Let’s first be clear that leaders don’t have to be managers. Leaders are in any position – one with given authority or one with influence. Every employee has one or both. This post’s message, however, is written for the Millennial manager who embraces the role of leader.

Let’s also be clear on the definition of leader. I’ll quote one of my favorite artists, Hugh MacLeod, for a definition.

“I can’t tell you what to do. I can only inspire you what to do.”

So, working from this definition, Millennial managers have some work ahead of them.
It’s not because of their experience, albeit this is a factor. It’s because Millennial managers have to help undo years of crappy leadership rooted in outdated beliefs about the role of leadership and the place of people in our organizations.

Simply stated: Millennial managers have to help lead the way to transform our work environments to places where employees derive joy from their work. Millennial managers need to help lead the way to create optimism in our workplaces.

This is massive. It can only be dismantled, however, one revolution at a time in each workplace.

What then is needed from Millennial leaders? Lots. Here’s a list of four essential skills we need our Millennial leaders to hone and apply adeptly to help make our workplaces great.

Observe and then respond

Before responding to a problem, or actions or words from another, stop yourself. Don’t let your impulses move your mouth and say something you’ll regret.

The tension in our workplaces today are already at a fever-pitch. Apply a little ninja-philosophy and remain calm. Set the tone in your interactions and be known for calmly observing a situation and not responding angrily, hastily or rudely.

Know your stand

On the whole, previous generations of leaders were not groomed to know their personal values. It is often seen as “that touchey-feely crap.” Personal values are our anchors. They help to guide our actions and decisions and to stay true to what we stand for.

Executives at Enron show us what happens when we lose site or never know our personal values.

Lead virtual teams

Despite Yahoo and Best Buy’s decisions to eliminate or greatly reduce the availability to work remotely, virtual teams are more common today. WIth advances in mobile technology and relevant applications, Millennials are again positioned to show us how to deepen trust, build supporting systems that help virtual teams thrive despite the infrequent IRL face-to-face interactions.

Leverage social technologies like Google Hangouts or even Skype to pull a team together for celebrations, important meetings, or brainstorm solutions to a challenging problem. Use productivity tools with social elements like Asana that help people collaborate more timely and efficiently.

Promote collaboration

Human beings are social creatures. Putting up barriers like cubicle walls have lured us to believe we cannot be productive without a wall separating us from one another. Time and again I’ve seen employees adapt and embrace changes to more collaborative work spaces without the Berlin Wall.

Use the work environment, technology and our innate desire to connect with others to foster a collaborative team norm.

Millennial leaders are uniquely positioned to show us Gen Xers, Boomers, and even a smattering of employees from the Silent Generation how work gets done in the 21st century.

We just need more Millenials to step up and claim their rightful place as manager leaders.

This post appeared original on our partner’s site You Tern’s Savvy Intern Blog.

Image credit: bplanet / 123RF Stock Photo

What happens when you take two of the most energetic, passionate people ever and get them talking about equipping young leaders to change the world right now, today? Well, it’s a lot like throwing gasoline on a fire – all in a really, really good way.

You probably already know and love Angela Maiers from her viral Tedx talk, You Matter. She is an educator who says she never realized others saw her as a leader until companies began hiring her to bring her lessons from the classroom to transform their companies. But with her frequent appearances on HuffPost Live and her very recent addition to our own League of Extraordinary Thinkers, hopefully she’s getting the hint.

Strap yourself in for the ride of your life. Here we go!

Image credit: nataliashein / 123RF Stock Photo

The writing is on the walls of our lives, our communities, our organizations and our world; it is time for women to lead forward. And it is time for men to champion their sisters, because our individual and collective hope for a better future lies in men and women collaborating and leading forward together. (Check out Part 1 of this two-part blog post, here).

6. Get Empowered, Re-inspired! Inspire Others Because the Traditionally Male Model of Leadership Isn’t Working

It is time to develop a new androgynous model of leadership that must be championed by women and men. The testosterone surge, the brute strength and desire to win above all that has taken us to where we are now, must be transformed. Women and men are critical to this transformation, and the imperative to work together has never been more important.

7. Celebrate Organizations and Male Leaders with the Courage, Vision and Values to Champion Women Leaders and Leadership of the Traditionally Disenfranchised

Help men build skills and strengths that have been traditionally ascribed to women, help those who have been traditionally disenfranchised so that they can become 3Q Leaders who can optimize brain power, emotional power and the spiritual strength needed to lead forward with values, vision and action.

