VOLUNTEERING ADDS VALUE TO YOUR LIFE
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Forward by Sam Haddad, SVEC President Recently at the NATEA Annual Symposium I was impressed with one of their speakers, Dr. ArLyne Diamond. I invited her to write a short article for this issue to emphasize the value of volunteering, one of which is to gain the gratification of giving something back to the community. In his President's message of September, 1996, Dr. Sam Haddad, your new SVEC President, pledged to "demonstrate the value added services to nearly 50,000 engineers and technical professionals contributing to the most innovative Silicon Valley industries." It value-added services about which I write today. Value-added to your community, your nation, your pet causes, you industry, and most important - to you, and the continued successful growth to both your professional and personal life. What is value-added? Clearly, it is getting more than you bargained for; more than the basics of the product and service; more than just waking up in the morning, going to work, coming home and watching TV. In life, and in professional development, giving additional value is the significant difference between those who find happiness and succeed than those who don't. One of the most valuable lessons you can make to your life, is to build in time to volunteer your services to organizations important to you. By volunteering, you afford yourself the ability to tackle new problems, meet new people, test your new skills, and network with others who get to see you in action. It is a growth experience, a networking opportunity, a way to feel good about yourself. Of course, it is also one of the most important vehicles by which America continues to be a free nation. When we voluntarily take care of our communities and those in need, the government doesn't need to step in and intervene. When you voluntarily help educate our children to your culture of origin through after school activities, the children aren't forced to learn only the same things. When we voluntarily support the religion of our choice, no one group can dictate which religion is the "proper" one for our country. When we volunteer out services to our professional organizations, we help in the growth of our profession and in many cases help it from becoming regulated by those in power who have little to do but dictate lots of rules for others. We also support the continued education of those in our fields, as well as ourselves. Volunteering in our professional organization is one of the most important ways we have to guarantee our career enhancement as well as the overall enhancement of the excellence in our profession. And, if you really want to look at it from a totally selfish point of view - what better way do you know to make yourself visible to your peers than by volunteering in your professional organization. When I consult to doctors, lawyers, engineers, other consultants, as well as large and small business owners, the advice find myself giving quite often is - volunteer. By volunteering you get known for the quality of your talents and profession. By volunteering you get to be seen in a way that is richer than thousands of dollars worth of advertising. By volunteering you rub elbows with the people you'd never get to meet otherwise - including perhaps the CRO of your company, or the hiring manager of the company you are interested in joining. For all these reasons giving yourself in a value-added manner to your community, your pet causes, and your professional organization, gives back to you a hundred fold, as well as it helps to preserve the freedom of this country. Reprinted from SVEC Newsletter, Vol. 8, #2, January, 1997 |