by Shira Tober
Social Excellence is contagious. And it should be.
I think living a lifestyle of intentionally getting to know someone, having meaningful conversation, and cultivating relationships should be the most wide-spread, quick-moving epidemic our world has ever seen. Being Socially Excellent opens the door to limitless possibilities of interactions, relationships, and game-changing action.
Organizations full of socially excellent people can change the world, but also, individuals can take actions that set in motion truly magical chains of events.
I’m always inspired by the Liberty Mutual commercials and the power that one person’s actions can have. Take a look here or here.
One person can inspire others to strive to be better. When I meet Socially Excellent people or hear stories of Social Excellence, it motivates me to be better, do better, and live better.
I recently read this Facebook status of a chapter sister, Alex, who after graduation went to work for Teach for America. (Yes, I am freely admitting to Facebook stalking; what can I say, I’m a product of my generation):
“A man saw me buying 75 notebooks and folders for my students and insisted on giving me $10. My students and I thank you very much, Jaclancey from Georgia.”
I think Jaclancey is a real life example of the power one person has to further the spread of the Social Excellence message. You see, Jaclancey was curious and generous. He saw a young woman buying 75 notebooks and folders, a sight one doesn’t see every day, and instead of letting an opportunity pass him by, he was inquisitive and asked the question that was burning inside of him. By inquiring about the purchase, Jaclancey started a conversation with Alex. A question and introduction led to conversation and that conversation led to a collaboration of the two working to educate our future leaders.
In our everyday lives it would be great and generous if we opened our wallets to help others, but generosity can be simpler. We can go out of our way to make someone smile or make their day a little bit better. We can linger a little longer while holding open a door, we can let someone go head of us in line at the grocery store, or we can be the person that inspires others to be curious and generous. We can be a little more like Jaclancey from Georgia.
My husband and I recently took a short vacation to Key West, FL to celebrate my birthday. We wanted the vacation to be quiet and relaxing. We made no official plans except to spend time with each other and see what each day brings us. In an effort to have a quieter atmosphere, we decided to stay at a bed and breakfast tucked in an area of Key West called “Old Towne”. This is the oldest part of Key West 6 blocks north of the bustling Duvall St., and two blocks in from the Harbor. 
I have been thinking a lot lately about gossip, particularly among women in organizations. I am not sure if it is because I am literally immersed with all women’s organizations all day everyday or because I have been a victim of gossip and am now a STAUNCH advocate against it- it is probably a little bit of both.
At the young age of 160, Sorority Life died today. After much scrutiny by the 26 members of NPC, the cause of death was determined to be a dreadful combination of complacency, lack of accountability of its current membership, and malrecruitmentitis (an inability to consistently attract high performing members). It is a sad day for the over 3.5 million initiated women across North America. These women were able to experience the life changing bonds of sisterhood, had some of the strongest academics on the most competitive campuses and even went on to become actresses, politicians, doctors, lawyers, and even Supreme Court Justices. But that legacy abruptly ended due to poor decision making. Rather than choosing to continue the legacies of excellence, empowerment, and societal improvement as set forth by the founders of these amazing organizations, active members dabbled too much in the deadly game of snooty anti-social silliness and ultimately tainted the very idea of what a “social” organization is supposed to be about. Letting themselves be defined by parties, hazing, and other such unbecoming behavior, membership dwindled on campuses. University administrations no longer had the patience for disruptive and immature behavior and felt pressure from Board of Directors to cancel Student Organization recognition. High quality women, leaders and visionaries, no longer saw value in joining sororities. They could seek out leadership and service in other organizations that would not carry as much negative stigma as sororities. The disease of complacency and lack of accountability spread to the heart and purpose of Sorority Life and she had no choice but to breathe her last breath. Donations to all 26 sororities’ national philanthropies will be accepted in lieu of flowers; these organizations will need the support since they’ve lost future donations from Sorority Life.
There’s a deep sense of altruism associated with giving blood, bone marrow, a kidney, and even putting that little red heart on our driver’s license. It makes many of us feel good. A friend of mine told me “I like knowing that my legacy can live on through the life of another.” Somehow we know we’re doing the right thing when we commit to give away something so special to save or enhance the life of another. And, we hope that others would do the same for us.
In the 8th grade I designed my own video game on a teal iMac at Baldwin Magnet Junior High School in Montgomery, Ala. That day I fell in love with Apple’s unique ability to allow it’s users to innovate and create. That was the legacy of Apple’s cofounder, Steve Jobs. Since 1976, Steve’s passion and Apple’s mission has been to bring innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings to the world. In his effort to bring innovation to the masses, he changed the roles computers, music and phones play in our everyday life. Though he has inspired many dynamic, enjoyable and downright magical products, I think his legacy will be his ability to innovate and change the status quo.
There is a distinct difference between Ke$ha and Lady Gaga, (Minus the fact that one loves glitter and the other loves creating her own outfits). They both create fun tunes to bounce along to, sometimes they have meaning and sometimes they don’t. But for some reason Lady Gaga, despite being discovered at the same time as Ke$ha, has risen to an unfathomable level of stardom. People have even gone on to call Ke$ha “baby Gaga,” aka the JV version of the true Gaga. What is the difference? Only one answer: 
Them: “So, what’s this organization you’re a part of all about?”
People are often curious about how I got into this work – being a sorority recruitment expert – but they are rarely curious about WHY I do this work. I guess they make assumptions about me, what I value, or what I must care about because I devote my life to sorority recruitment. What they probably don’t understand is why anyone in their right mind would devote their lives to this – balloons, chants, fake conversations, fancy water glasses, matching outfits, five days of bizarro world, etc. – sorority recruitment.
