This is the most important thing we can talk about right now.

Seems our little reminder about Lily landed for a few folks!

We're so grateful for your support and willingness to continue to share Lily's story with the hope of finding her a kidney donor. 

And, there is still work to be done.

You asked us a really important question and we got you an answer!

You asked us for Lily’s blood type. As you can imagine this is one of the FIRST ways to know if you, or someone you know, could be a match for Lily.

Lily's blood type is O+. 

None of her family members are a good match and it could take years for Lily to find a match via a transplant list. Lily is undergoing daily dialysis treatments so she doesn't have that kind of time left. 

Are you an O+ blood type?

If you're interested in seeing if you could be a match and learning about the process please email Donna Tissot, Lily’s advocate, and she will assist you. Her email address is: donnat628@gmail.com

An inquiry does not mean you have committed to anything. Donna can simply give you information and answer your questions. 

You can read more about Lily and her story HERE. 

NOT A MATCH? YOU CAN STILL HELP! 
There are two ways... 

1. Share Lily’s story.

When you share a message you never know how far and wide your reach may be. Thank you for taking a minute to forwarding this to your network. 

2. Learn about kidney donation. 
Most often, just KNOWING something can help someone. Taking a few minutes to learn about kidney donation means we can simply be more aware and have informed conversations with others on this important topic. Who knows! It could help us inform or encourage someone else to become a donor. 

In 2016, Dylan Matthews donated his kidney to a complete stranger. He documents how and why in his incredible story, How to Save a Stranger's Life. 

Listen to the podcast HERE. 
Read the article HERE.  
Watch the video HERE. 

Thank you for taking a moment to read this and for potentially saving Lily's life. 

#TeamLily

-Jeff & The Diamond6 Team

We haven't seen Jeff in weeks. Here's why...

It's true, we haven't seen Jeff in weeks!

He left the rest of us here in the office while heading to Hawaii nearly two weeks ago to run a leadership workshop with students from Penn State University.

Then, earlier this week he traded in his Hawaiian shirt for a coat and fancy hat to join his classmates at his 50th college reunion from West Point. 

We're not at all bitter about it. Really, we're not ;)

He will surely regale us with many stories of his travel adventures when he returns to the office. We can't wait to hear them!

Storytelling is such a powerful and engaging teaching tool. Stories help connect us to each other, to events, and to lessons. 

That is why we use storytelling in all our leadership workshops. 

One of the consequences and most important lessons from the Attack on Pearl Harbor, is that it germinated a unity amongst the American people; that great team called the nation. 

Talk about a great story!

In this McCausland Monday video and blog post Jeff shares the background of an important monument at Pearl Harbor and the most important lesson we can learn from this historic event. 

CLICK HERE for the video and blog post. 

Help us help Lily

We have a special request for you.

As you may have heard us mention before, our friend and colleague, Lily Din Woo, needs our help. 

Lily found out that she had Stage 4 Chronic Kidney Disease in early 2018 and was placed on the transplant list at Weill Cornell Medical Center in September of 2018. In the summer of 2020, she became extremely ill, spending 5 months in the hospital. Her situation has gotten progressively worse and now has End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). She is undergoing daily dialysis for 10 hours each night. She desperately needs our help. 

The wait for a deceased donor in New York is 7-10 years. Chances for survival is greatly increased if she gets a living donor.

Doctors have advised Lily to actively seek a living kidney donor as soon as possible.

Feel free to share this email with your friends, colleagues, and larger network. Together we may be able to find the donor Lily is so desperately searching for. 

You can also share this information on your social networks. The goal is to spread Lily's story far and wide. 

==============================================

Here's how you can help Lily:

If you are interested in learning more about the kidney donation process or in becoming a potential donor for Lily, please register at: https://cornell.donorscreen.org

Please indicate "donor for Lily Woo" on the registration form. This does not commit you to anything. 

If you have any questions please email Donna Tissot, Lily’s advocate, and she will assist you. Her email address is: donnat628@gmail.com

==============================================

More about Lily

If you have heard Lily speak at one of our workshops you know that she is an incredible person, educator, leader, and friend. We are so grateful to her for sharing her time and wisdom with all of you! Her stories and experiences have provided invaluable insights to us all.

