Unleash The Masterpiece

Blackhawks “One Goal”

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How to Change the World

Analyzing the Chicago Blackhawks One Goal Ad Campaign

 

It was very painful for me to watch the Blackhawks get eliminated in round one of the 2016 playoffs last week. They made it a close series in the end, but, the defending Stanley Cup champions came up short – in the first round. How could this happen?
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If you live in Chicago, you have likely seen one or more commercials from the Blackhawks “One Goal” advertising campaign. It’s been one of the most successful advertising campaigns in the history of hockey. The campaign talks about the primary professional goal of the Blackhawks organization and of the players is to win the Stanley Cup – the world championship trophy for hockey.

 

But, of course, that is not really the primary professional goal of the organization and players.

 

Please hang with me here – do not assume the point of this post is to bash sports, or money or any of that. If we can never discuss these things openly, we will never be able to get better. Don’t just tune out here – please consider the following perspective.

 

When the Blackhawks first won the Stanley Cup in 2010, I’ll admit I didn’t know a great deal about professional hockey. I watched games here and there and casually followed the team in the past. When the Hawks had the opportunity to win the cup, I jumped on the bandwagon like many other people. Not as a first-time hockey fan – I actually played rat hockey in my young adult years – but as a big time professional hockey fan.

 

The day after the Hawks took home their first Cup in 2010, I woke up early to get the localnewspapers. I did that for the Bulls every time they won a championship too – as a keepsake for my two sons who really love sports.

 

I remember thinking – man, we have the talent for a real dynasty-in-the-making here. Like the old SNL Superfans skit when the Bulls won their first championship – “We’re talking a minimum 8-peat.”

 

I read one of the articles after I bought the papers that morning, and one of the sportswriters said something to the effect of, “The Blackhawks will spend a few days celebrating, then, as we all know, they will gut the team and get ready for next season.”

 

G-g-g-g-g-ut the team? I didn’t know that. Why on earth would anyone want to do that? Let’s keep these guys together and go for the 8-peat! Well, it’s not that simple – you see – there are economic factors at play.

 

Let’s consider the two primary economic factors:

  • Other teams are willing to pay Cup-winning Blackhawks players much more money than they currently are making on the Blackhawks
  • All professional hockey teams has what is called a “Salary cap”. There is a limit to how much any team can spend on player salaries.

 

So, when a team, like the Blackhawks wins a world championship, the “value” of most of the players on the team immediately goes up. Since the team was already close to the salary cap at the beginning of the season, that leaves two options:

 

a) The players must refuse offers of more money from other teams and remain on the Blackhawks with the same salary so the team remains under the salary cap, or

b) Many of the players demand an increase in pay from the Blackhawks to match the offers from the other teams. The Blackhawks organization then decides who they consider too important to trade and raise their salaries. The Blackhawks organization then has to trade away enough other players to other teams and hire less expensive players to replace them – so the whole team is under the salary cap again. Those replacement players typically cost less because they have less playoff experience, so, the new team after the trades is usually less likely to win again next season – unless the organization gets lucky and hires “diamonds in the rough.”

As the sportswriter who wrote the article pointed out, most of the time, we end up with option (b). That means, the Blackhawks are less likely to repeat as champions the following year – ultimately as a result of the players demanding more money.

 

So the truth is, while winning another championship is A priority, the HIGHEST priority is usually how much money the individual players make.

 

The players could choose option (a), keep the team together, have a much better chance and winning the championship again the following year – and not have to move their spouses and kids to a new location if traded. They could develop some deep roots for their families and friends by staying in the same area for many years.

 

Even if you equally split the salary cap across the board, each player would be considered very wealthy – not including product endorsements and other bonuses associated with winning the championship and becoming a dynasty.

 

So, why doesn’t it happen more often, if ever? Maybe Dwayne Wade did it for a couple years in basketball, but you never see entire teams do it – ever. Why is that? Why always choose option (b)?

 

I think it is important to ponder that for a while. I do not think it’s an issue that only pro sports players have. I do the same thing – and it would probably only get worse the more money I had on the table. If you see this issue as us against them, you are completely reading this wrong. It’s us against us. This isn’t just professional sports players, it’s almost everyone – including you and me.

 

I believe it is very rare for anyone to volunteer to make less money than they could in their current positions. Some people wouldn’t change positions to make more money because they value their current jobs for some reason or another. But inside of a particular job, I know very few people who would voluntarily make less in their current job to accomplish some other positive outcomes in that same job.

