How to Champion a Cause Using Non-Traditional Marketing - Steph Redlener

In Chapter 7 of 10 of her 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, creative talent agent Stephanie Redlener learns creative marketing from her father's efforts co-founding and marketing Children's Health Fund (www.childrenshealthfund.org) with artist Paul Simon. Redlener's father uses non-traditional approaches to build cause and issue awareness around bringing medical care to homeless and indigent children. Stephanie applies these non-traditional approaches in her own efforts both in advertising and non-profit work.

Jullien Gordon on Why to Use Alcoholic Anonymous Model for Personal Development

In Chapter 2 of 14 of his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon shares why Alcoholics Anonymous and its flat, sustainable, results-oriented, and empowering personal development model defines his own leadership style. Not only does the model promote accountability at the individual level, but also Gordon finds that personal development is most transformational in group settings. Gordon looks past the one-time personal development experience provided in conference settings to group settings that provide sustainable guidance and monitoring. This has led Gordon, who graduated from Stanford with an MBA and Masters in Education and earned a BA at UCLA, to start his "Career Change Challenge".

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen: What defines your leadership style and how would you like to evolve it?

Jullien Gordon: Alcoholics Anonymous defines my leadership style in terms of wanting to build a very flat, flat organization where everybody feels like a leader. I think AA from a personal development standpoint is transforming more lives than any other personal development organization out there today. When you look at the personal development usually there’s a guru on stage speaking to the masses and AA just flips that entire model on it’s head. It’s more sustainable, I think it’s more empowering and leads to more long term results than the traditional models of personal development and that’s where the Thirty Day Do It Movement comes in.

You have a group of people who care about you and you step into that group and you set a goal.  But, when you set that goal you also create a cost. So, that cost might be, ‘I’m going to give everybody in this group $50 if I don’t accomplish that goal.  I’m going to wash everybody’s car with a toothbrush if I don’t accomplish this goal.”  Whatever it is that is going to be embarrassing but bearable, right?  So, when you create that cost your likelihood of you achieving that goal increases and now you have people that care about you holding you accountable.

Erik Michielsen: How have you applied the Alcoholics Anonymous model to help others plan careers?

Jullien Gordon: One notion that I have is that personal development isn’t personal, right? And we have this idea of personal development being ‘I get this book, I read it, go in the corner of a room, I read it, then I’m transformed’ but then if the world around you doesn’t change then the likelihood of regressing is a lot easier and when you have a powerful group of people moving forward together I think you just have a better outcome rather than people trying to do it on their own.

Again with the personal development industry you go to this conference and then you meet all these great people there, but then you fly back to home or you back to your own world and you step into your family, your work environment and nobody knows the language and things that you’re talking about and therefore it’s so easy to go backwards and so when you have a group of people who is there to support you and understands the language you’re talking and understands the systems and processes that are behind you I think that that’s where you actually can have the most power results.

And so the next thing on the plate for me is actually something call the Career Change Challenge and it’s going to be a seventy-day tele-seminar where groups of people are being guided through a process to change their careers and so again… again it’s groups not individuals because I just feel like I can have more impact by empowering groups of people than I can by empowering one person. Now, every life is equally valuable but I think that there’s a collective wisdom that you tap into when you are actually moving in a group.

How to Resist Peer Pressure When Starting a Career - Adam Carter

In Chapter 14 or 16, micro-philanthropist and humanitarian Adam Carter shares how he has managed peer pressure and pressure to conform when carving his own, non-traditional career path. Upon graduating the University of Michigan in 1996, Carter opts to travel the world for several years, financing his travels through fund raising and a summer job selling beer at Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox baseball games. Viewed by many as not having direction, Carter continues his travel and, over time, evolves into graduate school at George Washington University and, then, a non-profit micro-philanthropy career financing communities projects.

Why Prioritize Passion Over Security Crafting Your Career - Adam Carter

In Chapter 13 or 16, micro-philanthropist and humanitarian Adam Carter shares how his non-traditional approach to career development has allowed him to pursue his passions. Carter sacrifices security and chooses instead to pursue his passion by working four months a year as a Chicago Cubs and White Sox beer vendor and traveling the world eight months a year as a micro-philanthropist. Carter suggests young professionals to follow their passion first and build a career from there. It is risky, but, as Carter highlights, it is also rewarding.

