Does the environment have a case for hope?

It’s pretty hard to be hopeful for the environment sometimes.

I’m a pretty natural optimist, but I’ve got to call this one like I see it. The planet’s outlook can be pretty grim.

Deforestation rates are high. Projections show we’re just months away from irreversible climate change. There is no political willpower to act in the places that most desperately need to. We’re also entering an era of mass extinction for many species, and that’s especially concerning.

Don’t take it from me, take it from one of the world’s most effective environmental advocates, Greta Thunberg, who just so happens to be a sixteen year old in Sweden. 

“I don’t want your hope,” she says. “I don’t want you to feel hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day and act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.”

I think Greta’s advocacy work is awesome, and I get so excited about the enthusiasm towards environmental stewardship that today’s students have. It goes far beyond the enthusiasm when I was in school. But there are some other ways in which we’re different, one of them being that I do need a degree of hope.

Thankfully, I have hope. I have hope for the environment. Against all odds. Here’s why.

The Earth is ridiculously resilient.

I don’t mean this to say that the planet will just take care of itself so we can keep living the way we’ve been. I mean this to say, it’s amazing we haven’t created more damage.

The planet, being the miracle that it is, seems to keep providing the conditions for life. I’d think that if people were more aware of how specific those are, and this, how fragile life is, a whole lot more respect would be warranted.

There are so many ways to make things better.

Planting trees just might be our biggest weapon in the fight against climate change. They help attract water, they protect soil, and they absorb carbon.

It seems like a slow process, but you can easily look online and find story after story of a farmer in rural Indonesia, Brazil, Tanzania, the Philippines, etc. who committed to planting a tree every day. The before and after pictures of these cases are astonishing.

And that’s just one example of a way for things to get better. I’ve been obsessed with Project Drawdown, a ranking of the top 100 solutions for climate change. The list is surprising, informative, and encouraging.

Educating girls is one of the best things we could do for the environment. The number one biggest area for improvement is getting better at refrigerant management. Lowering food waste is also a really big deal.

Hope is the theme of the newest Grassroots Podcast Episode. I finally interview my boss, Plant With Purpose Director Scott Sabin. I also talk to Kent Annan. All season long I’ve been asking my guests what gives them hope, and I’ve gotten answers like these:

“I get a lot of hope from feeling we're not alone in this. I get a lot of hope from you all. Jesus' longest prayer was that we would be one as God is one. So that's my constant prayer and hope. Is that we're carrying the weight of this and imagining and building something together.” (Shane Claiborne)

“It’s not something I’d call easy, but it’s something we see in the places where we are working. We see poor soil become good soil. We see poor people have their lives improve- they go to school, they eat better. It’s possible and we’ve started doing that.” (Dezo)

Grassroots’ entire first season is out now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other major podcast platforms. Check out Episode 6, The Environment’s Case for Hope.

The Creative Changemaker’s Bookshelf: Summer 2019

Every so often, I like to share some of my recent reads that have an impact on my creative work. These are books I think other purpose driven creatives could gain from. As is typical of summer reading for me, most of what I’ve been reading lately has been novel intensive.

A Map of Salt & Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar

This book is a story within a story. It switches between the story of Nour, a twelve year old Syrian refugee fleeing with her family across Northern Africa into Spain, and the legend of Rawiya, a twelve year old girl who traveled the same route as a mapmaker. It captures the tragedy of the Syrian crisis while upholding the beauty of the Syrian story.

As it stands right now, this book may go down as my favorite read from all of 2019. That wouldn’t surprise me at all. The way such a sad story and real-world tragedy were conveyed with beauty, hope, and resilience spoke volumes. The world needs more stories like these.

The lesson for Creative Changemakers? Even though your role may call you to address some of the most horrific things happening in the world, the eyes of a child and the beauty of a culture can help remind others that there are people worthy of our support in spite of calamity.

The Opposite of Hate: A Field Guide for Repairing Our Humanity by Sally Kohn

Sally Kohn made a living as a liberal commentator on Fox News. Unsurprisingly, this line of work led her to a lot of encounters with hate. This includes both a constant stream of vitriolic hate mail sent her way, and close encounters with white supremacists and others motivated by Hate.

This book goes into some of the psychological reasons why we hate. It unpacks things like how our belonging to a certain group may make us more susceptible to biases. I loved her exploration of real world efforts to overcome hate, including amongst Rwandan genocide survivors.

Creating change almost always calls for saying hard things and that almost always invites haters and pushback. Knowing how to deal, how to diffuse, and how to carry on with dignity are extremely important.

There There by Tommy Orange

This novel is beautiful but also brutal. The ending is especially jarring and violent, not to give too much away. In this novel, several stories of different individuals are told, gradually being tied closer and closer together until said ending.

But just because a scene can go in any direction doesn’t mean that it should. Some of the most important parts of an improv scene are the rules- the shared understanding by the actors of how the scene must unfold, and the conversation with the audience just before the scene that determines what goes in it.

This book was an effective reminder of the different issues facing native and indigenous populations within the United States. All kinds of challenges were presented amidst a well told story, and it made me more curious about the populations in proximity to me that I haven’t paid enough attention.

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport

I’m familiar with Cal Newport’s writing from his book Deep Work. That book is a staple on many creatives’ bookshelves and has helped so many people I know produce richer content. Digital Minimalism is Cal’s take on how to live a digital life built around your true priorities.

To be honest, I wasn’t bought into this book right from the get go. Cal’s early admission that he doesn’t really use social media made me wonder why he was the right person to write this book. But there are enough good nuggets in here to make it worth reading.

Odds are, a good amount of Creative Changemakers are online a lot as a function of their work. I know I’m on a few social networks I would’ve long deleted if not for my job. This book makes a good case for making sure your priorities dictate your activity.

We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

This book is a little bit like a Black Mirror episode meets a Jordan Peele movie. In it, a black father has the chance to pay for his biracial son to be white. He just has to complete the tasks of participating in workplace diversity days, going on plantation tours, etc. Now you see why those comparisons make sense.

I appreciated the boldness of this read and the way the Ruffin used sci-fi elements to address real world conversations about race. So much of the book’s tone was absurdist and it functioned well as satirical commentary.

A creative take-away? That part of your brain that’s designed to ask ‘what if’ can be a powerful asset in getting people to take a second look at things that seem familiar.

Now it’s your turn. Any good reads this fall I need to get to?

Do small sustainable actions actually help fight climate change?

We don’t have any more paper towels at home. What started as a simple experiment to see how long we could go without replacing our last role led to a sweet discovery. We just didn’t need them.

Working around that seemed like a better move for the environment. Other things we’ve done differently? I stopped buying plastic toothbrushes and started stocking up on bamboo ones. We stopped buying dryer sheets and switched to reusable balls. We switched all our lotions and things to ones that were good for the ocean.

For me, making environmentally minded changes isn’t much of a chore. It’s fun! It’s like a little challenge to see how we can keep finding new, more sustainable ways to do things we’ve been doing for years.

But that raises a really interesting question- does all this matter?

You can make a pretty decent argument that it doesn’t.

It wasn’t long ago that I read a Twitter conversation between a screenwriter and an environmental scientist. The screenwriter asked what the most effective thing he could do to stop climate change would be. “Probably stop eating meat,” said the scientist, “but I’m not so sure it matters.”

The line of thinking this follows is that most of what causes climate change is the result of exploitative industrial practices and poor governance. There’s very little that can be done at an individual level to stop it.

After all, about 100 companies with extremely large profit margins are responsible for about 70% of carbon emissions globally. If nothing is done to stop their actions, what will our small actions matter?

Shane Claiborne believes they still do.

I had the chance to interview the author and activist a few months ago. In college, his writing really helped shape my worldview and understanding of my faith. Getting to talk to him for a little bit was a treat.

“It was a bunch of small actions that got us into this mess in the first place,” he pointed out. I suppose we shouldn’t underestimate the way these actions add up.

“Some people call me an idealist. What I think is idealistic is thinking we can go on living unsustainably like this without there being any major consequences.”

Nick Laparra is in it for the long game

Nick interviewed me for his Let’s Give A Damn podcast back in the spring. I interviewed him in return immediately after. Nick’s help is what led to me launching the Grassroots Podcast this year.

Away from the mic, he is taking his family on a similar journey of trying to live as sustainably as possible. “I may not get to see the immediate result of the work that I’m doing and that’s fine. I’m in this for the long haul,” he admits.

I decided to make the question- do our small actions make a difference- the theme of our latest podcast episode.

