Two Muhammads

Add “securing bookshelves to the wall of a Somali day care” to experiences I never thought I’d have.

Like yours, my heart hurts when I see painful images of refugee families fleeing violence and tyranny around the world. Fortunately for me and my family, one of our neighbors decided to actually do something about it. She volunteers to help re-settle Somali refugees.

Thanks to her, we spent Labor Day fixing up a day-care that serves this community. Was pretty great for kids from our neighborhood to make new friends and see a glimpse of how they live.

But this is way more than a day-care. For many of these families, the fathers are still in refugee camps in eastern Africa – the requirements for them to enter the U.S. are more stringent than for their wives and children. But the moms are required to hold jobs as part of their re-settlement requirements. And very few of them can drive. So how in the world would they be able to function when they have all these little kids at home?

That’s where this day-care comes in. The proprietors (both named Muhammad) get up at 5 a.m. and drive around town picking up the kids so their moms can get to work. Outside of work, they jump in and help with translation and problem-solving for these sometimes bewildered moms struggling to navigate a new world.

When I complimented one of the Muhammads, he replied humbly, “We’re doing all we can.”

That made me think. There’s a LOT of need, just with this one community. Multiply that by hundreds of millions around the world.

Times like that force me to question, “Does helping PR people earn more media placements justify the time and energy I spend on my career, when I could be working or volunteering for causes like this?”

And the answer is ABSOLUTELY.

Achieving your full potential at your job – whether you work at a cause-oriented organization, or Wal-Mart, or Wall Street – is the best and fastest way you can make a real difference in the world.

You earn more money that you can donate to the causes you believe in.

You earn more autonomy and flexibility that allow you to volunteer your time and energy.

In short, you gain the CONTROL of your life you deserve, and then you can do whatever you want. If that ends up being answering an inner call to serve or work for a cause you believe in, then you have that much more value ready to contribute.

Yes, I love hearing about people I’ve trained or coached via the Inner Circle getting promotions and raises. But my favorite emails to get are the ones that tell me “Now I spend more time with my kids” or “Now we can afford to go on a humanitarian trip.”

The two Muhammads have found a way to leverage their unique talents in their corner of the world to lift and serve. You and I have the obligation and opportunity to do the same in the PR world.