This week's Log made me think about a concept I'd learned from a guy named Simon Sinek. Sinek is a published author of several books and a motivational speaker. His first book from 2009 is titled, "Start With Why". 

One popular analogy that he often uses is to compare a company to a car.

"A business is like a car." he says.  

In the same way that gas is fuel for a vehicle, money is fuel for a business. Without gas, a car can't drive. Without money, a business can't operate. 

But the purpose of a car is not to put gas in it. The purpose of a car is to take you somewhere... and gas will help it do that.

The purpose of a company is not to make money. The purpose of a company is to accomplish something, to advance a greater cause, to contribute to society, and money will help it do that. 

This served as a great reminder as to what our purpose is as a business. What do we aim to accomplish? What is our greater cause, and how do we contribute to society? 

Good question! 

Besides helping families to navigate the jungle that is residential real estate, our family and our team always have a greater goal in mind... and that is to make our world a better place. To leave it a little better off than when we found it.  

We realized long ago that we couldn't fight every battle out there, and that we had to choose our battles carefully. So we now focus most of our efforts towards two very important causes that are close to our hearts. 

One is the battle against Alzheimer's and Dementia. 

The other is the battle against Domestic Violence.

We do our best to balance our commitment between these vital issues, and if you've known us for any length of time, you've likely seen or heard of us doing all kinds of things to raise funds and awareness for these causes. 

Our family has been supporting the Alzheimer’s Society of Montreal for the past 20 years - ever since our Dad (Libby’s husband) was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at age 58. 

Most recently, my brothers and I partook in the annual 1926 Skate for Alzheimer's. Started by Toronto native Steve McNeil, this is a marathon skate that lasts for 19 hours and 26 minutes. Last January (before Covid) we were crazy enough to join Steve for the entire skate here in Montreal. This year, however, due to health and safety restrictions, Steve was unable to travel and we were only permitted to skate for 10 hours before they had to close the rinks. 

So together we came up with an idea... McNeil skated for 10 hours in Toronto, and then symbolically handed the baton to us over in Montreal to continue the skate for the remaining 9 hours and 26 minutes!

We had the best possible weather conditions and were able to raise over $2,000 for the Alzheimer Society of Montreal. Our story was featured on CTV News and we even had Habs Legend Gaston Gingras come out and join us for a couple of hours on the ice. This year, we just learned that our family has been nominated for the "Gala Les Nobilés" - an annual award ceremony that recognizes and celebrates the culture of volunteering in Quebec. We're extremely proud to be selected for this honour, and humbled to even be in the same category as some of the other incredible nominees. 

We have been strong supporters of the West Island Women’s Shelter since Royal LePage first chose Women’s Shelters as our Company’s National charity years ago, by setting up the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation, and encouraging agents from across the country to support their local shelter. 

In continuation of this support, another initiative that we are promoting is the "Speak Out" campaign in support of the West Island Women’s Shelter. This is a movement to empower all of us to use our voices to speak out against conjugal violence. Although we all have to wear masks to cover our faces in public... this doesn't mean we need to remain silent. You can purchase a purple facemask for $15 - and know that $10 from the sale of each mask is going to support the shelter.

Our good friend Terri Ronci, who sits on the board for the WIWS, came by the Team Broady office this week to deliver our masks. If you'd like to support this campaign, please click here. 

So this is our WHY. These are just some of the amazing things that our business allows us to accomplish. This is our greater cause, and our way of giving something back. We know we can't do it all ourselves, which is why we share these stories here. We're not looking for a pat on the back. We just hope that through our actions - we might inspire others to do the same.

As one of my mentors Ryan Fletcher puts it...

"My mission is to create a movement of movements - by inspiring others to create their own." 

Signing off.... Capt'n Mark