If numbers are important to you, you may have already noticed that the Rotary wheel has twenty four cogs and the Four Way Test is composed of twenty four words. Undoubtedly this is nothing more than an interesting coincidence. I wonder if RI President Ron Burton noticed that coincidence and tried to find just one more letter for his theme of Engage Rotary Change Lives. He could have included a semicolon in the middle and extended the coincidence one more step.
I had the honor of hosting Ron in my home at the end of 2006 when he accompanied RI President Bill Boyd to attend the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, California. I had a premonition that he would eventually follow Bill as RI President, so his election came as no surprise to me.
The theme of Engage Rotary Change Lives is not a surprise either. A little demographic research would tell you that there are a lot of people in the world who have a desire for a higher level of fulfillment. These are the people who have a reasonable level of security, maybe too much to eat, a relatively nice home to live in and friends and family to achieve a level of self-satisfaction. These folks are looking for more from life and Rotary just might be the answer to their needs. So President Ron challenges us to reach out to the people in search of more and engage them in Rotary with the intent of changing their lives for the better.
This annual theme fits right in with one of my favorite ideas about Rotary; the concept of customer service. Our members are our internal customers and the job of Rotary leaders, and all Rotarians, is to do whatever we can to help all of our internal member get a level of self-satisfaction from their membership, attendance and involvement.
I think the idea of Engage Rotary Change Lives is a reminder that we need more internal customers to accomplish all of the good things for our external customers. We need more hearts, hands and wallets to eliminate polio and accomplish all of those other things we have set out to do. The message of Engage Rotary Change Lives is that inviting others to join our group, is not about doing something to the potential member because we need membership growth; it is about doing something for all of those people who want more from their lives.
I would like to think that my brief encounter with President Ron inspired him to adopt his annual theme of Engage Rotary Change Lives; reality is that he had those ideas long before I met him and is far more influential than I am in spreading the word. So let’s all of us take the challenge and find some people with an unfilled need that engaging in Rotary might be the change they are looking for in their life.