The testosterone surge, the brute strength and desire to win above all that has taken us to where we are now, must be transformed.

8. Come Out of the Closet

Too many women are relationship builders, nurturers, communicators and leaders who want to be part of developing a new way, a better way to lead forward together. We want to make a difference, but we can get stymied by ego, by societal definitions.

Remember… Purpose = profit. Celebrate your purpose as a woman to help heal the world. Yes, I did say heal and I know this is a term that many might frown at…but, take a look around you.

We need to heal as women, heal as minorities because the quicker we can stop looking at what was and use the strengths we have now to build and rebuild what can be, the faster and better we will move and lead forward!

9. Appreciate Your Ability to be Empathetic and to Become a WHOLE Human Being, a Whole-brained and Whole-heart Leader

Men typically have a much higher concentration of testosterone, which is great when aggressive action is needed. Women are typically better at building relationships, collaborating, solving problems and analyzing people problems. Recognize it as one of the greatest challenges AND strengths you have.

The importance of understanding how people feel, and using this understanding to appreciate and motivate the best in others is critical. Model, teach and mentor empathetic leadership and watch it grow.  

10. It’s Time to Celebrate and USE Our Differences and Strengths as Women and Men to Lead Forward Together

We will never accomplish this without women pushing forward in a positive way with a voice that must be heard. The voice of reason, the voice of compassion, the voice of collaboration, the voice of a new type of leadership that can take both men and women forward together. Our voice is not loud enough yet, but it is getting louder. We cannot and must not relent in removing the internal and external barriers before us. Our ability, as women, to light a fire of passion, purpose and potential is exponential. Every time we lead forward, we help others do the same.

The most important fire we can light is the fire of human potential, and I believe that women have a critical role to play. It is a role that takes courage, resiliency and the ability to stand tall. It is the most important role we can play. Most of the world and most of womankind goes to bed hungry, disadvantaged and beaten in one way or the other. The strength of those who have a voice, to use their voices to lead forward is critical. The strength of those who have been enabled with learning to use their knowledge to help others is imperative. The strength of those who refuse to let go of their faith, hope, humanity, integrity and courage is our hope for a better future.

When we embrace our true potential, and do so with humanity, humility and the desire to serve the greatest good, we rekindle the most important fire of all; the fire of human potential-the fire of leading forward together!

Art by: ladyrapid

When we embrace our true potential, and do so with humanity, humility and the desire to serve the greatest good,  we rekindle the most important fire of all;the fire of human potential – the fire of leading forward together!

Leadership is a 3Q Equation: (IQ) Intellect-Strategic Thought EQ (emotions-empathy-self & social mgmt) SQ (values-integrity-humanity). It is a gender-less equation that must be enfranchised by those who have typically been disenfranchised.

The writing is on the walls of our lives, our communities, our organizations and our world; it is time for women to lead forward. And it is time for men to champion their sisters, because our individual and collective hope for a better future lies in men and women collaborating and leading forward together. 

You cannot light a fire with wet wood. The future lies in the hands of those who can empower and enable the best in others. I am grateful to the sisters, the women before me who suffered for my human rights, and to those men who had the courage to stand alongside them. As a woman, as a part of an ethnic minority, as a member of the human race I am grateful to those who suffered before me for the rights and freedoms I have now.

The most important fire we can light is the fire of human potential, and I believe that women have a critical role to play. It is a role that takes courage, resiliency and the ability to stand tall. It is the most important role we can play.

Much of the world, and much of womankind goes to bed hungry, disadvantaged and beaten in one way or the other. The strength of those who have a voice and their ability to use their voices to lead forward is critical. The strength of those who have been enabled with learning to use their knowledge to help others is imperative. The strength of those who refuse to let go of their faith, hope, humanity, integrity and courage is our hope for a better future.

1. Empowerment Is Both an Internal and External Journey That Takes Time

It is important to stand up, not down; it is important to R-E-A-C-H forward  When the external conditions enfranchise human rights and voice, those who have been disenfranchised must then reset their own internal GPS. We will not go from a mindset of being dominated, to finding freedom and empowerment without resetting our own internal GPS by celebrating the power, the positive contribution we can and will make.

What became clear to me, as I grew, learned and evolved was that it takes time for those who have been disenfranchised to step up to the plate. Laws and society must first welcome them, and then those who have been underdogs need to go through their own metamorphosis where the chains of disenfranchisement and victimhood no longer impeded their own sense of self esteem or abilities.

