The Choice to Say "Yes" Is Always Within Reach
Secluded in the mountains of Montana for summer vacation, I was able to take time away from the hectic life of work, family, events, dogs, yard work, board work … I needed a brain break.
Packed in my backpack was Tracy Kidder’s novel Strength in What Remains. Kidder is an amazing storyteller, and I was looking forward to being inspired.
As I completed the book, I was reminded that we all have the choice to say “yes”—and that “yes” is always within our reach when we are asked to help or have an opportunity to extend a helping hand.
We can get so caught up in the “big problems” and the “big solutions” that we forget about the opportunity to just say “yes” and—as in Kidder’s book—that “yes” can lead to lives changed and even lives saved.
Upon returning to the Center for Social Innovation, I began to notice examples of people around me—all making the choice to say “yes.”
I was moved when Lauren Handel, an Executive Coach who has been supporting the Center for Social Innovation because she believes in its mission, shared how her husband David is rallying support for friends whose organic farm was burned to the ground. For David, the moment to act came when he least expected it, “I have never done this before, but I feel an urgency about this one. They are amazing, beautiful, hardworking people and the fire was devastating. They need your help.”
Project Redwood is another example of how the choice of yes can lead to something greater than ever imagined. Inspired by a panel on giving back at her 25th reunion, Carol Head and the GSB Class of 1980 pooled together their collective experience and financial resources to start the only venture philanthropy fund by a graduate business class. I am impressed by the engagement of over 120 members lend their expertise and resources to focus on projects that address extreme poverty worldwide.
I know saying yes is hard. Going the extra mile to help someone else out is time consuming. Pushing our limits into the unknown is often scary, and we all have busy lives. Yet, the choice is always within our grasp.
Even extending a random act of kindness can go far beyond your original plan, like in this 93 dollars club story.
When Greg Tehvan, the co-founder of Students Today Leaders Forever and a participant in the most recent session of our Executive Education Program for Social Entrepreneurs (EPSE), decided to thank the Dean of the Graduate School of Business for the transformation this program brought about for himself and his organization, he helped secure the program for dozens of other social entrepreneurs who in turn will have an opportunity to build their capacity.
All of these examples demonstrate the power “yes” can bring. For Lauren and David, their passionate call to action has gone viral, engaging people to lend their support in any way they can. Project Redwood will help social entrepreneurs all over the world with funding and support. Our EPSE program participants will continue to magnify their impact in the world.
Strength in What Remains is a testament to the power of “yes” and I can only urge you to pick up the book, read it, and when the opportunity arises, dig deep, take a breath, and say, “Yes.”
The more we can say “yes,” the more likely our efforts will lead to a more just, sustainable, and prosperous world.