Challenging Students to Embrace the Future of Non-Profit Sector

December 9, 2013 By

Today I had lunch with two very inspiring University students, Nisha Patel, Co-Chair and Steven Knight, VP Academic of a student conceived and led initiative at the Alberta School of Business, University of Alberta – The Alberta Not-For-Profit Case Competition. The objective is to challenge students to embrace the future of the Not-For-Profit sector.

There will be eight teams, one each from eight post secondary education institutions, that will develop recommendations for a yet-to-be-announced Edmonton based non-profit organization.

As part of the initiative, students will get to experience life, the way the poor do. This will heighten the awareness of not-for-profit client issues. Next, they will be presented with a case about some challenges that affect the selected non-profit. Then, each team will brainstorm ideas to respond the those challenges and create a presentation of their recommendations.

A team of judges will select the winner of the Case Competition, in a public Final Four, Event at the Telus Theatre at the University of Alberta.

As a result, students will understand the issues facing those living in poverty, the challenges facing non-profit managers and will have grappled with finding solutions to those challenges. This is education. The students will be changed by the experience.

The selected non-profit will have  number of ideas to resolve their most pressing issues. This demonstrates that the students have embraced the future of a least one non-profit. That’s fantastic!

At the Larry and Janet Anderson Philanthropies, our mission is To awaken youth to their promise; To empower youth to live their promise; To celebrate people living their promise. We are delighted to be a sponsor of this initiative. Want to know more? Visit the Alberta Not-For-Profit Case Competition  website.

 

Filed Under: Leadership, Philanthropy, Teaching By Example, Values

$16,000 Awarded to Edmonton High School Proposals

December 6, 2013 By

Larry and Janet Anderson Philanthropies ( www.LifeIsAPromise.com ) is pleased to announce the funding awards to student proposals from Edmonton High Schools for the 2013/2014 Empowering Self Talk Initiative ( www.EmpoweringSelfTalk.com )

Students at four Edmonton High Schools have been given awards:

Victoria School of the Arts for their proposal Walk the Self Talk whose objective is to improve student mental health has been awarded $4,000 to implement their proposal.

Video Proposal

Archbishop Oscar Romero for their proposal Faces of Canada whose objective is to reduce racism has been awarded $4,000 to implement their proposal.

Video Proposal

Saint Joseph for their proposal Saints Social Justice whose objective is to reduce injustice has been awarded $4,000 to implement their proposal.

Video Proposal

Austin O’Brien for their proposal Life Changer whose objective is to reduce bullying has been awarded $4,000 to implement their proposal.

Video Proposal Not Currently Available

At the Larry and Janet Anderson Philanthropies Our Vision is a world where youth fulfill their promise. Our Mission is To awaken youth to their promise; To empower youth to live their promise; and to celebrate people living their promise.

We achieve our mission through partnerships with select charity, education and arts partners; through the media we create and through the events and initiatives we produce.

Our core belief is that every child is gifted, powerful and important.

The Empowering Self Talk Initiative is designed to engage students and challenge them to discover their gifts, embrace their power by learning to make better choices and to understand their importance by making a difference for others.

You are gifted. You are powerful. You are important.

Filed Under: Charity, Inspiring Lives, Leadership, Personal Development, Philanthropy, Teaching By Example, Values Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

John F. Kennedy Personal Mentor

November 22, 2013 By

On this 50th Anniversary of his death I am remembering the impact John F. Kennedy had on my life.

When President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 I had recently turned 16 (Sept. 17th). My life was in turmoil. The situation in my alcoholic home was becoming impossible. I was anxious to take charge of my own life, chart my own course and pursue my own dreams.

President Kennedy was a beacon of hope in a world filled with fear and uncertainty.

The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, made the prospect of a nuclear war real to me. Our neighbor had built a Fallout Shelter in their home and I wondered what would happen to me, my family and millions of others if there was a nuclear war. I had been told Edmonton would be a prime target because of the oil industry.

Before this, I had been captivated by President Kennedy beginning with the Presidential election in 1960. Kennedy became a personal hero based on two speeches he gave that, even today, deeply move me.

