I watched him as he smiled and hummed, whirling around his work area. He was not aware of me, just what he was doing. His manager walked up to me and said, “He is our best worker, customers love him, and he loves them.” I asked the manager if he could share with me his story.
The manager shared his background and said, if I could clone Jess, I would. He is a power of one.
‘The Power of One’ is the theory that one person can change the future, that one person’s actions can actually change the lives of many.
A dear friend of mine found out the power of one, in a hard way. He and his family were planning for upcoming graduations and a wedding. Through a workplace exposure, he contracted SARS-CoV-2. It started with him, the power of one. Unknowingly, he exposed his family which altered the course of their plans. He called me and said, “It is a horrible feeling to know that you were the one”. At the time, I had not thought much about being the one. As I heard the pain in his voice and the worry, I thought of the power of one. The power of one unintentionally impacting the many.
“The Power of One” has been a movie, a book, and for Jess, a choice. Jess was born without hands and is hearing impaired. The manager shared that when Jess applied, he immediately thought, he cannot do this job. Jess as if reading his mind, asked him to give him a month. A month to prove that yes, he could do the job. The manager lowered his head and said, I almost told him, no. The manager went on to say that he the manager, was the one with limitations. He only saw the disability and not the ability. The power of one individual’s perspective draped over another individual.
In the past week, I was on a Zoom call with clinical leaders from all different settings and locations. The opening was a roundtable with check-ins and updates. Staffing and fiscal constraints, technological upgrades and leadership turnover were the most dominant themes amongst the attendees.
You could see the faces and shoulders slump as they acknowledged how deeply they understood what the other was saying. Then one voice said, “I have some great news to share.” The individual went on to share their great news and I watched as the faces changed. The conversation became lively, ideas were shared around the individual’s great news. People were engaged and afterwards said, it was the best meeting. The power of one giving the many a chance to dream of the what if.
As leaders, we are the power of one. Through our actions we will unintentionally impact others. We will drape our perspectives, biases and judgements over others. We will create the moment that others can dream alongside us. It is how we utilize our power of one. That is our choice.
When I had a moment to talk with Jess, he responded to my question, with a question.
I asked him how he was able to be so present to the tasks before him. He asked, how can you not be?
Every day when he rises, he makes the choice of helping one person have a better day than they were having before they interacted with Jess. He smiled and said, “it just takes one person to change the day for another.”
How will you use the power of you? The Power of One!
Martie L. Moore, MAOM, RN, CPHQ, is the President/CEO of M2WL Consulting. She has been an executive healthcare leader for more than 20 years. She has served on advisory boards for the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel and the American Nurses Association, and she currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board at the University of Central Florida College of Nursing and Sigma, International Honor Society for Nursing. She was honored by Saint Martin’s University with an honorary doctorate degree for her service and accomplishments in advancing healthcare.
The opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest submissions are the author’s and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News or its editors.