In it, I talk to Shane, Nick, and a few others.

For what it’s worth, I think our small actions do matter. I don’t want to reach the point where I stop doing all the things I can in life to make this a better world, no matter how small their impact may be.

I want to leverage whatever influence I have towards sustainability. In the realm of politics and industry, that’s relatively little. I’d still want to be a wise voter and consumer. In my personal life, that’s quite a bit.

Besides, I think it’s important to stop treating the blame game as an acceptable stalemate. Individuals saying the government needs to do more. The government saying they’re leaving it up to the businesses. Businesses saying they just respond to consumer demands from individuals. All are right, but all are also culpable. 

Tune into the Grassroots Podcast to listen to Episode 5- Do My Small Actions Make a Difference on Spotify, Apple, and other major podcast platforms.

Developing Creative Empathy

Empathy is one of the most important ingredients of creativity. Whether you’re designing a campaign for a nonprofit or trying to write a song for your EP, your goal is to make other people think and feel, “me too.”

So how do you actually do it? How do you make art that makes people feel less alone?

Your own vulnerability is required.

Empathy is all about joining somebody in their emotional experience. To meet somebody at an emotional wavelength, you need to tap into the times you’ve felt that emotion the strongest.

If you think of the songs that give you all the feels, it’s because their songwriters were able to translate their own emotional journey into a work of art that applies just as much as your own.

So get real about how things make you feel. Develop emotional intelligence. Get good at saying “when ____ happens, I feel _____.” Take it a step further and describe that feeling in as many ways as possible. Is it a knot in your throat or your stomach dropping? Is it a light going dark all of a sudden? Is it a sense of bravery that you haven’t felt since you were six and went exploring in the ocean?

Process the problems you’re solving.

You are offering something of value to the world- a product, a service, a work of art. But most of all, you’re offering a solution to a problem. Name the problem.

What is it? Climate change? Loneliness? The lack of disabled persons of color in mainstream media? Think of how that problem makes you feel. React to it. Go back to the first time you learned about the issue. Recreate the physical space in your mind. Process it.

Then think of how that problem makes other people feel. If people are currently aware of the problem, how would it make them feel? Meet them there.

Don’t create in isolation.

The worst environment for a creative to work in is isolation. This isn’t to say that some people shouldn’t retreat to a quiet, focused area to do deep work, but to say that you shouldn’t cut yourself off from people in a way that makes you lose empathy.

The design company IDEO is so committed to empathy that they make it Step Zero of their processes. They insist on listening as a practice and get to it before brainstorming even begins.

When do you take the time to listen? How do you listen? Make sure you take the time to leave the walls of your studio or office or lab.

Make sure you stay abreast of what makes people anxious, hopeful, angry, relieved, embarrassed, or proud. Don’t be afraid to name people’s concerns for them, after you’ve validated that your suspicions are correct.

Try empathy mapping.

If you’re looking for a really practical, hands on tool to give some direction to your practice of empathy, consider using an empathy map.

This is a framework that breaks down what your audience says, does, thinks, and feels. It’s helpful to have this distinction because these four things aren’t always uniform.

I personally find it helpful, because I often experience people saying one thing that ultimately doesn’t line up with their actions. Steve Jobs famously believed that customers didn’t know what they wanted until it existed in front of them. I often think that way myself, but I still believe listening matters. What people say isn’t the full story, but when combined with what they do, think, and feel it becomes much more complete.

Empathetic creativity calls for listening, observation, experience, and vulnerability. In and of itself it’s an art form. The makers who succeed at it reap the reward.

Four Ideas From ATL

I just got back from three days in Atlanta for Plywood Presents. The conference was one of my favorite events last year and I knew I had to go back. Few events demonstrate as much care for their community as this one.

While the speaker lineup was a great, diverse mix, I really appreciated the orientation around community. I met so many people who were in different stages of turning their idea into reality. The line between presenter and attendee was often blurry, and I thought that was great.

I filled up a little notebook with lots of ideas and quotes I wanted to remember. I noticed certain messages seemed to come at me from multiple angles- and when that happens I try to pay them special attention. Here are four takeaways from three days in Atlanta, and four actions they call for right away.

Some challenges persist no matter where you are on your journey.

As inspiring as an event like this can be, it can also be intimidating. You meet and listen to people who are steps ahead of you on their journey. Their advice is valuable, but it can also remind you of the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

That gap often feels frustrating, but this time I learned that everybody has this gap. Even people with an organization three times the size of mine and an audience ten times as large feel the challenge of being patient while still striving for growth.

It’s helpful to remember that you never “arrive,” and that you only grow by appreciating and tending to whatever season you’re in. This is also pretty good parenting advice. As a side note- the fact that we’re expecting our first this year came up in a lot of conversations. That led to some much appreciated tips on integrating parenthood with the pursuit of goals.

Action: Remind yourself what is better about the season you’re in now versus to where you were two years ago.

Look to see who is missing from the picture

One of the best conversations I had at the event was with a woman who wasn’t part of it and didn’t know what we were doing. Much of it took place around a brewery and distillery that was open to the public at certain points. I started talking to a woman enjoying a beer on a Friday night and discovered she was local. She told me all about the neighborhood we were in. Atlanta’s West End. She told me all about its history, it’s beloved eateries, and their rich tradition of porch parties. “Remember that when certain people tell you about this neighborhood,” she advised me.

Certain people? The gathering was predominantly white and millennial in a neighborhood struggling with gentrification. And to be honest, I’ve always had a hard time understanding gentrification and if there are any good alternatives. I live in a neighborhood in San Diego with similar challenges. But this conversation and the conference helped provide helpful ideas.

While the attendees were mostly white and millennial, others were included and integrated. The speaker lineup was fairly diverse and it included Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum. The author of Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria used the analogy of a photo where one in every six people had been removed to explain why inclusion mattered. “This is what America is like for many people.”

Action: Identify a group often left out of the day-to-day processes of your work.

Community is worth the struggle

One of the events I went to was a mentorship round table on filling up a room with enthusiastic people. One of the most helpful things I heard from most people was an acknowledgement that, yeah, it’s hard. Hard but worth it.

This was backed up by so many conversations that also acknowledged how hard but necessary it is to have people around you and to not do your work in isolation. Even when gathering people is a struggle- and it truly can be a lot of times- don’t give up doing it.

This is true in both my professional and personal worlds, to be honest. And it’s a challenge in both areas! I did learn from some helpful ideas, like making sure to have people in your corner personally, not just professionally. Or not being afraid to ask for people to help you fill a room. Or by always looking to serve other people. But the number one takeaway I got? Don’t give up pursuing people.

Action: Find some way to gather people in the next two weeks- if for no other reason, for practice.

Dig deep to find your core message

Writer and writing guide Joe Bunting led a session on storytelling. Right up front he reminded everybody to find their core message- the one that shows up in all the work they do.

In theory, this is something I understand well enough. It’s the very first thing I suggest organizations do when I work with them on branding. In my own creative life though, having a consistent core message is something that often gets neglected.

Joe helped explain why this happens. Over time, you not only develop the core message, but you develop your craft. Your craft is your toolbox for sharing your message. It includes specific skills like wordsmithing, editing, and design. Craft is important, but it is no substitute for your message. In fact, it is often in tension with your message. While mountaintop moments define your message, day to day work often keeps you engaged at the level of craft.

Action: Write down your core message. Make something in ten minutes to express it. A drawing, a chorus, anything.

Thankfully, weeks like this one are helpful in reconnecting me with my core message of hope and heart. Events like these leave me with a pretty full bucket, excited to get back to work in front of me.

Haiti's Challenge

There are few places in the world harder to live in than Haiti.

I wish this weren’t true, because it’s also a beautiful country in so many ways. But after having visited, I could say it’s easily the most difficult country out of the ones I’ve visited. The political instability, environmental issues, and persistent poverty create all sorts of trouble for Haitians.

My trip there last year was a reminder that no bit of infrastructure could be taken for granted. Neither could quieter moments without much political drama. I twice had to reschedule my visit there due to protests.

The people who lived there helped me understand the day to day challenges of life. “We in a country where everything is in disorder,” a woman named Gernita told us. “When you work, you can’t reap what you sow and we are poor people. This is just how life works.”

Natural disasters and environmental issues challenge Haiti at the same time, and this includes drought. “Sometimes you work and the dry season comes and it kills everything. Sometimes it’s the rainy season and it kills everything.”

She was one of many who expressed how difficult it was to simply survive and earn a basic living.

Haiti isn’t the easiest place to talk about, and yet it’s the perfect place to talk about.