President Kennedy’s Inaugural Address on January 20, 1961 filled me with hope. It is still one of the greatest speeches I have ever heard.

He began by saying “the election was not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom”… I urge you to click the link above and listen to this masterpiece of leadership and oratory.

In the fall of 1962 at Rice University, President Kennedy gave his Moon Speech.

Talk about “shooting for the moon,” literally! This is a powerful example of sharing a vision, a challenge, and calling people to get behind it. If you have the time, click the link and hear another masterpiece of leadership and oratory.

Now, I hope you understand why I was so devastated by the assassination of President Kennedy. It was personal for me, in a way that seems irrational to me now.

I know that history has revealed that Kennedy was a womanizer and that he was chronically ill and suffered with pain. I don’t condone his breech of fidelity but it is not my place to judge him, or anyone else for personal failings. His illness and pain makes me marvel all the more at his vibrance and energy. I wonder at the strength of his calling to serve, his passion to lead and inspire.

I visited Dallas and the School Book Depository. It made me wonder what might have been… I left sad.

In 2007, I made a pilgrimage to John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. It is located on a ten-acre park, overlooking the sea that he loved. President Kennedy chose the site himself a month before he was assassinated, planning for years ahead, he thought. It has three parts: a Museum, an Archive and an educational Institute.

The architect was I.M. Pei, selected by Jacqueline Kennedy. The selection was a surprise because he was a young architect and the candidates included some of the best known architects in America. I.M. Pei seemed to Mrs. Kennedy to be filled the promise, imagination and temperament that would reinforce her vision for the library. The building is stunning. Visit the John Fitzgerald Library and Museum online and see for yourself.

The visit was a very personal and emotional experience for me. The multi-media presentation had me relive part of my youth. I spent some time standing quietly in the atrium.

Ultimately, I left home, pursued and realized many of my dreams. Today, fifty years later, I am grateful for John F. Kennedy a man who, as strange as this may seem, was like a personal mentor to me. Thank you.

 

 

Filed Under: Great Teachers, Inspiring Lives, Leadership, Life Wisdom, Mentor, Personal Development, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

$24,000 In Grants Available For Alberta High Student Leadership Projects

September 24, 2013 By

Peer influence is powerful. But, too often it is used negatively and hurtfully. This Fall, after a very successful pilot program in Edmonton last year, the Empowering Self-Talk Initiative is being expanded to include all Alberta High Schools, .

Nobody knows more about what will help students than the students themselves. So we are reaching out to students for the answers and we will award six student proposals with $4000 each to implement their empowering self-talk program at their high school in Spring 2014.

“Twenty-Five per cent of kids who start grade 10 won’t graduate” states Larry Anderson, funder for the Empowering Self-Talk Initiative. “I was one of those kids, and when I learned to change my self talk, I changed my life.” We are reaching out to student leaders in Alberta High Schools. These student leaders are energized and motivated to change lives in their own high schools through developing and implementing innovative programs that improve the self-talk of fellow students.

All Alberta high school students are invited to submit a two-minute video proposal by November 29, 2013 about what they believe will help improve the self talk of other students in their high school and how they will implement the program in their high school. Two Selection Panels, one for the Edmonton Proposal Call, and one for the Alberta Proposal Call (outside Edmonton), will each select three proposals for a $4,000 grant, for a total of six awarded proposals, and a total of $24,000 in grants.  The awarded proposals will be announced on December 6, 2013.

For More information visit the Empowering Self Talk Website.

Filed Under: Leadership, Mentor, Philanthropy Tagged With: , , , ,

Margaret Thatcher: Edmonton, A City of Achievers

April 8, 2013 By

Margaret Thatcher was the keynote speaker at the Edmonton Oilers fundraising dinner for Junior Achievement in February, 1997. I was there, and in her speech she described Edmonton, as “a city of achievers.” She was an amazing orator and it was an honor to be there.

Margaret Thatcher was quite the achiever herself. Born into modest circumstances in Grantham, Lincolnshire, on October 13, 1925, she became the first of her family to attend University. In 1979, she was elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the only woman to have held the post, and remained in office until 1990, making her the longest serving Prime Minister of the 20th Century.

