Make the decision to take control and RISE above 2021.

Here at JCI Southampton & JCI UK, we have made the decision to not let Lockdown stop us from making an impact in our local communities. This is why our members have been attending Kickstart 2021 with JCI UK, JCI Ireland, JCI Scotland and JCI Malta.  

At this event we have learnt from Keynote speaker Mike Stevenson, he spoke about his career of 27 jobs, low points of sleeping on the street and what he had learnt from working in polar opposite fields and a variety of jobs. 

My three takeaways were that:

1. The hard times and struggle often prepared him for the times ahead by giving him the drive and skills he needed
2. We learn when we change, either by forced changes of active decisions
3. To get things done, we need to have positive conversations but honest conversations 

Mike also spoke about the changes in leadership, this being brought on much like the rapid changes in retail we are seeing as a result of the pandemic. These times had shown young people had adapted quickest to the pandemic and had already had the skills to cope with the new normal, when compared to their older colleagues. He went on to explain that this shows young people have the ideas to move us forward, they are not held back by societal ideals and institutionalisation.

Finally Mike spoke about how the pandemic will speed up changes in businesses, based on a fundamental change is societal values. We will start to see SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) based businesses. We have already seen businesses like Who gives a crap and Toms who give more back than a traditional business. 

Who gives a crap donates 50% of its profits to help build toilets in 3rd world countries.

Toms donates a pair of shoes for every sale, donating 95 million shoes over 10 years of operating. 

In summary I was reminded that we are the future and we can and must shape the world for the better. This is why I joined JCI to have a chance to do that, by joining a network of people who have the same ideals. A network that collaborates to and comes together to make the world a better place. 

At Southampton we have plenty of opportunities for people to lead and support projects, please let get in touch with us via social media or president@jcisouthampton.org.uk