Imagining ONE Million Gratitude Expressed

Join us in July for Don’t Wait To Thank

Remember the phrase BHAG from Jim Collins in Good to Great? BHAG is Big Hairy Audacious Goal and we have one for the month of July.

This BHAG took us by surprise!😮

It was not a goal that we articulated at the beginning of the project. As we got into the project, there was a moment, it happened last week, when, out-of-the-blue, we realized we might mobilize ONE MILLION expressions and experiences of gratitude in the month of July.

As a matter of fact, the whole project was birthed in a moment. It sparked as an idea and an answer to a question.

The project is Don’t Wait To Thank and it now has an online home in another Substack site. We’d love to have YOU join us. YOU could help us mobilize that ONE MILLION expressions of gratitude!

Oh, here’s the question, “What can we do to celebrate the two-year anniversary of launching I’M GRATEFUL FOR YOU as a movement?”

There is a back story to DWTT. Maybe it’s not as random as I first thought it was. I didn’t connect the dots until a thought occurred in the last 72 hours.

Thursday, May 16, I spoke at a conference in Houston, Texas. It was our wedding anniversary and I had boarded a 4:00 pm flight to make it home in time for a celebratory dinner with Gwen.

As is my custom when boarding a flight, I give an I’M GRATEFUL FOR YOU (IGFY) card and a bag of chocolates to the flight crew. It’s not an original idea. I saw someone do it years ago, and I was so moved by the gesture, I started doing it.

Once we launched IGFY, it seemed only natural to include giving an IGFY card along with the chocolates. It is almost always a hit with the flight crew. Sometimes they let me know how much they appreciate it.

This was one of those times.

I was on Delta flight number 2694. Bad storms were heading for Houston, fortunately, we departed right before the storms arrived.

The first hour of our flight was quite bumpy due to the turbulence. The pilot kept the seatbelt sign illuminated.

Finally, we had cleared the storms and it was safe to get up. I headed to the lavatory.It was occupied, so I had to step into the galley to wait.

As I did, guess what I saw?

Posted there was the envelope with the note tucked inside.

“Is it okay if I take a picture?” I asked the flight attendant standing there.

“Sure, but why?”

“It’s for a research project.”

He looked a little confused.

I said, “It’s about the gratitude card and the impact it has.”

“Oh, you’re the guy! I ate four of the chocolates already."

We shared a laugh and that was that...

Or so I thought.

As I was exiting the plane after landing in Atlanta, I looked up in the galley to see if the card was still there.

It was...but now it was out of the envelope and the note was visible.

Now, another flight attendant, the one I handed the card to was standing there thanking passengers as they deplaned.

“Oh, may I take a picture of the card?”

“Sure.”

As I did, she thanked me and said how it made her day.

So, I pressed my luck and asked, “May I take a picture of you with the card since it meant that much to you?”

“I don’t really like pictures.”

"Me either, what’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m Kelly.”

I snapped the photo and was about to deplane.

“Wait, can I take a picture too?" Kelly asked.

“I want to remember this day...

BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAPPEN OFTEN.”

As I type those words now, tears well up.

Days when YOU FEEL seen, heard, valued, and appreciated as a human...don't happen often!!! ‼️😱

Friends, WE CAN CHANGE THAT.

WE CAN MAKE TIME TO SEE PEOPLE...

And let them know we SEE THEM.

When you take a moment and express your gratitude to another human being...YOU ARE TELLING THEM:

I SEE YOU!!!

I VALUE YOU!!!

WHAT YOU DO MATTERS!!!

I wrote this on the morning of May 17 and published it on my personal blog.

Shortly after writing this, I was in a meeting with Caroline Lewis from Lawson House, our marketing agency.

It was in that meeting, when I asked Caroline,

“What can we do to celebrate the two-year anniversary of launching I’M GRATEFUL FOR YOU as a movement?”

We could have a month-long celebration where we get as many people as possible expressing gratitude and telling others, I’M GRATEFUL FOR YOU.

I find it odd now, that I didn’t connect the conversation with Caroline to the encounter with the flight attendant Kelly the night before and that seed of an idea, WE CAN CHANGE THAT!

Here’s how I ended that blog post I wrote on May 17.

You don’t have to use an IGFY card to do that. You can put it on a sticky note, an index card, or a blank sheet of paper.

It’s the message that matters...not the medium.

Unless, of course, you remember as I did the moment I typed this line, the immortal words of Marshall McLuhan, “the medium IS the message!”

Imagine a world...

where SEEING people,

CONNECTING with people, and

COMMUNICATING our gratitude to them and for them is the new normal.

Let’s make moments like this HAPPEN MORE OFTEN!

Let’s make ONE MILLION OF THEM HAPPEN IN JULY!

ARE YOU IN?

If you are, please join us for Don’t Wait To Thank!