Grass Roots in Action

Today is the 40^th anniversary of the first Earth Day (as I'm sure you know since it's been all over the news this week). The discussion about Earth Day caused me to reflect on how grass roots activists can inspire business people.

For example, "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day", founded by Gloria Steinem and the Ms. Foundation as "Take Our Daughters to Work Day" in 1993, occurs today as well. No one forced women to bring their daughters to their jobs in 1993; instead, it grew as a grass roots initiative.

This event has become so big that it now has a foundation backed by numerous corporate sponsors that drives the movement and provides program ideas and resources for organizations that want to participate.

Creative and innovative professionals often have opportunities to take action on ideas that are important to them that can result in a better work place. This is the essence of grass roots: one or more individuals create the spark that activates a change.

People have done things ranging from establishing on-site day care to creating networking opportunities for special interest groups to sponsoring corporate-wide fundraising projects.

Today I spoke at a brown bag lunch of women attorneys who periodically get together for professional development purposes. The leadership of their law firm didn't decree these lunches; they do them on their own.

What would you like to initiate? Consider something that you or your colleagues have talked about doing, and take the first step today to make it happen.