The True Spirit of Christmas
by newsletter subscriber Ellaine Griño-Espiña,
from the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines

     This year would have been the first Christmas I was going to share with my family.  It would be the first Christmas we would have together.  (Why that is so is an entirely different story.)  My husband and I planned it to be the best Christmas ever.  Until everything went all wrong.
     It all started to go wrong on December 22.  My mom texted me that she had sent my children money for Christmas.  She wanted them to have toys I normally wouldn't buy.  Before picking up the money at LBC, (a local courier) we dropped by the ATM to check if money that my husband was supposed to have since the first week of December had been deposited yet.  When we got to the machine, I found out that it still wasn't there.  I was disappointed but I didn't think it was a problem since I still had my mom's Christmas money and the kids would still have presents.                                                                                                (continued)

Dare to be Average
by Steven L. Anderson, Ph.D., MBA

What a strange subject, you might be thinking.   What do I mean by dare to be average? And why would anyone want to do that? Shouldn’t we all strive to be excellent? I have chosen this topic for this newsletter as I think so many of us struggle with a sense of inadequacy because we will not dare to be average.
Allow me to first explain what I mean by daring to be average. We live in a society that is obsessed with results. We are all concerned about our next promotion, the next house we will buy, how wealthy we are, where our children will attend college, etc. While having goals is important to being happy, becoming obsessed with results is a sure road to misery. (continued)

 FREE Authentic Communication Workshop

Powerful communication strategies for leaders

Wednesday, Jan. 30
8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Columbus, OH

Space is limited so you MUST register!

Learn to improve your ability to communicate in key areas vital to your effectiveness.

CLICK HERE for "Authentic Communication" details and to register.
 

Salvation Army Angels Christmas Giving Report

You people are amazing!  Just wanted to let you know what was accomplished at Christmas this year.  We started with 300 kids.  Adopted them out and asked for more.  Got 48 more.  Adopted them out and asked for more.  Got 30 more.  Adopted them out....  For the mathematically challenged, that's 378 kids.  More than I ever imagined we could handle.

In fact, we did even more than that. People donated random things for those that didn't get as much.  A toy drive gave us enough stuff for probably another 30 kids.                                                          (continued)

January happenings at ILS:

1/9   M.J. Clark: Ethics meeting and discussion at Homeless Families Foundation

1/9   M.J. Clark: Talk on Communication and Leadership for the Association of Legal Administrators at the Columbus Bar Association.

1/16   Steve Anderson: Authentic Leadership workshop for Jewish Family Services at ITT Tech

1/30  FREE workshop on Authentic Communication