For me, the challenge in talking about Haiti is wanting to go deeper than these problems. I don’t ever want a place and its people to only be defined by their problems.

Haiti possesses a rich and vibrant culture, enthusiastic and jovial people, and natural coastal beauty. This is as much a part of the country’s reality as the food insecurity and political issues. Telling one of these stories without the other doesn’t do the country justice.

I don’t want to make the mistake of not seeing people and only seeing the problems. Haiti is one of the countries that has suffered significantly as a result of many organizations and well-intentioned aid workers portraying the country this way.

I also don’t want to make the error of saying “oh, what happy people, who have so little and have so much joy.” To do so makes light of the reality of poverty and isn’t accurate to how most Haitians I met would want to be seen.

In spite of all this, Haiti is a clear example of how deforestation and poverty are interlinked.

Haiti is both the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and the most deforested. These two issues are deeply interlinked.

Many of the problems manifest themselves in the soil. Deforestation leaves soil vulnerable. Haiti is a frequent site of hurricanes and natural disasters, and without the protection of trees, those events rob the soil of their nutrients.

The last time a hurricane swept through Gernita’s farm, it was devastating. “When the hurricane passed through the land it destroyed all of our plantations—all of our seeds.”

On our newest episode of Grassroots, we’re taking things to Haiti.

Honestly, this just might be the episode that I’m most excited about. The first time I heard back from the producers with the draft of this episode I was floored by how good it sounded. If you have to listen to just one episode, go with this one. (But don’t do that and listen to all the others.)

We worked real hard to make sure that Haitian voices were included- and not only that but also informing our storytelling. This meant staying on a call and spending an hour struggling through terrible internet connection. It meant searching far and wide for voice actors with the appropriate accent. But it was all worth it.

In addition to the Haitian voices– Dezo, the founder of Plant With Purpose’s Haitian program; Jeanetta, a community member who joined his staff; and Gernita herself, we also hear from people who’ve worked in country for a long time. This includes Margaret DeJong from the Mennonite Central Committee, Bob Morikawa from Plant With Purpose, and Brendon Anthony from HarvestCraft.

Grassroots is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and a bunch of other podcast platforms.

In some ways Haiti is one of the most challenging places to talk about, and in other ways it is the perfect place to see where the environment and poverty intersect. It's a challenge, because Haiti has been portrayed in such harmful ways over the years.

Empathy Over Originality

One ever-present creative question is this: how can I come up with an original idea that takes off?

How do you get inspired to create something that is so good that people can’t help but tell their friends? How do you make a video that people want to share all over social media because they’re moved by it? How do you write a song that people want played at their weddings? How do you stand out amidst all that’s out there?

It’s not easy to do. There are so many things competing for people’s attention. But, if we can just make something beautiful that’s never been done before, we’ll cut through the noise. Right?

It’s easy to look at other people who’ve had creative success, and envy the way their work feels so new and inventive. Almost every creative at some point experiences the feeling of wishing they got to a really good idea first. And that only increases our appetite to do something original.

Here’s the catch though, there really is no such thing as an original idea.

Ironically, the harder we try for originality, the more we realize how unattainable it is.

Almost all songs are built off the same patterns of chord progressions. It’s been said that there are only two plots of stories: tragedies and comedies. Trying to do something that hasn’t been done before often leads nowhere.

Maybe this is why Picasso said “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” Unless he was stealing from TS Eliot who said “Immature poets imitate, mature poets steal.” Then again, Igor Stravinsky has already said “Good composers borrow, great composers steal.” And I stole this observation from Lion King producer Don Hahn at a conference.

Rather than chasing the unattainable benchmark of originality, make empathy the goal instead.

The times that people really resonate with a work of art isn’t when it’s extremely original or informative. It’s when they can see their story and their experiences overlap with the story you’re telling.

This is counterintuitive. Especially if you’ve been in the habit of chasing originality. Originality makes you look for things that set you apart. Empathy makes you ask what you have in common with others.

This is where the gimmicks get separated from the greats. Gimmicks are novel concepts delivered without heart. Great works are shared from the heart. If Hamilton were just a play about American History with a bunch of hip hop, it could’ve been easily dismissed as a gimmick. But deeper stories about ambition, hustle, immigration, success and failure turned it into a story that resonated with people at a heart level.

The best creative works simply help people feel less alone.

If whatever you make leaves people feeling like “I’ve been there, me too,” you’re connecting with people.

If you think about the books, stories, songs, or videos that have meant the most to you, it’s likely because they’ve given you that experience. It’s like somebody knew what you were feeling and put a soundtrack to it. Or finally used the right words to describe it. Or conjured up feelings that were buried deep.

There is so much power in knowing that you’re not alone.

It may be tempting to think that there’s no need to say what other people have said. But the way you’re able to say it in your own authentic voice will be original enough. After all, it’s not like breakup songs are in short supply, but every year, new ones make waves. The same goes for songs about love, letdown, insecurity and many other themes.

When Bon Iver released his first album- three years before it helped him win a Grammy for Best New Artist- much ado was made over the way he wrote it. After a bad breakup, he holed up in a Wisconsin cabin with a lo-fi recorder and penned emotionally raw, sad and nostalgic songs. The album that came out of that was a big success and many people romanticized the story of its creation. But the cabin story wouldn’t have mattered if the album simply wasn’t good. What helped it catch on was the way it used his haunting voice, raw guitar strums, and forlorn lyrics to set a tune to things most people have felt after a loss.

The themes and feelings in Bon Iver’s album- and any other memorable album- weren’t that unique. What was unique was his ability to articulate it and his talent in translating them into music. Your talent and ability to articulate these things are the reason you’re in the role of being a maker.

So if you want to make something that connects with people, ask yourself this: what is something you’ve experienced that taught you a ton?

Don’t think of yourself as trying to make other people understand that unique experience, as if they’re completely foreign to it. Don’t think of yourself as a spectacle because the experience sets you apart.

Instead think of yourself as an ambassador of that part of the human experience. What can you put words to that other people would feel deeply?

What’s one way to communicate that in a way that feels familiar to people? Your creative medium, the type of thing you end up producing, and all the way it interacts with genre and norms are all just a vehicle for the heart of your message.

Take all the effort you were putting towards originality and send it towards empathy. You’ll go pretty far.

It Threatens the Most Vulnerable

Climate change is unjust.

That statement may seem like an obvious one, but it was only after I started paying attention to the ways in which people were affected by climate change that I realized- it’s a cruel phenomenon. It has the harshest effect on people who already suffer a great deal.

I’m talking about the world’s poor. Especially the rural poor. While most common images of poverty depict something urban, poverty is mostly rural. Among those who live in poverty around the world, 85% live in a rural village. This means that they probably grow their own food and farm for an income and that means they need a healthy environment to survive.

The effects of climate change make this harder and harder. Deforestation creates soil infertility. Mass extinction reflects a state of crisis for the environment across the globe. People are being robbed of their way to make a living.

Over the course of my lifetime, we’ve actually made a big dent in the fight against poverty. In 1981, about 42% of the world lived in poverty. Today, that number hovers just above 10%. Most of it persists in rural areas. Poverty isn’t an invincible opponent, but it’s hard to imagine making strides against its final frontier without addressing the environment.

On our latest podcast episode, we’ll be leaning into the urgency of the issue.

From Kenya to Oaxaca to Atlanta.

In Episode 2 of Grassroots, I get to talk to Dr. Paul Robinson. Dr. Robinson grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spent decades of his life studying a unique pastorial tribe living on the frontiers of Kenya and Ethiopia.

He explains how the Gabra herders occupied one of the harshest and most difficult places in the world to survive. But they figured out how to do it by mastering the art of counting and predicting the rain. With precision, they knew where to move their herds so that all could be fed.

Their way of living, however, is one that is being lost as climate change makes an impact on East Africa. What will happen to them now? I got to ask Dr. Robinson about what he’s heard from the Gabra elders over the course of years.

I also got to hear from Luis, Plant With Purpose’s Country Director in Mexico. He explained how a problem like not being able to grow enough food is one of the biggest drivers of immigration.

I then got to speak with Breanna Lathrop and Veronica Squires, who co-wrote the book How Neighborhoods Make Us Sick. I especially wanted to talk to them more about an idea in the book: our ZIP Codes determine our life expectancy more than our genetic code does.

Breanna and Veronica are medical practitioners based in Atlanta’s Good Samaritan Hospital, they were definitely able to help shine light on how environmental conditions also factor into that same dynamic.

