Leadership Secrets from Santa Claus

by Gary Ryan Blair in Leadership |December 24th, 2009 |

For 26 years, a man known only as Secret Santa has roamed the streets of Kansas City every December quietly giving people money. He started with $5 and $10 bills.


Who is Santa Claus?

As his fortune grew, so did the gifts. In recent years, Secret Santa has been handing out $100 bills, sometimes two or three at a time, to people in thrift stores, diners and parking lots.
During his life he’s anonymously given out more than $1.3 million. It’s been a long-held holiday mystery: Who is Secret Santa?

Larry Stewart passed away on January 12, 2007 from esophageal cancer but not before he revealed his identify and passing on his belief in random acts of benevolence.

Mr. Stewart made his millions in cable television and in long-distance telephone services.

His holiday giving started in December 1979 when he was nursing his wounds at a drive-in restaurant after getting fired.

It was the second year in a row he had been fired the week before Christmas.

Turning Tragedy into Opportunity

Soon after getting fired, Mr. Stewart was at a drive in restaurant and came across a car hop: “It was cold and this car hop (waiter or waitress who brings food to people at drive-ins) didn’t have on a very big jacket, and I thought to myself, `I think I got it bad. She’s out there in this cold making nickels and dimes,’” he said.

He gave her $20 and told her to keep the change.

“And suddenly I saw her lips begin to tremble and tears begin to flow down her cheeks. She said, `Sir, you have no idea what this means to me.’”

Stewart was moved and went to the bank that day and took out $200. He then drove around looking for people who could use a lift.

That was his “Christmas present to himself.” He hit the streets each December since.

While Stewart has also given money to other community causes in Kansas City and his hometown of Bruce, Miss., he offers the simple gifts of cash because it’s something people don’t have to “beg for, get in line for, or apply for.”

That was a feeling he came to know in the early ’70s when he was living out of his yellow Datsun. Hungry and tired, Stewart mustered the nerve to approach a woman at a church and ask for help. The woman told him the person who could help was gone for the day, and Stewart would have to come back the next day.

“As I turned around, I knew I would never do that again,” Stewart said.

Over the years, Stewart’s giving as Secret Santa grew. He started a Web site. He allowed the news media to tag along, mostly because he wanted to hear about the people who received the money. Reporters had to agree to guard his identity and not name his company.

His entourage grew over the years, and he began traveling with special elves and training others to be Secret Santas.

The Spirit of Secret Santa is Alive and Growing

Today, Larry Dean Stewart’s loyal Elves and the Secret Santas he trained are building upon the foundation he laid.

A new group of Secret Santas and Elves are very busy this Christmas. They are going coast to coast in selected cities and towns to spread hope this Christmas, giving one hundred dollar bills to the needy.

This year in his honor each one hundred dollar bill will bear the name Larry Stewart Secret Santa.

They will also be training those who have come forward to be a Secret Santa Leader in their community.

Could you be a Secret Santa? Go the Secret Santa Society to learn how.

Also, while you may not be able to pass out $100 dollar bills, how can you make a difference in the life of just one person in your community?

I’d love to hear about it.

Happy Holidays!

Gary
http://www.everythingcounts.com/

Different Kinds of Work

If your boss asks you to move a box from point a to point b, it's probably not okay to say, "I don't feel like it right now."

If you work on the chain gang and it's time to dig a ditch, you don't get a reprieve if you roll your eyes and say, "that's not what they pay me for."

And if you're a dishwasher, you don't get a chance to say, "I guess I'm just not the kind of person who's good at putting his hands into really hot soapy water all day."

And yet.

And yet when we ask you to look people in the eye, be creative, brainstorm, be generous, find a way to satisfy an angry customer, work with a bully, learn a new skill or bring joy to work, suddenly the excuses pile up. Is this a different sort of work? Is raising your hand in class too much to ask of you?

The jobs most of us would like to have are jobs like this. And yet we put up a fight when given the chance to do them well.

Seth Godin

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, and share a wonderful letter of encouragement that was written to a dear friend back in 1513.


Although it was written so long ago, the words still ring true for us today.