Margaret Thatcher, dead at 87, on April 9, 2013.

Margaret Thatcher In Her Own Words

Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope.

If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.

To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say. You turn if you want to; the lady’s not for turning.

Pennies don’t fall from heaven, they have to be earned here on earth.

No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions. He had money as well.

We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty.

Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.

If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time and you would achieve nothing.

In her Eulogy of Ronald Reagan: We have lost a great president, a great American, and a great man, and I have lost a dear friend…Ronald Reagan knew his own mind. He had firm principles and, I believe, right ones. He expounded them clearly. He acted upon them decisively. When the world threw problems at the White House, he was not baffled or disorientated or overwhelmed. He knew almost instinctively what to do.

I have taken the liberty to rewrite the closing of her eulogy for Ronald Reagan, which seems so perfect a tribute to her too.

Margaret’s mind was clouded by illness. That cloud has now lifted. She is herself again, more herself than at any time on this Earth, for we may be sure that the Big Fellow upstairs never forgets those who remember him. And as the last journey of this faithful pilgrim took her beyond the sunset, and as heaven’s morning broke, I like to think, in the words of Bunyan, that “all the trumpets sounded on the other side.”

Filed Under: Great Teachers, Inspiring Lives, Leadership, Life Wisdom, Teaching By Example, Values Tagged With: , , ,

Empower Students Through International Internships

April 2, 2013 By

 

 

AIESEC Edmonton is the University of Alberta chapter of the world’s largest student organization. AIESEC is an international non profit organization that provides students with leadership training and international internship opportunities at for-profit and non-profit organizations.

AIESEC Corporate Breakfast 2013

Crowne Plaza | Chateau Lacombe

10111 Bellamy Hill Road, Edmonton, Alberta

7:00 AM, Tuesday, April 30th, 2013

Keynote Presentation By

Larry Anderson, President & CEO

The ManCap Group

Create An Enduring Legacy

The Five Choices that are The Foundation

of Success, Fulfillment and Happiness

 

“Larry’s message is extraordinary but his impact comes with his delivery. He is genuine and simply shares his message with utmost sincerity, passion, and raw honesty.”

Jay Ball, CEO Junior Achievement

“Larry gave a memorable talk on self directed learning…he played a key role in an amazing and inspiring day.”

Ken Bautista, Chair, TEDxEdmonton

“I heartily endorse Larry Anderson as a speaker, mentor and communicator.”

Ralph B. Young, CEO Melcor Developments Ltd., Chancellor, University of Alberta

 

Local businesses help AISEC by providing financial support by attending the Corporate Breakfast and by providing intern placement opportunities for international students.

 Please Buy Your Tickets By April 19th

You can buy tickets online at

http://aiesec.ca/edmonton/corporate-breakfast/

If you have questions or concerns please contact Kayla Baretta at 780-717-8918


Filed Under: Charity, Leadership, Personal Development, Philanthropy, Teaching By Example, Values Tagged With: , , ,

The Man Who Didn’t Like His Obituary

March 5, 2012 By

 

Alfred Nobel

Can you imagine reading your own obituary in the newspaper? What would people say about you? Alfred Nobel got the chance to read his own death notice, and he didn’t like what he saw. 

Alfred Nobel was a very wealthy and successful man. He had become an expert in chemistry and invented three of the most commonly used explosives in the world—dynamite, gelignite (used in mining) and ballistite, which is still used as a rocket propellant today.

With the huge fortune he made from these inventions, Nobel bought an engineering company called Bofors and turned it into an arms manufacturer. He made another enormous fortune designing cannons and guns and selling them around the world.

Then, in 1888, Alfred’s brother died while visiting France. A French newspaper thought it was Alfred who had died and they published an obituary that began like this:

THE MERCHANT OF DEATH IS DEAD

Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday….

Alfred Nobel was shocked. Was this what people thought of him? Was this the legacy he would leave to the world? That’s when he decided to use his vast wealth to make a positive difference.

