By ewbexec
“Don’t Confuse Motion with Progress” -Paul Ellingstad
If you’ve read our last post featuring Jason Russell of Invisible Children, you know he urged us to action and to take a chance by being a little crazy and doing what it takes right now to face the largest issues facing our generation, today.
In contrast, Paul Ellingstad from HP’s Office of Global Social Innovation asked us for patience. He agreed that critical action needed to be taken now in order to begin turning the tide on the fight against extreme poverty. However, “lasting change takes time,” he said. If it doesn’t stick, then what’s the point? All you’re left with is a whole lot of wasted energy and effort. Be deliberate. We can’t accept the feeling of movement as a marker of progress. We must always check ourselves by asking the hard questions: Is this valuable? Is this effective? Is this efficient?
“We must strive to live by the ‘Rules of the Garage’” -Paul Ellingstad
At the end of his presentation, Ellingstad pulled up a slide of the HP “Rules of the Garage”. These concise 12 rules are the foundation of the HP philosophy. Ellingstad left them with us as a reminder that the most basic truths found in the most mundane of circumstances can be used to build an empire. Stay true to the things you’ve learned and be honest about what you can accomplish. And always work like you’re still in your garage just trying your best to build something new.
By ewbexec
"Write this down: Intention rules your life." -Jason Russell
At the closing plenary on Sunday for MCC, Jason Russell had the hundreds of students in the crowd mesmerized. Within his first minutes on the stage, he began urging the crowd to copy down his words--words of wisdom, advice, warning, and passion.
With sweeping hand motions and long strides across the stage, Russell urged us to find our passion, the thing that made us feel the most alive, and grab it. Not to let fear of judgment or failure inhibit us, but to celebrate it. "You are what you do everyday," he said. So, be brave and do what you're meant to do, every single day.
"Write this down: You are so powerful." -Jason Russell
He spoke emphatically of the power we have to change the world as young people. As you get older, you don't always have the freedom to take risks and be bold. There's more at stake. But now, at the brink of adulthood, we are limitless. So take the chance and step out of the crowd! Tear down the walls of tedious expectation and comfortable complacency and begin your journey because our generation's window of time to generate real change is closing quickly.
"Write this down: They will try to cut your wings."
He also warned that naysayers and cynics will try their best to 'ground you'. His response? "Don't listen." We can dream big and be crazy in order to face the incredibly urgent and serious issues facing our generation. Because if we aren't willing to be a little crazy in order to solve these problems, then what's the point in being grounded in an ugly reality?
"Write this down: Make a friend."
Russell's NGO, Invisible Children, was created because he made a friend from Uganda who had experienced the horrors of being forced to fight in Joseph Kony's child army. Hearing his story caused Russell to travel to Uganda, film the atrocities, and spread awareness around the globe. He stated that if we just make more friends then if they're in trouble we'd be racing to help because "you don't leave a friend in need."
To conclude his impassioned speech, Russell quoted Apple's "Think Different" campaign.
Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
are the ones who do.