Hey, Ben, How Can We Change the World?
On Monday I had a conversation with Ben Yoskovitz about changing the world. I figured that Ben, who is a quiet force behind Gifter.org, and who is always finding new initiatives such as Global Voices Online, would certainly have ideas worth sharing.
Ben responded with this simple and elegant piece you find here.
How Each of Us Can Change The World
Guest Writer: Ben Yoskovitz
You need a world view. You need to understand what’s going on out there. The world’s a big place, but as you shape your world view, the world itself gets very, very tiny.
Suddenly, the world is in your backyard. When that happens, you can start to change it so easily.
Getting a world view is easy. Go online, read and learn. Countless websites and blogs are out there. News-related. Personal. Get a feel for what’s happening.
Talk to people. Reading and learning isn’t enough. You have to speak with people to understand their experiences. Let them take you on a journey through their life, through their world.
When the world shrinks into the palm of your hand, you’ll know what to do to change it.
Thank you, Ben, for showing us how we might start.
We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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If you’re ready to change the world, send me your thoughts in a guest post. Feel free to take the gorgeous Change the World image up there that Sandy designed back to your blog. Or help yourself to this one.
. Email me about what you’re doing or what we might do. Let’s change the world one bit at a time together. Together it can’t take forever.
Jesse says
January 13, 2007 at 8:12 AMGreat idea, Ben. I think Liz is on to something with her idea of MyBlogLog for doing that, too. I have added quite a number of contacts in the last day and gaining new perspectives while I’m at it.
Thanks for presenting us with Ben’s idea.
ME Strauss says
January 13, 2007 at 8:16 AMHi Jesse!
Good morning on this Saturday!
I think it’s elegant, how simply Ben stated it. Just shrink the world in your mind to people size. Then you’ll know what to do.
Beautiful.
I love hearing from you, Jesse, on your journey. I bet everyone does. It’s nice to know that you’re not letting go of it. That makes us all feel like we’ve invested in a winner. 🙂
Jesse says
January 13, 2007 at 8:23 AMYou’re too kind, Liz. I am honored and humbled by such attention. Ideas are floating around like an ion cloud, and I really need to shrink it down, as Ben has beautifully illustrated.
It is a wonderful Saturday, as I’m here in the office filling in holes in our document tracking database for 2006 so we can get an accurate picture of the 1,700 documents that we processed amongst the 5 of us last year. I’m blessed with a programmable keyboard that I’m building in macros to make the entries easier.
ME Strauss says
January 13, 2007 at 8:30 AMJesse,
You seem to be looking in the right direction now. Any work you do at work is a vehicle to move you forward. Do it well and it will serve you. Love your work and it will love you back. That’s extreme leadership, ask Steve Farber (http://www.stevefarber.com). He’ll tell you.
Jesse says
January 13, 2007 at 8:44 AMI am fearful of leadership in one respect: around here, leaders are managers. I am confident that I would be a terrible manager of people. Maybe that is poor thinking on my part, but that is the thinking I have developed from discovering how much I don’t like “messy” people.
However, if I was a leader of a process or product (i.e., my database or really pushing for a company/department wiki or blog) I would really enjoy the responsibility of managing and improving those tools into useful, dependable, and necessary products for the company.
ME Strauss says
January 13, 2007 at 9:36 AMJesse,
A leader is not a title or a job, it is a way of thinking and a way of being. Don’t let folks convince you otherwise. You can lead by showing folks the way to be a great member of a team.
Ben Yoskovitz says
January 13, 2007 at 1:42 PMI don’t think anyone’s ever called me a “quiet force” before. Thanks for posting this Liz, glad you liked it.
ME Strauss says
January 13, 2007 at 2:05 PMHey Ben!
You’re excellent, and so is this post!
Sandra Renshaw says
January 15, 2007 at 7:24 PMLiz,
Love the theme. Great post from Ben. Your mini button is perfect! Thanks for letting me be part of this.
Sandy
ME Strauss says
January 15, 2007 at 7:59 PMHi Sandy,
Thank you. Your button of the world is gorgeous and perfectly shows the meaning! You’re a BIG part of this. 🙂