Get In The Game and Take Action!

On Friday, February 4th, 2011, I was honoured to be the recipient of a Speakers Bureau Spirit Award from the United Way of Peel for being an outstanding ambassador for the United Way.

I was presented with the honour during its Community Achievement Celebration when the 2010 campaign total of $13,752,578 was announced.


As a member of the Speaker's Bureau, I would visit different workplace campaigns to encourage giving and to help increase awareness of how United Way funded programs support our community.

A key characteristic of leadership is recognizing when action needs to be taken and then actually doing something about it. I'm constantly reminded how true this is on a seemingly daily basis through the lessons provided by my six year old daughter who was diagnosed with autism.

Autism is a disorder of neural development and Jahleesa's speech has been severely delayed. While this can make communication challenging at times, she's also proved that our ability influence others isn't tied into the things we say, its the things we do that matter.

Leaders are the ones who take action when action is needed and the best part about it is that you don't have to be a professional speaker to make a difference.

Organizations like the United Way are always interested in people looking to make positive contributions and be leaders in their communities. If this is something that you've considered in the past but haven't acted on, I'd encourage you to do so.

It's not hard.

So stop hanging around the sidelines and

Get In The Game and Take Action!

See you on the court!