Ultimately, they introduce the concept of social determinants, one that helped expand the way I think of vulnerability.

It’s an urgent matter.

One of the biggest reasons I wanted to release this episode really early in the series was to highlight the urgency of climate change and environmental issues. For a long time, I thought of it as an important topic, but perhaps not a top priority. That changed upon meeting people who were affected.

I started to realize that it’s not just a matter of how bad the environment might be by 2040. The environment is already unhealthy. And that’s already negatively affecting so many around the world.

Between Dr. Robinson’s mastery of the art of oral storytelling and Veronica and Breanna’s passion for seeing a healthier planet and healthier neighborhoods around Atlanta, I’m convinced we’ve assembled some of the most ideal people to help reveal the urgency of the challenge ahead of us.

Grassroots is a podcast about hope for a weary land. It's a place where leading voices on faith and the environment join voices from marginalized communities. Because whether you're in the Amazon or the Arctic Circle, Africa or Arkansas, or our very own backyard, you're living on the frontlines of this issue.

I hope you’ll find listening to this podcast as enlightening as making it was for me. Perhaps something you hear will ignite further clarity, or a new concern, or a bolder conviction. 

GrassRoots is available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Anchor. New episodes release biweekly.

Always look at root causes

Is your contribution to the world treating a symptom or curing a disease?

There are so many important and urgent causes out there. It seems like every week there’s a new urgent need to respond to. Many of them are legitimately urgent. At a certain point, though, you have to wonder if putting out all these fires is enough or if we should be asking where these fires are coming from in the first place.

Putting out scattered fires is often what the world of nonprofits and social causes can feel like. Whenever a topic is trending, it can send large amounts of interests or donations to organizations that have immediate responses in place. This response is important, but it often doesn’t address the underlying issues.

For example, if a hurricane strikes Haiti, much attention would be drawn towards relief efforts to clean up and provide immediate aid. But that in and of itself wouldn’t address the country’s vulnerability or the environmental conditions that make it prone to disaster.

Or maybe a devastating photograph from a civil war on the other side of the world starts appearing online and the world is alarmed into compassion. Efforts to provide immediate aid are good, but they are different from the long term work needed to build peace in the area.

My career in the nonprofit world thus far has moved me from simply being drawn to the most alarming stories to moving towards organizations with long term plans to empower people, reduce vulnerability, and commit to the long term work needed to create lasting change.

It seems many others are also slowly waking up to the importance of addressing root causes rather than being content with band aid solutions. At the same time, so much good could be done if this value was more widespread. Communicating the importance of root causes continues to become even more important.

How to communicate going after root causes.

This isn’t to downplay the importance of immediate responses. In the moments just after a major disaster, the arrival of aid can make the difference between life or death for thousands. These sorts of solutions absolutely have their place.

But working towards root causes means working towards a world where that sort of calamity will never happen again. Or at least it wouldn’t devastate people in the way that it has in the past. 

Organizations that do work that addresses root causes should take the time to make sure their audience really understands why this is important and what a difference it makes. Of course, in order to communicate this well, the organization must understand it well internally.

Often, it’s helpful to start with the image, story, or statistic that most people would immediately find jarring and work your way backwards. Observe what’s happening and ask why. Then ask why that cause is happening. And keep going.

Sometimes it helps to take this exercise very literally. Write out causes and effects and draw arrows. This might not be the most nuanced depiction of an issue, but it will help you see more clearly how one thing leads to another.

Roots are a great metaphor; causes are intertwined and connected.

At some point, that exercise might start to get messy. You’ll discover that one cause is also an effect and one cause is also an effect. When it feels like you’ve arrived at a vicious cycle, it’s a good sign that you’ve found some roots.

Just like roots in the natural world, social, political, and environmental problems are all connected and intertwined. For example, environmental issues are one of the leading causes of poverty around the world. But, living in poverty also leads to a surge in practices that ultimately destroy the environment.

This cycle of root causes is the one I work with every day at Plant With Purpose. It’s also one I cover extensively on the first episode of my podcast Grassroots. It’s called The Roots of Everything.

I spend time talking with Lucy McCray from The Freedom Story about how environmental issues and poverty make people vulnerable to the challenge of human trafficking and exploitation. I talk to a marine biologist from Mozambique, Abdul Ada about how the environment will determine how people recover financially from the effects of Cyclone Idai. I also explore the economic-environmental connection in the United States with Appalachian Voices.

If you want an example of some people who’ve centered their work around the value of root causes, I recommend downloading the podcast and giving it a listen. Each interview contains insights about exactly this topic.

Take a second to imagine the difference in the world that would result from people being as committed to lasting solutions as they are to the idea of quick fixes. Lasting change requires addressing problems at their roots.

Is your work addressing a long term cause? If so, are you communicating this clearly? Look for ways to integrate your commitment to lasting change into your messaging. The more people see this emphasized, the more they’ll be reminded: it matters.

Sometimes Constraints are a Creative's Best Friend

Don’t fall for the myth that creativity thrives without boundaries.

I recently interviewed a candidate for a design role. I asked one of my go-to questions, which is how do you take on the task of working with a brand that already has an established identity.

His response was as solid as I could’ve hoped for: I think I’m most creative when I’m trying to work within a set of guidelines.

When you work creatively, there’s sometimes a false perception that you would be at your creative peak if you could only do work you had full control over. The dream would be to have some wealthy Renaissance family from Europe be patrons of your work, paying you lavishly to work freely without prompt or constraint.

While the steady income is enticing, I wouldn’t expect your best work to come out of that scenario.

I recently heard a podcast interview with a pretty hardcore choreographer who works with Cirque du Soleil. He mentioned somebody meeting him and saying with envy, “I wish I could make art without all these constraints the way you can!” The Cirque du Soleil guy laughed and said, “if you only knew the constraints we work under every day. But you know what? That’s when we’re at our best!”

When creative boundaries exist for the right reasons they can provide so much more direction and inspiration along the way.

It’s all a matter of perspective. They aren’t meant to restrict your creativity but to focus it in the most meaningful way.

A game without rules isn’t much of a game

When I think of how rules can inspire new levels of creativity, I think right away of Improv. Seeing actors craft a scene as they go shows what a creative brain firing on all cylinders might look like.

But just because a scene can go in any direction doesn’t mean that it should. Some of the most important parts of an improv scene are the rules- the shared understanding by the actors of how the scene must unfold, and the conversation with the audience just before the scene that determines what goes in it.

One way to think of creative work, improv theatre or otherwise, is to think of it as a game with an object and with rules. The goal, as always, is to make your audience do, think, or feel something. The rules determine how you’ll do that.

Without rules, creative work is like a board game without rules. You open up the box and find curious pieces and items, but you don’t quite have any idea of how to use them or what it takes to win.

The balance between your objective and your boundaries is what brings you creativity to life. Seeing a chef face the challenge of making any delicious meal is less interesting than seeing a chef face the challenge of making a meal that includes duck leg and pomegranate in under an hour.

Don’t get restless for a work environment where your creativity has no boundaries. One doesn’t really exist. If one does, it won’t be good for your creativity.

Every brand has rules. Make the most of yours.

Of course, it can be frustrating for a creative to have ideas shot down constantly or to feel like they have no creative input. These experiences are the ones that make us see greener pastures where there are fewer boundaries.

But every brand has boundaries. At least the ones that know what they’re doing. Pixar has 22 rules of storytelling anyone can easily look up online. The nonprofit organization The Freedom Story has a set of ethical storytelling principles it adheres to. Not only do these boundaries help everybody on those teams stay on brand, they’re so revered other people look them up to learn from.

So if you have been feeling limited by creative constraints lately, here’s how you can make the most of the ones right in front of you:

1. Understand why they exist. Brand guidelines aren’t chosen haphazardly. Lots of thought goes into them, but this thought isn’t always widely communicated. It’s a lot harder to appreciate creative guidelines when you don’t really know why they matter.

2. If you do find yourself disagreeing with the reason why one creative boundary exists, ask yourself if you are the right person to challenge it. You won’t always be, and there’s a time to simply work with what’s in front of you, but those conversations are how brands are built collaboratively. It’s the reason why the best ones are bigger than any one individual person.

3. Think of it as a challenge, a game, or something fun that reminds you that this process is meant to draw further creativity out of you. You’re no longer just staring at a full fridge wondering what to make for lunch. You’re on Chopped, and an octopus, dark chocolate, Andean corn, and merlot is what you have to work with.

