ItStartsWith.Us

Vote Now On Our First Open-Source Project

2010-09-08T05:51:25Z

Last week I announced that ItStartsWith.Us is going to attempt something new: build an entire project from start to finish with ideas from and execution by our team members, all for free.

I’ve been receiving submissions for a week, and I’ve pulled out the top three ideas I like best below. Take a look and then use the poll widget at the bottom to vote on the one you think ISWU should begin work on. I’ll keep polling open for a week and announce the winner next Wednesday. Then we’ll get started building it. Simple enough, right? And the nominees are (in chronological order) . . .

1. Generational Stories
I was thinking about linking generations through anecdotes. I’ve noticed several younger high school/college students on the ISWU network. The project could be to gather interviews regarding how people in the older generation helped each other, or bettered their community before the age of the internet. We can collect/document these stories and methods and post them on a separate blog or site. Maybe even try a few. People have endeavored to help each other for centuries. I’m curious as to how the rise in technology has affected how this occurs.

2. Mysterious Letters
Mysterious Letters is a project by two artists; Lenka Clayton and Michael Crowe. They sent a handwritten letter to every house in a town that they choose (maybe not so) randomly and so every family received a handwritten letter that according to their blog,”We hoped…would prompt neighbourly discussion, spreading across the town, promoting community curiosity.”

If you allocated every member one house to write (handwritten or otherwise) and send a letter, we could send inspirational and encouraging letters to a whole town, and if each member wrote two, or three letters…
The letters would make the day of anyone who received one, if they needed a boast or not.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/646138685/mysterious-letters
http://www.mysteriousletters.blogspot.com/
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/646138685/more-mysterious-more-letters-mysterious-letters

3. Tee Shirts
Build an online tee-shirt shop for ISWU. Something fully functioning that we could put up, and then let team members design shirts to upload and sell on the site, with proceeds going to fund ISWU.

There you go, guys. Vote below. Questions/feedback in the comments section.

create a free poll on pollsb.com

Photo Credit: doortoriver

Similar Posts:

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment below or subscribing to ItStartsWith.Us to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. If you want to hear my inane, uncensored ramblings, you may Follow me on Twitter. Thanks!

Share this article with others:

Continuity

2010-09-05T05:47:44Z

Watch out, guys – I get a little crazy here and venture outside of the office nook to share this message.

Great day with family today, and tomorrow it’s down to Chicago to meet the fabulous Emily Wood in person . . . a girl that you all will become a bit more familiar with in the upcoming months.

Some thoughts for today:

Similar Posts:

Share this article with others:

Our First Open-Source Project

2010-09-01T03:06:10Z

Okay guys, I want to try something new and cool today. Let’s see if the ItStartsWith.Us community can conceive, build and launch a project to make a difference in people’s lives, using only our own people and resources, all in the next month or so.

I’m collecting specific project ideas all this week, and would love for all you guys to send over ONE that you think we could rock out! This request is very open-ended – I want to hear what you all have to say about where you think we should go with this. No idea is too big or too small, so let ‘em fly.

You can email your ideas to nate @ itstartswith.us over the next few days, and by next Wednesday I’ll publish the top three project suggestions for the team to vote on.

Can’t wait to hear what you guys think! Any questions, please ask them in the comments below. Let’s do this.

Photo Credit: Ted Percival

Similar Posts:

Share this article with others:

Admit You Were Wrong Recap

2010-08-26T20:34:39Z

This week’s mission was an especially tough one, but one worth doing. Simple…but not easy.

Admit you were wrong. You know you made a mistake and it hurt someone, and you haven’t acknowledged it yet. Do so, and ask forgiveness.

Yeah. This is a tough one, isn’t it? Possibly the hardest one we’ve ever done here at ISWU. It involves swallowing your pride, sacrificing your own desires, and putting others first. It’s not easy to do. I understand, because I just had to do this yesterday. If you want to know what I’m talking about, you can read the story.

Doing this tiny little act for an area in your own life this week, however, has huge potential rewards. It can mend relationships. It can set you back on the right path, if you’ve been going down the wrong one. It can change your perspective. And that’s another way to change your part of the world, right?

There’s probably a few folks you know who you need to admit you’re wrong to, right?

So what did the team at It Starts With Us do this week?

