Laurie Ann Thompson - Be a Changemaker. How to Start Something That Matters

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This Beyond Words/Simon Pulse edition September 2014

Text copyright 2014 by Laurie Ann Thompson

Illustrations copyright 2014 by iStockphoto.com

Cover photograph copyright 2014 by iStockphoto.com

Back cover photo by Purestock/Superstock/Corbis

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Managing Editor: Lindsay S. Brown

Editors: Nicole Geiger, Ali McCart, Emmalisa Sparrow

Copyeditor: Ashley Van Winkle

Proofreader: Michelle Blair

Interior and cover design: Sara E. Blum

Cover by Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster, Inc.

The text of this book was set in Adobe Garamond Pro and Interstate.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Thompson, Laurie Ann.

Be a changemaker : how to start something that matters / Laurie Ann Thompson.

pagescm

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Social actionJuvenile literature. 2. Community developmentJuvenile literature. 3. Community leadershipJuvenile literature. 4. Political participationJuvenile literature. I. Title.

HN18.3.T46 2014

361.2dc23

2013044580

ISBN 978-1-58270-465-4 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-58270-464-7 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-4814-0169-2 (eBook)

TO MY FAMILY, FOR THEIR ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRITS AND UNFAILING SUPPORT

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BE A CHANGEMAKERNOW

Dont wait.

Dont wait to be powerful, to change the lives and communities around you significantly.

There is nothing like it. Once you discover that you can visualize the next step society should take, and then you discover that you can lead others to turn your vision into reality, you can do anything.

The only way to know you are a changemaker is to be oneand the younger, the better. If you change your world in middle or high school, you will change it again and again throughout your life. (Almost all the social entrepreneurs I know had such early practice.) You can do so by creating a tutoring service, or radio program, or business, or whatever turns you on. Once you have made your dream work, and its value is apparent, others will keep it going after you have moved on.

Becoming a changemaker is quite like getting on a bicycle and mastering its zen. Except it is far, far more important and requires far more practice. Laurie Ann Thompsons book will help you get started. Laurie shows how everything starts with asking yourself, Whats my passion? Once you find your passion and apply it to a problem you care enough to do something about, then you are on your way! Lauries stories beautifully illustrate how everyoneand really we mean everyone can create powerful change in the world.

Indeed in another ten or so years there will be very, very few opportunities for anyone who is not a changemaker. Artificial intelligence, algorithms, and the web are fast stripping away jobs of intellectual, not just physical, repetition. Already that includes, for example, almost half of what architects used to do and probably three quarters of archeologists work of exploration.

Instead, as the rate and pervasiveness of change continue to accelerate exponentially (a mathematical fact), we will all be valued more and more in terms of how well we envision and enable others to move to better futures.

If you are to contribute, let alone lead, in this everything changing, everyone a changemaker world, you need to begin writing your story now.

As you launch your venture, you will master the most critical skills you will need in life: (1) applied empathy (deeply understanding all the people and groups around you so you will do as much good and as little harm as possible), (2) teamwork, (3) new leadership (very different dimensions when everyone is a changemaker!), and (4) changemaking (envisioning and engineering better futures). These skills are so rich and so subtle that mastery comes only with persistent, intensive, real engagement, and practice.

By the time you become an adult, you will know in your heart whether or not you are powerful, whether or not you are a changemakerand whether or not you have mastered the underlying skills. This core self-understanding will define your role in life and how you relate to others.

What is the key to making your first, life-defining commitment to changing your world? Just give yourself permission. Many will tell you that you cannot. Please ignore thembut do so politely, gently: for those whose lives are limited because they never gave themselves permission, your stepping out stirs regret. That is what you are hearing.

Far better to listen to your own imagination.

Bill Drayton

Founder of Ashoka, an organization that finds and supports changemakers

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones weve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America, in a speech to his supporters in Chicago on February 5, 2008

Y ouve heard the saying, If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. Ive found this to be true more often than one might expect. Sometimes its because other people cant do it. They just dont have the skills or the tools that you do. Other times they just wont do it. It is, after all, what you want, and its your definition of right .

How many times have you complained about something but done nothing to fix it? Or noticed something and thought, Someone should do something about that ? We all have those thoughts sometimes. And its okay, because none of us can solve every problem we encounter. But guess what... youre someone. And when you set your mind to it, you absolutely can do something that matters.

Fortunately, there are some exciting changes happening in your world right now. People are realizing that applying the best practices from the business world to the worst problems we face as a society is an effective step toward creating the solutions we need. And, modern-day technology makes it easier for everyone to do, especially young people. You truly have the powernow more than ever beforeto be the change that you seek.

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FREE THE CHILDREN

Craig Kielburger was flipping through the newspaper in search of comics when he came across the headline, Battled Child Labour, Boy, 12, Murdered! Because Craig was also twelve, the words grabbed his attention and he stopped to read the article. He soon learned that the boy, Iqbal Masih from Pakistan, had been sold into slavery at the age of four and chained to a carpet loom for nearly six years. After escaping, Iqbal spoke publicly against the common practice of child labor in his country and others. Many suspected Iqbals death was an attempt to silence him and his message.