On your tombstone, there will be a dash between the dates listed for your first and final days on earth. It's what you do with that dash that makes all the difference. How are you using yours? In this week's 132nd episode, Theresa Carrington and Lisa Nichols discuss the importance of staying inspired, making a place at the table for the people you lead, and leadership that is driven by compassion.
Bio: In 2002, when facing opposition in her personal life, Theresa was inspired by the incredible support provided by her friends and family. They sent her notes, cards, and pictures for encouragement which she kept in her own Blessing Basket that she would turn to for daily reinforcement.
To motivate other women, Theresa began speaking at conferences and organizations, using her Blessing Basket as a prop. Soon after, women started to request their own Blessing Basket. Enthused by this interest, Theresa sought a way to curate a deeper connection with the maker of the baskets and the recipients, while simultaneously blessing both the makers and the recipients. Further, she wanted to ensure that the makers of the baskets would be compensated properly, without having to cede the majority of the profits to a middleman.
Finding a direct path to impoverished artisans around the world took more than a year. By the summer of 2003, the first major shipment of Blessing Baskets arrived and the The Blessing Basket Project® vision was made a reality. After more than a decade of success in connecting basket artisans around the world to the global marketplace, additional artisans of a wide new array of handmade goods began connecting and seeing the benefits of our program. In 2018, the underlining formula responsible for our incredible success was discovered and The Blessing Basket Project was officially renamed to Ten by Three®, catapulting the sustainable formula that started it all into the spotlight and helping broaden the organization’s brand beyond baskets.
Theresa continues to pay it forward every day by empowering the artisans of Ten by Three while giving them the opportunity to make a better life for themselves via the organization’s progressive technology and thought leadership.
Theresa's Something Extra: Compassion. Every leader needs to be compassionate. It's compassion in the most difficult of situations. As leaders we face all kinds of personnel issues, all kinds of very difficult decisions and in my case, I am able to use that compassionate mantra of what is in the best interest of the artisans? This makes my decisions really clear. That question comes from a place of compassion.
Links and Mentions:
Thersea Carrington
Ten by Three
Credits:
- Lisa Nichols, Host
- Scott Crosby, Executive Producer
- Daniel Williams, Recording Engineer