Barbara's Blog

Dr. Barbara M. Hartnett

President and CEO

Peoria Friendship House

 February 10, 2012

Most of my professional life was spent in education, teaching psychology at the community college for many years and eventually moving into administration.  Of course, now, I am the president/CEO of Friendship House, but I have never stopped teaching.

My husband, Mike, has a theory about people and jobs and I am a firm believer in his belief: regardless of the various job titles people have in the course of a lifetime, there is one role that each of us clings to faithfully. For example, one reason my husband, the journalist, has been so successful in his role publishing a business newsletter is the simple fact that he has never stopped being a counselor at heart...sounds strange, but he is a great listener and people find him easy to trust.

The most fulfilling part of my job as CEO of Friendship House is still teaching and mentoring. To me, teaching is about growing people for the better and convincing them that they are capable of far greater things than they ever imagined. Over the 40+ years of my career, I still am awed by the student who suddenly turns up in my life, many years later, swearing I changed their life. Sometimes I remember them, but more often than not at my age, having no clue of who they are, much less how I could possibly have changed anything in their life. God bless them all—it certainly makes my day.

But the lesson is that we have no idea whose lives we end up effecting, how many, what the circumstances were, how long ago it was, or whether we even meant to change anyone.

In many cases, the best we can do is do the best we can...just in case.

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