The YOLO Generosity Doctrine

By on May 15, 2013 in Connect, Inspire

How do you complete this statement?  “I am generous when…”

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Sasha Dichter, the Acumen Fund’s CIO, is full of generosity inspiration.  Yesterday, he posted about his daughter’s kindergarten project to finish just that statement.  About her response (she likes to lend books to her sister), Dichter remarks that we tend to overcomplicate life and it’s the little gestures that truly matter.

Here’s how I finish that statement:

I am generous when…

 

…I bake a full batch of cookies or make a pot of soup (it’s fun to share plus I shouldn’t eat it all!).

…I finish a book (why should it gather dust on my shelf when I can pass it on to be enjoyed again?).

…someone, anyone asks me for help (because what’s the point otherwise?).

 

Even if you’re a total cynic, you can find value in generosity.  At the very least, you have upped your social capital.  At the very most, you have fulfilled your true purpose.  As with anything worth doing, generosity is a skill/mindset/approach to life that you must practice.  As Professor Amy Cuddy says, “fake it until you become it.” [Watch her TED talk on body language, power and living up to your potential.]

What we must do:

  • Finish the sentence “I am generous when…” as often as possible to remind ourselves why generosity matters.
  • Fake generosity until we become it (in other words, practice, practice, practice)

Stay tuned for future posts on the value generosity can bring to your life.  Yes, generosity is ultimately a selfish act.

 

Image credit: http://www.cm-life.com

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Play Games, Live Better

By on May 12, 2013 in Connect, Move

Want to live longer?  Want to live better?  Jane McGonigal has the secret to achieving both goals in her inspiring TED talk “The game that can give you 10 extra years of life“. 

If you focus on boosting your resilience factors, in a given year you can add 1.28 years to your life expectancy.  Here’s how:
 
Physical: move, avoid sitting still for too long.
Social: shake hands, eat lunch with colleagues, enjoy time with your family.
Emotional: practice gratitude, tell people what they mean to you.
Mental: exercise your willpower (it’s like a muscle and gets stronger to more you use it).
 
In sum, be true to you and your dreams and stick around longer to live them out.
 

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We Need More Than Food for Thought

By on May 6, 2013 in Nourish

Did you know it is possible to be both obese and malnourished?  How can both things be true at one time?  The answer, you live in one of the too many food deserts in the U.S.  A food desert is an area with little or no access to grocery stores that offer fresh and affordable foods needed to maintain health.  People living in food deserts overly rely on fast food chains and convenience stores to get affordable food to feed their families.

The reality is that most families subsisting in food deserts are not really eating much actual food.  They are eating chemical cocktails of preservatives, additives, pink slime and food-like substances, the equivalent to simulacra of food – as in , no real food was harmed in the making of this meal.  There is little to no nutritional value in the majority of food they eat.

The decent documentary A Place at the Table illustrates how the face of hunger in America has changed.  The hungry no longer look like what we think of as starving kids with distended bellies living in rural areas.  Now hunger looks more like obesity and diabetes and heart disease.  And this picture is made up of kids.

And it’s not just kids in food deserts that are affected.  It’s kids everywhere.  The Standard American Diet (a.k.a. SAD) is failing our nation’s kids.  This is the first generation that is not expected to live as long as their parents’ generation.  From the ubiquity of food (snacks at Staples, anyone?), to the perceived value of fast food (that $1 burger costs much more if you factor in government subsidies, health costs, environmental impact etc…), to the strange restrictions on school lunch options from the USDA Food Pyramid (bought and paid for by large agribusiness and consumer food companies), kids are surrounded by bad options and insufficient information to make better choices. Plus they are too young to vote with their wallet like I do (hello, Whole Foods!).