Lily has served her community as a school principal for 25 years and has received many awards in her life for her service: most notable were the NYC and NYS Distinguished Educator Awards in 2002; recognition by the 2004 World Olympics Committee as an “Everyday Hero” and had the honor of running part of the New York City leg of the Summer World Olympics Torch Relay that year; and Manhattan Media’s 2010 “Principal of the Year” Blackboard Award. At her retirement celebration in 2014, she received proclamations from the City Council and the NYS Senate for her long-standing service as principal in her school and community, and most recently in 2016, received recognition as one of City University of New York’s Outstanding Asian American Alumni.

As a hobby, Lily is a drum corps enthusiast. From the time when she was seven, she was a part of a community drum corps in Chinatown. During the late 1970’s, she was a part of the Bills Boys Drum and Bugle Corps horn line and later joined the New York Skyliners to become one of the few females in their horn line. She also marched as part of Sky’s Championship Honor Guard for several years in the 1990’s and served as assistant drum major for the competing corps from 2005-07. She was given the honor as a lifetime member of the New York Skyliners field corps in 2015. Today, she is still a member of the Skyliners Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps and still plays whenever she is well enough and able to.

Create a team like a meerkat mob - trust, resilience, buy-in

"Team trouble" is definitely a reality right now.

What do we mean?

As you continue to adjust to new guidelines, requests, and expectations from organizations AND employees you might be feeling a little added tension.

Some companies want folks back in the office but employees want to stay home.

Stakeholders want to get back to business but organizations aren't able to move as quickly.

Many are feeling hesitant, fearful, or just plain overwhelmed by it all.

This is when we need to build trust, create resilience, and get buy-in.

Without these three ingredients our teams and organizations will continue to flounder.

We have compiled three blog posts that address these important tools. Plus, strategies you can implement right away.

Just a few little tweaks and your team can get back to business like a mob of meerkats!

Build Trust, Create Resilience, Get Buy-In

How to Build Trust and Achieve Goals: Jeff covers five strategies in very simple terms. Plus, you can watch the McCausland Monday video where he goes into greater detail!

Two Steps to Creating a Resilient Business: Jeff describes his experience keeping Diamond6 alive during Covid, and why Yogi Berra was right....as always!

How to Achieve Buy-In? Become a Great Communicator: Quickly read through six tips that you can immediately incorporate to get to that next level of communication success and earn the essential “buy-in” of your peers.

Three ingredients for the innovation we need NOW

This month marked a strange and somber anniversary. Two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, now heading into year three. 

It seems we can be cautiously optimistic, as far as the pandemic is concerned.

Unfortunately, the world is still experiencing so much tragedy as we watch the citizens of Ukraine fight for their lives and their country. 

Covid, Ukraine, and countless other challenges all have secondary effects and impacts that we will experience for years to come. 

The pandemic brought on "the great resignation" while the war in the Ukraine is bringing us face to face with our dependence on foreign oil and energy sources. 

It can all feel very doom and gloom. 

And, while we feel the fear, we also must remember to never waste a perfectly good crisis. 

I believe we are in a unique position to make radical, innovative, and necessary changes in our businesses, for the climate, our broken systems, our communities, and families. 

I was reflecting back on where I was and what I was doing shortly before the pandemic spread to the U.S. in March, 2020.

I was hanging out with turtles on a trip with my son Phil in the Galapagos! I am so grateful I was able to do that trip before the world shut down.

That trip inspired me to take a fresh look at adaptation, innovation, and leadership. I definitely wouldn't have expected us to all dig deep into our adaptive abilities just a few weeks later when we all started meeting over Zoom!

Now it is time for us to take truly innovate and work on greater change.

On that note, I thought now would be a good time to revisit the article I wrote two years ago.

CLICK HERE to go straight to that blog post.

I'm curious to hear from you! What innovation do you want to see for long term impact?

Comment your thoughts below.