 

You would likely be considered foolish if you did, and anyone asking you to do so would be considered selfish. Fear is a big driver. What if you get hurt and can’t play? What if yo play for 5 years and can’t find a good job after pro sports? Fear is one of the major motivations in many of the decisions we all make. 

 

Our culture values “more” – not necessarily more things – although things are important. But we value more time, more opportunities for leisure and “giving back,” etc. More money now gives us more time and freedom later. We can even spiritualize it. Let’s make enough money now so we can retire early and then “give back” of our time, money, resources or all three. It’s not that we really want more for us only, more for us will hopefully mean more for others too, somewhere down the road. At least that’s the plan. And, I believe many people honestly do this.

 

We can invite more poor people to live with us if we have a bigger house. We can take our kids friends to our vacation houses and invest in them. I mean – you know – it’s not really just for me, is it?

 

You can’t blame anyone for doing what has been programmed into them by the culture. Our culture values “more” – and it seems to value more of “more” every year. How do we turn that around? How do we change our ways as a society to place the highest value “enough”?


Those are important questions to ponder for me, you, our families, friends, our kids, spouses, etc.

 

Again, the sports analogy is simply an easier story to tell – like a parable – but it is really the story of us. We need to figure this out.

 

Anyway, back to our hockey parable. Let’s say the “One Goal” was really winning championships – getting to that elusive SNL “8-peat.” What might that look like?

 

The 2016 NHL salary cap is $71.4 million a year. The most players a team could carry is 23. For worst case, let’s assume the Hawks carried 23 players. That means, if each player made the exact same salary, that would mean that each would make about $3.1 million a year if they each made the same salary. Not too bad.

 

If the players really valued winning championships – they could have taken the championship team, and all signed 8 year contracts for $3.1 million a year, and guaranteed the same team dynamic for 8 years – and maybe accomplish the coveted  “8-peat.”

 

In addition, they wouldn’t have to risk being traded. That means, they would not have to move their families, their kids could attend the same schools, and they could have some stability with friends and neighborhoods. It would be a double win.

 

If it sounds too socialistic to just split it up between the best and the worst players,  they could each sign contracts for half the $3.1 million, call it $1.55 million each, and then have the rest ($35 million) in a pool for performance bonuses based on various factors. That way the top performers could make much more than the bottom performers.  All in all, everyone would be rich – that doesn’t even count endorsement deals of products, etc.

 

However, that is not how it pans out in reality. The superstars of the Blackhawks, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews each make $10.5 million a year, so the two of them combined eat up $21 million of the annual salary cap of $71.4 million. The second-tier superstars, Seabrook, Crawford and Keith eat up another $19 million between the three of them. This is a total of $40 million, or more than half the salary cap for 5 players. That means that the remaining 18 players need to split up what’s left of the salary cap – about $31 million.

 

So, you have to find players willing to play for a lot less than the superstars can make. Sometimes the general manager gets lucky and finds diamonds in the rough – but most of the time, you end up with mediocre players, and you don’t win the championship again the following year.

 

Oh well, so much for the “One Goal.”

We want to believe winning is the Blackhawks true “One Goal.” It makes life easier and more enjoyable. Just like we want to believe that the rich-poor divide isn’t our problem. We’ve earned our money – in fact, we probably should be making more doing whatever it is we do. It’s those richer than us that should cut-back and say enough is enough.

 

Maybe it makes life easier to believe the not-so-truthful ad slogans about our favorite professional sports teams. And maybe it makes sleeping at night a little easier for all of us to believe that we aren’t part of the problem – or part of the solution – ourselves.

 

I am reading a book called, “Throwing Rocks and the Google Bus”, by Douglas Rushkoff. It discusses how to address the issue of the income divide between the rich and the poor. It is a fascinating read so far – I am not even all the way through it yet. It talks about issues like the original purpose of corporations, how much is “enough” and other things.

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When I accept the principle that I am part of the problem, I am also, simultaneously empowered to be part of the solution.

 

I would love to collaborate with others and dream up new solutions to the new problems we face in the new world of technology and globalization. Spending too much time looking backwards isn’t going to get it done – me thinks. Blaming other people won’t get it done either.

