Follow up on your dreams, and make a difference

Andy Wilson was “just a guy” when his life was transformed by a trip to Kenya.

Wilson was a mid-level manager at the 70,000 person Abbott Laboratories, a global company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceutical and medical products. His particular job was to market diagnostic machines and to manage group technical support specialists who trained customers and installed new laboratories.

His lifelong friend had moved to Kenya as a missionary, and Wilson went to visit him in November 2002. There he visited orphanages, schools and hospitals, and, he says, “It opened my eyes to how poor they are and to the bad conditions of the entire health infrastructure.” For the first time in his life, Wilson was able to “put a face on hardship.”

Wilson was so moved by those real human faces that he felt “responsible” to do something. “I was really haunted by it. I couldn’t not do something.” For almost a year he studied, read, searched the Web and learned a lot about the HIV/AIDS pandemic. And he talked to his wife and his pastor repeatedly about his feelings of “responsibility.” He thought about quitting his job and joining his friend as a missionary in Kenya. His wife was supportive of his dream, but she thought quitting his job was rash and impractical. Still, he was “on fire” to make a contribution.

As Wilson did his research, he learned about Abbott’s Global Care Initiative, an aggressive philanthropic organization established to use Abbott’s resources in a socially responsible way. Wilson admits that “embarrassingly, I was not aware of that program. I’m afraid the company doesn’t brag about it, and we are awfully big.”

For the first time, Wilson thought that perhaps he could “apply my personal fire to my work.” That desire led to two remarkable actions. In November of 2003, Wilson wrote an e-mail to Miles White, the CEO of Abbott. He knew from his research that White cared about social issues. The e-mail detailed Wilson’s moving experience and his proposal to work through Abbott to help improve the HIV/AIDS problem in Tanzania. He says, “I didn’t think there was a downside in sending an e-mail to the CEO. They weren’t going to fire me for wanting to help.”

Then the second remarkable thing happened. Miles White, the CEO of a giant company, did not blow off that e-mail. Instead, one of his top people contacted Wilson. Within a couple of weeks, Wilson interviewed with the company’s Tanzania Care program, and by January of this year Andy Wilson was a program manager for Tanzania Care. He is charged with modernizing Tanzania’s public health care infrastructure, which will include work such as renovating the clinical laboratory at Tanzania’s national hospital and setting up voluntary counseling and testing centers in 21 regional hospitals. He works out of Washington, D.C., and Chicago, and travels to Tanzania about 14 weeks a year.

Wilson is one happy guy. “I’m absolutely doing what I had hoped and dreamed I could do. My fire is being stoked.” He knows there is a lot to be done, but he’s positive that after four or five months the decisions he’s made and the skills he’s applied to the Tanzanian health infrastructure “will help save lives.” He says, “I used to think I had to be a physician to save lives, but now I know I can save lives as a businessman.”

Eighteen month ago Andy Wilson was “just a guy with a personal fire” to change things. His courage to use Abbott to make a difference and the willingness of a big company to show some heart is going to save lives in a small corner of Tanzania.

Abbott is allowing and encouraging Andy Wilson to make a difference and contribute to the common good. It happens.

Tip for your search: Do you have a dream of making a difference in your job? Don’t summarily dismiss that dream. Follow Andy Wilson’s excellent approach. Talk to a trusted adviser and to your spouse. Do careful research about the problem, the opportunity, and about your company’s involvement or potential involvement in your dream. Develop a realistic plan for your own involvement. Then muster the courage to boldly pursue the opportunity.

Resource for your search: “Do What You Are” by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger (Little Brown and Company, 1992, 1995, 2001)