Have you ever heard the saying, “Be kind, always, because you have no idea what others are going through.” Empathy for others is important.

As you may have heard in a Dos Marcos podcast, Roger Magowitz has asked me to be the Honorary Chairman of the Seena Magowitz Charity Golf Classic this year in Boston. I wasn’t sure that Roger was making the best choice, however, because I didn’t have the big company resources behind me like previous Chairman Karl Glassman- CEO of Leggett and Platt, Gary Fazio-CEO Serta/Simmons Bedding, and Steve Stagner-CEO of Mattress Firm. Roger didn’t care about that because he knew I had a passion for his organization given my past involvement, and he thought I could bring something different to the event. That much I thought I could do, so here we are.

The challenge became how do we raise awareness about Pancreatic Cancer, bring in some money, and welcome new attendees to the Magowitz event if you don’t have a big company supporting you? You reach out to others in the industry and ask them for help. I created a small Advisory Board of friends that are leaders in their companies, and they helped me brainstorm and devise a way to accomplish these goals and I think we have landed on something that can be pretty incredible with your help.

Imagine for a minute that you went to the doctor’s office and got the news that you had Pancreatic cancer. The doc proceeds to tell you that this is a pretty nasty disease and chances are you don’t have a lot of time left. It’s this exact scenario that thousands must face every year when they are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I spoke of empathy before…when you put yourself in their shoes, what impact will it have on you? That’s the catalyst behind the movement we’ve created called #whywait. Go to your favorite social media platform and use some of the marketing assets we have produced, download them from THIS LINK, and post an image along with this question, “What 4 things would you do if you only had 6 months left to live?” Tag your friends and make sure to use the hashtag #whywait and the following link so your audience can learn more. http://www.seenamagowitzfoundation.org/whywait/

I recently posted this to my personal Facebook and LinkedIn accounts and it’s pretty awesome to see the impact that question is having on people. When you pause and take a minute to consider this question, it will really get you to thinking and when I answered it myself, it was actually a little tough. I came to the realization that I wasn’t spending enough time with my 16-year-old daughter Gabby, and if I didn’t correct it, I was going to regret it later. Good news is, she and  I agreed to fix that.  Here’s my list, what’s yours?

1. Plan a trip with the family to Europe. (On calendar for 2020.)
2. Spend more time on dates with my daughter.
3. Make Friday night date night with my wife.
4. Write a book. (I’ve already started.)

It will be very easy for you to read this post and quickly move on to e-mail or making calls. Please don’t do that. Take a minute to make your list, even if you don’t share it. When you finish your list, start crossing things off like I have. I plan to post pictures of date night and other things as I LIVE MY LIFE and post them with the hashtag #whywait.

Can you give any of this to your company to get them involved by posting things to your social media accounts? Customers LOVE TO SEE companies that have compassion for things other than selling their own stuff! If you’re interested and want some more information, learn how to donate to the Seena Magowtiz Foundation, or see a list of the companies involved on the Advisory Board, click on THIS LINK.

A big thanks to Dr. Dan Von Hoff and the people at TGen, because they are looking after these pancreatic cancer patients and working hard towards a cure and early detection. I know the TGen group personally and I’m telling you that they are compassionate, caring people that really want to help those suffering. Please help me help them and get involved in the #whywait movement.

I am also very grateful to my friend Karl Glassman at Leggett and Platt. When he found out that Roger was asking me to be this year’s Honorary Chairman he told me that I had full access to Leggett’s resources which has been a HUGE help to me. The video and the graphics were created by them not to mention a host of other things. A special shout-out to my good friend and Dos Marcos co-host Mark Kinsley. Mark oversees the Creative Services group at Leggett and has been a very big part of everything we’re doing. Also to my friends on the Advisory Board…your involvement is HUGE so THANK YOU in advance for what we are about to do.

#WHYWAIT-get involved.