I invite you to be part of The 2011 Gratitude Challenge to your sphere of Influence at home, at work and in the community. As an ethical edge influencer, consciously and purposefully express your gratitude during this Thanksgiving Week, November 21-27.

The signature branding of the Ethical Edge message is pretty darn simple; For sure, it’s not rocket science. Here it is in a nutshell: Your life values influence for good can only find meaning as you live, practice, demonstrate, express, push through your failures, and constantly peek beyond your successes to live hopefully and optimistically in the daily classroom of your relationships with others.

As an explorer of human consciousness over the last forty-plus years, I have repeatedly found there is one common mountaintop action that allows us to experience extraordinary understanding and renewed clarity from which we can see beyond all circumstances, situations, events…be they happy or sad. It’s gratitude. How does it behave? The Psalmist, David, wrote that it makes a joyful noise; Cicero declared it moves as the parent of all other virtues; Zig Ziglar, a great 20th century inspirational messenger, said of gratitude… as an attitude to practice it is by far the most life-changing; and JFK wrote, “Our highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live them.”

Have I made my case? Well, not quite yet. I need to get moving as I put gratitude in motion this Thanksgiving week. If you would like to join me, get involved with The 2011 Gratitude Challenge. Below are four actions items.

 2011 Thanksgiving Week Gratitude Action Plan

 I express gratitude by thanking a family member, a friend, an individual in my professional life who has been an influence for good.

 I express gratitude as I offer acts of thoughtfulness to others for whom I seek nothing in return.

 I express gratitude for God’s grace in action as I give of my personal finances to support people in need in the OC community.

 I express gratitude by passing along this message to others in my sphere of influence.

 Appreciating you on the ethical edge!

Russell Williams, Founder/President

Passkeys Foundation/Ethical Edge

www.ethicaledge.org

Years ago, Tom Hopkins, one of America’s classic sales professionals and motivational speakers, captured my attention when he told a true yarn about his early sales years. While sitting glumly in his office after several days of sales rejections, his boss came into his cubicle, sat down and asked, “What’s Up? Tom unloaded his oh-ain’t-it-awful litany of sales frustration as his boss listened attentively.

When Tom finally exhausted his complaints, his boss replied, “Tommy, I know just what you need. Let’s take a drive together.” And so, Tom enthusiastically jumped into his boss’ car as they headed out of town. No words were exchanged until they had traveled a few miles. Then, his boss made an abrupt U-Turn, pulled to the side of road, and stopped.

He turned to Tom and spoke, “Get out, Tom!” Bewildered, Tom obeyed. Then his boss exclaimed, “Now, walk your way back into town and drop in on as many businesses as you can. When, you get back to the office, I want to hear about your success!” His boss sped off.

Hours later, a tired, but excited, Tom returned with a report of sale success and a handful of qualified leads. As the years passed, Tom looked back to this event as the defining moment that supercharged his extraordinarily successful professional career in sales and motivational speaking. It was that day he learned to trust the perennial message for every season of life: It’s always too soon to give up.

Tommy’s Tale is easy to grasp intellectually. But, so what! The fact is, facing discouragement and failure on the road to our goals and dreams can easily throw us into an emotional ditch where we believe we can’t crawl out. These moments often require a mentor to remind us: It is too soon to throw in the towel. Move beyond those Stop Sign feelings. Renew the challenge of breathing new energy into Life with your aspiring mind.

Such was the special mentoring moment played out last week before millions of viewers on the new, reality show, The X Factor. Simon Cowell stopped the performance of a 49-year-old James Brown Sound-Alike and confronted him saying. “Give me 15 seconds of you…not James Brown.” The vocalist stood in fear-filled silence. He knew he had failed his audition. His face revealed he might be in his last ditch. But Simon’s blunt urging and encouragement to sing again resulted in a remarkable reprise performance worthy of continuing in the competition.

 Mission Integrity Action

Russell Williams, Founder/President

Passkeys Foundation/Ethical Edge

www.ethicaledge.org