Joining A Place at the Table, the First Lady’s Let’s Move, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, and The Biggest Loser to raise awareness about hunger and childhood obesity is the team behind the excellent HBO series The Weight of the Nation.  Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 7 (5:30-6:30 p.m. ET/PT), The Weight of the Nation Kids debuts on HBO Family.  This program will show young people taking an active role in their own health, as well as their family’s, while underscoring the importance of changing the environment to enable young people to make healthier decisions.

Please watch.  This is an important, maybe even THE MOST IMPORTANT, conversation our nation needs to be having.  But it’s up to you to turn the conversation into action.

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Social Networking for Social Good

By on April 11, 2013 in Create

Proof positive of social networking for social good is the recent announcement that Girl Rising will be getting a national theatrical release.  Regal Cinemas will distribute the film nationwide, starting April 19. A portion of all ticket sales at Regal Cinemas, United Artists and Edwards Theatres will go to the 10×10 Fund for Girls Education.

Up until now, Girl Rising was only available via on-demand theatrical distribution through Gathr.  Online chatter and social sharing, in addition to tens of thousands of screening requests, created a virtual movement that is now spreading offline into communities across the country.

Girl Rising provides a meaningful lesson in the Dragonfly Effect.  In their book The Dragonfly Effect, Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith outline how social media tools can help drive social change.  The dragonfly is the only insect able to move in any direction when it’s four wings are working together.  So too do the four pillars of the Dragonfly Effect work in concert: focus, grab attention, engage, take action.

Here’s how Girl Rising put those pillars to work:

Focus: the filmmakers defined a single, concrete goal to improve girl’s education.  The film uses the power of narrative to highlight different faces of a universal problem: not enough girls are being educated and given opportunities to thrive.

Grab Attention: the filmmakers recruited writers native to each girl’s country  to craft the stories and celebrities to narrate and help generate buzz about the project.  In addition, the film partnered with several nonprofits working in the girls’ home countries to broaden the audience and amplify the messages.

Engage: The unique vignettes in the film illustrate each girl’s story in a way that is true to her, her culture and the universal theme of the film.  This is storytelling at its best.  Everyone can relate to at least one of the tales.

Take Action: audience members are empowered to take their inspiration from the film and turn it into personal action.  The filmmakers provide numerous ways for film goers to get involved – from joining the social community to donating to hosting a screening.

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The Power of (the Right) Words

By on April 8, 2013 in Give, Inspire

This video gets me every time.  As I’ve discussed on this blog before, we are inherently generous, but we respond to emotional appeals for help.  In other words, in our crazy busy 24/7 lives, we aren’t wandering around looking for ways to do good.  We need to be asked.  This video shows the power of asking with the right words – words that will jolt people out of their daily grind and see a new opportunity.  Inspired.

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Why I Blog about Social Good

By on April 2, 2013 in Connect, Inspire

Credit: gabrielweinberg.com

Recently, my colleague Katya Andresen posted about the personal reasons why she blogs.  She cites the following reasons:

1.      To think as I could be, not as I am.

 2.      To step out of my own, tiny experience.

 3.      To kick to the curb the shrill critic in my head.

 4.      To be in the act of creation.

 5.      To make it better for someone else.

 

She has inspired me to reflect on what motivates me to invest in my own blog project here at SocialGoodGirlsGuide.com.  I count Katya’s reasons above among my own, but would also add the following:

6.      To curate a conversation.  I’m invested in social change – as an individual, as a professional.  I believe in sharing the new and tried ideas, the compelling calls to action, and the profound commitment others make to leaving the world a little (or a lot) better than they found it.  I’m motivated to keep this blog going to use my own sphere of influence, however limited, to shed light on good works and engage in productive conversation about how we can join together to achieve more than any one of us can do alone.

7.      To take a risk.  Many scoff at the ease of sharing everything, mostly the mundane, online.  While it may be easy to tell the world what you had for breakfast via Twitter, it’s not so easy to continually reinforce your point of view through the content you create and share.  What if my online community disagrees with me?  What if they think I’m out of touch, silly, or – even worse – stupid?  It takes courage to expose your biases and defend your convictions, even in the fast-paced world of fleeting status updates.  Digital content lives forever!

