Priorities – Life sometimes gets in the way – A tribute to Glenn Martin

As I looked at my priorities for the week, this week was very crowded.  Response to the Donor Engagement Playbook has been amazing and I’ve enjoyed interacting with those of you that read my post last week and downloaded it.  Most of my week has been filled with conference calls and meetings and writing – responding to a major business opportunity for my consulting firm.

It is funny, but sometimes I forget that until my new venture is fully launched, that consulting is still technically my “day job”.   In fact, it doesn’t seem to want to let me go.

One of the things that I do in my consulting practice is put together large, purpose built teams for complex projects, such as the launch of a new website or even the launch of a new business.  We have some very cool proprietary tools that we use to make the complex simple.

On Thursday, after having put together an amazing team for the upcoming project and in the home stretch of wrapping up the RFP response, I had sad news about the loss of one of our core team members.

Glenn Martin, at 47, was absolutely in the prime of his life, but a heart attack changed that, literally in a heartbeat.

So as the week progressed life, or rather death, got in the way of my well formed plans.

When Glenn left his home in Atlanta on Monday afternoon to go to Dallas, his wife and two kids never dreamed that he wouldn’t return from his business trip.  His business partner, Mads, never imagined that today he would be running their innovative tech company alone.

I share this not to bring you down, but to lift you up.

In life, Glenn inspired me.  He was the quintessential entrepreneur, an amazing husband and father, a terrific friend and he possessed wit, wisdom and a depth of perspective unlike any other.   He was a game changer.

He built the first online booking platform at Holiday Inn Worldwide in the mid-1990s.  Then he was a core part of the team that launched “click, walk, talk” as a new multi-channel distribution metaphor for Carlson Companies back in the late 90s, letting people know that they could use the web, walk into a travel agency or call the cal center – whatever worked for them.

He launched several innovative technology companies with long time partner, Les Ottolenghi and later Rozy Mize – always leading the way on the use of technology to do amazing things in business.  The game was changed in each one — Travel platforms (Agentware), digital rights management for the music industry (Intent Media Works) and cross platform consolidation of data and applications (Fuzebox).   Most recently in his current venture MobileWasp, Glenn and Mads Moller created game changing integrated advertising and mobile platforms, doing amazing things with smart phones and other mobile devices.

Glenn lived a life of giving to others and he embodied corporate social responsibility.  Even Facebook now carries on his life, with his friends and colleagues sharing their memories and pictures – in the days and weeks ahead this will provide great comfort for his wife Barbara, the love of his life.  If you knew Glenn, feel free to post your memories.

Yes, Glenn’s death made me stop and think about my own.  But in reality, it was his life that really makes me think.

Nicole Nordeman’s song Legacy is the theme song for my radio show, Uncommon Giving.  I will leave you with that, as it is a tribute to Glenn’s life and hopefully you will think about leaving your own legacy today.  Goodbye dear friend.  To the rest of you, cherish life and leave your own legacy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KEe-dA3a4M