I’m sorry.

I’m apologizing because I was that guy at the gym tonight. Yes, I was the guy on the treadmill on his cell phone holding a conversation that had nothing to do with working out. As many of you know, I serve on the Board of Trustees for a national foundation. At some point around 7pm tonight, I got on a phone call with the Executive Director of our foundation. Since my back was hurting me this morning when I woke up, I had to go to the gym after work – and since I had that phone call scheduled, that meant that I couldn’t go to the gym until after the call.

But do you ever get on those calls where you just have to stay on the line because the discussion is so good that you need to explore it a little bit further? Well, our Executive Director and I had what I thought was an excellent conversation tonight about a variety of issues (some of which were eye-opening to me). But as the call went on I began to worry about getting my workout in. So I drove to the gym and sat in my car for another hour or so on the phone (one of my roommates actually arrived at the gym after me and left before me while I was taking the call).

Then when it got to be 9pm, I knew I had to get a workout in before I was too tired to do it. So I was that guy on the treadmill on his cell phone, but it was for a good reason. And now I will think twice about those other people who are on their cell phones. On the other hand, though, I was on an important phone call and I kept my voice down. Most of those other people get on their phones and start to talk way too loud and in an obnoxious tone!

By the way, tonight marks 18 days in a row that I’ve been to the gym. Pretty good for a guy who isn’t even on a diet and is just working out for the fun of it.

Why? Because an honoree is not chosen just to give a speech and be feted. He or she must be willing to make a big donation, usually from the company’s coffers, and — more important — to invite friends and contacts to the gala who will buy $20,000 tables or single tickets for $2,000 to $3,000, bringing new support to the organization.

So imagine that you’ve been chosen as the honoree for the XYZ Foundation and that, as a part of your “honor,” you’ve been asked to fill a number of $2,000 to $3,000 seats or $20,000 tables for the gala dinner in your honor. I don’t know how anyone could go to their family, friends, and associates during these times and ask for this amount of money to go to a dinner. Seems a bit outrageous.

Many of you know that I sit on the board of a national foundation and we’ve seen a similar occurrence taking place. In fact, we’ve lowered the cost of our galas from $500 per ticket to $250 per ticket. The hope is that with the lowered cost of attendance, we can (of course) get more people in the room, but get a wider diversity of socioeconomic classes in the room, too. Our first lowered-price event takes place next month and I think it will be a huge success.