Ami Campbell joins John O’Leary on the Live Inspired Podcast to champion generosity and help others rediscover their giving selves.
Did you know that one single act of generosity ripples out to four degrees of separation?
Ami Campbell is the author of Love Let Go and champions generosity to help others rediscover their giving selves. She has led stewardship classes at LaSalle Street Church for over a dozen years.
Today, Ami shares how generosity frees us from the grip that fear and insecurity have on us.
You’ll leave this conversation ready to transform your community, live generously and to love and let go.
Subscribe & listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, iHeartRadio, or listen here:
SHOW NOTES:
- Later in life, Ami appreciated being “airlifted” out of poverty after her father married her mother while he was stationed in war-torn Saigon.
- After moving to Chicago as a young child, Ami was raised by her single father and got her first job at 14 years old.
- The first in her family to attend college, Ami double majored in Economics and English and went on to attend Harvard Business School.
- Pivot in Ami’s generosity story:
- Seeing everything as a gift: While visiting her sponsored child in Tanzania, Ami felt like she was sitting across from the life she was supposed to have.
- Love Let Go: When LaSalle Street Church in Chicago received an unexpected windfall, its leaders made the wild, counterintuitive decision to give it away. Each church member received a check for $500 with the instruction to go out and do good in God’s world.
- “Gratitude is the birthplace of generosity.”
- Knowing the cathartic benefits of art, Christopher Jacobs went to the Cook County Jail to teach small groups of inmates photography skills.
- After living under a highway system for more than a decade, Steven Martin took his homeless peers to a restaurant and a movie
- A single generous act ripples out four degrees of separation. Social contagion is how behaviors (positive or negative) can spread through an organization or community.
- Gratitude and generosity work in tandem. Brain scans show that activating the gratitude side of our brain fires up the generosity side of our brain, and vice versa.
- “Our realism, our pragmatism and our rootedness in the visible handicap our ability to grasp the bigger picture. Concentrating only on the reflection in the mirror, we dismiss everything outside that frame.”
- Get a copy of Ami Campbell’s Love Let Go.
Did you enjoy today’s episode?
You’ll love hearing from Patricia Heaton! Once one of the most recognized TV moms, three-time Emmy winner Patricia Heaton is now an ambassador for World Vision. Hear Patricia share how her humanitarian work gives her peace, purpose and value on ep. 282.
***
About our sponsor: Keeley Companies wholeheartedly believes that if you get the people right -the results will follow. They set themselves apart with a forward-thinking culture that empowers their people and fosters loyal partnerships. Keeley Companies are a proud sponsor, partner, and super fan of the Live Inspired Podcast. Learn more about Keeley Companies.
AMI CAMPBELL'S LIVE INSPIRED 7
- Q. What is the best book you’ve ever read?
A. The Bible and Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. - Q. What is a characteristic or trait that you possessed as a child that you wish you still exhibited today?
A. I loved performing as a kid. - Q. Your house is on fire, all living things and people are out. You have the opportunity to run in and grab one item. What would it be?
A. The autographed copy of Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day from my stepmother and the photo album of my family’s first trip to Tanzania. - Q. You are sitting on a bench overlooking a gorgeous beach. You have the opportunity to have a long conversation with anyone living or dead. Who would it be?
A. My father’s mother. - Q. What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
A. Have an opinion. - Q. What advice would you give your 20-year-old self?
A. Relax a little bit. - Q. It’s been said that all great people can have their lives summed up in one sentence. How do you want yours to read?
A. She gave. She loved. She made a difference.
