Purpose Blog 2

November 16, 2022 Peter Greene

I haven’t blogged in a while. The pandemic took a few things off the rails, including me paying respect to the LeaderShare site. My apologies. Hope this next blog makes up for my absence.

I do have an uplifting story to share, on the subject of organizational purpose. It is about:

a luxury home-builder headquartered in Naples, Florida, also recognized by the state as a leading employer. And it is a developing story, since they are really just getting started in discovering their purpose and how best to live it out.

I am calling the BCB Homes purpose:

OUR LEADERSHIP SUCCESS IS YOUR LIFE SUCCESS.

To do this story its justice, I’d like to go back to how I became involved with these excellent people and then give you an idea of what has transpired since.

In the summer of 2019, I was referred to Joe Smallwood, the CEO of BCB Homes, Inc., as someone to help him and his partners explore how they might develop the leadership potential of their fine company.

The person doing the referring was my former CEO, Paul Douglas of PCL Construction, who also happened to be a customer of BCB Homes. As Paul and Joe got to know each other, they talked about one of PCL’s unique cultural strengths (and there are many!) … the long-term commitment to the building of a cadre of practical leaders, so that PCL project teams would always be able to lead by example.

Joe and his partners:

**Partners: Greg Brisson Eric Morris Shazia Azami Joe Smallwood Scott Weidle Chuck Rainey**

were interested enough to get in touch with me and the result of our discussions was a 2-day working session in December of 2019. With the terrific help of two of my best friends/colleagues, Mike Olsson and Ken Lawson, the 3 of us pictured below:

we offered the partners a taste of:

· what it takes, personally, to establish and maintain leadership credibility

· the Kouzes and Posner 5 leadership practices

· the liberating clarity of meaningful personal values and visions

· the power of shared corporate values and vision

· impactful communications, and in particular, storytelling

· effective team problem-solving.

To say that the partners were “all in” at the conclusion of our time together is a bit of an understatement. Here are 3 examples of what they introduced into BCB Homes in the months after the event:

· published core values:

o Honesty

§ speak to everyone truthfully, with transparency and thoroughness

§ do what you say you will do

o Integrity

§ treat others as you would like to be treated

§ do the right thing even when it is difficult

o Communication

§ listen

§ anticipate what others need to know and relay everything of importance

§ make sure others understand you

o Passion

§ determine what motivates you

§ enjoy the process and let it show

o Innovation

§ constantly seek ways to improve the process, our product and the Customer’s experience

§ analyze everything you are involved with and work to improve it

Side bar: beyond the practical simplicity of these drivers, please note the behavioral descriptors … how can a BCB Homes employee possibly not understand how to behave, what to say and do? Brilliant! And see how deeply woven into these values and behaviors are the Kouzes and Posner 5 practices … for an old teacher like me, this is pure gold.

· Engaged the services of Alan Lyme, certified trainer for the Leadership Challenge Workshop®, the official Kouzes and Posner program. To get a sense of Alan’s dedication of his life’s work to the growth of others, you can enjoy a Blog he wrote for this site on March 20, 2020, Challenging the Process in a Virtual World (CTP section).

Alan has now run a series of Leadership Challenge Workshops® for BCB Homes and a wide swath of employees now know much more precisely what leadership means to their organization and how to apply the 5 practices to their daily challenges. Alan reports that profound vision statements were crafted in the process by people who were new to the leadership development process, so we know what potential lies ahead for them and for the company. And he continues to serve BCB Homes in this capacity. Great service Alan!

· Hired a professional educator, Jon Bremseth, as the Director of Education and Training, a definite commitment to the learning future of BCB Homes. Beyond bringing his voracious appetite for learning and teaching to the company culture, Jon will help Alan carry on with leadership coaching and facilitation. They are in terrific hands.

… all this to say that the partners took their December 2019 experience and put it right to work, to ensure that leadership development has a solid foundation in the BCB Homes culture.

And that just gets me now (sorry for the long lead-in!) to the point of this blog, the BCB Homes purpose:

I believe that, in the process of getting better at successfully leading themselves, BCB Homes is discovering that together they have a greater leadership role to play in their communities … they believe they can and should help others become successful and enable them to live out their life dreams. What a noble purpose!