2. Stereotypes Must Be Challenged, Because the Pull of the Past Is Strong and the Past Will Not Take Us Forward

Strong women scare weak men. This does not mean that we must undervalue our strengths. It means we must stand up and stand tall. Typically men are taught to overvalue their strengths, and women to undervalue theirs. Stop stereotyping yourself. See your strengths for what they are, and use your challenges to enable your potential.

I believe with all my head and heart that women are in the midst of an important reset, as are other groups who have suffered. And, it is those who can rise above what was, and see their ability to build a bridge between sisters, brothers, diversity, constituencies…between the human divide before us that will be able to lead forward.

3. Don’t Become a Victim of Your Biology, Rather Women’s Biological Imperative to Help the World Lead Forward. Men are Typically Wired to Control and Women to Connect 

Don’t hide your desire to build a better world under a bushel, celebrate it, ignite it and pass the torch forward. The same inherent strengths that make most of us great nurturers are what the world needs now more than ever before.

Will we survive and thrive with a winner-takes-all model of leadership? Will we develop learning organizations, better societies, improved lives for all constituents by continuing models of leadership, governance that no longer work? Is it not time to celebrate our difference as women, our ability to really champion building organizations that strive and drive collaboration, communication and results for all constituents according to their respective abilities and potential?

4. Purpose = Profit. A New World, Workplace and Marketplace Will Continue to Show Leading Forward Means Harnessing Human Beings Potential Better, Not Simply Doing Faster, Than Ever Before 

The inequities before us are incredible, but so is our power to lead forward. If we are daunted by what is, we cannot begin to use the very challenges we face to create what can be. We must stand up, and standing up means rally the full force of our courage and commitment to doing what is in alignment with the integrity, humanity and values that will sustain our world.

5. Stop Competing, Start Collaborating. Celebrate Biological Differences That Make Us Stronger TOGETHER

The corpus callosum that separates left and right hemispheres in women is thicker than in men. Yes, the biological imperative that helps most women be mothers, tend to multiple responsibilities also gives us an ability that is now critical to our individual and collective survival and prosperity. While we know now that we can all build new neural connections, and that men can learn to be more whole brained; women are hardwired to do so.

Women need to take the lead in modeling new and better ways of communicating, collaborating and building relationships and in helping our brothers develop these critical skills. There are many men who are great communicators, collaborators and relationship builders. And many of them can benefit from growth in these areas just as women can benefit from learning more from men about positioning themselves to lead forward in a still male dominated world and mindset.

(We hope you enjoyed Part 1 of this post. Please check back in with us tomorrow for Part 2 of “Women and Leadership | 10 Steps Forward for Women and Men”).

Let’s face it, not everyone is a big reader – and even those of us who are, like to mix it up a bit with other media.

Well, we hear you loud and clear – and now you can hear us loud and clear, too!

Switch and Shift is now officially a multimedia website, with its own YouTube channel, and everything. Introducing Switch and Shift TV, with your host, none other than me, Ted Coiné.

Man, I’m psyched! I hope you are, too.

Each week, we’ll share an interview with one business leader or fascinating author. Right now we’re using Google Plus hangouts for these interviews, because they’re really easy for a troglodyte like me. Stay tuned, though. We’ve got some pretty special production plans in the works.

Okay, enough yapping. Let’s get this party started!

Meet CJ Alvarado, CEO of Snippet

Know what I love about being alive and kicking in 2013? The phenomenal innovation that’s happening all around us!

This is truly The Startup Century, and here we are to enjoy it.

Take SnippetApp as one remarkable standout example. We’re all familiar with books, of course, and in recent years we’ve taken to ebooks as a cheaper and more-convenient way to access our reading material. Both media are great, but… am I the only one would love to interact with my reading material a little more than even ebooks allow?

“Interact?” you say. “What do you mean?”

That is what today’s episode of Switch and Shift TV is all about, as I interview CJ Alvarado, CEO of Snippet, about his company’s remarkable invention.

As you’ll see for yourself, it isn’t really even accurate to call the Snippet an “ebook on steroids” – in fact, with the video, audio, photo gallery, and social media components built right into each Snippet, it’s really hard to call a Snippet a “book” at all!

Confused? Intrigued? This brief video should help.

Now, let’s dive into the interview with this dynamic, fascinating company leader.