I thought this one was a really good idea. Most of the time, doing nice things for people feels amazing, but apologies are something which are a lot harder to give because, let’s be honest, apologising can sometimes feel HORRIBLE. An apology is one of the most selfless things we can do because it can make the other person feel much better at the expense of our own pride.

Recently, I lied to my best friend. To cut a very long story short, she had lent me some money, and I was unable to pay her back when I said I would. Rather than tell her, I just tried to keep putting it off and putting it off. Eventually she discovered how dire my circumstances were, but she was devastated that I had felt the need to lie and was afraid that I thought she was some sort of ogre that I couldn’t approach. She and I came to an agreement about a realistic time for me to pay her back, but I knew I had hurt her feelings and until tonight wasn’t sure what to do about it.

I felt like the mission was a sign! I called her and I explained that it was my stupid pride that had stopped me being honest with her. I said I was too afraid to admit how bad things were, that it was wrong of me and that I was sorry and willing to do whatever to regain her trust. She appreciated the apology, so much so that it made her cry (which set me off too ). Now I feel like our relationship is back on track, and I no longer have to live with the squirmy guilty feeling that I had hurt her and done nothing about it.

I recommend this mission to everyone…it seems daunting but it really does make such a difference.

This is going to be a really hard mission.. I hate apologizing (probably because of my pride), but I’ve found that if I’ve done something wrong, saying sorry may not fix it, but it makes me feel a little better getting it out in the open. Often lately, my best friend and I seem to have gotten so different that we’re constantly on guard and thinking of everything we say before we say it. Even then, we tend to get into arguments. Standing back, looking at the big picture, and seeing that the argument is stupid helps me to realize that we’re both wrong, but if one of us simply wounds our pride enough to admit it, alot of things would be forgiven. So. Yeah.

I found this one hard. I’ve been needing to apologise to my mum for a while, but I kept putting it off and justifying it to myself. Now I’ve done it, and things are so much better already- it was worth it

This mission was possibly the most challenging one I’ve had yet. After reading it, I sat there for the best part of two hours reflecting on what’s happened this year and I found that there was someone I just had to speak to. I’m generally a confident person but this mission really did manage to shake me up a treat. Not because of admitting I was in the wrong but more so the subject matter.

Forgive me for not sharing the details. It’s incredibly personal and the conversation lasted several hours but the important thing is the outcome was good and the mission is successfully accomplished =]

Nate, thank you for this one. Perfectly timed as ever.

What did YOU do this week?

Amazing! Another great week for the folks participating in It Starts With Us. Join us today and share your success stories!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/halfchinese/139499559/Similar Posts:

Share this article with others:

On Cool People

2010-08-19T07:33:18Z

Tweet
I haven’t watched this video, so I probably ramble on a bit and repeat myself . . . I’m a bit tired right now. But still, it’s heartfelt. Links I mention can be found below.

Owen, we will be talking sometime soon, my friend.

This is the video that led me to find OhDoctah: Social Media Douchebag PSA. I watched the whole 11-minute thing, and was hooked.

Here’s the post with the cool video about the human body: The Miracle is You

Goodnight, all.Similar Posts:

Share this article with others:

The Top 10 Non-Profit SXSW Panels (2011)

2010-08-17T17:52:53Z

I read through every submission in the “Non-Profit” category and pulled out all the ones I gave a thumbs-up and would be interested in attending. There turned out to be 10 of them, so I thought I’d share them with you in a blog post. Granted, these are my Top 10, but if you’re interested in the non-profit track, these panels may be a good place to start. Here they are, in no particular order (except a little bit because I threw my favorites to the top):

Nonprofits and Free Agents in A Networked World
Organizer: Beth Kanter, Co-Author Networked Nonprofit and CEO of Zoetica
Why It’ll Be Good: “We will explore how nonprofits can unleash the power of social good by transitioning from stand-alone institutions to networks energized by abundant resources in their ecosystem. In order to do this, they need to work with free agents, hyper-connected individuals who are passionate about social change, but don’t work within institutional walls. Free agents use social-media channels like Facebook and Twitter and can create social movements in the palms of their hands”

Beth Kanter is an established expert with a great track record, and this sounds like a very interesting take on new ways for non-profits to work with talented people who care.
Turning Facebook Followers Into Change Agents
Organizer: Jessica Kirkwood, Hands On Network/Points of Light Institute
Why It’ll Be Good: “100,000 followers, and you still want more. What are they good for? Online numbers don’t always equate offline results. How do you build an online community that makes a serious impact for your cause? Nonprofit social communications wizards share examples and tips to get your fans mobilized for action.”