Colombia After Conflict

About a month ago, I took a trip to Colombia with my friend and teammate at Plant With Purpose, Milmer. While Colombia is not an active Plant With Purpose program, the trip was a valuable learning opportunity. I learned a lot about Colombia, how to use storytelling to bridge towards the future, and how environmental restoration intersects with peace building. This is a bit of a break from my usual sort of content here, but there’s still a powerful example of using storytelling to drive reconciliation, and it’s a reminder of why I do what I do.

“Eight years ago, you wouldn’t be able to come this way at night,” Milmer tells me. “Guerilla would have stopped you and forced you to pay.”

I’m surprised when he tells me the amount they would’ve demanded. Far more than I expected- or than I would be able to come up with. I’m also surprised, because eight years doesn’t seem that long ago, and thus far the evening’s drive has been really nice.

I pointed out that some plant in the surrounding brush smelled a lot like curry. Milmer laughs, being familiar with the smell but having never connected it to curry. We continue onwards towards the municipality of Viotá. The area, 80 kilometers outside of Bogotá was very recently a hotbed for FARC- the antigovernment insurgency that kept Colombia in a state of internal conflict for decades. In the early 2000’s the violence was at its worst, and horror stories were far too common.

Now we’re on our way to meet some people who were at the center of it. Former combatants.

“The people we’ll be talking to tomorrow have killed, sometimes brutally,” Milmer reminds me. “But you’ll see how much things have changed.”

The former combatants now meet alongside one another. Alongside their victims. Alongside the families of their victims. It’s all part of the very difficult process of reconciliation, and I was going to see what that meant in Colombia.

Seeking reconciliation is no easy task

Really, how do you sit next to somebody who took your brother’s life? How do you listen to their story and prepare yourself to receive them back into your community?

I immediately recall the words of an old pastor of mine who once said that your vision should be so big that you couldn’t accomplish it without God. I think this is what that looks like. Ever since then, I’ve been helplessly attracted to missions that seem almost impossible. Reversing climate change. Ending poverty. Making peace between enemies.

Just to remove any illusions that it’s an easy process, we drive by a marker on the road, signifying the site where guerilla ambushed and killed 22 paramilitary members in retaliation for a government crackdown. Just a half mile down the road was an elementary school.

When the time came for us to start interviewing the former combatants, it was a surprise to me that they were already in the group we had been walking with. Their appearances seemed so- ordinary. In hindsight, I suppose it’s actually unfair to have expected anything else. Those involved in conflict are simply, human, caught up in something horrible.

One of them, Leandro, introduces himself as a perpetrator and a victim as well. There’s something very nuanced about hearing it said that way that makes me think of how connecting with our own brokenness is key to healing with others.

Javier plants the seeds for a better future

“I was sixteen, and working in a plastics lab,” Javier explained “when the group came and took me.”

Javier’s family came to try and negotiate his release, only to be told they no longer had a son.

“For two years, I took my time. I saw others try to escape and get killed in the process. So, I studied everything I could observe. I worked to earn their trust. Day after day, I tried to do tasks to help, usually cooking but sometimes other things.”

I infer from his tone that the ‘other things’ were way more difficult to talk about.

“Then I made my escape.”

Javier left Viotá for years, not returning until the conflict had significantly abated.

After his story, Javier and his wife Josefa treated us to a fantastic lunch and a tour of their farm. They mostly grow coffee, though they have other crops, and we walked by the most impressive yuca plant we’d ever seen

Javier and Leandro and countless others expressed that the conflict emerged out of desperation. Out of wanting the local situation to be different and never seeing any positive change. Out of feeling ignored. Today, efforts to heal the community leave many of these same people more empowered to actually improve lives around them.

Now that the conflict has receded, there is a growing concern that greater human presence may threaten the surrounding forestry. The present moment is a critical one. But local actors are aware of this and are starting to take action and increase awareness of how to work together to protect the land. Few things unite people like a common goal, and protecting the earth is a great one.

It’s hard not to feel somber and discouraged when you hear firsthand accounts of the recent past in Colombia. But having seen what I’ve seen, it’s impossible for me not to feel a sense of hope. The impossible is in progress.

As if to drive home the point, on the way out, we stop at the same elementary school we passed by on the way in. The classroom is packed. The teacher introduces us to the students and they eagerly tell us everything that they do to care for the environment.

Not wasting water.

Throwing away trash in the right place.

Not tossing your gum in the streets.

The future can be so much better.

This piece originally appeared on the Plant With Purpose website.

Introducing the GrassRoots Podcast!

I’m launching a podcast this month!

I’ve got some exciting news this week from my own corner of the nonprofit marketing world: I’ll be launching a podcast with Plant With Purpose!

The show will be called GrassRoots and we’ll be focused on the way our current environmental crisis serves as a root cause for so many other urgent challenges around the globe, from education to human trafficking to spiritual health.

This will be a bit of a documentary style podcast. Through a blend of interviews, storytelling, conversations and raw recording, this show is all about looking at the climate crisis from a ground level, by hearing from those who are most impacted by it and those who are working to help. I’ll be cohosting the show with my Plant With Purpose teammate, Christi Renaud.

The first episode, The Roots of Everything goes live this week. This episode focuses on our origin stories that led us to Plant With Purpose. I share how human trafficking was one of the first injustices that caught my concern, and we talk with somebody from a leading anti-trafficking organization about what the environment has to do with it. I also talk to a Mozambican biologist about how the environment influences how it will recover from the recent cyclones.

We’re aiming for quality over quantity with these episodes, so we’ll be sending out six episodes this summer before recharging for what’s next. But I can’t wait to bring you these six!

We’re going to the front lines of the climate crisis

So much of the conversation around environmental issues happen at a high level. They’re typically focused on scientists and their projections, policy makers, and corporate action.

Unfortunately, guess who that leaves out of the conversation? The people who are most affected by the climate crisis.

Those would be the world’s poor. Especially in rural areas. Especially in exploited countries.

The vast majority of the world’s poor rely on subsistence agriculture to survive. The effects of climate change and environmental deterioration are already felt in their inability to grow enough.

For this podcast, we’re hoping to put the narrative of environmental action back in their hands. We’re going to explore how the vulnerability of not being able to produce food leads to desperation, exploitation, migration, and even conflict.

We’ll also be exploring how solutions will come from the bottom up. We look at people who are solving their own community’s problems, through GrassRoots action, sustainable practices, and empowering villages.

That’s why we went well out of our way to include these voices. Believe me, it wasn’t easy to figure out how to record a call with some friends in DR Congo or Haiti, but it was worth it.

Let’s dig in

Hosting a podcast like this wasn’t easy. There was a big learning curve with figuring out how to conduct a good interview, how to figure out all the tech equipment, and how to plan episodes for what’s still a pretty young medium.

This became a labor of love, however, and I learned a ton. I got to learn from really exciting guests, like Matthew Sleeth, Phileena Heurtz, Shane Claiborne, Kent Annan and others.

Even though I spend most of my time working on environmental issues, this show helped me realize how much more there was for me to know. I learned about park ranger dynamics in Africa, mountaintop removal in West Virginia, and rhino conservation efforts around the world.

I hope you’ll find listening to this podcast as enlightening as making it was for me. And I hope it gives you something you can apply to your mission.

GrassRoots is available for download on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher. New episodes release biweekly.

If you’re not doing the impossible… you should be!

Does the change you’re trying to make in the world seem impossible?

If not, you should aim a little higher.

An old pastor of mine once suggested that your vision should be so big that it would be impossible to complete without God.

Wherever your spiritual inclinations happen to land, I think that level of belief and ambition is one we should be aiming for.

In the process of trying to fundraise, seek grants, or introduce your project to strangers, it can be easy to pick up the habit of watering down your vision.

Suddenly your goal becomes to provide 15,000 meals instead of the bigger target of ending hunger in Los Angeles. Even an ambitious metric like starting 500,000 rural schools isn’t the same as saying that you want to make sure every child in the world has a chance to get an education.

There are times when it’s appropriate to be realistic and even conservative about what you think you’ll be able to do in a given time-frame. Budgeting is perhaps the most relevant example. But when it comes to the big picture, you need to keep your ambitions just one notch below impossible.

People don’t buy-in when your vision is easily attainable

Think about Pixar for a second. They might not be a nonprofit or social enterprise, but as storytellers, they also face the critical task of making people care. In just about every Pixar film, the main character’s ambition is often so lofty and unlikely, that it’s almost impossible.

A rat wants to be a Michelin chef. A trash compactor on a desolate planet wants to fall in love. An elderly guy wants to fly to Venezuela in the comfort of his own home using balloons.