And here are 2 major pieces of evidence for my claim:

Let’s start with Jon Bremseth’s baby, the BCB Homes Career Pathway Program, recently launched as community outreach program designed to teach participants the fundamentals of the construction industry. The intention is for the participant to discover where their passion lies (Core Values Connection!!!) by exposing them to different aspects of the custom home building business. For more information regarding the BCB Homes Career-In-A-Year program:

https://www.bcbhomes.com/career-pathway-program.html

And a look at the promise of the future of BCB Homes and the careers of passionate learners:

https://www.bcbhomes.com/news/bcb-homes-career-pathway-program-welcomes-inaugural-students.html

Example #2:

BCB Homes has partnered with The Immokalee Foundation

for the Career Pathway Learning Lab Program. This program provides students of The Immokalee Foundation to work with BCB Homes' industry professionals learning about home construction, land development, marketing and sales, and much more. The Learning Lab is a training hub for the students and part of a future 18-home subdivision located in the heart of Immokalee, FL.

Side bar again: if you were BCB Homes, and looking to connect with a meaningful non-profit organization, one whose vision complements your purpose, would the words “education, empowerment and hope” be attractive? I’m guessing a wild “yes”!

https://www.bcbhomes.com/news/our-very-own-carlos-moreno-in-the-news.html

I believe this kind of venture is win-win-win. ALL. ON. PURPOSE.

Given Alan’s and Jon’s personal and professional focus on others, I guess these BCB Homes programs shouldn’t come as a big surprise, but none of this would have happened without the partners deciding that their corporate identity needed a true builder’s focus … and what better to build than a better future for others?

I am so proud to know you.

And my thanks to Erica Meile, Director of Sales, for her perfect help in feeding me details!

Purpose Blog 1

August 1, 2020 Peter Greene

Black Bear Rescue Manitoba

This is a story about discovering and living out personal purpose, the heroes in this case being Judy and Roger Stearns.

Judy and Roger .JPG — Judy and Roger Stearns

The event that kick-started their ‘purpose’ journey happened about 6 years ago, when a gentleman driving down a country road in southern Manitoba came across an orphaned black bear cub … which he took home. The cub became known as Makoon and made the local news stories.

When Manitoba Conservation heard the story, they confiscated the cub as it is illegal to possess wildlife without a proper permit. It is interesting to note that, had this cub just been given to Conservation straightaway, they would have shot it in the head. But with the news stories creating a lot of public awareness, Makoon was taken to the zoo and housed with another cub.

Judy Stearns, who as you can see in the photo above, loves and is loved by creatures of all kinds, became involved in advocating that Makoon be sent to Ontario to a proper rehab facility and then be released back into the wild in Manitoba. The Manitoba government would not agree to this, saying that Makoon could bring back disease to Manitoba … Sidebar: wild bears walk freely over the Ontario-Manitoba border all the time!

So Judy started a Facebook page and gathered close to 20,000 signatures requesting that Makoon be sent to Ontario; she presented her petition at the Manitoba legislature directly to the Minister of Conservation.

In what passed for their ‘best problem-solving thinking’, Manitoba Conservation then took Makoon from the zoo in the middle of the night and released him into the wild. This happened in June when Makoon weighed only 28 lbs., a certain death sentence with no mother to protect him from predators. This unnecessarily-cruel action caused a huge provincial uproar, even making the national news; Judy vowed publicly that Manitoba would see a rehab centre for orphaned bear cubs … and the Stearns’s personal purpose was born.

With clear purpose comes drive, and for about 18 months Judy went back and forth with some local rescues, trying to persuade them to include bears, but they did not have the resources to add to their current efforts, land and/or money being the issues.

One evening, as Judy and Roger were walking around their rural property, Judy feeling a little down for not being able to make much progress, Roger offered up an idea: “We have the land, why don’t WE do it?”

**AERIAL VIEW OF PORTION OF STEARNS PROPERTY ASSIGNED TO BLACK BEAR REHAB**

During the previous 18 months, Judy had become friends with Julie, a member of ZOOCHECK CANADA, who offered to help get a rescue set up. So naturally Judy let Julie know that same evening that the Stearns were willing to build one on their own property. And given that Julie is also friends with one of the best-known bear biologists in North America, Dr. John Beecham, the Stearns team quickly added this needed expertise to their team.

Judy informed Manitoba Conservation that they were going to build a bear rehab facility, and a meeting date was set up. Conservation provided her with a list of 7 criteria they would need to meet, such as Judy becoming a certified International Wildlife Rehabilitator, the Stearns acquiring liability insurance and a land use permit from their local municipality, as well as provide written protocols, a business plan, etc.