 

We need new, creative, attractive, agile solutions that maximize the dignity and value of every individual. I’d love to explore those things with you. Please consider this the first of many posts exploring these issues 🙂

 

Easy to Forget – Lessons from Community Giftmart Outreach

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My family just finished serving at an outreach event for the under-resourced in our local community called “Gift Mart.” It’s a great program that has well-resourced people buying new toys for kids, which are then sold at the local schools for a couple dollars each. This provides dignity for the people purchasing the gifts – as they get to select them and pay for them – and also provides more than $10,000 to local, under-resourced school districts. It’s a well thought out holiday outreach program and has been running for 13 years now.

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The volunteer effort is pretty substantial. 700+ volunteers over several schools in the area. My family has always helped in the play rooms that are set up to help keep the young kids occupied so their parents can shop for gifts without their kids seeing them. Once the gifts are purchased, there are volunteers who wrap the gifts so they are hidden from the kids and all set to go under the tree.

 

My wife did the gift wrap this year with a bunch of her friends, and the rest of us worked with the kids again. We had an earlier shift with the kids so we finished up about halfway through the event. I went to touch base with my wife Vicky at the gift wrapping station. There were about a dozen stations, each with 6 or more people in line to get their gifts wrapped.

 

I greeted everyone waiting to get their gifts wrapped as a walked through the crowd to the back of the room to say hi to Vicky and her friends. As we were about to leave, I addressed the whole group of gift-wrappers, as they were all friends of Vicky’s, “If you all decide to go get something to eat after your shift is over, text me and I’ll meet up with you.”

 

Immediately after I said that, it hit me as I was walking out of the room, back through the crowd of people waiting for their gifts to be wrapped – If we go out to eat afterwards, it is very likely that we will EACH spend MORE on that one meal out, than these parents have spent in total for Christmas gifts for their kids (most had several kids).

 

Each family is limited to purchase seven gifts, at $2 each for a grand total of $14 per family. As I just said what I said, and reflected on it as I looked everyone in the eyes on my way out, I felt kind of ashamed. Like, if they understood what I was saying – most of them were Spanish speaking – then they could easily figure out how much disposable income we must have compared to them. I felt like I was kind of throwing it in their faces – albeit unintentionally.

 

Then, on the walk to the car and the subsequent drive home, I thought about it a little more. It’s really NOT FAIR that, I have the capacity to spend more money on an average lunch out, than most of these folks have available in total for Christmas gifts for their kids.

 

As I thought about it more, the real issue, isn’t that I am in a position to have more disposable income – the real issue is that these other folks are NOT in that position. And for most of them, the odds of any of them moving from their position to my position is relatively small – regardless of how hard they work.

 

I have always been in a position to be able to fully leverage the “system” of financial success in this country. In fact, that system has been designed by guys like me, and as an unintentional side-effect for the most part, it works best for guys like me – white, English-speaking “guys” born into strong, American family units with strong extended families – having grown up and gone to school in highly-resourced areas.

 

It’s easy to forget the root issue here – one of the main reasons the “Gift Mart” even exists – is that many people have not been able to fully leverage the system of success in this country. As such, they do not have access to the same resources that people like me do – and they need subsidized toys, or else they will have nothing to give to their kids. And the schools they attend need external help because their tax-base does not generate sufficient resources.


I’d like to make a few points here.


One, the world will always need some level of “relief” type support in terms of subsidies and sometimes even direct handouts. With the number of people in this country, and the myriad of issues that can affect people without a safety net of strong family support, we will always need relief, or aid-based assistance programs. So, “Gift Mart” provides a great and much needed service to the community and always will. Helping out, donating toys, volunteering, etc., at “Gift Mart” and similar services is a significant outreach and should not be cheapened because of the larger, more systemic issues at work.


Two, spending money is, for the most part, a good thing. If economic experts can agree on one thing, it is that what is called the “velocity of money,” or how often money changes hands, is directly related to financial health of economies. We want people with disposable income to spend it eating out, shopping, and on products and services. That spending provides jobs so people have more disposable incomes. Spending money going out to eat is not the primary cause of the income disparities in the country. It is actually a big part of the solution.

 

Three, I believe that many of the primary causes of the financial disparities in this country are systemic in nature. They are “system issues.” The systems are not designed to provide maximum opportunity for folks who do not match the “norm” for many existing Americans.