Nobel set up a foundation with $250 million dollars in funding. Every year the foundation would consult the leading experts in the world and hand out prizes to people who had made great contributions to humanity. There would be prizes for sciences, for literature, and for promoting peace.

Today the Nobel Prizes are probably the best-known and most prestigious awards in the world. They have been awarded to great scientists, authors and activists and helped draw attention to many outstanding works and worthy causes.

Nobel set up his foundation in 1895: just in time to influence his own obituary. He died only a year later.

The Nobel Prizes accomplished his wish; they created a very different legacy for him than a reputation as “The Merchant of Death.” He is not remembered as an explosives inventor or arms dealer, but as one of the greatest philanthropists of all time.

He is also a great example of how it is never too late to change your life and help make the world a better place.

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This is an excerpt from the book Inspiration to Live Your MAGIC!™, 75 Inspiring Biographies by Larry Anderson. It is available as a print book from Amazon.com and as a Kindle e-book.

Filed Under: Inspiring Lives, Leadership, Philanthropy, Teaching By Example, Values Tagged With: , ,

A Peaceful Courageous Warrior

February 28, 2012 By

 

 

Wangari Maathai

Some people, by their nature, ignore the status quo and ignore the odds, and go where no one has gone before. They are peaceful but courageous warriors.

Wangari Maathai was the first woman to do a lot of things: she was the first woman from East Africa to earn a PhD, the first woman to head up a department at the University of Nairobi, and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

As a girl in a poor country, Wangari had to work against the odds to achieve these things, but she was never the kind of person to let high odds hold her back. By the mid-1970s, Wangari Maathai was a professor of anatomy, head of the Kenyan Red Cross, and involved in a number of charities and causes. But she was about to get a great idea….

Dr. Maathai could see that Kenya had two major problems—its natural environment was in bad shape, mostly due to too many trees being cut down, and there were so few jobs that many families were struggling or even starving.

Her idea was simple but brilliant: solve both problems at once by hiring unemployed people to plant more trees! This straightforward plan grew into a whole campaign to teach the people of Kenya to understand and respect the environment and each other. She called it the Green Belt Movement.

Although she went through a lot of hard times and struggled with opposition from the Kenyan government, Wangari Maathai managed to keep the Green Belt Movement alive. Then, in 1985, the United Nations held an environmental conference in Kenya, and representatives from many nations were able to see and hear what she was doing. That’s when the Green Belt Movement really took off, spreading across Kenya and Africa, and serving as a role model for many nations.

Over the years, Dr. Maathai’s group began to stand for other issues as well as the environment—issues like democracy and justice. Kenya only allowed one political party to exist, and tried to deny or stifle anyone who protested or pointed out problems.

Throughout the 1990s, Wangari Maathai and her supporters fought for broader democracy. She was threatened, arrested, beaten, and jailed—but never silenced. It took more than a decade of struggle, but finally Kenya had democratic elections with many parties represented.

Dr. Maathai was eventually elected to the national parliament, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, and planted a tree with Barack Obama. Today, she continues to work for the causes she is known for—people and the environment.

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This is an excerpt from the book Inspiration to Live Your MAGIC!™, 75 Inspiring Biographies by Larry Anderson. It is available as a print book from Amazon.com and as a Kindle e-book.

Filed Under: Inspiring Lives, Leadership, Teaching By Example Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Man of the Sea

February 20, 2012 By

Jacques Cousteau

Famous for his award-winning underwater films, television shows, and books that gave the world a view of life under the ocean, ecologist Jacques Cousteau was also a talented inventor and dedicated environmental activist.

Naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author, researcher . . . you could go on for pages about all of the things Jacques Cousteau did with his remarkable life!

Many people outside France don’t know that Costeau was a war hero; he led daring commando operations inside occupied France during World War II. And many may not know that he helped invent the modern aqualung—the SCUBA system that’s used around the world.

Most people remember Jacques Cousteau for his amazing films, television shows, and books about the ocean. On board his ship Calypso, Cousteau and his crew traveled the world to film their documentaries about the life that teems beneath the surface of the water.

