Third-grader aids Malala fund
Building truth muscles Telling the truth may be one of the most persistent bugaboos of business. It’s a habit that can be built up, like a muscle. It’s not only good Christian behavior, it’s also good business, says Ken Byler of Higher Ground Consulting Group in Souderton, Pa. Some time ago Byler led a MEDA convention seminar on Truth-telling: The Hidden Profit Booster. He suggested ways to make honesty a workplace habit. • Write a list of positive things you believe could happen if you tell the truth; write a second list of positive things you believe could happen if you withhold the truth. • List the possible negative consequences of telling the truth and of withholding the truth. • Review your lists and rate the likelihood of each thing happening. • Name who or what is being protected if you don’t tell the truth (you, family, boss, co-worker, project). • What harm will likely occur to whomever or whatever you are trying to protect if you do not tell the truth? • If you choose not to tell the truth, what will you need to do to assuage your conscience? By telling the truth in even the smallest things “you get practice which can pay off when telling the truth is really hard,” he said.
How old do you have to be to assist a global cause? For Alliana Rempel of Winnipeg, eight years is enough. Alliana is the granddaughter of MEDA board member Peter Dueck and his wife Trudy, who were involved with MEDA’s recent convention in Winnipeg. Her mother, Carissa Rempel (the Alliana Rempe l: “Together Duecks’ daughter) we can make things beauti attended the keynote ful.” speech by Ziauddin Yousafzai, father of teenage education activist and Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. Carissa purchased a copy of the memoir, I Am Malala, which tells the story of surviving being shot in the face for protesting the Taliban’s limitation of education for Pakistani girls. “Alliana saw that I was reading it at home and knew where I had been and was interested so she asked if she could read the book too,” says Carissa. Alliana, though only eight and in third grade, became so inspired by the book that she devised her own way to support Malala’s campaign for education. “From reading the book, I realized that lots of girls don’t get to go to school,” says Alliana, who was recently featured on Malala’s website. “I wanted to help, so I drew a picture of a butterfly because it is a symbol of hope and change. I added words like ‘education’ and ‘peace’ to the butterfly’s wings so everyone will be reminded of the changes we need to make so that all children can have these things.” Alliana began to sell prints of her artwork to raise money for Malala’s fund. She called her project Battle The Bad With Beauty. After being featured on Malala’s site she has sold to five countries around the world and is now half-way to her goal of raising $2,000. “Across the world many children never get to go to school,” says Alliana. “I want to help change that by raising money for the Malala Fund. Together we can make things beautiful. And if we work hard enough, we can overcome the bad with beauty.” To learn more about Alliana’s efforts to help the Malala Fund visit her website at www.battlebadwithbeauty.wix.com/battlebadwithbeauty.
Excerpted from You’re Hired! Looking for work in all the right places, a career guide from MEDA. Available for free download at www.meda.org
The Marketplace March April 2015
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