Dean Niewolny spent 23 years in executive roles with three of Wall Street’s largest financial firms, finishing his career in the financial sector as the market manager for Wells Fargo Advisors in Chicago, where he oversaw a $100mm market.
While in Chicago, he and his wife, Lisa, traveled many times to Africa and, seeing the abject needs of widows and orphans, made life changes that enabled them to get involved, such as helping to complete an orphan home and a Hospice home in Durbin, South Africa.
In 2010, Dean traded his marketplace career for Halftime to help more people who, like him, wanted to expand their own “first half” success and skills into passion and purpose for meeting human needs and making a significant difference. Dean joined Halftime as managing director and in 2011 became chief executive officer. He speaks at events around the world, encouraging business leaders to channel
Dean joined Halftime as managing director and in 2011 became chief executive officer. He speaks at events around the world, encouraging business leaders to channel their first-half achievements into a second half defined by joy, impact, and balance.
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,which God prepared in advance for us to do.” ~Ephesians 2:1
1. The Pursuit of Money is Empty
So many of us as men tie our identity to the number of 0’s in our checking account. We think that out worth as a man is determined by how much money we earn and the number of toys that we have without ever realizing that the sole pursuit of money is empty.
Yes, money is important and allows us to have a bigger impact on the world, but pursuing money just for the sake of having more money and bigger and better things is a pursuit that will leave you empty and full of regret for a life lived in vain.
2. Life is About What You Can Give Not What You Get
The true joy of life is in giving back, it’s in making an impact and helping other people to become all that they can be. If you want to live a full life, a good life, and a life that has true meaning, then you must focus on what you are giving, not what you are getting.
3. You Don’t Need to Leave Your Job to Make an Impact
Many people seem to think that the only way to have true significance is to leave their job and start a nonprofit in the deep Sahara. But the truth of the matter is that you can start having a real impact by just focusing on your local community.
Start a local club for young boys who don’t have fathers and give them a strong male role model, build a park for the inner city, mentor someone who you believe has real potential.
You don’t have to be drastic to make an important difference, start small and you will be amazed where it takes you.
4. Aim for Success and Significance
Something that many millennials are realizing is that success and significance are not either-or situations, you can have both-and. They are realizing that they can have the 7-figure business, and use that business to enjoy the finer things in life while still changing communities and individuals on a global scale.
They are realizing that they can actually make a money from making a difference, solving real problems and training up the next generation of leaders and world changers while making a profit is something that is completely doable.
Do not settle for one or the other, pursue both.
5. You Have to Operate from Passion and Strength
If you want to make a real difference in the world, then you have to operate from passion and stregth. If you are doing something that you do not enjoy and you are no good at, you will never make a difference in your life or the life of anybody else.
You have to find thigs that make you come alive, and then find a niche where you can become one of the best. This is the only way that you will be able to make a lasting impact on the world.