At a time where our society is seemingly finding fewer and fewer things to agree on I am confident we all remain unified on the need to invest in the next generation of leaders. In fact, I think most everyone would say that is not something we merely ought to do, it is rather a requirement. It is arguably the best way for each of us to repay the debt we owe to those who willfully and graciously poured into us and helped us become the people we are today.
Sharing the Vision of Growing People
At PacMoore the responsibility to invest in, to encourage and hopefully inspire young people is not something we take lightly. This past week we were honored to have an opportunity to spend time speaking to students at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, while living out our vision of being passionately focused on growing people.
Three of us from PacMoore; Bill Moore, Kyle Moore (Baylor graduate) and myself; were invited to speak to two business classes and participate as the keynote speaker in the Free Enterprise Forum, a regular meeting hosted by the Baylor business department that invites leaders in business to come and speak to the students and faculty about their experience in business. In addition to those speaking opportunities we were also able to present the MIMMA award we developed last year to one senior business student.
Both classes focused on Social Entrepreneurship and Economic Development which provided us a wonderful opportunity to share with the students our experiences working in Africa and other developing countries. We were able to offer some key lessons that we have learned as well as share with them our passion for life transformation through the workplace.
Sharing the Mission of Life Transformation
Bill was the keynote speaker at the Free Enterprise Forum in the afternoon where he passionately shared the mission of PacMoore: “Fueled by employee life transformation PacMoore will strategically establish food processing centers in low income communities to provide jobs, food and hope.” This was a different perspective than most of the students learn in their textbooks. Bill encouraged them to look at business from the opportunity to change lives economically, socially and most importantly, spiritually. [Read more about Bill’s message to students in Baylor’s student newspaper: the Baylor Lariat.]
We concluded our time at Baylor by presenting the Muhabwa Innocent Marketplace Missionary award to Anne Kronlokken. The MIMMA is an award we created last year to help students recognize and ultimately encourage them to intentionally share their faith in the marketplace. Too often students are told to separate their faith from their work. We believe the opposite of that is true; the workplace is the best space in which to kindly, lovingly and compassionately tell others about Jesus.
Next month I will celebrate another birthday and as each year passes I gain a greater sense of appreciation and gratitude for the men and women who have helped shape me as a leader at home, at work and in other areas of my life. I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to now pay that forward to others. It is our hope that at least one student will one day look back at our visit to Baylor as being a foundational moment that helped shape his or her leadership. And that one day they will pay it forward just as we did last week.
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