If I had to pick just one session to attend, it would be this one. Partially because I want to meet Jessica in real life after phone/twitter conversations, but mostly because she’s gonna bring some good hands-on information to help us engage our volunteers.
Doh! Lessons from Nonprofit Social Media Screw-ups
Organizer: Matt Stewart, ACE :: Alliance for Climate Education
Why It’ll Be Good: “Nonprofits are often team-centric, mission-driven organizations—which can lead to exuberant group cheerleading in the face of mediocrity. In this session we’ll throw those rosy-eyed glasses onto the bonfire and talk (nicely) about notable social media campaigns that didn’t deliver.”

Best first line ever. I was sold as soon as I read it. Not to mention the fact that it’s always good practice to learn from your mistakes (or the mistakes of others).
A Conversation About Social Change Through Social Media
Organizer: Mark Horvath, InvisiblePeople.tv
Why It’ll Be Good: “Social media is not about me – it’s about WE. We can influence real change in our world. This Core Conversation is an open forum in which we share our experiences, strengths, failures, and victories. We all are the presenters in this session. It’s the perfect place to make new friends, develop strategies, and get answers to help tame this new frontier of communication.”

Not much more to say here. Mark walks the talk, and I loves me an open forum. I think this one’ll be fun.
Your Mobile Non-Profit: A Play in Three Acts
Organizer: Rob Baker, Kabimba Media
Why It’ll Be Good: “Join us and discover the purpose for the mobile Web for your organization as you follow the day-in-the- life of a mobile user who cares about causes. After the show, we’ll have a Q&A with our heroine and other heroes of the mobile nonprofit world.”

Mobile is where it’s at, people. This panel will provide good examples of how best to use this technology with your non-profit.
Making Action Easy, UX Sweet Spot for Nonprofits
Organizer: Amanda Lehner, Ad Council
Why It’ll Be Good: “There is a sweet spot (or threshold) in user experience where incentive meets ease of use to make goal conversions more probable. How can nonprofits and government agencies prioritize their goals, edit user experience, heighten incentive and create ease of use to get results?”

Lots of meat in this one. May be data overload, but you’re sure to pull out a bunch of good nuggets for your organization.
Just ‘Cause: Can Technology Make Brand Irrelevant?
Organizer: Danielle Brigida, National Wildlife Federation
Why It’ll Be Good: “When you text that donation on your smartphone, are you moved by the cause, or because the American Red Cross, an organization with a globally recognizable brand and history, told you to? In the absence of brand power and the media coverage they command, can technology help even the playing field for important causes/organizations? Join this heated debate as a pack of really smart people share their techniques, tools and tactics for becoming better social media storytellers and digital citizens.”

Interesting discussion here, including corporate sponsorship, social media promotion and fatigue, etc.
Doing Good with Less: Open-source Altruism
Organizer: Joshua To, BRUTE LABS
Why It’ll Be Good: “No budget, part-time, and big impact. Is that really possible? Throw in some clever design and use of technology, irreverence for rules, and crazy ideas, and you will realize that this is not your usual non-profit. Joshua To, founder of BRUTE LABS, will be giving attendees a crash course in the BRUTE method of envisioning, launching and scaling creative projects that take on the pressing social issues around us.”

No budget, part-time, and big impact – sounds like the ItStartsWith.Us story. I would love to see what Joshua has done with his project and his open-source concept.
How Many Rungs? Social Change & the Engagement Ladder
Organizer: Robert Rosenthal, VolunteerMatch
Why It’ll Be Good: ” If new technologies are adding more rungs to a ladder of engagement in the form of sharing, viral promotions, micro-volunteering, and micro-giving, what’s at the top and the bottom? Join in a discussion with technologists from four bleeding edge social change Web services that are demonstrating what real engagement looks like — in all its many flavors.”

Lots of talk about different models for engagement, volunteering and business – should be interesting.
Nonprofit Social Media Jam Session
Organizer: Frank Barry, Blackbaud
Why It’ll Be Good: “Hear about the latest social innovation initiatives underway at leading technology companies like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Foursquare, and learn how the technology industry is contributing to social media for social good.”

Frank comes highly recommended, and hearing about how all the big platforms are contributing / can be used for social good should be fun and informative.