In the 1950s and 60s, Cousteau’s films marked the first time the majority of people had ever seen footage of undersea life in its natural state. And it was the first time that the general public heard about the dangers of pollution, overfishing, habitat destruction, and other threats to the natural world.

Jacques Cousteau is credited with being one of the first popular ecologists, inspiring a whole generation of young people to be more aware of their environment.

His long career (Cousteau lived to age eighty-seven) contained many other amazing achievements:

  • The first underwater archaeology operation using autonomous diving;
  • Discovering how porpoises use natural sonar to guide themselves;
  • Winning the top prize at the world-famous Cannes Film Festival for his documentary The Silent World;
  • Organizing a successful campaign to stop the dumping of nuclear waste in the oceans; and
  • Winning a long list of awards and medals from grateful nations and organizations around the world.

Through more than 120 television documentaries and fifty books, Cousteau helped make science and nature popular topics for everyday people, and he left a legacy that carries on his work. The Cousteau Society he founded to protect the environment now has 300,000 members. As rich and famous as he became, Jacques Cousteau always said he was just a man trying to do his bit to help the world. “It takes generosity to discover the whole through others,” he said. “If you realize you are only a violin, you can open yourself up to the world by playing your role in the concert.”

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This is an excerpt from the book Inspiration to Live Your MAGIC!™, 75 Inspiring Biographies by Larry Anderson. It is available as a print book from Amazon.com and as a Kindle e-book.

Filed Under: Great Teachers, Inspiring Lives, Leadership, Teaching By Example, Values Tagged With: , , , ,

Very Popular Mayor for Over Thirty Years

February 13, 2012 By

Hazel McCallion

Not only has Hazel McCallion been the highly popular mayor of Mississauga for an unheard-of thirty-three years, in the most recent election, she received more than seventy-five percent of the votes. 

A lot of things have changed in Mississauga, Ontario since 1978. It has grown from a collection of small towns and villages to the sixth-largest city in Canada. But one thing has not changed since 1978—Hazel McCallion is still the mayor! After more than three decades, she is one of the longest-serving and most popular politicians Canada has ever known.

Hazel was born to a poor family in rural Quebec that couldn’t afford to send their bright daughter to university. She became a secretary instead, determined to earn her own way. Hazel didn’t mind hard work and was ready to make the best of any challenge.

After being transferred to a job in Toronto, Hazel married a man she’d met at church, and one of their wedding presents changed her life—and Canadian politics—forever. The present was a small plot of land in a little town called Streetsville, not far from Toronto.

At the time that Hazel McCallion and her husband settled in Streetsville, the area was growing rapidly. Together, they started a small newspaper and became involved in local issues. It wasn’t long before McCallion, with her keen mind and tremendous energy, was a real force in local politics. By the time that Streetsville and other towns in the area were put together to form the new city of Mississauga, Hazel McCallion was ready to run for mayor.

She not only won that first election, she has won every single election since—a remarkable string of twelve consecutive elections. McCallion became so popular that she really didn’t need to campaign, and she asked people to donate money to charity rather than to her election fund!

Running the city—in her words—“like a business” has made Mississauga one of the few debt-free cities in Canada. Her effective management and plainspoken style has kept voters loyal to her for over thirty-three years. In the most recent election—in 2010—she received more than three quarters of the votes.

Over the years, McCallion has been called a heroine for her roles in safely evacuating the city after a massive train derailment and explosion in 1979, for talking down an armed man in 2006, and for her relentless work in getting more funding and jobs for her city.

While her strong personality has at times gotten her into trouble and earned her the nickname “Hurricane Hazel,” the Mississauga mayor has also been honored with the Order of Canada and voted as one of the top mayors in the world.

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This is an excerpt from the book Inspiration to Live Your MAGIC!™, 75 Inspiring Biographies by Larry Anderson. It is available as a print book from Amazon.com and as a Kindle e-book.

 

Filed Under: Inspiring Lives, Leadership, Life Wisdom, Teaching By Example, Values Tagged With: , , , ,
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