Making a Life, Not Just a Living

By John Hagerman

For the past eight months I’ve been teaching public relations and public speaking. When I teach, I’m not always very subtle, so I’m pretty blunt about telling my students that part of their future jobs should be advising their employers to get on the bandwagon for doing good things in the community. I showed them the Edelman Good Purpose survey that says customers expect companies to do more than just write checks. I also shared some of my 10 years of experiences working with employees and organizations helping them find ways to make a difference. The positive impact on employees who are encouraged to get involved in doing good in the community is measured by more than increases in productivity; it’s measured by greater satisfaction in their work, better retention rates, and the shared connections that build stronger communities both inside and outside of the workplace.

I can easily trace the roots of my commitment to making a difference to a single day in 2003. As I gave the eulogy at my mother’s funeral in October of 2003, I looked out and saw a church overflowing with people. Two days later we filled the Old Log Theater, the home of her actress soul, with another 400 people. I couldn’t help but wonder how many people would show up at my funeral. I didn’t like the answer and knew I needed to make some changes, but I wasn’t sure what to do.

My wife gave me the answer a few months later when she gave me a framed Winston Churchill quote that read, “You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give.” The quote resonated with me and moved me to start taking action almost immediately.

Less than a year after her funeral I launched the Spirited Folk Music Series of bluegrass concerts at my church. It was a way to invite the community in and give them something they’d said they wanted – music and concerts they could afford. The concerts brought in fifteen hundred new visitors and resulted in one marriage.

Four months later a horrendous tsunami struck Asia. Five weeks after the disaster I produced a six-band concert to benefit Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), and a bluegrass music CD to help the relief efforts of the American Refugee Committee. Both efforts required a lot of support, but I couldn’t help notice how energized people became when I offered them the chance to help.

With the benefit concert came an offer to become statewide coordinator for ERD. I jumped at the chance and set out to build a network of Parish Representatives. Thirty-six newly recruited reps were in place when Hurricane Katrina struck. Working with the Bishop I developed a matching donations challenge and activated my reps to reach out to their communities and the donations rolled in. By the end of the year ERD in Minnesota had raised $750,000, compared to just $95,000 the year before. All the credit goes to the people who were willing to put time and effort into making it happen. It was rewarding to watch and, as I’ve been told, even more rewarding for my reps on the frontline. I was hooked on getting people engaged in doing good things.

At the time, my brother Carr was a speaker who travelled the world talking about FISH!, the best selling corporate training video of all time, and the subject of 30 million books sold globally. I had earlier had the chance to write an audio version of the film, and actively watched Carr speak with an eye toward helping him improve. Carr partnered with Stephen Lundin, PhD, the author of the FISH! books to write a book called Top Performer, A Bold Approach to Sales and Service. The book uses the metaphor of a street performer as a model of how to business in a digital world.

They asked me to produce a video about the book, then asked that take on launching a customer service and innovation training business based on it. What resulted was a video that inspired people to take ownership of their work in ways that allow them to make a difference in the lives of everyone they meet. It was potent stuff and within a few months we’d landed national contracts with companies like Hampton Hotels, Best Buy, and Outback Steakhouses. After producing and managing a 20-city training tour for 5000 owners, managers, and franchisees at Hampton, I was fully immersed in the world of employee engagement.

For years Carr had told the story of a teenager at a Best Buy who gave him a life changing customer service experience, as part of his presentations. That’s right, a teenager at a Best Buy changed my brother’s life by how he approached customer service. After hearing the story so many times on the tour, and seeing the reactions of the audience, I told Carr he needed to write the story. People wanted it, and it only made sense to deliver. I was fortunate when he asked me to help. I knew the story had impacted tens of thousands of people and changed a lot more lives, mine included, so I couldn’t wait to capture it on paper. It’s been a long process, but the book, Learning to Fly: Lessons From a Real Life Superhero, is finally on the market.

The book tells that teenager’s story, and it asks two questions, “How do I get to be a Superhero?” and, “How can I fill my business with Superhero employees?” When I give a presentation about the book and story, I focus on a message of whole-hearted engagement in work and in life. I talk about the fact that people don’t have a private life and a work life; they simply have a life and that everyday they get to make choices on what they are going to do with that life. I share the Winston Churchill quote and talk about how real success isn’t measured by home much money you earn, it’s measured by how many lives you’ve positively impacted. People love feeling empowered to go out a make a difference.

The past four years have been filled with chances to more actively help people make a difference. I was invited to help launch EpiscoBuilders, a partnership of several Episcopal churches focused on building homes for Habitat for Humanity. I created a website, helped plan a launch event, and handled all the PR. The results have been several homes built and hundreds of students and volunteers discovering the joy of making a difference.

From 2011 to 2013, first as Development Director, then as Marketing Manager, I worked with World Wide Village, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on Haiti. I handled every aspect of their online efforts, email campaigns, donor relations, and event creation. With a focus on food, kids, education, housing and mission travel, I had lots to do. I rebuilt their website, wrote weekly blogs, grew their Twitter and Facebook, and created dozens of digital stories about both the kids and families we helped in Haiti, as well as telling the stories of donors and mission team members.

In 2011 I escorted a group of inner-city teens to Haiti and filmed a documentary about their trip. These were kids who had nothing when they went to Haiti and who came back thankful for they had and determined to make improving the lives of others a key part of their lives at work, school, and home.

Throughout my time there I worked to develop new concepts and campaigns for engaging donors, volunteers and the community at large. One of my favorite projects was called the Plus One Home Project. It partnered with homebuilders and remodelers. For every home they built in Minnesota, they committed to building one in Haiti. The project reflected our partnership with the Builder’s Association of the Twin Cities to take builders down to Haiti to train local laborers high quality construction techniques that would help prevent extreme damage should another quake hit the area.

There are so many stories I could tell, but I’m hoping you get the idea; life is about so much more than a good job; it’s about making a difference. Any bank account I leave behind will soon be gone, but the impact I have on the lives of the people I meet will live on. Yes, I want to earn a good living so I can give my kids they things they need and want, but I’m more concerned that they learn the power of making a life, not just a living.

Next time you get the chance to give permission to someone to do something good for someone else, watch the light that comes to their faces. Next time you get offered the chance to be part of a team out doing a project in the community, accept it. While you’re doing the project, watch your teammates, the smiles and energy you experience from them will be remarkable. Oh, and don’t forget to monitor how you feel in the process, that’s the best reward. Once you’ve experienced it, you’ll understand why I’m so passionate about encouraging others to get out there, especially my kids. I figure my wife and I have done something right when they volunteer to help make a difference in the world.