There you have it, folks – I hope a few of these make it through so I can participate in some good discussions.

I should also let you know that I don’t have a panel in the non-profit track, but I do have one in the “Community / Online Community” category (which actually does relate to non-profits building a community around their cause). It’s called Forget Corporate Buzzwords – Go Change the World, and I’ll be talking about building and managing a powerful, engaged and effective community (online or offline) by providing a simple vision and letting your members surprise you with their creativity, passion, and energy.

You can touch hearts and change lives with your group in just 15 minutes a week – without spending a dime. It’s personal, fun, effective, it makes a difference, and it’s REAL. If you want to learn more, you can check it out here.

Photo Credit: StarMama

Similar Posts:

Share this article with others:

Use Your Influence

2010-08-14T17:52:57Z

Just a small reminder from the ItStartsWith.Us team to use your influence to make a difference for someone you know today. Always remember that small actions can have a big impact – it’s easier than you think to change a life.

Two things with this video:

1) If you want to participate and share with the rest of us, click through to watch it on YouTube, and feel free to add in your comments/actions/ideas/videos there.

2) Please ignore the fact that I look super serious and am reading off a card or something. I am actually neither, but got tired of my eyes flitting about while I talked, so decided to stare straight at the camera while speaking. I don’t think it worked very well. Will do better next time.

EAVB_PNLHYDDAMXSimilar Posts:

Share this article with others:

The Influence Project Hijackers Surrender

2010-08-06T05:58:59Z

The time has come to step away from playing pirate with the Fast Company Influence Project. The last four days have been fun and interesting, but last night Mark Borden left a response to my initial challenge in the comments of the Hijacking post. He stated that Fast Company is not interested in working with ItStartsWith.Us to move this project in [what we think is] a more meaningful direction. He was a gentleman about it, and I would like to be a gentleman in return, and gracious in defeat. Congratulations, sir, on a game well played. We will now shove off and leave you to your business.

So there you have it, folks. No more Captain Nate and the good ship ISWU. We had a good run and managed to capture the attention of those running the Influence Project, which is no small feat. Congratulations on that, and thank you all so much for your help. I hope you guys had as much fun as I did.

At the end of the day, however, all of these shenanigans can be broken down to a small, simple question: would Fast Company work with someone like me (and us) to try something a little bit different? They said no, and I take full responsibility for that. When I was thinking about the Influence Project last Thursday, I wanted to figure out a way to change the tide of public opinion from mostly negative to mostly positive. I thought that if Fast Company kept everything else the same, but added in the single component of giving everyone in the project a chance to pool their collective influence to do something positive, together, then they could get some good value out of the project and sway the public opinion. I knew that I could help them with this, since this is what I’ve done with a large degree of success over the past year or so, utilizing the micro-giving concept in large groups, but forming it into a meaningful, personal activity for every individual involved.

Usually in cases like this I would go directly to the point person for the project (in this case Mark Borden) and have a chat with them to see if this is something they’d be interested in. But this time I decided to try something a little different. I thought that since there’s already this swirling controversy around the project, and many of the participants are on the brink of mutiny, I could use that existing energy and channel it into a cohesive message, one that gets the point across in an obvious way and attracts attention to the idea at the same time. Hence the whole hijacking concept and pirate theme. I thought that a lot of people would get behind it, quickly understand the possibilities of what we could do, and agree to follow my lead in building a shared service component to this project.

I was wrong.

I went about it the flashy way, the attention-getting way, instead of my normal sincere, one-on-one way. And now I’m left wondering if I made a big mistake and missed a golden opportunity to work with a brand that I really respect to help them improve one of their big projects. I’m sorry for causing even more of a negative stir for a lot of people with this endeavor, and I’d like to apologize to anyone who jumped on board with me and is now embarrassed that they did so. I took a chance, and I failed.

I’ve written about failure before, and I truly believe that failure is okay as long as you learn from it. With that in mind, here are the top few things I learned from this exercise.

1) Sensationalism attracts attention, but warps perception
I built a cool little campaign around the hijacking theme, but by necessity it had to be over the top, and my role as the pirate captain had to be over the top as well. I found myself forced to be more egocentric and self-righteous than I wanted to be. It did not feel good. An even bigger downside is the fact that now my public perception for a lot of people is as a loud, brash bully. And that is totally not what I’m about, as everyone on the ISWU team can attest. But now I’ve gone and branded myself that way to a lot of people. Dang it.

