Gen boomer, x, y, z…er..osity
We can wax lyrical about the work we do but there’s nothing quite like hearing a story from someone to understand the WHY. That’s why we’ve created the ‘Experience Q&A’ section where we will get to meet awesome people from all generations to debunk the experience of generosity and why everybody should be able to feel it.
First up is Loewn Steel, who we are chuffed to announce is our brand new Chair on the Foundation Board.
Loewn… what’s your favourite thing to do in life right now? My job is pretty cool these days. I am a business coach and get to have incredible conversations with people who inspire me. I also love travelling with my husband to interesting places in far flung parts of the world. Last year we went to Chile to go horse riding in Patagonia. Great idea but first I had to learn to ride a horse! The year before we were in Antarctica for 10 days and had the best day of our life kayaking amongst the icebergs with penguin jumping all around us.
Can you remember a moment when you experienced generosity? A piece of generosity that stays with me forever was years ago when I was on a ship crossing the Irish sea in a force 6 gail. I was so seasick that I was out on deck fighting the worst bout of seasickness I could imagine and freezing to death. A lady I didn’t know got her husband to bring out her mink coat (very politically incorrect) for me to wear!!! Now that was generous.
How did it make you feel? I still felt sick but that moment stayed with me forever. Every other memorable feeling comes from when I am generous. I believe that those that give receive far more emotional return than we ever imagine. I have worked with many causes over the years and whenever I am thanked for my contribution I know that the gift for me was equally significant. It’s hard to describe but many people who donate their time get the same experience.
What advice would you give to your Gen Y self? The best piece of advice I would love to have learnt was to step up and enjoy taking a risk. I was too cautious and now I realise I would have experienced and learnt so much more if I was ready to have a go and be prepared to fail a few times. That lesson took me a long time to learn. I am not sure the younger me would have taken the opportunity to join a trip like our Uganda project and that would have been a real shame. There is nothing like stepping outside of our normal life and having a bit of adventure.