Passion, Purpose & Profit: The Butterfly Effect
Don Roulo is the CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) of Life Quest. He is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.
By DON ROULO
By the time many of you read this article I will have spoken at our local Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration event in Winona Lake. I was honored to be the keynote speaker at this fantastic event. I thought I would share with you a small portion of what I spoke about:
Dr. King is a testament to what one man with passion and purpose can accomplish. Dr. King shared his dream with anyone who would listen. He didn’t search out the most influential people in the community. He shared the dream with bus drivers, clerks and street sweepers. He also knew everything he said and did mattered.
Let me share a brief story with you to illustrate just how important each one of us is in the grand picture of life. Edward Lorenz was a scientist who proposed something called the Butterfly Effect to the New York Academy of Science in the 1960’s. His theory stated a butterfly flapping it’s wings in South America could cause a tornado in Texas. Needless to say he was laughed at by his fellow scientists.
About 30 years later, Lorenz’s Butterfly Effect theory was revisited and found to have some merit. We know a butterfly cannot cause a tornado around the world. However, they did agree that all living matter has an impact on other living matter. They even gave this theory the status of a law – The Law of Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions.
Let me further illustrate the Butterfly Effect. Norman Borlaug is a celebrated botanist. He is credited with saving the lives of two billion people because he discovered hybrid corn and wheat which could be grown in hot and dry places like Mexico and India. His discoveries have kept two billion people from starving.
Was it really Norman Borlaug who should get the credit for saving two billion lives or was it Henry Wallace? Henry Wallace was the Secretary of Agriculture and then also the Vice President of the United States under Roosevelt. The reason I ask if it should be Henry Wallace who gets the credit for saving two billion lives is because he is the one who appointed Henry Wallace to the hybrid corn and wheat project.
Was it Norman Borlaug or Henry Wallace who saved two billion lives? Or, was it George Washington Carver? When George was a young student at Iowa State University he would go out on botanical experiments. He had a professor who had a young son who liked George very much. This young boy would often go with George to study plants. George taught him and mentored him. This caused the young boy to have a great interest in plants as well. The young boy who accompanied George Washington Carver was none other than – Henry Wallace.
Who really should be credited with saving two billion lives? Was it Norman Borlaug, or Henry Wallace, or George Washington Carver? If George Washing Carver did not take the time to help Henry Wallace, then Henry would have never had interest in plants. If Henry did not have an interest in plants he would have never been the Secretary of Agriculture and appointed Norman Borlaug. If Norman Borlaug was not appointed to his position – two billion lives would have been lost to starvation.
Dr. King new everything he said and did mattered. More importantly, he knew others would be impacted by his life and continue to carry on the dream.
You have a Butterfly Effect on the lives of those around you. Your life, your career and your business matter. Everything you say and do matters. Just like Dr. King and his dream have changed the world – YOU can change the world!
About the Author
Don Roulo is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.
As a business consultant, he has written business plans and worked to market products or services as well as organizing financial statements for investors. Because of his success in the sales and business arena, Don has been blessed with the opportunity to train, motivate and inspire others. His passion is to motivate and equip people to find their passion and achieve their goals and God given destiny.