Be A Leader Outside The Workplace

While I volunteered at this past weekend's "Million Meals For Haiti" event in Kansas City, I was reminded of the importance and power of leaders outside the workplace.  Here's what inspired me:

1. It took 10,000 volunteers to pack up 1,091,228 meals for earthquake victims in Haiti at this past weekend's event, organized by Numana and the Salvation Army.
2. It also took hundreds of leaders throughout the community to organize the volunteers and to encourage participation among the groups of two to 20-plus volunteers who came to help.
3. Those leaders included:

• Leaders within churches
• Leaders of Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops
• Leaders within neighborhoods
• Leaders among groups of high school students
• Leaders within family units
• Leaders from other nonprofit organizations

And, it was these leaders who used their leadership skills and persuasion to influence volunteers to accomplish good things --one of the most important attributes of being an effective leader.

And what a powerful reminder of how many different places outside the workplace where one can be a leader!

Equally impressive, during the two-day event, the 10,000 volunteers, wearing hair nets, aprons and gloves, worked one-hour shifts in an assembly-line style to box up meals, sometimes preparing as many as 1,000 meals a minute.  The meals consisted of rice, soy protein, freeze-dried vegetables, and a blend of 21 vitamins.  The meals will be Haiti before the end of this week.

Numana is organizing similar events throughout the U.S., and to date, more than 6 million meals have been sent to Haiti as part of the program.