It’s because of the loftiness of these goals- and the belief of these characters- that we as an audience buy into the story. We’re there for the ride.

If the characters’ ambitions were far more attainable, we wouldn’t be invested in the story at all. Think about it: how interesting is a story about a guy who wants to reply to 15 emails before lunch?

In fact, the only way you make a story like that interesting is if you throw a ridiculous amount of obstacles in between the character and the mundane goal that it then feels impossible. See Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle or Planes, Trains, and Automobiles for a couple of examples.

This dynamic doesn’t just apply to movies. If you lead an organization with an attainable, unchallenging vision, people’s interest will be lukewarm. If you raise the stakes, you’ll likely get more naysayers, but you’ll also find a good amount of people wanting to jump in and join.

Your belief in the almost-impossible is contagious

When people see somebody passionately pursuing a nearly impossible ambition, they get curious. They start paying attention. Then it happens. You get the first follower. Then a second. You find a few people who agree with you- your dream isn’t that impossible and there’s a way to get there. Then the crowd starts to form.

As more and more people believe in the impossible, it serves as a self fulfilling prophecy. The impossible becomes possible. This is the trajectory of every great movement, from suffrage to Civil Rights to LGBT+ equality.

The phrase “it always seems impossible until it’s done” famously belongs to Nelson Mandela, and he seems like the right person to have said it. During his early years, the idea of a post-apartheid South Africa would’ve seemed absolutely impossible. Many in the late 80’s and early 90’s thought a Civil War was inevitable.

Don’t shy away from expressing high hopes and visions that seem nearly impossible. You need to be bold in painting mental images of a better future that others can buy into.

When you do, you’ll see beautiful things happen. You’ll discover that you aren’t the only person with that same dream and that it isn’t so impossible.

Case Study: Solly Baby Wraps

A great example of brand inclusivity

Last week I announced that my wife Deanna and I are expecting our first baby in November. We’re extremely thankful for all the congratulations and well wishes that have been sent our way since.

When we learned that we were expecting, it took a little while to sink in. Although we’ve always wanted to have kids, when it finally happened it didn’t feel real. Not for a while. But as we’ve progressed along in this pregnancy, we’re getting to the exciting part of planning for the kid’s arrival.

That includes the part of turning our spare bedroom into a nursery and stocking up and registering for baby supplies. And asking all our friends for their recommendations.

In the process of doing so, I’ve discovered a brand I’ve gotten excited about. Solly Baby Wraps.

Quick note– we have yet to actually make any purchases. So I don’t have much to say about the product itself. I’m sure you can find reviews and stuff elsewhere online. But as a branding guy, I can’t help but note all the good things their brand is doing right.

Solly makes wraps for baby wearing that are light and seem almost inspired by the cloth wraps that have been traditionally used for baby wearing all over the world. Their brand conveys style, tranquility, and light.

Here’s what I love about this brand: representation

One of the best ways to get a taste for what Solly’s brand has to offer is to scan through their Instagram page @sollybaby.

Here’s what I notice: light, neutral colors. Definitely a lot of images of parents and their babies wearing these wraps. Fonts and accents that evoke a feeling of gentleness. Here’s what else I notice: Diverse parents. Different skin tones. Interracial families. Adopted kids. Dads wearing the wraps. Dads of color wearing the wraps.

As a brown-skinned dad who looks forward to the bonding process, it makes me extremely glad to find people analogous to myself represented on an Instagram feed of a baby brand.

Historically, these products would be exclusively advertised to women. For most of my life, advertisers saw women as the main decision-makers to influence when it came to infant care products. And while this is statistically likely, remaining inclusive creates the opportunity for others to see themselves in a place that they don’t normally see themselves. That starts to feel like an invitation.

When you are intentional about representation, it gets noticed

You’ll notice that Solly doesn’t make a big deal about their inclusive social media feed. I have yet to see them post a photo of a mixed family with tags like #yayadoption. I have yet to see them flaunt their inclusivity. Their pictures are strong enough to speak for themselves.

When you’re part of a group that is normally excluded from a certain world, it becomes easy for you to notice the few exceptions. The women in politics. The Asians in Hollywood. And when people see themselves represented in an ethical, dignifying way, it’s significant.

It’s a similar dynamic to why Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians were such successful movies. Our assumptions of our “prototype audience” often leave out important groups. It’s so easy to do this unintentionally. But when you become intentionally inclusive, people can’t help but notice.

Unfortunately, there are always excluded groups from every industry. But good things happen when you make room for those who are usually excluded. Think of clothing brands like Aerie who try to celebrate all body types. Think of nonprofit organizations that understand young people can be generous too, and speak to Gen-Z.

It’s enough for me to think that behind-the-scenes somewhere at Solly, somebody is thinking through their social media strategy, planning upcoming posts and curating their photo library, with an eye open for diversity and inclusion of all different types of families. Something that matters to me matters enough to somebody there.

Here’s one little action step that can give your branding a boost: What processes do you have in place to make sure that your brand provides representation for people who are usually excluded? Develop one and make sure to stick with it.

The Power of Proper Nouns

Kamala Harris! The Toronto Raptors! Blockbuster! Brett Michaels! Ecuador! Flight of the Conchords! Fortnite!

What am I doing? Beyond abusing the crap out of my exclamation point key, I’m showing off the power of the proper noun.

I’m sure you remember that grade school lesson on the distinction between common and proper nouns. Proper nouns refer to specific examples of things. It the difference between Oreos and cookies, Atlanta and a city, or Tupac and a rapper.

But there’s more to know about proper nouns than they might’ve taught you. They’re actually power nouns.

These names create an effect. They go places their common noun counterparts can’t go. They breathe life into the story you’re telling and that’s why they’re so valuable.

Proper nouns bring a story to life

The first power that these proper nouns hold is their ability to enhance the aesthetic of the story you’re telling.

Allow me to demonstrate with a passage from Matt Haug’s novel, How To Stop Time.

“I have a friend request on Facebook. It is her. Camille Guerin. I accept the request. Then- as Hendrich keeps talking - I find myself looking at her wall. She updates in a mixture of French and English and emoji. She quotes Maya Angelou and Françoise Sagan and Michelle Obama and JFK and Michel Foucalt. She has a friend in France who is raising money for Alzheimer’s and she links to his donation page.”

Compare this to the same passage stripped of its proper nouns:

“I have a friend request online. It is her. My old friend. I accept the request. Then- as he keeps talking - I find myself looking at her wall. She updates in a mixture of languages. She quotes poets and dignitaries and philosophers. She has a friend abroad who is raising money for a cure and she links to his donation page.”

Notice how the latter version feels way more detached? Specific references plant our writing in space and time.

Proper nouns can be used strategically to evoke emotion

Recall that random string of proper nouns I started this post with?

Maybe some of those words made you picture things in your mind. Those throwback purple Raptors jerseys or the shape of Ecuador on a map. Maybe Blockbuster evokes a sense of nostalgia while Kamala Harris’ name comes with a bit of stress associated with the next election season.

So much of our brain’s activity is connected to making associations with things we’re familiar with. If you mention Martin Luther King, your audience will be more ready for you to make a point about morality and justice. Mention Nickelodeon, and your audience is primed for something more playful. You can use these associations to help build an emotional arc in your storytelling, writing, and speaking.

Proper nouns help you bond with your audience

While it was on the air, Psych was one of my favorite shows. Every episode of the detective comedy was packed full of pop culture references, and you were lucky if you understood a third of them. They name dropped characters from John Hughes movies, forgotten baseball players from the mid-nineties, junk food you haven’t thought about for a decade, and beyond.

Their references were deep and specific; and of course that means a good chunk of the audience won’t get it. They made up for it by dropping so many of them. And the payoff was that there was always a surge of excitement when you did get it.

When your favorite show mentions in passing your favorite childhood baseball player who retired a long time ago, it triggers a sense of recognition and the positive feelings associated with familiarity. It also sends a significant message: this show is for you.

You don’t have to be a show to use proper nouns to create a more intimate rapport with your audience. You don’t even need to be lighthearted to do this. While pop culture references might seem inappropriate for an organization that does serious work in preventing child abuse, there may be quotes by Fred Rogers or stories from Malala Yousefzai that work in your favor.

So here’s the action step: make proper noun use part of your editing process. When reviewing a piece of copy, ask if any of the nouns could be replaced by something more concrete. That might just add a lot more strength to your story.

Can marketing be more fun?

