be_ixf;ym_202403 d_29; ct_50 YES! I want to make a difference TODAY!

Cooking Up A Recipe For Success Through Service

City Year Miami’s AmeriCorps Members had the opportunity to get the secret sauce from a long time Community Champion, Pat Morris, Wells Fargo Community Affairs Officer in South Florida. Pat kicked off our Community Leader Speaker Series this week by providing leadership experiences that added value to the community, as well as all of our staff and AmeriCorps Members who were part of the virtual series.

Dedicated to service from a young age, Pat has lived by the role of the active citizen in whichever community he resides—sharing a message of resiliency to our ACMs as a leader through the years, from facing hurricanes to even a Zika Outbreak. In becoming a resource for the community and organizations, Pat was able to help further build Miami. In helping others shape their own identity via their philanthropic efforts, this deepened their personal understanding that by shaping their identities, they help shape the communities around them.

Pat Morris photographed serving during MLK Day 2020 with his son, and with Alberto M. Carvahlo, the superintendent of MDCPS.

Pat continues to be a catalyst for change in South Florida thanks to being flexible to opportunities and people. His leadership with Wells Fargo has helped many communities become resilient by leveraging resources and other organizations to be people first. Even now, as South Florida works to rebuild communities drastically impacted by this pandemic, Pat is making sure that no community is forgotten or left behind in this process. That the system of inequity does not continue to widen and instead organizations like City Year Miami are empowered to be one of the many pillars of support for Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

So, what’s the recipe for leadership success that Pat shared? Well, there are many, yet they all start with getting the sauce just right.

Pat’s Secret Sauce Recipe
  • Personal relationships are the key to success for you and your communities
  • Be a relationship manager by inviting collaboration through your work
  • Cast your network as wide as you can
  • Understand, that you can never be an expert on everything and that’s when you would leverage your network
  • Be confident that if you know your topic – you may be the expert in the room about it at times
  • Never underestimate what you learned; you can always find transferrable skills
  • Think of taking your talents to an organization that you can utilize to create positive change
  • Utilize your brand for as much collaboration as possible
  • Learn to trust and verify
  • Ask yourself, how do you become that go-to person for your community?
  • Remember, it’s “All about the people and the relationships you create.”
  • Because of personal relationships, you may be fortunate to have someone always to call for the next job since they see you as the go-to person for it.

 

Listen to the whole conversation below!

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