Back in December 2000, when I was named CEO for the first time in my life, my aunt Mother Yvonne Bassoul, a Catholic nun, congratulated me on this new chapter in my career and reminded me to  “lead with compassion and integrity”. Those words stayed with me forever.

I had watched my aunt, who often was likened to the Mother Teresa of Lebanon, dedicate her life to the poor and to the orphans. She was a huge inspiration for me.

I grew up in Beirut, a bustling city teeming with ethnic minorities doing menial jobs and barely making a living.

As a young boy, I would run down the street to serve cold waters in glass jars ( plastic bottles were not yet invented) to these people working under the scorching sun and the extreme heat.

I felt blessed at the time that we had a home and the comfort of a decent middle-class lifestyle.

Then in 1975, the civil war broke up in Lebanon. As a result, our family became displaced from

One side of the city to the other. Overnight, we had to leave behind our home, all of our belongings and the comfort of our lifestyle. We now were homeless. Our family became divided and scattered as we were seeking shelter with various family members and friends.

I will never forget what a terrible feeling it is to be homeless. You lose every sense of hope and dignity.

This is why I always felt compelled to help the refugees, the homeless and the displaced people. It is one of the major work of the foundation.

The words of my aunt will always live inside me. She taught me about Giving back and doing good in the world, about integrity and compassion towards the most vulnerable.

Today our foundation is built on the “velocity of goodness”.

I urge you “to rush to be good”.