“I salute you. I am your friend and my love for you goes deep.

There is nothing I can give you which you have not got. But there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take.

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take heaven!

No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instance. Take peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. Take joy!

Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty . . . that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it, that is all!

And so I greet you, with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away.”

“Fra Giovanni, 1513"

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

From:  A Storybook Life

Desiderata was one of those eye-opening quotes that a person found when they were in high school and plastered their walls with wisdom. I know it by heart - even yet. As I reflect upon my life and the events of the year, this is one piece of writing I would like my children to read - over and over. In fact, I think I will make a poster for them to plaster on their walls.

Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble, it's a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

"Desiderata" was written in 1927 by Max Ehrmann (1872-1945).

The Gratitude Dance

Many of you know that I have a 24 year old son who is in the hospital fighting leukemia. Today I am thinking about gratitude.

This morning I woke up being grateful for all the healing Nic has experienced already. For his fungal pneumonia seeing a steady, slow decrease in size. For his kidneys returning to good function. For the chemo destroying the leukemic cells in his blood. For the new cells forming over the sores in his mouth. For his awesome friends that are faithful and spend so much time here with him in the hospital. For all our family, friends and many, many strangers who call and e-mail and post comments on his caring bridge page to lift us up. For the faith God has given us to be strong and help him fight this.

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." Colossians 3:15

Take a look at this Youtube video and join me today in this "Gratitude Dance" - we are so grateful for continued healing!

The Gratitude Dance

Notes from the Universe

Yesterday I watched a small bird, flying very fast, disappear into the canopy of an oak tree. So dense were its leaves that it was impossible to see what happened next, though I can tell you it remained inside.

I wondered how the little bird found its opening through the leaves at such a speed, and then managed to gently align its fragile body on the branch it chose to land upon, all within a fraction of a second. Not to mention the impossible to imagine flying maneuvers required: the banking, the curling, the vertical and horizontal stabilizations, the deceleration and landing.

Memory? Calculation? Not in that tiny brain. Instinct? Maybe, but how does instinct know which way the branches of a tree have grown when no two are the same?

Terry, that little bird just knew. It had faith, in spite of not being able to see how things would work out, that if (and only if) it stayed the course the details would be taken care of; that an opening would appear and a twig would be found. In fact, had she slowed down enough to carefully and logically inspect the tree first, the prudent thing to do, she would have lost her lift and fallen to the ground.

Kind of like reaching for your dreams. Neither memory, nor calculating, nor instincts are the deciding factors, but faith coupled with action.

Tallyho,
The Universe

www.tut.com

I have to share a story today - enjoy.

This is Good

The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!"

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation, the friend remarked as usual, "This is good!"

To which the king replied - "No, this is not good!" and proceeded to send his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.

As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitio

us, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend.

"You were right," he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened." And so, I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this."

"No," his friend replied, "This is good!"

"What do you mean, 'This is good'? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?"

"If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you, and not here with you right now."

In a very unusual way, the message here unfolds into exposing the following principle about life.

"Absolutely everything happens for a purpose; and out of what seems like adversity at the time; always comes good".

I'm sure that if any of us care to reflect back on the tragedy's, the heartaches, the 'bad times' in our lives, that we discover that we have really grown or developed during that period of time:even though the reflection may still cause us discomfort in some way.

It is in this way that we slowly gather experience and wisdom, and even though we may think or feel that it is unfair, that's the way it is.

"This is good". Many of our life's experiences have saved us from some form of cannibals; it's just that we often don't know that they have at the time.

So, for a simple example to help with awareness: next time you may begin to feel you are being 'wronged' by being stuck in a traffic jam, think about the cannibals that could be lurking down the road a bit,but will be gone by the time you get there.

Now that's a bit different, but worth trying: "this is good" - despite the circumstances.

Remember: "What others do or say is their stuff; how we react, or not, is our stuff"!
And: "True Happiness in life isn't having what you want, but wanting what you have"!

© Phil Evans

www.peoplestuff.com.au

This little message helped me today - I hope you can apply it to your life as well.

Terry