Gratitude (Part Two)
Gratitude (Part Two)
Continuing with our theme of Gratitude this month, I asked one of the interns from this year’s Summer Riptide program to write this newsletter. She speaks to the heart of the matter regarding what an internship and business can be about. Enjoy this enthusiastic perspective from a rising senior with a very bright future.
Weaving the Summer Experience with Gratitude in the Spirit of Thanksgiving
Something that this pandemic has taught me on a personal level is acceptance. I spent week after week being frustrated and angry with the situation, rather than accepting the current state of things and moving forward. Everyone needs time to grieve, but when the grieving period passes, it’s necessary to shift your mindset. While my year didn’t turn out how I’d expected, I learned to accept how it had turned out and make the most of what I could. How can you alter your mindset? Where in your life can you turn what seems to be a bad situation into something extraordinary?
At the beginning of January 2020, I was offered a position as a summer intern at Agile Rainmakers by Robert Khoury. This opportunity left me feeling ecstatic about a summer in downtown Chicago filled with project work that I’m passionate about, client interaction, and learning through experience. When COVID-19 hit, this image of a perfect summer internship experience altered completely. What I imagined as a lush waterfall full of opportunity soon dried up as I could see the missed opportunity for growth or productivity coming. However, Rob is a man of his word and he made a commitment to his interns that we would have a fabulous internship. Agile leadership thought on their feet and completely restructured the summer experience to do it remotely. This allowed all of us to make the most of an unexpected situation and to learn to appreciate and be grateful for what it was. Never would I have ever imagined ending up having a virtual internship that exceeded all of my initial expectations and promoted development in each and every aspect that I had hoped for. Agile prompted the waterfall of opportunity to reappear, flowing stronger than ever.
The single most important feature of my internship at Agile Rainmakers that caused the whole experience to be so special was its personalization. Throughout the summer, each week, Agile leadership dedicated time to get to know each intern through one-on-one conversations. This allowed for passion projects to be crafted for each of us based on what we were most interested in. As an avid environmentalist, I got the chance to take the lead role on a project for a client in the eco-timber industry and expand my knowledge in an environmental sector that I knew very little about. This personal touch continued with our training on how to interact with clients. Rather than simply prepping us for calls with clients that we saw as daunting, we would spend a great deal of time beforehand learning how to effectively engage with clients in a professional manner. Afterward, we would discuss the client meeting, reviewing what went well and what we could improve on in the future. I got to learn through real hands-on experience. With decades of business expertise, Agile leadership had an immense amount to teach and this instruction was provided through practice. Agile Rainmakers' internship is built to feel like the most interactive college course that you will ever take.
The Natural Outcome
Naturally, my sense of confidence skyrocketed throughout the summer thanks to the personalized experience that Agile’s leadership creatively structured for its interns in a time of such instability in the world. The commitment to creating a memorable internship given the pandemic’s constraints caused acceptance and gratitude to become two of my own key personal values. Rather than letting a roadblock stop you in your tracks, innovation allows you to not only get past it, but potentially create something even more incredible than initially expected. I’m positive that the growth I experienced during my summer at Agile Rainmakers will have a lasting impact and be an important strength in my future career. And for all of that, I am truly grateful. – L.J.
Here's to you and your awesome future.
Until then, keep your feet on the board and keep riding your wave!
Robert J. Khoury
CEO Agile Rainmakers