District Governor Jeremy's October Message

Posted by Jacqueline Gibson

Posted by Jeremy Hurst

on Oct 01, 2013

Dear fellow Rotarians, Rotaractors and Family of Rotary,

Vocation…. Vocation…. Vocation…..?

As someone involved in the real estate industry Location, Location, Location is the guiding principle for my industry. However, as a Rotarian, perhaps we should spend more time thinking about how fundamentally important Vocation, Vocation, Vocation is to our organisation!

Michelle and I have continued our travels across our unique and vibrant district during September and this has given us a chance to reflect on the tremendous projects our Clubs are carrying out, nearly always leveraging the vocations and skills of our wide diversity of members in the process. Whether it be a proposed mobile Dental Clinic in Anguilla, literacy and youth support programmes in St. Maarten and St. Martin, the careers day in St. Barth’s or the many and varied projects across North East and North West Jamaica such as the Vocational training and intervention programme “Girl Power” being coordinated by the Montego Bay Sunrise Club, Rotarians across District 7020 are using their vocations broadly and widely as an opportunity for service.

Sometimes we forget how fundamental this one of our Five Avenues of Service is to our great organisation. Reflecting on the Object of Rotary it is quite clear that Rotary’s founders saw this as the very cornerstone of what we do, running as it does through all our guiding principles:

FIRST: The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
SECOND: High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society;
THIRD: The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian’s personal, business, and community life;
FOURTH: The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.

Each one of them in some way, relates directly to our Second Avenue of Service, however it is very clear that there is more to this avenue than simply leveraging our vocational skillsets and contacts in order to serve: It relates just as much to how we act in our everyday dealings with not only Rotarians, but our communities and the world at large. In a nutshell Vocational Service calls on every Rotarian to work with integrity as they contribute their expertise to the problems and needs of society. The key is that we need to carry out our Rotary work to the highest ethical standards, making sure in the process that our service projects are transparent, measurable, and accountable, setting the best possible example in the process. Vocational service provides an excellent opportunity to show Rotary at its very best, however if we compromise our integrity or lower our standards of ethical behavior, we undermine the very fabric of that makes up our great organisation and seriously damage our reputation and brand in the process. Make no mistake Rotary is a brand, just as valuable as Nike or McDonalds, Apple or Ford and one, which we must guard diligently.

This starts with the way our members act on a day-to-day basis in all their dealings and we need to understand the risk to our organisation if we fail to act with the highest ethical standards that we purport to represent.

Two documents that are very useful guides in this regard and the excellent An Introduction to Vocational Service and the Rotary International Code of Conduct and I want to in particular congratulate the Haiti Leadership team for grabbing their “bull by the horns” and expanding upon the Rotary Code of Conduct to develop an even more comprehensive Haiti Code of Conduct, which deals with issues such as Conflict of Interest head on.

Have a great October us as we strive to Engage Rotary - Change Lives through our vocations!

Yours in Rotary Service,

Jeremy Hurst, Governor 2013/14
District 7020
Rotary International