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A few months short of my 8th birthday my father Bruce, passed away suddenly, leaving my mother with 5 children under 16 to raise and care for.

The only way forward for my mother was to return to the work force to try and make ends meet. My brother, sisters and I then had a whole new load of responsibilities around the house to evenly distribute the chores, sometimes this worked well, other times not so well.

One of the biggest hurdles for my Mother apart from the usual things with a lively brood of children was what to do with us all during school holidays as she still had to work.

As my Father was a returned serviceman we had been approached by Legacy with an offer to assist our family in times of need. At the time I didn’t think a great deal about it, however now, as an adult, I realise what a huge burden these fabulous people relieved my Mother of.

Every school holidays all of us were packed up from our home in Sydney, and taken on a ‘Farm Stay’ holiday where country families provided everything for us for a 2 week stay.

Tamworth, Wagga Wagga, Griffith are just a few of the places I stayed, on a sheep farm, a piggery and a battery hen farm!!!

My sisters and I attended “Physical Culture’ every Thursday night at the Legacy Hall in Parramatta and at the end of the night before we were allowed to leave they would play “The Last Post’ – I would always think of my Father and how different my life would have been if he was still around.

In the early – mid 80’s my sister was living in Perth and she had an accident on her motor bike and knocked out 2 of her front teeth, she was about 24-25, Legacy paid for her to have crowns placed on the affected teeth. We would also attend Christmas Parties and Easter Egg hunts and go on Harbour Cruises around Sydney Harbour. All voluntarily run and at no cost to my Mum.

When I think about all the things that Legacy did for just my family I am amazed by what a strong and amazing organisation they are.

This is one charitable organization that I ALWAYS support as I personally have experienced their generosity and sense of comradeship.

We all get up each week day morning, shower, get dressed, have breakfast and head off to work to earn a living – maybe not all in the same order, but something like this scenario!

However, how many of us really love what we do, and portray how we feel about our chosen career in a way other than “Hi my name is Janis and I sell Insurance?”

When I meet someone new I try to impart my passion for helping others in such a way that it has drawn me to the Personal Insurance Industry and everyday feel as though I make a difference and really help people. I don’t sell insurance, I help secure the family unit in times of adversity.

I came across this story by Geoff Ables on ‘THE SECRET TO LOVING YOUR WORK’ and found it really captured my everyday life. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I have…

A man walked up to a construction site where a number of people were working diligently. He walked up to one worker and asked what he was doing.

“I’m laying bricks,” was the response.

He walked up to a second and asked the same question.

“I’m building a wall,” came the matter-of-fact reply.

When he asked a third man what he was doing, the man paused, looked up to the sky as if focusing on a distant future and replied,

“I am building a magnificent cathedral, where thousands will come over hundreds of years to seek the truth, to celebrate new life, to be cared for when mourning losses, and to joyfully join in marriage.”

Apparently this story has been shared for over 300 years.

Two of the workers were just that – workers. They toiled away, earning a pay check. They hated Mondays. They counted the hours to the end of the day. They counted the days to the end of each week. They lived for their vacations.

One worker was much more than just a worker. He viewed his work as “living waters” that would flow out of his hands and enrich lives for many years to come. He may have still enjoyed his time away from work just as the others did. But his workdays raced by as he contemplated the impact that his work would have.

And there was only one difference between the last worker and the first two: Perspective.

No matter how messy, how boring, how confrontational, how manual … virtually all work creates ripples that impact dozens, hundreds, thousands, or millions of others. It creates jobs. It saves lives. It supports others and enables them to do what they are best at. It supports a team of other people. It changes one mind or one heart – that may later touch many others. It creates wealth (that gets spent in ways that does more of the same).

Hate your job? Yes, it’s possible that you’re in the wrong job. But take the time to visualize what it is that you’re really building. Who it is that you’re really impacting. Use those monotonous hours to contemplate that for the next 30 days. See if your work changes as a result.

What cathedral is your work building?

