Today’s episode of the AEC Leadership Today podcast features Avery Bang. Avery is the President and CEO of Bridges to Prosperity, an organization that literally connects isolated communities to essential healthcare, education, and commerce. Her and her team’s work both saves lives and creates opportunities and positive change for people today and for generations to come. And this is not an overstatement!
Creating Greater Meaning in Your Work
If there’s one word that describes Avery’s path, it’s persistence. Having become passionate about connecting communities early on in her studies and engineering career, she persisted time and time again in order to help the people who needed it most and grow Bridges to Prosperity into what it’s become today.
“How can we inspire ourselves and that next generation in solving our biggest problems?”
– Avery Bang
In this episode, we discuss:
- Avery’s background in engineering and how she got her start. Coming from a family where engineering was a big part of life, choosing to study engineering as part of her higher education was a perfect fit.
- Her origins with Bridges to Prosperity. Unsure of what to do with her career, Avery volunteered with an organization in Fiji and discovered isolated communities and the way that disconnect impacted their daily life. She became passionate about solving this problem and began working with Bridges to Prosperity in 2005.
- How to create empathy and have an urgency for serving others by taking the time to ‘walk their walk’.
- The Four P’s: Projects, Profits, People, and Purpose. AEC organizations have pretty much nailed Projects and Profits, but still struggle with People and Purpose, even if things are getting better. Avery herself has lived this firsthand.
- The unmistakable impact of Bridges to Prosperity’s work, including a discussion of a comprehensive longitudinal study done by the University of Notre Dame to determine the value of building these bridges. The economic returns of Avery’s work was astounding and affirmed that what Bridges to Prosperity does for isolated communities is not only valuable, but vital.
- How they’ve overcome the finance problem in Rwanda. Bridges to Prosperity’s current work in Rwanda is easily their biggest project to date. They have strategically involved the Rwandan government and all of the big aid that supports them in order to connect as many of their isolated communities as possible.
- How you and your team can get involved with and support Bridges to Prosperity’s work around the world, and how we can all find and help connect isolated communities and positively impact the lives of our neighbors in our hometowns.
“I grew up in an environment where, ‘How do you create and build and design the world around you?’ was an everyday part of the conversation.”
– Avery Bang
Avery and her whole team at Bridges to Prosperity are making huge changes and positive impacts in the lives of others. This is immensely valuable stuff, so definitely check out the episode for more.
Thanks for listening to the AEC Leadership Today Podcast!
I sincerely hope you enjoyed today’s episode. Be sure to check out Avery’s website and the resources below for more information. If you like what you heard, leave a review on iTunes and share the podcast with a friend and colleague. See you in the next episode!
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
- Bridges to Prosperity
- Avery’s Ted Talks: “Building Bridges and Connecting Communities” and “Building Upon Failure”