2) Context matters – a lot
Mixing messages is confusing for people – and for me. Usually I’m able to talk about what the ItStartsWith.Us team does with great clarity and effectiveness, and people get the concept very quickly. And once they get it, they usually want to be a part of it. It’s really an incredible thing. But I couldn’t get that to work with this project. I was consistently surprised with how difficult it was to get across the point that we are a sincere group, with no ulterior motive, who have been touching people’s lives for a long time. I learned that if you try to convey that message while dressed as a pirate who’s hijacking someone else’s property, it doesn’t go over so well.

3) When riding a negative wave, prepare for negativity
I did not see this one coming, and I should have. When I talk to people about the ISWU team and what we do, I’m used to seeing people’s hearts. When I speak at a conference, or talk to an executive team, or get interviewed by a reporter, more often than not there are tears in the other person’s eyes. I’ve seen it time and time again – when the impact of this personalized micro-giving concept hits people, and they see how lives can literally be changed, it touches their heart. In this case that didn’t happen. I was fighting negative perception the whole way, and I just wanted to scream out “this is NOT what we’re about!” If you use negative energy to propel you forward, you wear that negativity like a cloak – it goes with you everywhere.

Those are the lessons I took away from this little escapade. I’ll remember them for next time, and hopefully do a little better. But for right now it’s time to pick myself up, dust off and move forward with the mission. We still have to change the world, after all.

We’re still moving forward with the final project next Wednesday. Believe that. We will execute with our existing team, as well as anyone from the hijacking team or the general public who wants to be a part of it. We’re going to illustrate the idea that you can combine micro-giving with personalization to make a huge impact with a small effort, and you can create stories out of these actions that last a lifetime.

You are indeed more influential than you think, and our final project next week will demonstrate that you are powerfully influential in the lives of those people immediately around you, and that you can change their world . . . your world . . . with just 15 minutes of effort.

So if after all this you’d like to learn more about the ItStartsWith.Us concept, please check out what our team does every week, and also take a look at the incredible impact you can have on a life in just 5 minutes a week with our Love Bomb team.

In all sincerity, if you’d like to join our team, you may do so below. No hijacking, no pirates. Just thousands of people who work together in a free, easy, fast, fun and effective way to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those around them. (p.s. This team is still going to execute on the final shared event for the #hijackFC project, so if you want to be a part of it, jump on in. We’re just going to brand it as ItStartsWith.Us)

I’m ready for anything you guys have to say – let me know what you think in the comments below.

And thanks for listening.

UPDATE: 8/3/2010, 12:24pm – I just got an email from one of my ItStartsWith.Us advisors, and I think he captured perfectly what I did not. I asked permission to share it with the rest of you.

First, your post today was exceptionally well written Nate – nice work. And while I agree with your comments, I’m not sure you captured what might have been the real and single most important reason it didn’t work out as you had hoped. As it always is, the focus of ISWU was logically on the end target; that person at the end of the line who ultimately receives the love, fame, attention, notoriety or whatever else the good people of ISWU lavishly and generously volunteer. In this case, however, the one suffering was Fast Company, and rather than look to help them with their work we elected to jump on the you’re-not-getting-it-done bandwagon. You know, it’s possible that what didn’t feel right with the project was the concurrent negative message we were sending to Fast Company along with the usual positive aim of our mission. In my thinking, there is a mission for us all in our near future – find a way to help Fast Company and its leadership in our usual positive and productive way. Something to think about anyway.

UPDATE: 8/6/2010, 12:53am – After a good conversation with my dad tonight, I realized that this entire situation is best explained by this exchange from the comments on this post. I decided to pull it up here to give it the attention it deserves:

Question from Warwick:

Sorry my friend but, what am I missing here? This is *your* mission of course, but you’ve invited comment here, and it seems to me that you steered your ship so brilliantly, and then turned tail at the first sign of resistance. Of course maybe something went on that hasn’t been made public, but on the face of it, I’m a more than a bit disappointed.

Fast Company, without a doubt, created The Influence Project to be noticed. They’re not doing it for fun, they are doing it for profit. They are performing on the world stage; a publicity stunt. They are a great company that we all respect, doing something clever and fun. They put a challenge on the table for those with the most influence to come and take the stage. You did that brilliantly. The rewards for both Fast Company and for your own project were world-wide recognition and massive exposure. A (harmless and fun) controversy would drive both objectives. Indeed that’s how I learned about you and your mission.