I first came to read the book The Art of War when I was a young manager (about 23 almost 24) when I was promoted into the role to manage a team with staff a fair bit older and more experienced than I.

With a full ego of confidence I thought I already had all the answers!

However, a couple of weeks in it was clear to me that there were other skills I needed to learn that I had not been taught at university and had only had experience from the other side (being managed poorly).

I spoke with a mentor of mine at the time and I was asking all the wrong questions! They ended up cutting me off mid-sentence and saying just one phrase “The Art of War”.

At the time I was aware of the text but had only ever read quotes individually and out of context with the rest of the book. What I read had a resounding effect on how I have worked ever since, perhaps no bigger lesson that I learned was the six calamities that an army (team) is exposed to from faults for which the general (manager) is responsible.

Flight, impotence, decay, ruin, chaos and rout.

1. Flight will occur within your team when it is clear that there is an overzealous leader pitting the team up against all odds. As a young manager and wanting to impress, I was certainly going down the path of being an overzealous leader. I was promising large results that even with the team behind them 100% they were not achievable in the timeframe set. If I was left own my own devices my team surely would have left!
2. Impotence is when you have strong staff and weak leadership. Without having the skills to deal with staff there is always the possibility that the leader will be lead down the path that the staff want to take. This may or may not be the correct path but a strong leader will see that this does not happen hap hazardously.
3. Decay is having a strong leader however having an under resourced team will eventually see the teams morale and enthusiasm dwindle over time (this can be very short as I had just found out).
4. Collapse is what I was on the verge of! This is when key people have not bought into the mission (or in my case my promotion) and as such rebel! This in itself can lead to an unworkable environment and nothing happens within a team whilst there is infighting which has been shown time and time again across sporting, political and work environments. This was something that I could see happening right before me and thought that I was powerless to change.
5. Chaos when the leader simply does not explain the mission/task at hand clearly enough. This can be because the leader may not have the strength/ skills to explain in detail the requirements or many other reasons. Either way if instructions are not clear then chaos is sure to follow. Of late with two young children I try to remind myself of this all the time to ensure that anything I am asking my son (who is only 3) is clearly understood or chaos is certainly not far away. Well in that example with kids chaos usually pops it head in now and again no matter what but that is a different discussion!!
6. Rout is what will happen when as the leader you make the wrong decision! This is usually quickly scrapped by the team members and goes hand in hand with some of the above!

So whilst remaining strong but not being overzealous, I explained what needed to be done and how we were going to do it and was successful in getting the resources I needed while ensuring all of the key people were on board with me. So with a bit more wisdom in my I set off on my new adventure, all the while thinking to myself did I just get this info from a 2000 year old army general??? It truly is amazing the places and people we learn from!

I’ve always been a bit of a match- maker! One of my greatest thrills is getting together 2 people who then form a long standing relationship. I love to see others as happy as I am in my relationship. Call me a romantic if you like, but it gives me a real buzz.

I feel the same way about business relationships. If I know people who I feel would benefit from each other’s knowledge, expertise, connections, personality or a plethora of other traits, I try my hardest to get these people together to form a mutually positive relationship – for me this is very rewarding to see these relationships blossom into something that benefits all.

I recently found an article relating to this written by one of my favourites – Bruce Kasanoff – called ‘The incredible Benefits of Introducing Others’. In this article Bruce discusses how promoting others within your network to get to know each other has long reaching benefits, not only for the ones you introduce, but for you too. Bruce says…

“Make connections. Take the initiative. Bring people together. You don’t have to take them out to dinner or spend money. Just introduce good people to other good people. You will benefit in more ways than you will ever be able to count”

I’m with you Bruce, I’ll continue my match-making, forge long standing relationships and assist as many as I can in furthering their businesses and networks.  Hmmm and maybe a few personal relationships thrown in too!! Maybe I should change my name to Cupid??

Adapted from Bruce Kasanoff’s new book, How to Self-Promote without Being a Jerk, which includes 43 tips for getting the right kind of attention.