As I develop my own personal paradigm for positive change in the world, I am constantly on the lookout for heroes - people who inspire me and have insights I can learn from.
High on the list of those heroes is Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of The Grameen Bank and winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
Right now in my morning reading, I'm reading Banker to the Poor, Yunus' autobiography. I recommend it if you're looking for inspiration and confirmation that "the way things are" isn't necessarily the way things are.
In the meantime, here is a podcast with a speech by Dr. Yunus talking about his experience.
At the end of the talk, he gives some great advice to people who want to transform their world. Here is a summary of that advice. He's talking primarily in terms of social entrepreneurship, but I think the advice works whatever your goal is.
Define your work very clearly. Be clear about the issue you're addressing so you can translate it to an action that works.
Learn by doing. The first step is just to get you going. Then you can pay attention to what works and what doesn't.
Be stubborn. Don't get swayed when people say it won't work. People are always waiting to say no.
Listen to people. Other people will have valuable advice for ways to improve what you're doing. Ignore wholesale dismissal, but always be on the lookout for good feedback on flaws and possibilities.
Take a look at your own path. How might those four ideas apply to what you're doing, where you're going, and how you'll get there?
Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst TM
Great man and wonderful book....reading it has helped me greatly along the path of sharing abundance.
And thanks for your book list. I was very pleased with myself to see that I already owned half of them, and now I own most of the other half...Amazon rocks! Looking forward to more of your recommendations.
Posted by: Leslie in Japan | November 27, 2007 at 04:08 PM
Excellent! Glad to hear that you've read the book and it resonated with you as well.
Posted by: Curt Rosengren | November 28, 2007 at 05:05 AM