I recently had a chance to collaborate with an illustrator. He’s somebody I had a lot of fun working with, and one of the big reasons why I wanted to work with him is because his artwork uses a playful, whimsical feel to start challenging and complex conversations.

The longer we worked together, the more I came to appreciate his creative process. As we sat down in front of a computer to sketch out concepts, I saw him enter a mode where he was his most creative self while having the most fun. The more he enjoyed his work, the better it got.

There’s nothing so unusual about that. Sports fans might notice that some athletes perform better when they’re loose and comfortable, remembering that they play for a living. As a general trend, we tend to do better at things as we enjoy them.

That dynamic expands into the realm of nonprofit work, startup operations, and marketing as well.

Think about the sorts of activities you truly enjoy. The ones that make you lose track of time. Is it lettering? Networking with people? Web design? Because there’s a strong likelihood that you have the ability to do that thing well and it can probably be applied to marketing a cause driven brand.

In professional business culture, there tends to be skepticism towards the idea of enjoying your work too much. There’s an expectation that work and play are two different activities, and the latter is reserved for weekends and off hours.

The truth is that if we don’t at least take a shot at trying to apply an activity we genuinely enjoy to our organizational goals, then we run the risk of missing out on our best work. If my illustrator friend felt guilty every time he had fun on the job, his best pieces would have never come into existence.

I’m not suggesting to exclusively do the things you enjoy as your workload. Every job, even the dreamiest dream job, will consist of things you get to do and things you have to do. But I am advising you to be more open to exploring your passions and interests and seeing where those can be relevant to your organization’s needs.

The fun part about the world of marketing and branding is that it constantly evolves. There are so many different types of activities that apply to the overall goal of increasing brand awareness that you have lots of opportunities to try different things. One season of growth might be doubling down on social media. Another time might call for you to show up at a bunch of conferences. Another might call you to take a step back and look at strategy.

So how do you decide what to focus on next?

There are a few different ways. Look at numbers, marketing analytics, and see what they suggest. Look at your strategic plan and think of what will get you closer to your short term goals.

And then also consider what seems fun and ripe for you to dive into.

Because your organization needs you to be the most creative, innovative, energized version of yourself, and that’s also true for each member of your team. And one of the best ways to do that is to find ways to use the activities that you are naturally drawn to to help the organization in some way.

With that said, here’s a suggested process for figuring out how to make work and marketing more fun.

1) Check in with yourself.

Ask what sorts of activities seem legitimately fun. And be open to writing everything down. Aim for a pretty long list. Maybe 20-30 things. What activities could you totally lose yourself in right now?

2) Think about the organization.

What are it’s biggest needs right now? What things does it need to accomplish in the next three months to get where it wants to be in a year? What about in five years? Again, make a list of important short term objectives. Maybe five or six of these.

3) Now you get to connect the dots!

Which of the things on your list seem to go hand in hand with the organization’s needs? Because with the two lists you just made there will most likely be a few things that connect.

If you can make some of your work consist of the type of thing that you can’t help but do, get ready for some exciting results.

Case Study: Dwayne Wade x Budweiser

I remember when Dwayne Wade first broke through in the NBA. I loved his style of play, even though I didn’t care much for the Miami Heat. A lot of time has gone by since his early career. Last month, Dwayne Wade retired.

Throughout the course of his final season, Wade would trade his jersey with other star players throughout the league at the end of each game. He swapped jerseys with LeBron, with Steph Curry, and others. I imagine that collection will be a fun one to show off to his grandkids someday.

Then, during the last week of his career, Budweiser came through and released a video to celebrate Dwayne Wade, by featuring him doing some more “jersey swapping.” Only this time it wasn’t with other players. A student who he helped support through his scholarship program gave him a cap and gown. A young girl gave him a pair of sneakers that belonged to her brother who was killed in the Parkland school shooting. Wade was an outspoken supporter of the school after the event. He even got a jacket from his own mom, who was motivated by Wade to turn her life around after some mistakes landed her in prison.

If you haven’t seen that ad yet, then go. Now. Check it out. It’s in a rare class of moving videos, and you can appreciate it even if you aren’t an NBA fan or if you happen to think Budweiser tastes like grass water.

Here’s what I love about the video:

It’s aspirational and attainable. It gives its audience something to aspire to, while feeling like it’s possible. The video reminded that our legacy isn’t built by our hero moments, but the small bits of good we do in between.

Most of us might look to big career wins to define success. Just like you’d expect a successful NBA career to consist of a handful of 40 point games, a championship buzzer beater, and a few All Star nods or an MVP award. We often strive for a legacy built on job titles, publications, and other hero moments.

The Dwayne Wade video reminds us that we’ll really be remembered for the lives we impacted along the way. How did we show up for the people in our community? Our supporters? Our family? Our teammates? It was a lesson that I felt applied to my own life, and it was a challenge that I felt I could take on.

In other words, the video was aspirational and actionable, and as distant as I feel from Dwayne Wade and Budweiser, suddenly it felt like they had something relevant to my own day to day experience.

The video was aspirational because it’s a pretty rare occasion when we get to come face to face with all the lives we will impact for better or worse throughout our life. A lot of us simply hope that in that situation we’d be able to see that our acts of kindness and generosity made a real impact.

That gives us something to aspire to. Something that won’t come easy, but that offers hope for a moment in the future where lives are changed because of the way we spent our days.

Purpose driven branding does this well. It reminds us of the best versions of ourselves.

At the same time, giving somebody something to aspire to doesn’t work if you don’t keep it attainable. Show a scenario that people can imagine themselves in.

A similar ad campaign might have focused on some of Dwayne’s great basketball feats, showing clips from his performance in the 2006 NBA Finals, or that one time he hit a game winning three in overtime against the Bulls. But that ad wouldn’t have resonated as well.

I’m never going to play in the NBA and I’ve accepted that. Most people won’t play in the league. A highlight reel might’ve been impressive, but nowhere near relatable. A viewer probably wouldn’t be able to see himself or herself in those clips.

Here’s the lesson for anyone trying to put together materials for other people- tell a story that’s aspirational but attainable. One that inspires people to be the best version of themselves, in a setting they can relate to.

Maybe you work in a country where most of your audience will never go. Maybe you work on an issue that is widely unfamiliar to most people. But maybe you can find a component of your work that still connects with them. Look for a simple truth that remains true across contexts.

Like the fact that whether you’re on the court or off, on the job or off, your legacy is built through small moments that last.

Creativity is a MUST for Changemakers

Have you ever watched a commercial for shampoo or insurance or beer and thought about how much effort went into a thirty second ad?

Every line of dialogue, every frame of video, every element of design was painstakingly thought about. Probably debated about by a large team for a long time. All for those thirty seconds.

Our world doesn’t lack people with the creative skills that it takes to move people. What our world lacks is a better sense of priorities when it comes to applying their skills.

Nicholas Kristoff writes that toothpaste is marketed with more sophistication than the life saving efforts of aid groups.

Our world doesn’t need toothpaste. I take that back. We do need toothpaste and I wouldn’t want to live in a world without it.

But I mean to say that our world isn’t in as desperate need of toothpaste the way it’s in need of clean water. Or trees. Or racial justice. Or education. Or women’s equality. You get the point.

Every nonprofit, foundation, or cause centered brand could make an even bigger impact if they went all-in on creative storytelling.

See, if your aim is to create lasting change in the world, you can’t do it alone. You’re going to need other people to join you. You’ll need partners of all sorts. Funding partners. Program participants. Cheerleaders to help get the word out. Donors and volunteers.

In other words, you’re going to need to create a movement. And the only way to do that? You need to move people. You need to transport them from the routines of their daily life to the front lines of the problems you’re trying to solve.

And how do you move people?

That’s where creativity comes into play.

You need media assets that bring your issue to life. You need photos, videos, and stories that make things real for the person seeing them.

You need a voice and visuals that lets your audience know that your mission is theirs too. Fonts, color palettes, aesthetics, and other elements all send signals of who a message is for.

You need to master the art of storytelling, so that the story somebody tells about themself overlaps with the change you wish to see in the world.

You need a strategy for how to get all of this in front of people. Because in a world where technology rewrites these rules every couple years, we always need to relearn the art of showing up.

All of the nonprofits I get the most excited about, from IJM to Preemptive Love Coalition and many others, have invested heavily in the way they tell their story. They have strategic brand guidelines. They know that every message matters.

Throughout history, figures like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela applied creativity to invite people into a new story about their country and their relationship with each other.

And now it’s your turn. If there’s a change you want to see in the world, and I’m sure there is, how will you double down on creativity?

