knows where the conversation may lead — to politics, religion, skis vs. snowboards, paper vs. plastic? When you speak a kind and gentle truth that respects the truth of others, then “taboo” subjects become dynamic discussion.

~ Mo Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here: .

The simplest crisis communications advice I can give is “Tell the truth”. Simple, yes. Easy, no.

Last week, while speaking at a conference, a delegate reminded me that sometimes it’s not so easy to take the high road, especially when senior management would rather go down that slippery-sloped other road — the one paved with good intentions.

Writing about my grandmother, Johanna “Josie” Coll, or “Nana” as most of us called her, is a daunting challenge. She’s not the kind of woman you can easily sum up in a Twitter feed or even in my 450-ish word blog. But she is a big part of the reason that my communications and speaking practice is anchored in The Truth Strategy.

Nana rockin' the truth at her 90th birthday.

After 93 impressive years, my Nana passed away last October. It was a heart-wrenching loss. She was the quintessential matriarch — a strong, loving, wise, resourceful, generous, unifying, funny, insightful, charismatic, supportive and proud Canadian immigrant — who left Ireland in 1957 with my grandfather and their eight children. With little in their pockets, they worked to give their kids a better life than Ireland could provide and embraced a new life in Vancouver, adding one more baby to the fold.My grandparents took a courageous leap to provide their family with a better future — one that now includes 23 grandchildren, 32 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild (the baby count rises almost daily).

When she passed away, I spent a lot of time thinking about what made my Nana so very special. In the simplest terms, it was this: she was honest. She told the truth — the good, the bad and, yes, the ugly. But she did it with such love, candour and sincerity that my very large Irish family and many others sought it out. Nana would always deliver honesty and expected the same in return. And no matter how tough the truth was, she always sent me off feeling like I could conquer the world.

Growing up in a world dominated by men, my Nana encouraged each of her 16 granddaughters to pursue whatever ambition they desired. She was in awe of the possibilities that Canada offered her grandchildren, thanks largely to the decision she and my grandfather made almost 60 years ago. She encouraged me to pursue every opportunity I was given and occasionally mused about what kick-ass things she would pursue if she were of my generation. These ponderings were often followed by her instructing me to “Go for it, Maure.” So I did. And I do, daily.

My Nana taught us to live each day with heart, gratitude, honesty and the powerful common sense of an Irishwoman. She was living proof that you can’t go wrong by telling the truth. And she made the best cup of tea ever. Truth.

On this International Women’s Day, I thank my Nana and all the grandmothers of the world who have shared their truth. Let’s embrace their example.

- Mo Douglas

Sign up for the weekly “Truth Tuesdays” blog or for a daily dose of truth, click here: .