The Secret Behind the Success of the Houston Food Bank

YLDP_IN01By Pooja Gunda

HOUSTON: Serving 18 different counties and over 137,000 people weekly, the Houston Food bank is not only known for their efficient performance and effective strategies, but also for their courage and resilience. Their ideologies allowed them to grow from a small warehouse to a massive production site that has now become the largest food bank in the country.

Much of the success and growth can be accredited to Brian Greene, the current CEO and president of the Food Bank. His success can be attributed to his general notions of courage. As he explains, in the words of Mark Twain “It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare”. Simply put, while we have innate courage and use it if the situation demands it; our moral courage is weak. We inherit moral cowardice from our ancestors due to the fear of rejection and opinionated viewpoints from society. However he emphasizes the dire need for humanity to build a bridge towards moral bravery. Building this bridge can be done by accepting your mistakes, being truthful with yourself, and being able to empathize with others. Without building moral courage, success can be much harder to attain.

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With such an empowering lecture over moral and physical courage, it is critical for us to conduct a self-assessment of ourselves and identify problems to make the first strides towards any change. While nonprofit management proved to be a beneficial path in Mr. Greene’s life, he highlighted the extreme competitiveness amongst companies in this sector. This led to the students understanding that the role other business possess are of colossal importance to help individuals and the overall economy grow to its maximum potential.

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The small steps we can take such as donating or volunteering will prove to be a fruitful remedy for a lot of the problems in the society such as hunger and homelessness. Giving back to the community and leading with intuition and courage is critical to creating an impact and being a successful leader.  Mr. Greene and the Houston Food Bank are prime examples of moral and physical courage leading to a path of growth and success.