When Life Asks Its Most Urgent Question

When did you know you were meant to live for more?

I remember the lights going off in the theatre, the shaky handheld footage, and the audience being completely captivated. I will never forget the way I felt by the end of the film.

I was in high school watching a documentary about the conflict in Darfur. More specifically, the film highlighted the way children were being forced to fight as soldiers in the war, being forced through some unimaginably traumatic experiences.

This was the first time I had ever seen anything like this. I was astounded at how horrific some things in this world could be. But the film also highlighted the efforts of a few people who were working to end this crisis and to build justice in Central Africa.

At the time, I had actually been going through a pretty rough patch of depression. Life felt a little empty and I questioned if there was anything that made my time on Earth really worthwhile. After that moment in the theatre, I felt like I had an awakening. Life wasn’t about seeking my own pleasures, it was about serving something bigger. I felt like I finally understood what Martin Luther King meant when he said that life’s most urgent question is “What are you doing for others?”

What was that moment for you?

Think of a time in your life when you realized the old way of things wasn’t going to cut it anymore. Think of a time when comfort started to feel uncomfortable, when you realized that we were meant for much, much more.

Maybe you took a trip somewhere that completely blew up your perspective. Maybe you met somebody who was a walking example of what a beautiful life looked like. Maybe you experienced a life changing incident that gave you no option to go back to being who you were.

Sometimes this moment isn’t even a moment. Sometimes it’s a string of incidents that seem to awaken some other sort of awareness in you. A conversation with a friend. An article that came across your newsfeed that you couldn’t stop thinking about. A thought provoking book.

No matter what your call-to-action was like, it left you with a desire to do something that mattered. You could no longer be satisfied just living for your own enjoyment or comfort. You needed to go beyond. You suddenly realized your need for purpose.

It isn’t about knowing all the next steps

After the credits of the documentary had rolled, I realized the impact that a well told story had on me. The film was both eye opening, and artistically bold. I had always been a little bit interested in doing something creative in the future. Now I started to think it would be much more fulfilling to use those creative interests to direct people’s attention towards important issues that weren’t getting enough focus.

I now work as the main creative person at an international humanitarian organization.

The path that connects these two points, however, is far from linear. My moment in the theatre didn’t tell me what I should study in school. It didn’t reveal to me whether or not I should eventually do grad school. It didn’t point directly to any of the internships I ended up taking or any of the time I spent abroad. All that came later.

Instead, it simply showed me that the old way wasn’t working. It showed me that I needed to find something bigger than myself to live for. It didn’t show me all the next steps that would lead to my purpose. It would simply show me the direction I should start walking.

Remind yourself often of why you began

I often let myself flashback to that moment in the theatre. I get the chance to share my story a lot and that’s a pretty pivotal scene. It set into motion the things I now do every day.

I think it’s important for anyone who does important work to frequently remind themselves of why they began. When you’re working to make an impact, it isn’t all mountain-top experiences. In fact, some of the most important work being done around the world consists of a bunch of small actions taken day after day.

If that describes you, then it can be a little too easy to lose sight of why the things you do every day matter. It’s easy to let the daily grind obscure the bigger vision. Reminding yourself of why you got started can help breathe life back into those daily activities.

And if you feel like you’ve just set off on your journey- it sometimes takes a while before your moment of awakening turns into everyday life. Don’t rush the process, because it’s a beautiful one. But if you ever feel stuck working an odd job while saving up for the next step, if you ever feel like finding the right opportunity is taking too long, or if you ever start to consider taking the safer route you know deep down isn’t for you, simply do this:

Remember why you started, when life asked you its most urgent question.

2018's Most Memorable Meals

Bao Bei (Vancouver, British Columbia)

During our time in Vancouver, I knew a good meal in Chinatown was a must. All signs pointed to Bao Bei as the spot to go for dim sum and small but nicer plates.

I was so happy with that choice. We ordered a wide mix of things, from pieces of bao to sautéed broccoli rabe. There wasn’t a bad thing in the mix, and afterwards? We went to Juke Fried Chicken next door for a bonus meal.

Rye Bread Ice Cream at Café Loki (Reykjavik, Iceland)

Café Loki was the restaurant in Reykjavik right across from the cathedral offering Icelandic Platters. Given how much a meal costs in Iceland, this wasn’t a bad way to try a bunch of their more famous items, like dark rye, salmon cuts, and fermented shark in small bits.

When we were finished, however, we added one order of dessert since we heard the rye bread ice cream was quite good. It was! I don’t know how to explain how perfectly they got the crumbly rye bread texture to blend so well with the creamy ice cream, but it almost created a new item all together. Soft but airy, sweet but with the deeper taste of rye. And it was drizzled with rhubarb honey. If only I knew of any other place to get this than downtown Reykjavik.

Bresola e Arugula Pizza from Pizzeria Magnifica (Rome, Italy)

When we were in Italy, we tried to track down the best pizza I ever had at a pizzeria that was tough to identify. We succeeded at this, but also, it may have been dethroned.

On our first night in Rome, our host recommended Pizzeria Magnifica. We went in so late that we were the only ones there and we thought they were closed. They served us and it was everything great about an Italian pizza. Fresh cuts of bresola. The spike of arugula. Generous olive oil and a crispy but airy crust.

Hattie B’s & Prince’s Hot Chicken (Nashville, Tennessee)

Hot Chicken was a must in Nashville and thankfully I had enough time in town to eat at both iconic spots. Check out the Ugly Delicious Chicken episode to dig into the history and debates surrounding these two places.

Nashville Hot Chicken continues to creep up my list of favorite guilty pleasures. My verdict between these two spots? I preferred the chicken at Prince’s but I was more partial to the sides and everything else at Hattie B’s. Sorry if that’s an overly diplomatic conclusion, but that’s how I roll.

Madame Paulette’s Cornmeal Jambalaya (Fonds Verrettes, Haiti)

Of all the meals on this list, this would be hardest to recreate. After a long day of filming, Madame Paulette served us a meal that looked a bit like a platter full of polenta, topped with chicken and some veg.

The meal was clearly made from corn, but I took one bite and knew I’d recognize the flavor anywhere. Jambalaya. And given the creole connection between Haiti and Louisiana this shouldn’t have been a surprise. But it was and it was a tasty surprise at that.

Szechuan Lamb Noodles at Kettner Exchange (San Diego, California)

We went for dinner in Little Italy for Deanna’s birthday and the way this sounded on the menu was too good to pass up: Szechuan noodles in a shiitake sauce, with ground lamb, black pepper, and chili oil.

This dish lived up to my expectations and hit it out of the park. The mushroom based sauce and the heartiness of the lamb made it a smooth offering. The chili oil brought just enough heat to liven it up. So glad that at least one thing on this list is pretty local.

Guisados (Los Angeles, California)

We went to the one smack in the middle of Downtown LA. I loved it. When it comes to tacos, I often think simpler is better and street tacos are my favorite expression of that.

What Guisados absolutely nails is braising their meat just right. It’s easy enough to go to town by trying to order one of everything on the menu, which is almost what I did.

Basil Gelato from Stalin Gelateria (Vernazza, Italy)

Eating a ton of gelato is inevitable when you’re in Italy. After a while, you start to get used to the same flavors all over the place. Nothing wrong with that! But there’s little mystery about what each gelato shop will offer- fragole, limone, melone, tiramisu, hazelnut, etc.

But, in Vernazza, there’s Gelateria Stalin. (Dunno why it’s called that!) It’s right at the end of the three hour hiking trail that would’ve brought you over from Monterosso and at that point you’d likely have worked up the appetite for gelato. And you see it on the menu- basil. And it is surprising and refreshing and wonderful all in one.

Breakfast at Monell’s (Nashville, Tennessee)

This place came highly recommended to us while we were in Nashville, so we went to the spot in Germantown for breakfast. This place encourages family style meals, meaning you’ll share long tables with strangers, be made to keep you phone out of sight, and fed like a champ.

The breakfast spread included pancakes, sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, and a whole bucket of fried chicken. Plus we befriended a nice couple from Connecticut and a family from Houston.

Pici at Enoteca Bacchus (Montalcino, Italy)

Pici is the signature dish of Siena and the surrounding area. I’m not the biggest fan of spaghetti, but it’s almost like somebody took the concept of spaghetti and reworked it into something I would really like.

Thick hand rolled noodles are the main feature. They’re usually then topped with a wild boar ragu, but another common sauce is cacio e pepe. This place in Montalcino made a completely masterful version of the former. Perfect with Chianti.