What’s in a name?
I hated my name as for as long as I could remember. I cannot remember when I developed a hatred for my name or why. I remember wishing my mom would have given me a name you saw on marquees, buildings, and billboards. I went as far as experimenting with other names whenever I could. New summer? New name. New school? New name! During those formative years, I decided to plan, plan, and plan some more to ensure my future children loved their name and avoid a battle with their first name (I always thought my last name was cool).
To this day, I still get a good laugh thinking about the time I spent by going by JT or Chris (that was the other option). So much so that when co-founding TDR Ideas, we went through months of planning and testing the right name for our new venture.
We wanted a name that reflected our beliefs, stated our approach to work plainly, and something that could spark conversations, and resonate with Impact Partners. And as cheesy as it sounds, after some THINKING, DOING (curating a methodology, business plan, core values...), and a lot of REFLECTING, we discovered the name was in front of us all along.
More than that so was our approach and philosophy around the work we do as servant-leaders. When helping Impact Partners create lasting and positive community impact, we always start with TDR:
THINK: Collaborative thinking is the first step in all TDR partnerships. TDR believes service starts with an idea and a desire to make an impact. To help partners increase their capacity to transform lives and communities, we immerse ourselves in our partner's organization and culture. TDR helps its partners implement tailored-made best practices to meet the demands of their stakeholders and accomplish their mission.
DO: There is no impact without action. TDR bolsters our partners' effectiveness, efficiency, innovation, and sustainability. We observe and evaluate programming, dissect the motivations fueling service, and think critically about data. We intentionally partner with small-to-medium-sized nonprofits and businesses to ensure positive social impact.
REFLECT: Growth and development depend on consistent reflection. TDR knows we can continuously improve how we serve. Using Higher Levels of Diverse Thought to ensure beliefs, practices, and outcomes are mission-aligned, TDR encourages partners to participate in guided reflections to refine how they serve to utilize human-centered variables.
Reflecting on the last year, what are some challenges you are facing? How are you working to solve them? If you are doing business as usual, afraid to re-invent the wheel, you are ignoring how things…like the love I have for my name…have changed. If this is you (and it’s okay if it is for now), reach out to TDR. We’d love to partner up and help with some Thinking, Doing, and Reflecting.
Here to serve,
Jamal
Co-Founder & CEO
TDR Ideas, LLP is a community-based grassroots company focused on assisting service-driven organizations to become more efficient, effective, innovative, and sustainable.