A serial intrapreneur, Ray Deck III has a decade of experience inciting change from within complex organizations. Ray is the Founding Director of Skookum Kids, caring for Foster Kids in their first 72 hours in the system; passionately revolutionizing the way foster children are treated in his community.
Next Steps
[03:02] — Burden for Foster Care
[04:59] — “If I wanted to specialize and achieve mastery I needed to change my career” There wasn’t a direct line between Word of Life and foster care, so there was a need for a launch pad.
[05:45] — Resume Focus
[07:22] — Dramatic Relocation
Dealing with Change
[08:34] — Fear of moving, false starts
[09:15] — "Change happens when pain of the status quo is greater than perceived pain of change”
[09:54] — The emotional charge moves us to make a change in our lives
Where Skookum Began
[13:25] — Neighborhood Meeting: Origin and Solving Crime
[14:32] — Divine Appointment — What’s the missing link in our community?
[16:12] — Built a start-up team and rolled on momentum
Service Gap
[16:56] — the 72hr problem
[17:17] — Unknown’s and Challenges
[19:53] — Skookum House and Volunteer System
[21:12] — Preparing for the Unique Challenges
[22:21] — Now there is no “emergency"— a few days of preparation for the social worker
[23:43] — Impact and Reward
Launching Out Hurdles
[28:46] — Starting Point Challenges
[29:28] — Discipline of Impact
[30:33] — Advice received — Constructing a board and a team, “Choose someone who is personally invested in your success”
What’s Next
[33:32] — moving from a movement to a community pillar
Advice from Ray
[36:00] — Pitch your idea often, you’ll open a lot of support and refine your pitch.
Recommendations
[38:10] — The Glory and the Dream by William Manchester
Where to Connect
In your own words what does it mean to LaunchOut!?
[40:29] — "Launching is taking concrete action today. Lots of people dream, think, strategize about doing something new, and what separates the dreamers, the thinkers, the stategizers from the DOERS is concrete action. Action will take you further, a step closer to what you want to do…every single day taking concrete action."
3 Key Take-aways:
- The burden or the emotion is sometimes needed for you to make the change,
- Choose someone on your board or team that takes a personal investment in your success,
- Discipline of Impact: there is always a mountain of stuff to do, but you have to see the most important and ignore everything else.