Category: impact

I was driving in very rural Iowa (aka: the middle of nowhere) when I came upon a sign that a Nobel Prize winner was from this hometown. The sign was located in Cresco, Iowa (population 3,088), and referred to Norman Borlaug, whom I wrote about in dot #3190.

Borlaug was an agronomist credited with the development of semi-dwarf wheat, which saved a billion people worldwide from starvation. He grew up in an era before the internet or easy access to information. He could have felt limited by his rural background or his one-teacher/one-room schooling through eighth grade. He could have yielded to pressure to remain in the community and continue to farm the family’s acreage. But none of these pulls or impediments stopped him from going to college and pursuing agricultural research.

Think of Borlaug when you are making excuses for why you can’t do something or why your background limits your potential. Greatness is in everyone, no matter the circumstances.

I saw a display of children’s books published under the theme “Little People, Big Dreams.” I was intrigued by the selection of people — and even more fascinated that I had never even heard of two of them (Jean-Michez-Basquiat, a street artist and Louis Hamilton, a British race car driver).

The sections range from Beethoven and Louis Braille who are long passed to Patrick Mahomes and Taylor Swift who are in their prime, with the unusual mix of Harry Styles, Katherine Johnson, and Pelé in between. I wondered what the criteria was to select the list, and it got me questioning who I would have as my 20 with big dreams.

Have a discussion on your next car ride or at your next staff meeting or meal and see who you would nominate. The selection could start an interesting conversation about what you value.

One of the most rewarding experiences of my professional career was triggered by a student’s email to the university president. It was a no-holes-barred rambling complaint of all the things wrong with one aspect of the student’s experience. He laid it all out there just before graduation when he felt he had nothing to lose. The president met with the student, and as far as the student knew, that was the end of it.

In reality, it was just the beginning. His email prompted a firing, organizational reorganization, and a cascade of changes that truly transformed the university. It also impacted many lives in significant ways, as well as affecting countless students who benefited from the results. Those of us closest to the efforts talk about it frequently — more than 20 years later — and remain in regular contact.

Through pure happenstance, one of the key players ran into this former student and shared not only the original email (preserved for posterity because it was so significant) but also told him the end of the story. He had NO IDEA anything further had happened after he met with the president, even though a large number of really significant changes had resulted.

It was an “It’s a Wonderful Life” moment, where one person leaves a legacy beyond their imagination. So many things would be different, careers altered, and the trajectory of the university changed had he not set things in motion.

It’s a reminder that one person can (and does) make a difference, though you may never know that you did. Keep using your voice, speaking up, advocating for change, pointing out injustices, and making a ruckus. Even if you never see the end result, be the beginning.

High on the list of serious problems the Iowa state legislature is addressing is the tax on toilet paper. House File 1019 seeks to eliminate the sales tax on this household essential, estimated to cost the state “an estimated $6 million in general fund receipts.” More importantly, it would also reduce the one-cent sales tax designated for schools, eliminating another $1 million from the already underfunded institutions.

Will the average consumer squeal in delight because their overall grocery bill is now a few cents less? No. Likely, they will never even notice. But a $7 million reduction in revenues should be nothing to flush away without some visible impact. This bill has none.

Legislators claim there is not enough money to appropriately fund schools or other services, yet they make cuts with no significant gain. Something else having to do with toilets comes to mind.

Don’t play politics. If you are going to make a change, expend your energy on something that will truly make a difference beyond the initial press conference announcing it.