Enjoy!

Over the last twenty years, my organization has had numerous opportunities to watch and participate in change efforts that have engaged the hearts and minds of people to deliver great results.

We have also experienced the opposite – working on change efforts where people hold back, and hold up the important movements responsible for changing behaviors and driving business results.

After experiencing some of the best and worst examples of mobilizing people’s discretionary effort to lead change, build teams and make change personal, we synthesized our collective experiences down to a simple, reoccurring observation:

People don’t resist change. They resist being told to change or being changed by someone else. 

The reality is that by engaging a person’s brain, we can unlock their belief that they matter, that their thinking can make a difference, and that they are vital to solving the strategic puzzles our organizations face.

We often see two vastly different approaches companies take to execute change through their people. One seems to be used by those who achieve success. The other leads to putting people under duress – leaving leaders with little understanding about how to make their people the engine to moving forward.

The graphic below shows the difference in these two approaches. People at all levels respond best to the sequence labeled “in success” and rarely bring the best version of themselves to the approach labeled “in duress”.

Here’s why: The big difference is in what you tell versus what you ask!

The best way to engage people in a change effort is to give them an understanding of the WHY, then the WHAT, a road map to WHEN, and leave the HOW up to those closest to the work that needs to be done.

By engaging a person’s brain, we can unlock their belief that they matter, that their thinking can make a difference, and that they are vital to solving the strategic puzzles our organizations face.

On the other hand, if you ask someone when their manager offends them most, the answer will likely be in the HOW stage. Most efforts to engage people to change that end up being unsuccessful tend to skip the WHY, the most critical piece of the puzzle.

They wrongly begin with telling them HOW to do what needs doing, and WHEN it must be done. Maybe, eventually, they get around to the WHAT, but not in all cases.

When you follow the SUCCESS approach – explaining the WHY, the WHAT, the plans for WHEN, and ask them the HOW, the results are consistently predictable: most people are going to be all in, their hearts and minds coming along on this change journey with you.

Is your change process going to see success or create duress? Tell us what you’re doing to engage your people’s hearts and minds in a change!

Honest organizations are more successful.

At least that’s the conclusion reached by Halley Bock, CEO and President of Fierce, Inc. In a recent article, she cites a 2010 Corporate Executive study that found companies encouraging honest feedback among their staff delivered 270 percent more on 10-year total shareholder returns than other companies.

An astonishing difference, but why would honest companies be more profitable?

Fierce conducted its own investigation into the issue, and uncovered some interesting findings. After surveying more than 1,400 executives and employees, Fierce found that an overwhelming 99 percent of professionals preferred a workplace where employees were able to discuss issues truthfully.

More surprising, however, the survey found that 70 percent of the respondents believed a lack of honesty negatively impacted their company’s ability to perform, supporting the Corporate Executive Board’s findings.

So how can companies become more truthful? Surely, all leaders want their staff to feel as if they can tell the truth, but open and honest workplaces don’t happen organically.

Keep a Running Dialogue

One way to encourage honesty, Bock says, is through social networks. While most organizations try to be transparent, they often get caught in the trap of “terminal niceness,” or attempting to be politically correct at all times so as not to offend employees.

While this is a well-intentioned approach toward maintaining a civil work environment, it is actually counterproductive.

Fierce found that an overwhelming 99 percent of professionals preferred a workplace where employees were able to discuss issues truthfully.

Bock argues that employees desire communication that more closely resembles social networking. What employees want, it seems, is a candid, running dialogue between managers, employees and coworkers.

Don’t Sugarcoat Issues

Another method Bock suggests to increase openness in the workplace is direct communication. In other words, don’t sugarcoat the issue.

Some employers may think that cushioning a difficult conversation with compliments or small talk will alleviate tension, when in fact, it can complicate a delicate situation.

For instance, rather than telling an employee “We’re concerned about your attendance rate. Please try to see what you can do to remedy it,” Bock recommends being more direct, saying something like, “Our records show that you’ve been absent five times in the last two months. This exceeds the allotted three personal days we allow our employees, and any additional days you take off will be docked from your salary.

If you are absent in excess of eight days, we’ll have to let you go. Please inform us if there is a personal or medical issue and we can try to determine the best way to address the situation.”

What employees want, it seems, is a candid, running dialogue between managers, employees and coworkers.

