My focus these days is on mentoring and supporting youth to create social change and helping them share their successes, mostly through stories.
I do all this through Ashoka (Youth Venture) as well as my own charity, Global Youth Fund, which is based in Vancouver, Canada.
I was honored to have given a presentation at the inaugural TEDxTaipei on October 17, 2009.
I spoke about Inconvenient Youth, a term I used to describe young changemakers. When the video is posted, I will provide a link here. Stay tuned!
I semi-officially unveiled the Creative Activist Toolkit today with an interview on Change.org. Technically we’re still in “beta” but it’s good to test the waters with our initial chapters.
It’s already getting a good response but I look forward to additional feedback in the weeks ahead.
Youth can offer so much in terms of great ideas and positive action, but are often dismissed as being “kids.” How can we as a society best serve and cultivate their potential?
Don’t talk down to them. Young people truly want to make a real difference in the world. Let’s not confine them to bake sales and car washes. Let’s help them innovate solutions and create tangible outcomes.
We should do all we can to help youth get better at creating change. To quote Kathy Sierra: “People can’t be passionate about things they suck at.” So the better young people are at creating change, the more passionate they will be.
And we need them to be passionate. The future they face – we all face – demands nothing less.
Link: Change.org Interview
Although this is my personal blog, it’s not meant to be “personal,” if you know what I mean.
But I can’t resist posting a personality test I took on a popular dating site. It seems to describe me to a T. But I may be biased. So here it is. Judge for yourself.
You are an EXPLORER / director
You are a skywalker. You love adventure, both intellectual and physical. And you greet new challenges with passion and bravery.
When you get interested in a project, you can become extremely focused on it, sometimes to the exclusion of all around you. You complete it carefully and thoroughly, often with great originality.
And because you have a lot of energy and tend to be enthusiastic about your ideas, inventions, and projects, you can be very persuasive.
You tend to like to collect things, experiences or ideas. And you are eager to make an impact on those around you, as well as the wider world.
Although you enjoy people and can be charming and humorous, you are not very interested in routine social engagements or boring people. You are comfortable being by yourself, pursuing your own interests.
People probably call you a non-conformist, an original. You like to have good conversations on important topics. People tend to admire you for your innovativeness. You make an exciting, though at times distant, companion.
Well, it’s official. I’ve been invited to speak at the very first TEDxTaipei on October 17, 2009.
I’ve been a huge fan of the TED phenomenon for a few years now so it’s an honor to be invited to speak at a TED event.
This year, the Taipei event has three sub-themes: Taiwan Stories, Design Power and See Beyond Possibilities. I’ll be addressing the third theme.
What will I be speaking about? Well, you’ll have to stay tuned. 
A companion chapter to Perfect Your Pitch (Chapter 7), this one offers a template that you can use to create a funding pitch for your social change project. It’s also available in PowerPoint format.
If you ever have to present your project to funders, this chapter on how to “perfect your pitch” may come in handy.
Chapter 6 of The Creative Activist Toolkit deals with MacGyver’s approach to problem solving and why social change leaders might want to learn from his example.
The fifth chapter of the Creative Activist Toolkit. This one applies teachings of Made to Stick to storytelling and social change.
I’ve been itching to get this chapter completed for the Creative Activist Toolkit.
It speaks to an aspect of social change that is too often neglected – outcome. People tend to focus on what they do – their program’s activities – rather than what change they’re bringing about. It’s not always easy to measure outcome but I hope you will agree that it’s what really matters, in the end.
This is the third in a series of toolkits for “creative activists.”
This time, we offer just a few suggestions to youth projects that need to “get the word out” or get the media’s attention.
How do you spread your message beyond writing a standard press release? We look at two case studies.
If you have suggestions, please post them below.