Fast Company seized the opportunity, eagerly publicized your move and made more even headlines out of it for the both of you. They refused to co-operate, totally understandably (we don’t negotiate with Terrorists), and now you’ve just given up and said sorry. All the fantastic impetus that you put in place has disappeared in one move. I’m gutted. Conformity does not change the world. Otherwise change would be un-necessary. You are undoubtedly a really nice guy, and intelligent, creative and bold, but I question whether the “failure” (wrong word anyway) lies where you think it is. Their project is about influence. Influence is power, and power is taken, not given. You aren’t actually going to kill anybody, or *really* take hostages, it was just a fun way to make a huge amount of publicity, and a great time for all concerned. Any bold move will have some dissenters, this is unavoidable.

That said, and my disappointment aside, I commend you for following what you believe to be the right course of action. It’s your project, and your call, and you’ve alerted some more people to change the world, so it can’t be all bad.

Response from me:

Excellent points, Warwick, and well stated. And yes, of course more went on behind the scenes than was public – that’s always the case with things like this. But that’s not what made me back down. And in what I’m about to explain, yes, “failure” is indeed the right word.

I failed not in hijacking the Fast Company project. You’re right, they did the “we don’t negotiate with terrorists” thing, and I could’ve played up that angle and gone back-and-forth and continued with the publicity. You mentioned conformity, and I believe that the whole generation of popularity and publicity in this specific way is just another variation of said conformity. It may be the most clever and fun and interesting way, but conformity it is nonetheless.

And here’s why I say that – in fact, it goes right along with what you said above: ” Influence is power, and power is taken, not given.” That is exactly how it works most of the time. That is how this world is both wired to think and trained to think. But it is not the truth. REAL power comes when it is freely given. Power that is taken may influence actions, but power that is given can change hearts. And THAT’S what I want to do – change people’s hearts.

And that’s where I failed.

I forgot for a moment that the reason this group has been so successful is because I’ve been ALLOWED to lead them, and I’ve stayed true to the spirit of the mission every single time – except Monday. Once I realized what I was doing, I put an end to the project and said sorry . . . to Fast Company, yes, but mostly to my own team, for misrepresenting them according to our standards.

So today it’s back to business as usual. Thanks so much for the comment, and I’m glad to have you with us.

Photo Credit: Davi Sommerfeld

Similar Posts:

Share this article with others:

We Are Hijacking The Fast Company Influence Project

2010-08-03T16:31:40Z

If you’ve heard anything about the Fast Company Influence Project during the last month (and I’m sure you have), it’s probably been negative. The project was billed as an effort to find the “most influential person online” for 2010.

Most people agree about two things: 1) What does that even mean? and 2) Who really cares anyway?

I think we’ve waited long enough for something beneficial to come out of this project. I know that Fast Company has good intentions, but at this point it isn’t really going too well for them. So here’s how it’s gonna work from here on out: We’re taking over, and we’re going to use our “influence” to do something good – something to make a difference in people’s lives. We’re going to show the world that this can be much more than a silly popularity contest, and that we don’t have to accept the conclusions of Fast Company when they crown “the winner” (a dubious title indeed).

I’ve already spoken to many of the biggest players in this project, and a large number of them are on board. We’re going to pool our collective networks together for one common goal on Wednesday, August 11th. We will help everyone in our own communities to touch hearts and change lives in a way that’s meaningful to them. To use their influence in a positive way. Just one day to work as a team and make a difference – together. We’re going to do something the world has never seen before.

We’re gonna turn this ship around and take it somewhere new. Somewhere a little bit better. Because it would be a shame to waste all the energy and attention that’s already been spent on this project without doing something meaningful. Please sign up below and help us get it done. Instructions to pull this off will arrive via email.

Fast Company, consider yourselves hijacked.

Ahoy, mates.

Join Us
(In case you don’t know me and think this could be a scam, it’s not. You can see what people think about the ItStartsWith.Us team here.)

This signup form has been removed because I surrendered to Fast Company on August 3rd. More details here.