In the first instance, the employee is left without a clear idea of what steps he or she needs to take to ensure that another “difficult” conversation does not take place. In the second instance, there is a clearly defined route for the employee to follow. Although the second example might not seem as “nice,” the directness of the communication will alleviate any stress on the employee or supervisor caused by unclear expectations.

If organizations want to avoid the communication stalemate that often results from politically correct communications, they should develop mechanisms to support clear communication with employees. Set aside a time once a month where staff can discuss their questions and concerns with supervisors. Encourage open communication. Accept even negative commentary as a way to improve your organization.

After all, no organization ever improved without some constructive criticism and an open mind.

We live in a world where it’s easy to hide behind inaction when it comes to standing up for beliefs. The truth is detractors will speak out against you the louder you speak up for what you believe. I learned early in my career that when you speak out against the status quo, people will work to discredit your words and actions. It is one of humanities ugly sides. And it’s a truth that we must be prepared for as managers.

When you speak out against the status quo, people will work to discredit your words and actions. It is one of humanities ugly sides.

For despite the ugly truth of the subterfuge, on the extreme end, from those who are reluctant to listen to what you believe or to explore a contrarian belief to their own, managers must be willing to choose to stand up for what they believe.

Now, what belief am I talking about? The most important choice as a manager you can make is to believe in the capabilities and good intentions of your employees.

The choice will assuredly poke detractors in the side and provoke them to rail against you. But remember that such actions are not about you. It’s about their own issues that confront them when you choose to believe in the possibilities that are woven into our humanity.

The most important choice as a manager you can make is to believe in the capabilities and good intentions of your employees

See, business and the belief in the best in people don’t need to be separated. When we believe in the best of our employees’ abilities for the sake of business growth and success, we win. So, too, does the business, our employees, our teams, our departments.

The truth, however, is you as a manager must choose to let your belief in the good in people emerge and reemerge daily. Sometimes it’s moment by moment. We work in a world where it’s easier to let controlling-management , believing people need to be controlled or that people will disappoint time and again, prevail as our management-style default.

We need more managers willing to walk lock-step with the belief that employees can do great works

We don’t need more managers who believe the worst in people. To accept this belief slows progress and weakens teams and organizations. The state of our workplaces needs less pessimism and more possibility, optimism.

We need more managers willing to walk lock-step with the belief that employees can do great works, walk lock-step with the belief that employees want to get their fingerprints on work that matters and to do good in this world.

The choice to believe in people may come with challenges, but it’s far better than the lack of progress that comes with not choosing. Or worse yet, believing that people will continually disappoint and manage and lead from that belief.

What, you didn’t know there was a handbook for business heretics? Oh. How awkward that nobody told you. Well, let’s rectify that now, starting with this post. Here are ten tips to help familiarize you with some of the most basic tenets of heresy in business. There are plenty more, but this will get you started. Ready? Let’s dive in!

1. On Rules Breaking

Laws can land you in jail. Breaking corporate policy, doing end-runs around procedures, and just plain getting stuff done – that will either get you fired or into the CEO’s office. Rules are merely guidelines. Guidelines are meant to guide, nothing more. If they don’t guide – if they aren’t helpful – then ignore them.

2. On Resources

Resources can be bought and sold. Steel is a resource. Laptops are resources. Humans are not, and will never be, resources. Humans are “people.” Stop using the word “resource” when what you mean is “person.” Seriously. Stop that right now.

3. On That Damned Box

Just, please, stop talking about that freakin’ box already! No heretic has ever used the phrase “think outside the box,” because heretics know that innovators don’t even see a box to begin with!

4. On Helpfulness

Boss, read these words aloud: “My job is to make your job easier.” Say it ten times, till you can really say it with conviction. Then, leave your office and go say it to the first 20 employees you see. Repeat this once an hour for a month. You can read the rest of this post later.

5. On Motivation

If you have to motivate your people, you’ve either hired the wrong people or you’ve quashed their motivation somewhere along the way. Good people are self-motivated. Give them a BHAG (a “Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal,” as Jim Collins so eloquently puts it) and then help them achieve it. How? Better reread #4. See you in another month.

6. On Culture

There are only three things that matter in business: culture, culture, culture. Your job as leader is to be the steward – the nurturer and protector – of the culture. The culture runs your business. You do not.

7. On Viruses

Any marketer who tells you your campaign will go viral also has a bridge to sell you. Participants way outside of your control – the general public, in other words – decide what goes viral and what… doesn’t. All you can do is your best. The web will (or won’t) do the rest.