 

Inflation adjusted wages have not grown at least 30 years – at all. Prices for homes, rent, cars, food, even college and higher education have gone higher at a much more rapid pace the last 30 years. Without a strong foundation, it is very difficult to leverage the existing systems to GET BETTER – to improve your financial circumstances and generate disposable income.


Changing systems is difficult, complicated, and a process of long-suffering. Most everyday folk cannot get their head around how they can contribute to changing the system – and the truth is, most will never be able to invest a great deal of time in advocating for better systems.

 

What most folk can do, is help provide that solid foundation that the current system is predicated upon. Most people with some level of financial success have networks of coaching, mentoring, and short-term assistance in extended family and friends that can provide long-term wise-counsel and advice and short-term support when needed. Each of us is capable to inviting others who are less fortunate than us into our circles and networks.

 

Extending friendship to those less resourced than ourselves is the NUMBER ONE way we can contribute to ending this disparity. Friendship leads to coaching, mentoring, access to networks and short-term support that are all desperately needed for the under-resourced to begin to leverage the existing systems of financial success in this country.

 

I am not very likely to change “the system” in short order, neither are you – but I can be intentional about reaching across socio-economic lines and offering what I do have – friendship. These friendships, if genuine, will always lead to the development of a stronger foundation of support, coaching and mentoring that will do the real, and often times not very sexy work of changing lives and when extended across many people, changing communities and the world.

It’s easy to forget that many of our fellow citizens are trapped in a cycle that is difficult to get out of. Some have become dependent on the current system and do not want to leave it, but most want out. Most want a better life, the dignity of providing for themselves and their families.

As “average” folk, the best, most immediate, and longest-lasting way we can make a difference is by intentionally forming friendships across those socio-economic lines. It’s not as easy as it sounds, and it will for sure be very messy at times – but it is very effective, and well-worth the investment!

 

 

Marc Malnati Interview – In case you missed it

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In case you missed the latest Willow Creek Association “BizBreakfast” – “Deep Dishing with Marc Malnati”, on Friday, February 21, 2014, at Willow, I put together the following summary of the interview. Marc Malnati is the current owner of the family-owned pizza business Lou Malnati’s. Lou Malnati’s has approximately 36 locations in the Chicagoland area. malnatiSmall

A short disclaimer. I was taking notes and it is entirely possible that some of what I write below from my notes and memory may not be entirely accurate. I accept your grace in advance, and please feel free to correct me!

History

  • In 1978, when he was 22 years old he graduated with a business degree, and the same year his dad died they had to close the Flossmoor store for lack of revenue. They lost about a half-million dollars that took several years to pay off.

  • Marc says, “The mistakes you make early on in your business can kill you.” It is much easier to lose money than make money. One bad business can lose enough money to close three healthy businesses.

  • In 1979 his mom suggested that he set up at “Chicagofest” to sell pizza. The sold more than 80,000 slices of pizza in ten days. That positive experience motivated him to pursue growing the business.

Marc’s Employees and Organizational Culture

  • His employees are willing to treat his business like it was their own. Over 25% of his full-time staff has been with the business for 10 years or more – significantly better than the average for the restaurant business.

  • Their staff, NOT the customer, is the highest priority of the Lou Malnatis business. Of course, the end result of that decision is much better customer experience across the board.

  • People – the staff – their development, care and support – are always the biggest challenge to contend with at Lou Malnatis.

  • One thing he and his staff take pride in is the organizational culture.

Marc’s Secret Sauce for Business Success – Leadership Coaching

  • About 25 years ago, Marc decided to bring in a counselor/executive coach for a two hour off-site meeting with him and his executive staff to help them work through issues. He figured that should be plenty of time. After about 25 minutes of pleasantries, things quickly devolved into yelling, screaming and verbal sparring.

  • Marc decided to schedule a “wrap-up” session for the next month to get the issues completely solved. This time, the pleasantries only lasted a few minutes.

  • Needless to say, those sessions have continued for the last 25 years. The executive leadership team eventually extended these coaching session to other groups of employees to spread the “secret sauce” throughout the organization.

  • He brings his leadership staff to the Willow Leadership Summit every year. The utilize things they learn during the summit. Their latest take away is Bill Hybel’s 6×6 idea he shared at the 2013 Summit.

  • This is almost a direct quote, “If you are going to be around in business a long time, whether you are a Christian-owned business or not, you have to adopt Christian principles.”