 

Why do you create and share content?  What’s this grand experiment all about, anyway?

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What I Learned Running with Kiss, Superheroes and Leprechauns

By on March 28, 2013 in Inspire, Move
That's me in the purple about to cross the finish

That’s me in the purple about to cross the finish

On March 16, I ran the Rock N’ Roll ½ marathon here in DC as a participant with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training (TNT) program.  The weather forecasters called for freezing rain and generally crummy conditions. I was mentally prepared for an unpleasant 2+ hours out on the course.  I even had a garbage bag at hand to wrap up in at the starting area so I wouldn’t get drenched waiting for the race to begin.  Yes, garbage bags are common runner apparel on race day!

But then something remarkable happened.  The rain never materialized and the sun even poked through the clouds.  It was a perfect morning for a run.

As I waited for my time group to get called to the starting line, I saw a group of runners pass by dressed as the band Kiss.  It is a Rock N’ Roll event after all, complete with bands playing at each mile marker.  I guess I should have come as Lady Gaga or Madonna, but then again, I had a lovely purple TNT jersey to show off and stimulate cheers of ‘Go Team’ from spectators and fellow runners alike.

Then it was my turn to start.  The speakers blasted The Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley’, a song that can only get you jazzed up and ready to go.  And I was off down the National Mall, across the Memorial Bridge and back up Rock Creek Parkway and all around through DC neighborhoods, past the Capital Building to end at RFK Stadium.

There is something really inspiring about running through the streets of the Nation’s capital with a community, even if it’s only a community for a day, of 30,000 fellow runners.  We took over the town!

Along the way, I ran with people dressed as superheroes, skeletons and leprechauns (what people won’t do for St. Patrick’s Day!).  But the true heroes of the run were the others wearing purple TNT jerseys (or other charity training programs) or t-shirts honoring loved ones, not to mention the military participants and veterans, some even running while carrying the American flag for 13.1 or 26.2 miles.  There was a group running in memory of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting.

I was surrounded by runners who had taken up this challenge not only for personal accomplishment, but also to raise awareness for important causes and make a positive difference with their training and racing.  Spectators sang out words of inspiration.  Runners whispered  encouragement to each other.  All around the attitude was ‘can-do’ and ‘we got this’.

In moments like these you feel like you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.  And indeed you can.  Go Team!

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The 5 Habits of Successful Social Entrepreneurs

By on March 1, 2013 in Create, Inspire

Credit: http://pinterest.com/pin/52565520622563728/

I recently discovered a great post on the Conversation Agent blog about the 12 habits of highly connective people.  The article has inspired me to think about the habits of successful social entrepreneurs or highly social impact-driven people. Here is my list adapted from the Conversation Agent.


1. Believe you can make a difference

Conviction and confidence can get you pretty far.  Ever heard of the Law of Attraction?  Believing in an idea, putting all your focus on it, proactively talking about it to others and generally putting ‘it’ out there helps attract the resources and connect the loose ends in ways you can’t anticipate.  Live and breathe your idea and it will spark for others.

2. Do your homework; know the landscape

A truly original idea is a rare breed.  Usually, social entrepreneurs that succeed with a new idea have adapted an existing idea or combined other ideas in new ways.  The proof is really in the execution.  Before you invest in a new concept, do a little research to understand if others are working on similar projects or if you can build on an existing model.  Collaboration is often the winning strategy.

3.      Borrow (ok, steal) the best ideas from other sectors (but put them to work in innovative ways)

Some of the most effective social impact solutions result from combining proven approaches from other sectors and disciplines.  Think about the Half the Sky movement to bring greater awareness and resources to global education for girls.  This multichannel platform features a book, a documentary, social communities, a facebook game, branded products, celebrity ambassadors, and nonprofit partners all working in concert to further the mission.  It borrows from social gaming, e-commerce, media tech and then layers on compelling storytelling techniques to draw people to the platform and keep them engaged with the cause.