Details

Joining us above simply puts you on an email list I can use to communicate with you guys as I put this project together in the next 10 days. Everyone on board will be asked to point their people first to this blog post and then to our shared activity on Wednesday the 11th. Shortly after August 11th, the list will be deleted, and I won’t retain the email addresses. No scams, no BS.

I know that full details of the final event are not disclosed above. That’s because it’ll take a week to put together, and I don’t want to say one thing and do something even slightly different. Hope that’s okay. But trust me, it’ll be good. And if you sign up, you’ll be notified first about exactly what we’re doing, and how you can get a slightly larger role in the final event, if that’s something you’re interested in.

We are not going to use our influence to raise money or raise awareness about any one of us, any of our charities, or any of our pet projects. We (and the people in our networks) are going to do something free, fast, easy, fun and meaningful on an individual level, for someone in our own lives. Something that takes 15 minutes or less to complete. The final shared activity will be in a central place where everyone can contribute in their own way, and the rest of us can enjoy, learn and celebrate with everyone else.

We’ve been doing this stuff at ItStartsWith.Us every week for a long time now – we have a great track record of success and huge results – you can learn more on our Change the World page.

If we want to do something amazing, we have to do it ourselves. It starts with us.

Response to Fast Company’s “Influence Jacking!” Article

Last night I learned that Fast Company had gotten wind of this project from my discussions with people over the weekend, and Mark Borden had written an article discussing the imminent hijacking. You can read it here if you’re interested. It’s a fun article with a fantastic image. Well played on that one, sir.

There’s a bit of uncertainty in the article, probably due to the fact that Mark isn’t familiar with me and the ItStartsWith.Us team and all that we’ve been doing to touch people’s lives in in the past year. So that’s perfectly understandable. What I can tell him and the Fast Company readers is that this definitely isn’t a ruse, or a way to get ISWU talked about. In fact, ISWU started out as a secret group . . . and we still tend to fly under the radar. Don’t get me wrong – I love it when people talk about our team, but publicity is never the driving force. The driving force is always about trying to make a positive impact in the lives of the people around us.

The very simple fact is that I was thinking about the Influence Project the other day, and while I agree that it’s an interesting editorial investigation, I realized that when I (and most other people) look back on this project in a year, we won’t remember all the details, but we will remember our overall feeling about it. And I think the overall feeling surrounding this project isn’t great right now, but with a slight change in direction I believe that we can satisfy Fast Company’s interest in learning about influence AND produce a lot of meaningful action at the same time. If you want a closer look at my thought process here, you can check out this post on my Tumblr.

The Fast Company article contained a formal request for a list of demands from me. So here’s my response.

Mark, I have no demands. All this talk of pirates and hijacking makes for fun interactions and sensational headlines, and it gets attention. So now that I have yours, here’s what I have to say. Not a demand, but a simple request:

Will you and Fast Company work with me and join all of us in turning the attention of this project towards something meaningful next week?

I’ve done a ton of work on this over the past four days, and I am 100% confident that we will pull off something huge on 8/11 with or without you guys. But it would be really cool to have your team join ours and produce something amazing together.

So, to put it back into pirate terms, you have two choices: join the crew, or walk the plank.

Which will it be?

UPDATE – 11:18pm, 8/2/2010

See Mark Borden’s reaction in the comments section below. Fast Company has chosen not to work with us in steering this project in a more meaningful direction. Crewmates! How would you like to respond? Should we give them the ship back, or should they take a walk out on the plank? What say you?

UPDATE – 11:30am, 8/3/2010

I surrendered to Fast Company today. More details here.

Photo Credit: Joe Shlabotnik

Similar Posts:

Share this article with others:

The Birth of ItStartsWith.Us – In 5 Minutes

2010-07-28T15:16:27Z

Last month I was invited to speak at the People Report Summer Camp conference down in Dallas, where I got the chance to talk to a lot of cool companies about new and innovative ways to mobilize their people to give back and make a meaningful difference in the lives of those they serve.

The bulk of my time since this event has been spent in two ways: expanding the Love Bomb idea (with the help of the amazing Lauren Lankford) and building out the business applications of ItStartsWith.Us. I’ll talk more about the business stuff soon, but for today I thought you might like to see the 5-minute introduction to my talk/workshop at the conference.

It’s in Pecha Kucha / Ignite style, which means there are 20 slides at 15 seconds each – and I can’t control them. They start, and I talk.

Enjoy.

Similar Posts:

Share this article with others: