Spring Staff Forum Honors Outstanding Staff and Welcomes Noted Speaker

July 20, 2018

On April 5, Baylor University staff members gathered to celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of their colleagues at the annual Outstanding Staff Awards ceremony. They had the pleasure of hearing from renowned author and speaker Bob Beaudine, who is lauded by Sports Illustrated as “the most influential man in sports you’ve never heard of.” As the CEO of Eastman-Beaudine, he is a top-level recruiter who has served many companies and organizations across the country, and he has written two bestselling books, The Power of Who and 2 Chairs: The Secret that Changes Everything.
Following Vice President of Human Resources Cheryl Gochis’ inspiring words on the light that shines so brightly from our staff at Baylor, Bob Beaudine talked about three things that we cannot see that make a huge difference in our daily lives and challenged staff to “move the invisible to visible” with these three key choices.

Time

How often do we find ourselves racing the clock, thinking that time is not on our side? Though it is invisible, it can certainly be a stressful challenge. Beaudine encouraged his audience to take charge of time and use it to the best of their abilities. Many times, all it takes is one small gesture – that doesn’t require a lot of our time – to make a world of difference to those around us.
Dr. Livingstone closed the ceremony with a word of gratitude for the many contributions from across our faculty and staff. “We are a Christian University because of our people,” she remarked. “We are a Christian University and a faith-based place that cares deeply about our students because the people that we hire love Christ, they love our students, they love each other, in ways that you just don’t see at most places.” Baylor staff members and the light that they shine truly make Baylor a great place to work and learn.

Energy

Beaudine used interactive activities to illustrate the impact that our energy can have on those around us. He challenged the audience to see how their positive attitude can motivate their colleagues and friends, because that positive attitude is contagious and makes others feel appreciated. He reminded us that we all have a choice to bring positive energy, and that it can really make a difference in the way that we treat others. When we celebrate the good in others, that can help us all grow.

Love

“Love,” Beaudine said, “You can’t see it, but we all know it’s the most dominant force.” He went on to describe how friendship has become somewhat disingenuous in the age of social media, when most people have more “friends” on Facebook than they would call true friends in their real life. This does not diminish our need for friendship. “God gave us specific people in our lives to change our lives, to make it better. We were created for friendship he said.” As social creatures who were designed to live in community with one another, it’s important that we share with others how much they mean to us.