8. On Metrics

Give me a metric and thirty minutes, I’ll show you how to game it. No joke: I dare you. Business heretics lead with just one metric: dollars. Set your BHAG, open your books, and let your culture (i.e. your people) do the rest.

9. On Books, Open and Closed

It’s 2013. You still don’t have open book management? Oh. I thought you considered yourself a business heretic. How are your people ever going to help you attain your BHAG if you’re still hoarding information like it’s 1955?

10. On Use of Your Time

What is the best use of a leader’s time? Let me answer that question with a question of my own: What makes you a leader? You lead people, right? Then every minute of your day that you spend in your office or in front of a spreadsheet or managing your boss is another minute you are robbing from your actual job, which is helping your people. Do your job. Lead your people, face to face.

Here’s the thing about business heresy: it’s different. That makes it uncomfortable to a lot of people, especially career managers. But let me leave you with a thought: chances are, the most successful business leaders you can name are themselves heretics. So you can follow all the rules, you can do the opposite of these ten tips, or you can… be incredibly successful! Hey, totally up to you. No one’s judging.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot:

11. On Giving More in Business

Heretics promise you ten tips and give you eleven. So here’s a list of just a few of the better-known business heretics I can name without blinking: Bill Hewlett and David Packard, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gore, Richard Branson, Yvon Chouinard, Herb Kelleher, Ricardo Semler, Tony Hsei, Steve Jobs, Jack Stack, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Can you name more? Let us know in the comments.

It’s hard to read a post on Switch and Shift that isn’t about business heresy. Still, if you liked this post, let us also recommend The 12 Most Irrefutable Laws of Business Heresy

Image credit: robodread / 123RF Stock Photo

Remember when you were a kid and you thought anything was possible? You know, before all the well-intended grownups in your life taught you to be realistic?

Well, we at Switch and Shift think that “realists” are what pessimists call themselves to obscure their true identity, and pessimism means you’ve given up before you’ve even started.

Giving up is for losers.

If you’re reading this post, especially if you’re a regular subscriber and a member of our community, chances are you don’t buy into all that self-limiting garbage. Chances are you know there’s a better way, and (like us) you can’t believe your luck.

Because here at this site and our sister site, YouTern.com, you’ve found a whole community of optimistic, can-do rebel heretics who simply have no time for this limiting realism junk that so many others are trying to foist upon you.

You’re too busy already doing what the naysayers say can’t be done!

All of which brings me to a challenge: Angela’s kids need our help, and there’s no community on the Interwebs, or off, better positioned to act than Switch and Shift’s.

Will you lend a hand?

Many of you already know Angela Maiers. Two years ago, she gave an inspirational TEDx talk, “You Matter,” that has rocked the Web and changed kids lives ever since.

If you’ve had the pleasure of talking to this dynamo directly, you know quite well that her passion isn’t just a sometime thing. Angela is obsessed. And it’s the kind of obsessed that moves mountains, transforms lives, and changes the world.

Angela’s central, driving idea is to get to kids before the realists ruin them; to encourage them to make a difference, to dare to dream*, and to launch a project of their choosing with that dream.

She created Choose2Matter specifically to give those kids a platform to share their projects and to tap into support from the adults who never bought the self-limiting junk the realists around us always try to sell.

So here’s the challenge: Angela’s kids are onto something amazing. But their Indiegogo campaign has stalled – to date, it hasn’t raised the funds that it deserves.

Please, check out both Choose2Matter and Angela’s project on Indiegogo.

Donate if you can – even a few bucks, together with a few more from a whole lot more of us, can change lives. And please, share with your network, letting them know that you’ve given, and you’d appreciate if they did as well.

We at Switch and Shift have decided not just to give as individuals, but also to adopt Choose2Matter.org as our own cause of choice. You’ll be hearing a whole lot more about that soon.

If we can get kids while they’re still young enough to believe that they do matter, and help them get where their dreams of a better world take them… if we can keep our interns and young careerists similarly encouraged… and sustain that foolish optimism through their ascent in leadership of companies big and small… well, maybe we can change the world after all.

And then who will the real realists be? Will they be the pessimists? Or we, optimists?

Let’s give Angela’s kids – our kids – the support they need!

Click here to transform a life.

*Hat Tip to Whitney Johnson, author of Dare, Dream, Do and another incredibly inspirational woman.

Art by: Aquasixio