See Needs & Do Something About Them

I had the opportunity to visit Legacy Preparatory Academy this last Friday to meet with future “social leaders.”

I had about 40 minutes to share some insights into what social leadership is and how each of us can make a difference, no matter what our political, financial, or talent level.

Simply put, social leadership is about seeing a need and filling it.

I used the analogy of a bucket and compared it to the needs each person has.  Each of us, if we are willing, can help fill the bucket of others around us by seeing their needs, and then actually doing something about it.

Most everyone sees problems, but how many solve the problems that they see?

The story we highlight on page 10 of Social Leadership: A Fresh Vision for Old Problems, illustrates this point.

In 1988, Ryan Hreljac was a first-grade student in Canada where he learned that people across the globe were dying because they lacked clean drinking water.

He immediately decided to raise money to help such people. Four months later, he had earned $70 from household chores. He raised enough awareness and got enough support to build his first well in 1999 for a school in a Ugandan village.

Ryanʼs initial $70 and first well have since grown into a foundation that has raised millions of dollars and contributed to a total of 461 wells in 16 countries, which bring clean water and sanitation services to almost 600,000 people.

At age 17, Ryan remains dedicated to the work of the foundation. He has made presentations to hundreds of schools, churches, and civic clubs and more than two dozen international conferences and global events. “Iʼm just your regular, average kid,” Ryan says when asked about his achievements.

What is amazing, is that there are millions of average kids just like Ryan, who have the potential to create profound change in our societies.  No matter what your age, are you one of these kids who will act and do and solve the problems that you see?

Welcome to social leadership.

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Carl Woolston is a business and marketing consultant with KGaps Consulting, a co-creator of the proprietary marketing methodology “Hub Mentality,”, and a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership.

His expertise includes network development, marketing, web strategy development, lead creation, and lead capture strategies.

He and his wife Christy are raising their six rambunctious children in Bountiful, Utah.

Connect With Carl:

Email: carl [at] kgaps [dot] com