A Positive Impact Beyond My Wildest Dreams
May 27, 2015
A few weeks ago, I wrote a farewell post to an incredible year as a +LAB Fellow at the Center for Positive Organizations, citing all the lessons I’ve learned from POS and all the ways I’ve been inspired this year. But after two POS-filled days at the Ross Positive Business Conference (PBC), I realized that the end of this academic year was no farewell to POS—my experience as a +LAB Fellow was only the beginning of something much bigger than I could have ever dreamed.
Being a +LAB Fellow, I am constantly in awe of the tight-knit group of inspired individuals bursting with positivity and passion in the +LAB. I envision our community growing and think to myself, “how awesome would it be if the all people in business had POS knowledge!” Until the PBC, I wasn’t aware of just how large the positive business community really is.
It was not long into day one of the PBC that I realized how much positive business practices have impacted leaders from around our world. During registration, I met a conference attendee who had traveled 20+ hours from Australia to learn from the professors and executives that are right in my backyard! The joy exuding from this man as he discovered the positive practices the Center had been teaching me all year became my inspiration. He made me feel even luckier to be a part of a positive, driven, and supportive group of people. The high quality connections that were created at the conference span so many fields of work, positions, and countries that I couldn’t help but be immensely impacted.
I was also astounded by the diversity of executives that came to share their stories about positive business—such as Rich Sheridan, CEO and Chief Storyteller at Menlo Innovations, Jenn Lim, CEO of Delivering Happiness, and Kevin Thompson, Director of North America Marketing at IBM. As each of them spoke, I found myself on the edge of my seat, wanting to be a software programmer, happiness deliverer, and Peace Corps volunteer. I have no programming skills, I’m no consultant, and I am a bit terrified of living in a mud hut for 2 years, but the positivity that each of these individuals brings to their own lives, their businesses, and their communities is what keeps me engaged. It’s what inspires me to try new things, pushes me out of my comfort zone, and energizes me to change the world by changing the way people look at business. If every leader, professor, student, and parent brought the principles we learned from this conference into their daily work and personal lives, I could only imagine how vibrant and flourishing our businesses would be.
If you went to the Positive Business Conference, I urge you to not simply say farewell to two spectacular days of learning but to weave those lessons into every aspect of your life. If you are a positive business champion, I urge you to share your story each day. If you are a student, I urge you to join this extraordinary community and learn more about how you can make a difference. Together we can change the world; by changing the way people look at business.
Missed the PBC? Catch the mainstage sessions and see more pictures at the PBC website!