  • These principles include integrity, generosity, and “investing in and developing people so they rise to a level beyond which they ever dreamed they could” – **I love that one by the way!! Unleash the Masterpiece!!**

Lawndale Location

  • In 1996, Malnatis had 9 locations. At that time, Wayne Gordon – a Chicago pastor who decided to move his family into one of the poorest and most crime-ridden Chicago neighborhoods – asked Marc Malnati to consider “tithing” his tenth location by opening it in the Lawndale neighborhood. Wayne explained that the area needed a family-owned restaurant where community members could celebrate birthdays, hold business meetings, and just get out and enjoy some good pizza.

  • After a great deal of prayer and discussion, Marc agreed and opened the tenth location in an old, long-vacant and distressed local grocery store. Marc hoped that the location would become a bright spot in that community and be able to provide a health community hangout as well as local jobs for the areas under-resourced residents.

  • For the first 13 years, the area was too dangerous to do deliveries.

  • The Lawndale location recently celebrated their 20 year anniversary, with the last three years being profitable, after more than a million dollar investment.

  • When Marc opened the store, he committed to invest any and all profits back into the community. Since profitability occurred three years ago, Marc has kept that promise.

  • The spirit of the Lawndale location has energized his business over the years

Marc’s Style and Background

  • Marc is a self-proclaimed ready-fire-aim guy and has surrounded himself with people much better than him at planning

  • Marc came to follow Jesus in college in Indiana through Crusade, and the leader of Crusade at his campus named Tom Burnett.

  • When Marc was asked, “How would you describe your leadership?” he respectfully passed on the question.

  • One of his favorite leadership quotes is from General Colin Powell. He said, “I have never had to tell anyone ‘that’s an order’.” Marc loves that and says that you should be able to lead without having to remind people that you are the leader. They should already know and already respect you if you are doing it right.

  • When you go from one location to two, you will

    • Make less money – you will need to get to five stores before your margin improves again

    • Need to transition your leadership skills as an executive from a generalist to a specialist – an expert at developing and growing people.

  • Marc would rather tap investors than have to borrow money. If he has to borrow money, he likes to limit it to real estate purchases.

Future Plans

  • Marc plans on opening three new restaurants in 2014. The new stores, couples with the usual turnover, will mean Lou Malnatis needs to hire about 900 new people in 2014.

Jon Stewart and the Daily Show Situation

  • Marc Malnati has been in the news lately regarding an ongoing feud between Chicago-style pizza and New York style pizza

  • Back in November 2013, Jon Stewart went off on deep dish pizza during his show. He said some nasty things that included some inappropriate language

    • “Let me explain something, deep-dish pizza is not only not better than New York pizza. It’s not pizza,” Stewart explained. “It’s a **blanking** casserole!”

    • Stewart went on to liken Chicago-style pizza to “tomato soup in a bread bowl,” “an above-ground marinara swimming pool for rats” and, most damningly, “**blank** with a corpse made of sandpaper.”

  • Of course, Marc could not take these accusations lying down. He made a video response and posted it on youtube. The video went viral. You can see it here: Marc Malnati Response to Jon Stewart

  • After the video went viral, Marc was invited to have a discussion with Jon Stewart live during one of his shows. Marc accepted and they buried the hatchet as it were.

  • Marc had never seen the show, but was grateful for the free advertising he got his business given the more than two million viewers of The Daily Show!

My Parting Thoughts

  • Thanks for reading through my summary. I hope it has inspired you.

  • The closing of the meeting, since it was a Christian meeting, discussed a passage from the Bible – Matthew Chapter 5  – about being salt, light, letting your good deeds shine. We were encouraged to carry our salt and light with us and think through the good we can do wherever God has us in our daily lives, including our workplace. Sounds like he is saying we need to express our masterpiece in the “ordinary” living of our lives! Sounds good to me!

Removing ALL barriers to empowerment

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barriersSince me and Vicky attended the first Face the Children (FTC) banquet way back in 2005, empowering kids who live on the streets has been near and dear to our hearts. FTC works to get street kids in the Philippines off the streets, and into long-term care and educational facilities. FTC was developed by an outreach organization headquartered in San Pablo City called Philippine Frontline Ministries (Frontline) (www.thefrontline.asia). In 2006 I took my first trip to visit Frontline and FTC. On this trip I learned first-hand about all of the enormous barriers that kids who live on the street face. Abusive relationships, no shelter, limited access to food, healthcare or any of the basic necessities of life. The kids who live on the street lack the structure and the required uniforms and materials to attend public school. Even if somehow they were able to go to public school, the education they received would not get them very far. Most public schools cannot teach even the most remedial reading and writing skills effectively, in a country where two years or more of college are required just to be an entry-level worker at McDonald’s.

