Thank you to all of you who have written posts for us in the last year. Please do keep on sharing your FED stories with us and the growing number of over a thousand subscribers to FED. Your story could make a difference. It is our stories that inspire others to lead for the future, build bigger relationships and make changes.  In this post Mario Huibers a leadership consultant shares his story of making a difference through working with the charity Net4kids.

Mario Huibers

“If you can’t share, you can’t multiply” says Odette van Zijdveld, Managing Director at Net4kids. Odette is a woman with a very clear vision of the Future.

Net4kids was founded in 2003 and since then has helped provide sustainable aid to over 70,000 underprivileged children with the ambition of giving them choices, chances and opportunities without which they would have no hope of changing their situation. And they want to double the number of children that they help in the next couple of years through continuing to provide structural and concrete projects in the areas of housing, schooling and healthcare. It is a big ambition for the future. And it is an ambition underpinned by a guiding value of transparency, of openness, in all that they do.

It is this underpinning value of transparency, of openness, combined with the big ambition of giving children a better future that engages others in what they are up to. All their employees are volunteers, who give of their time freely and, or for a small payment.

What really impresses me about working with them is the amount of engagement, not only towards the compelling future of helping even more children, but also the commitment to each other’s success.  Many of the volunteers run successful business and careers in a “regular” business environment. They not only contribute to Net4kids but also help each other to be more successful. A great example of this is the professional photographer I met who takes pictures for Net4kids but also offers free photo shoots to all the volunteers to use for their social media.  Everybody matters in this organisation and this plays out in how they work together, share and multiply.

Leadership Nudge:  How are you making a difference? What is the contribution you would like to make through your leadership this year, inside and outside of work? What is the bigger difference you could make through your leadership and engaging others in what you are up to?

By Mario Huibers