The ‘experts’ (now friends) Julie and John flew in for the meeting and when Manitoba Conservation walked into the room, the Stearns said you could see the amazement question “how did Judy pull this off?” right on their faces. Then Judy handed them her certification as a Wildlife Rehabilitator and the discussion became constructive. Roger says that with Dr. John Beecham there, it was just like having a beer with Bobby Orr!

Now Roger’s contributions came to the fore: being a Building Construction Technologist by training and trade, he started immediately after the meeting, as he did not need a permit to build a fence. He guided the provincial Land Use Board through the writing of a new land use definition and got the municipality to adopt it; then he applied for a land use permit, with public hearings being a part of it. As it turned out, the only people who came forward in that meeting stood up in favor of permitting the Stearns.

During the government meeting, Julie twice said that their bear rescue was going to be a world-class facility. After Manitoba Conservation left, Roger quietly asked Julie to define world class, as he had imagined salvaging some tin, like 1 green piece here, 1 white piece there, etc. Julie inspired Roger to share her vision and see that a “budget-to-build-from-new-with-labor-included” would be the next, best step towards achieving that vision. She said she would try to get someone to help with funding, then promptly went out and secured $50,000 from Bob Barker. The budget estimate turned out to be $175,000, land included. So the Stearns donated the land and the labor and basically completed the project for about $70,000.

In Year 1 they raised three cubs, seven in Year 2 and this year, Year 3, they are up to sixteen cubs … this after the government saying they should expect 1-4 cubs per year, with some years seeing none! After Manitoba Conservation dropped off another three cubs 2 weeks ago, Roger said to Judy: “that is enough, we need to add on another 9300 sq. ft.”.

Black Bear Rescue Manitoba now encompasses over 21,000 sq. ft. of which:

· 19,000 sq. f.t is open-air enclosure space

· 1,000 sq. ft. of covered and/or heated indoor space, and

· 1,000 sq. ft. of food prep and storage space.

They receive no government funding and so have created a registered charity with a board of directors. Roger’s role (BTW, he also has a fulltime job as a General Superintendent and superb leader for PCL crews) is to feed bears and to build, build, build.

He and Judy believe that it will never be acceptable to say they do not have enough space or to allow the government to euthanize cubs. Their long-term vision is to leave the property and facility in perpetuity to one of the universities for on-going studies. As of today, they have seven GPS tracking collars in the field following the travels of seven bears and are sharing their data with the government. That is about $25,000 in collar costs and tracking fees. The government gave them one collar!

This year, they received their first cubs on January 6; they were 2-3 days old and each weighed less than ½ lb. Izzy (oh yes, they name their bears!), pictured below, is currently 70 lbs.

The cubs stay in the house and are bottle-fed every 2 hours when they are that small. They cannot walk and their eyes are closed and require toileting after each feeding. Judy and Roger have kept cubs for up to a month in a cooler bag (a PCL one, of course!); hot water bottles keep them nice and warm and the bag nicely replicates a dark den.

They then progress to the heated pens once they can walk and their eyes are open.

Juniper, Jolene and Jasper

Feeding times progress to 4 and then 6 hours as they are being weaned. Weaning diet includes ground dog food, milk thickened with rice cereal and a mash made with blueberries and yogurt. Further along the mash is put on dog kibble and then the mash is removed when they have become accustomed to kibble … much like our progressions with our own infants.

Currently the cubs are all just on kibble, which Roger puts out once a week; in addition, they get produce thrown over the fence daily, about 2 lbs. per cub.

**SHOPPING IN THE FRESH PRODUCE SECTION OF THE STEARNS GROCERY**

In October, the females will reach about 120 lbs. and the males 160 lbs. (some as large as 190 lbs.). A wild cub at this same age would be 40-50 lbs. They are not just round like bowling balls, but because of the high protein, they are taller and longer than wild cubs. This fall will mark the 25th Stearns bear returned to the wild.

Richard Leider (author of The Power of Purpose) writes that a clear personal purpose is a “source of direction and energy”. At LeaderShare, we couldn’t agree more: the profound connection between vision and purpose is fully apparent in the life work of Judy and Roger Stearns … and if they are successful in bequeathing their facility to future caretakers and stewards, their vision and purpose will become their legacy. What wondrously meaningful lives!!!

Another tie-in to LeaderShare is that, like PCL, the bears have a Learning Tree. There they learn to climb and have fun like bears must do to become the best versions of themselves.

Please go to black_bear_rescue on Instagram or Black Bear Rescue Manitoba on Facebook to see more pix and videos. And of course If you wish to donate some help, then both pages have CanadaHelps tabs.