In the process of discovering the breadth and depth of these seemingly insurmountable barriers, I also got to meet several of the street kids. As I got to know them better, I learned their names and their stories. I began to realize that they were essentially no different than my own kids. They had wonderful gifts, talents, personalities, love and compassion in their hearts. As I got to know them better, I became more dedicated to do anything I could to remove the barriers standing in the way of these wonderful kids becoming all that God created them to be. I started to dream more with Frontline about what could be. My business partners and I and many discussions with the Frontline directors about how we could use business to support the Frontline efforts. After numerous discussion, we opened up a business, called RemoteLInk Philippines (www.remotelink.com.ph),  in San Pablo City that had a partnership with the Frontline school, church and FTC. We endeavored to provide high tech courses in the school, and job training and employment opportunities for the community.

Over the next several years and more than a dozen trips, me, my family, my business partners, co-workers and friends continued to develop friendships with the former street kids who were now a part of the FTC program. We saw them begin to thrive as the barriers to their empowerment were removed. The children quickly progressed from grade school to high school. Some of these remarkable kids went on to graduate with honors and even as salutatorian and valedictorian, and many of them were among the brightest in their classes. These accomplishment are even more impressive when you consider that their classes included many wealthy, fully-resourced kids from San Pablo City whose parents opted out of the public education system for the superior private education provided by the Frontline Christian Academy (http://www.frontlineacademy.asia).

We started to put together college funding plans for the kids who were graduating high school. One of the kids has already graduated college, and is actually working in the company we started. Some of the kids are still in college. There is much to celebrate. At the same time, there have been some kids who have left the FTC program of their own free will; despite all of the wonderful benefits of the FTC program which include 24×7 housing in a family environment, good food, healthcare, education, tutoring and a loving community of people around them. Despite the new life and new opportunities they had been given, they willingly chose to go back to their old lifestyle. For everyone who had invested so much into these kids, it was a heartbreaking experience.

As those close to the FTC program continued to dig and look for answers, we came to the realization that, the kids who left, were never able to internalize the dream that God has for their lives. They never internalized the belief that the were special and they had the ability to realize God’s dream for their lives. Most of the kids who left never really believed that they had the potential to succeed inside of them. Despite the continual vision casting and investment by FTC staff and friends, these kids lost never gained the confidence they needed to take the next steps.

What we came to realize is that there are both external and internal barriers to success and empowerment. We were very intentional and aggressive about removing external barriers by providing a safe, loving place to live, a quality school to attend with teachers who were safe, encouraging, and gifted at developing kids, food, shelter, fun, family, etc. We did a very good job of identifying and removing the external barriers to success. However, some of these kids had deep wounds and very negative experiences that created significant internal barriers to success. For some, being in a loving, family environment in the FTC homes, and being in youth groups, small groups and church contexts, was not focused enough to overcome these internal barriers.

All of us have internal barriers to success in our lives. All of us have some ability to lead ourselves over and beyond some or many of these internal barriers. There is an expression which says that some people are their own worst enemy. Some people will never be able to move beyond certain barriers in their lives without a formal, concentrated and focused effort; while for others who already have the ability to lead themselves beyond those internal barriers, a focused effort will make the process faster and more efficient.

We are now in the process of engaging the kids at FTC in regular coaching and mentoring sessions using a structured, focused process and framework to develop inside of them, the personal leadership required to overcome the internal barriers in their lives. For many, the ongoing, regular process of coaching development will allow them to overcome the internal barriers to success; while some may require some additional, focused counseling to enable them to effectively deal with very deep wounds caused by traumatic events in their lives.

We are excited about building on the successful platform of removing external barriers that has been developed over the years at FTC. We are adding disciplined, intentional, focus on removing the internal barriers to empowerment and success in the lives of these amazing kids through a rigorous process and framework. Removing both external and internal barriers to empowerment and success will be the perfect combination necessary to fully unleash the masterpiece that God has created within each of these special children.