Monday, September 29, 2008

A Quick Note on Leveraging Your Degree

I spent time with fellow Emory grads on Thursday and Saturday in the kickoff of Emory's $1.6 Billion dollar capital campaign. It was quite exciting with the normal pomp and circumstance, black tie, all of the large donors, and of course many alumni.

It got me to thinking about the value of our leveraging our degrees from the various schools we went to. Many people who went to Emory, have the feeling that Emory doesn't need any more money. "They got enough of mine the first time around". Now, this is not just Emory, but many schools with seemingly large endowments or proverbial pocketbooks. In fact, most of those sentiments are true. However, what we are not taking into consideration is the investment into the future of your institution(s) of higher learning and what that investment translates into.

Giving your time, talent, and money is important. Let me share with you three reason's why:

1) Many schools use money given by alumni for scholarships. If you are committed to a diverse student-body, contribute to the scholarship fund. It often allows students who otherwise could not afford to attend a school the opportunity to do so. This used to just be the case at schools like Emory and other expensive private schools. However, with the cost of all schools state-based or otherwise, it is a high-dollar conversation.

2) The more you give of your money, time, talent, you name it, the more people know you and the more people know you and what you are about (assuming it is positive, which is likely if you are contributing your time, talent, and money) the more opportunities and possibilities open up to you. I have had numerous opportunities for conversation about what I do open up as a result of my involvement with Emory. It is not direct business, but it is branding, personal and for my company. People know more about Cook Ross and learned more about me because I share myself with the school in a variety of capacities.

3) The law of cause and effect: you give something you get something back. Think about something in your life that you have contributed little to and got a lot from. Sure there are a few things, but lets take a macro view. Now, I know you paid a lot for your degree and you got it when you graduated. That was then, this is now. I am not saying that you have to spend half your time and a fourth of your money towards your school, but I am saying contribute something. It is an investment that has to be made if you want your degree to really carry some weight and give a boost at some point. You many not even know you got that boost, but believe you me, if you contribute, there will be a return in some shape or form.

Charitable giving gives you a stake. While you are a graduate and paid tuition while there, the value that your degree has now, is much higher than when you were a student. Schools are like businesses. If you work in a business and don't feel like you have ownership, your level of contribution is much lower than when you do feel like an owner. Colleges and Universities depend on their alumni for so much and we have a lot to give. Giving something each year gives you the empowerment of an owner and moves you on the court as a contributor to a broader dialogue.

So, that is my 3 cent on why to give to your Alma mater. Time, talent, or financial contribution, it all gets paid forward and paid back!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

The Countdown Begins

The totally re-tooled Diversity HealthWorks re-launches on September 18th. That is a powerful day for my family in that my brother, Larry, who we lost in December 2004, was born on that day.

Larry had a stroke and died at age 40. The launch of the site is dedicated to him, one because he was my biggest fan :-) and two because the bottom line premise for Diversity HealthWorks as a vehicle is the elimination of health disparities/health equity. Larry died with many years of potential life left to give his energy to the world. Diversity HealthWorks is a stand to reduce years of potential life lost towards the achievement of health equity.

A little about Diversity HealthWorks:
Diversity HealthWorks™ is a comprehensive resource for healthcare professionals, educational institutions, organizations, and employers to utilize in meeting their respective employment, recruitment, informational, training, and educational needs.

First launched in 2005, Diversity HealthWorks was created to be the destination portal for healthcare talent management. Our premise is that diversity and talent management are integral parts of one another and cannot exist separately. Given this premise, we believe that if an organization intends to be a competitive and innovative market leader, cultivating top talent, diversity must be a central theme in its pursuit of success.

Diversity HealthWorks is the first on-line resource dedicated entirely to careers, employer branding, and the generation of information focused exclusively on diversity and cultural competency in health and healthcare. At the foundation of our mission is the creation of health equity and the elimination of disparities in health outcomes focusing on the workforce as central to the achievement of this goal.

Diversity HealthWorks features the following components:
-- Traditional Job board with wide variety of healthcare jobs from allied health and nursing to public health and research
-- Comprehensive resource (www.healthculturedepot.com), edited and contributed to by professionals focused on cultural competency and diversity in healthcare, disparities/health equity, and current issues
-- Features and best-practices in the healthcare industry
-- Pod casts, web seminars
-- Monthly and bi-weekly publications with interviews, current news and notes across the diversity and healthcare space, and opportunities to get involved

More to come on Diversity HealthWorks, stay tuned!