Would You Take The Chance?

What if I were to tell you that the single most important connection you could ever make was going to appear in your life in the next few days. You know, that one connection that could change your life, your career, your level of happiness and your level of success forever. Yes...that one.

Would you be ready? Would you be willing and able to step outside your box to make sure that their appearance in your life wouldn't go unnoticed? Would you be willing to raise that head in a crowd and keep it raised? Would you be willing to smile at everyone? Would you be willing to engage everyone for fear of missing that all important one? Would you be ready?

Seems like a dramatic line of questioning but is it? I mean seriously, think about how you have acted and responded just in the past week. Have you been willing to step up to the plate and engage a random stranger in conversation just because they were there? Have you looked and I mean really looked at the people who have crossed your path just in the past week? Have you kept an ever vigilant eagle eye (homage to my dad) open for those people who are showing up in your life for some yet unknown reason?

I know it is hard. I know it takes practice. I know it takes effort. I know it means taking a chance, rolling the dice and coming up short a lot of the time. But does that mean you just give up, or worse yet, never try at all?

I can make one definite proclamation about your life and for many of you, it's without ever personally meeting you. There is a plan. You are in it. Other people have a role in it as well. Those people will pop up at the most unusual and often inconvenient times, or so it may seem at the time. But let me let you in on a little secret.....

They are there and are always there for a reason. Wouldn't you want to know why? Would you want to discover what role they were supposed to play in your plan? I know I sure would. I know I would not want to miss that opportunity for fear of it never coming back again.

Life is a gamble. You have to be willing to risk a little to gain a lot. The people you want and need to know are out there; heck they have already surrounded you these past few days. Are you going to simply let them slip in and out of your life like sand through your fingers or are you going to hold on tight and see where the ride takes you?

The most important connection you will ever want or need to make is still out there.....waiting for you to notice them. Take the chance.

Ripple On!!!

The Networking Breakfast Poem

I am no Dr. Seuss but.....


I came to the networking breakfast under much duress
Very few things I like less
Fake smiles and sharp tooth grins
The pain of insincerity hurts my shins

I pay my entry and look for my name tag
The whole process makes me want to gag
When out of no where I see the bad!
I'm not Steve Sharper, It's Steve Harper...e-gad!

With smudged out name now across my chest
I venture out reluctantly to meet the rest
There's Bob the lawyer and Sally the sales rep
These people greet each other with such enthusiasm, such pep

A strong hang shake and too many business cards shoved in my face
I secretly wish I had packed a can of mace
Funny, quippy all too creative ways to describe their profession
I feel faint and fear I 'll need a psychiatric session

Oh the networking breakfast, painful no doubt
It's time for breakfast they all shout
We gather like cattle waiting for the so called food
We pour pathetic coffee so dark, so crude

I shall kill that friend of mine who made me come
To agree to this torture I admit I was dumb
A text from him saying he now can't make it
From the bowels of my soul I let out an "Oh sh**"

"So what do you do," the woman sitting next to me asks
My anger inside I desperately tried to mask
Oh me? I'm plotting a murder I wanted to say
Revenge on my mind I want him to pay

But alas I was polite and engaged her in chat
Somehow we ended up talking about her cat
The eggs were cold the meat barely edible
The connections I made weren't at all even credible

I remember why I don't go to events like this anymore
The effort it takes is just such a chore
As business cards are passed around the table
I bolt from my chair as quickly as I am able

To shouts of "I'll call you" and "We should talk some more."
I spring for the exit desperate to push through the door
Safe in my car I dial my friend's number
With a voice he answers obviously awoke from slumber

I can not share the remainder of this poem for fear of prosecution.

Needless to say....taking applications for friends. I have an opening.

Ripple On!!!

Imagine...Rippling Today

I happen to like the John Lennon. In fact the older I get the more appreciation I have for the powerful lyrics that John Lennon wrote for his solo efforts as well as those he wrote for The Beatles. I especially like the song Imagine and every time I hear it still brings a smile to my face and makes me think. I remember listening to that song over and over again on my parent's record player in our downstairs living room; so much so that my Mom would often retreat to her bedroom just to get away from my insistence on playing it.

I tried to imagine what John Lennon was asking from me way back when and still do to be perfectly honest. Call me a romantic but the concept of us all living as one really made an impression on me as a small kid. The imagery that the words painted within my heart made it clear that it was okay to want everyone to be included...everyone to be friends. And though I was a painfully shy kid I tried my best. After all the song asked me to right?

Recently I was asked by someone why I felt that Rippling was so important. The first word to leap from my tongue was imagine. Imagine a world of possibilities that your Ripple actions can make on others. Imagine the doors that could be opened by just taking a chance. Imagine the way you would feel when you know you did something out there to make a difference.

You might say I am dreamer, but I'm not the only one. Rippling works. Rippling makes a difference. Rippling is changing lives. Rippling is changing companies. Rippling is a way to bring us all together....so we can work as live as one.

I hope someday you will you join us...

Ripple On!!!