By Carter
Andersen
Mother Teresa of Calcutta started with
nothing and impacted millions of people through service and leadership. How did
she do it? We know that Mother Teresa’s work started with one person – Mother
Teresa refused to walk past a sick and dying person on a street in Calcutta,
and in her own words, she helped just one person. With that start, Mother
Teresa’s loving service to the poor eventually grew to a worldwide community of
support for the poor, the hungry, the sick, and the homeless. Mother Teresa’s
path to being one of the most respected and effective world leaders was
grounded in service.
I met Mother Teresa twice as a teenager
(first in 1985 and again 1988), and both times Mother Teresa impacted me
powerfully with her example, words, and smile. Mother Teresa spoke about the
power and gift of a smile – if you can give nothing else to another person, you
can always give them a smile. I think about Mother Teresa’s powerful words
almost every day. Mother Teresa’s inspirational teachings can be applied in so
many areas of our lives:
In this life we
cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.
If you can't
feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
Do not wait for
leaders; do it alone, person to person.
~ Mother Teresa
Some of the greatest things about our
legal community are the acts of service that our colleagues perform, often with
little recognition or credit. I want to recognize four of our colleagues for
their service and leadership in three very important areas.
Sacha Dyson, of Thompson, Sizemore,
Gonzalez & Hearing, P.A., and Lara LaVoie, of LaVoie & Kaizer, P.A.,
are currently the co-chairs of the HCBA Community Services Committee. This year,
Sacha suggested that in addition to everything else the CSC does, the committee
could adopt and lead the HCBA’s efforts to present The Florida Bar Benchmarks
programs to the greater Tampa community. In recognition of the important role
that attorneys play in adult civics education, The Florida Bar created
Benchmarks: Raising the Bar on Civics Education, which provides presentations
and activities that attorneys can use to teach adult civic and community groups
about the government and the courts. Sacha has coordinated our efforts to train
lawyers and to present topics at local libraries and in a series of
presentations at USF! Meanwhile, Lara LaVoie and other committee leaders have
been out in the community planning and implementing the CSC’s ongoing programs:
Adopt a Veteran, Elves for Elders, Dining with Dignity, and a Pirate Plunder
Party at A Kid’s Place. Thank you Sacha and Lara for your service and
leadership!
In December at the Federal Bar
Association (Tampa Chapter) Annual Meeting, Anne-Leigh Moe was sworn in as president
of the chapter. I recall about eight years ago when Anne-Leigh first
volunteered to serve on an FBA committee, and I have observed Anne-Leigh’s
service to the FBA in many ways throughout the years. One pro bono service
opportunity Anne-Leigh took on during this time was a civil rights (Bivens Act)
case for a federal prisoner. United States District Judge Virginia Covington
presided over the case, and at the annual meeting, Judge Covington presented
Anne-Leigh with the FBA Pro Bono Award for Service and Excellence. Anne-Leigh’s
path from service to leadership is a great example of the good things lawyers
do for our community.
Kevin Johnson, also with Thompson,
Sizemore, Gonzalez & Hearing, P.A., recently led The Florida Bar’s efforts
to create the Florida Bar Practice Resource Institute. The PRI was designed to
tackle some key challenges that Florida lawyers face on issues related to technology
and practice management. Kevin chaired The Florida Bar’s Special Committee on
Technology and Office Resources to build a website that would deliver helpful
content in five key focus areas: technology, management, marketing,
accounting/finance, and new practice. The PRI went live in January 2015 at www.floridabar.org/PRI. The site has the
most up-to-date information, available in several different formats that the
end user can select based on whether he or she prefers to read written answers,
listen to a podcast, watch a video, or even interact with a practice-management
advisor via live chat. It also features a searchable Knowledge Base that
contains multiple tips for working with common office software programs. The Special
Committee on Technology and Office Resources is now a standing committee of The
Florida Bar, and Kevin is the chair. The committee continues to improve the PRI
website as it receives feedback from Florida Bar members. This is a great
effort by The Florida Bar to help Florida lawyers, particularly small firms and
solo practitioners.
Sacha, Lara, Anne-Leigh, and Kevin did
not act alone in the areas where they serve. They have committee
members, board members, or consultants who helped them achieve great things. But
they did raise their hands – they did volunteer to serve – and that set them on
the path to leadership. I would argue that they each found their path to
leadership not by waiting for others to lead but by doing small things with great
love – similar to feeding just one person – by serving others.
