Being Young and Making an Impact

I just watched a great video on TED.com of Natalie Warne’s presentation Being Young and Making an Impact. Natalie tells an amazing story of her involvement with Invisible Children, an organization involved in ending the use of child soldiers by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Africa. She explains that what made all of their triumphs possible was the acts of Anonymous Extraordinaries, and that you should follow your dreams because they are what drives you, not because they will make you successful or famous.

Natalie’s mother had two pictures in their apartment: one family picture, the other of her mother at 12 years old looking into the eyes of Martin Luther King, Jr. Natalie would always imagine it was her looking into his eyes, and though she didn’t get to meet Dr. King, she did get to meet Dr. Vincent Harding, who wrote many speeches for the late Dr. King. She explains that Harding is an example of an Anonymous Extraordinary, and was just as important to the Civil Rights movement in his behind the scenes role.

She struggled to find her identity in high school – she received hate letters for being black, and was forced to pick a race due to her mixed heritage. But that situation made her resent both races, and it wasn’t until she saw the film Invisible Children that she found her identity. The film was about Joseph Kony’s use of child soldiers in the Lord’s Resistance Army, and what struck her the most was how one man could start a war that has lasted 25 years.

That made Natalie ask the question of what could one 17 year old do to end the use of child soldiers. She joined the Invisible Children foundation, and flew to San Diego to be meet with the founders. They told her getting a bill passed would be the first step, which lead her on a journey that took her all the way to the Oprah show to gain support.

However, getting on Oprah wasn’t her defining moment. Oprah was a checkpoint on the way to the bill, and the signing of the bill by the president was her defining moment. She wasn’t there, none of the interns were, and yet she felt just as much a part of the movement. Just as the family who ordered 100 boxes of pizza was part of the movement. It was people doing whatever they could, the Anonymous Extraordinaries, that drove the movement, not the Oprah moments. Natalie states that not even a number of Oprah moments strung together could fuel a movement as much as Anonymous Extraordinaries. That is what brought 100,000 people to her rescue event in Chicago that got Oprah to listen to the Invisible Children message.

Natalie says that this is what will define the new generation, and I foresee many business innovations if people do start following their dreams simply because it’s what makes their heart sing. If one person can get Anonymous Extraordinaries to gather around a vision it creates a truly powerful force.