4.      Show the difference you are making every step of the way

‘Transparency’ is probably one of the most over-used words in the social impact space, but it is a vital component to get right.  Communicating your milestones, and setbacks, will build the loyalty of your community, keep people engaged, and inspire them to make a larger contribution (time, talent, funding etc…).  Charity: Water does a fabulous job at showing supporters just how their contribution made a difference to the mission.  Imagine the power of tracing everyone’s $1 from donation to on-the-ground result!

5.      Say thanks

In addition to showing impact, you MUST thank your supporters and acknowledge the others who share your mission or help you along the way.  Similar to the Law of Attraction, the Thank You Economy is powerful stuff.  Gratitude and humility are underrated and, in my opinion, hallmarks of a true visionary and leader.

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My Declaration of Interdependence

By on February 27, 2013 in Connect

Credit: Dreamstime.com

The American Dream is all about lifting yourself up by your bootstraps and becoming a self-made success story.  In reality, no one is self-made.  We all get a little help.  We all need to feel a part of a tribe.  We are all a product of our networks and communities – for good or for bad.

But what is connection?  Do 300 Facebook friends make a community?  Is personal, physical interaction vital?

These questions and more are pondered in a lovely documentary I watched recently.  Connected: An Autobiography about Love, Death and Technology, by filmmaker and Webby Award creator Tiffany Shlain, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and beautifully illustrates the dual forces of technology as unifier and isolator.  With the advent of digital social networks, mobile technology, hi-speed transportation we can be in touch with more people than ever before.  However, as we sink further and further into our devices to be ‘connected’ we may alienate ourselves from the flesh and blood people right in front of us.

Think about this:

  • A 20 second hug releases two feel good chemicals: serotonin and dopamine. These chemicals trigger the brain’s ‘reward system’, which is associated with pleasure, enjoyment, mood and motivation.
  • A text message ‘ding’ or email alert pop-up also cause a dopamine release, as they are audio and visual cues that something good is coming – a message!  The dopamine system is most powerfully stimulated when the information coming in is small so that it doesn’t full satisfy, like a text or tweet.  In the end, you get addicted to the ‘ding’ and not the actual connection with the person on the other end of the message.

I prefer a hug – especially as a way to say ‘thank you’ to all those friends and family who have helped me forge my own path and become the me I am today.

I <3 IRL OOOs! (that is: I love in real life hugs – for you non-texters)

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Valentine’s Day Redux = Generosity Day

By on February 14, 2013 in Create, Give

It’s Valentine’s Day, you say?  No – it’s Generosity Day!

As my colleague Katya Andresen puts it, ‘Generosity Day is when you seek to be selfless and see what happens when generosity becomes your default.’

A couple years ago, Sasha Dichter, Chief Innovation Officer of the Acumen Fund, conducted a month-long experiment in being generous (more on that here – P.S. that experiment was a big inspiration fro this blog project).  When he mentioned the experiment to his fellow panelists at Social Media Week in early 2011, Generosity Day was born.  You can find a full account of the inaugural 2011 Generosity Day in Fast Company here.

How will you celebrate Generosity Day?
This Valentine’s Day, be generous. Give of yourself – your time, your talents, your money.  Give your love, your compassion, your friendship.  Offer your seat on the bus to someone standing.  Tip outrageously.  Buy coffee for the next person in line at Starbucks.  Write a note of thanks to a co-worker who has helped you on a project.  Adopt a shelter pet.  There are more great ideas here.

Who knows what movement we can spark?  Imagine all our discreet acts of kindness adding up to a wave of good radiating out.

To learn more about Generosity Day, please visit www.facebook.com/generosityday, follow the #generosityday conversation on Twitter

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