How Approachability Improves Non-Profit Field Work - Adam Carter

In Chapter 11 or 16, micro-philanthropist and humanitarian Adam Carter shares why he resists formal dress when introducing himself to local communities scoping non-profit project financing opportunities. Through experience as a travel guide writer and as a micro-philanthropist, Carter finds dressing casually and playing down appearance - in many cases shorts and tank top - provides an unassuming but heartfelt connection with communities. Carter finds himself not seen as a checkbook, but rather an individual genuinely interested in community challenges. As a result, Carter gets a better perspective and is able to identify and, in many cases, finance projects he might not have discovered by dressing formally and announcing his position. Carter is the founder of the non-profit Cause and Affect Foundation (www.causeandaffectfoundation.org).

How Immersive International Travel Teaches the Golden Rule - Adam Carter

In Chapter 10 or 16, micro-philanthropist and humanitarian Adam Carter graduates the University of Michigan and travels extensively across the world. Carter immerses himself in cultures across races, nationalities, and socioeconomic classes and, through the process, sees them as equals. As an equal, Carter then gets a better understanding of the roots contributing to impoverished communities and cultures. From this, Carter begins working through ways to create solutions to these problems, over time moving on to create Cause and Affect Foundation (www.causeandaffectfoundation.org) and become a micro-philanthropist.

Why Communities Need Local Heroes - Adam Carter

In Chapter 8 of 16, micro-philanthropist and humanitarian Adam Carter gets humbled time after time meeting local heroes, individuals who recognize a need in a community and act upon it. Rarely recognized or publicized, these individuals do little things to make a difference. Carter, in his work with Cause and Affect Foundation (www.causeandaffectfoundation.org) is a regular witness to these good deeds and, as a result, gets inspired to continue serving communities.

How Crowd Funding Donors Star in Micro-Philanthropy Story - Adam Carter

In Chapter 7 of 16, micro-philanthropist and crowd funding expert Adam Carter shares how each local investment he makes across underserved global communities is rooted in crowd funded participation. This element informs the narrative and evolving story behind his approach serving those in need across the globe. Carter, founder of the Cause and Affect Foundation (http://www.causeandaffectfoundation.org/), raises money from donors and travels the world each year to identify and finance local underfunded or undiscovered projects. Carter in effect takes his donors with him, allowing them to participate through his actions financing local projects to better individual and community wellbeing.

How Learning Local Culture Focuses Orphanage Non-Profit Investment - Adam Carter

In Chapter 6 of 16, micro-philanthropist and humanitarian Adam Carter shares how learning local Cambodian culture while working with orphanages separates real local needs from a Westerner perceived needs view. Asking why there are no mattresses, Carter learns children do not lack mattresses - many had been donated; rather, they do not sleep on mattresses. Carter uses this new found knowledge to redirect his investigation and identify a local need for kitchen supplies, whereupon he uses his Cause and Affect Foundation (http://www.causeandaffectfoundation.org/) funds to buy the orphanage kitchen supplies, in effect its own "Oprah Dream Kitchen."

Creating Solutions to Fight Child Malnutrition in Latin America - Adam Carter

In Chapter 5 of 16, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter discusses the origination and execution of several Latin American child malnutrition aid projects. In each, Carter works with local community groups to gather information, identify nutrition or operational gaps, and finance a project to affect positive change. From Brazil to Guatemala, Carter and his Cause and Affect Foundation (http://www.causeandaffectfoundation.org/) has collaborated with hospitals and helped finance programs ranging from baby formula to sanitation to hot lunch.

How Micro-Philanthropy Projects Complement NGO Efforts - Adam Carter

In Chapter 4 of 16, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter shares how his small, focused humanitarian project financing efforts complement work done by institutional non-governmental organizations (NGO). Carter highlights an instance in a Rio de Janeiro favela shanty town. A Dutch NGO purchases drums for a children's music class. Carter, noticing unmet demand, finances purchase of fifty new drums needed to increase class size by fifty students. The efforts shows how micro-philanthropic organizations such as Carter's Cause and Affect Foundation (http://www.causeandaffectfoundation.org/) serve those in need.

Live or Die Child Poverty Outreach in Brazilian Favela Slums - Adam Carter

In Chapter 3 of 16, micro-philanthropist and Cause and Affect Foundation (http://www.causeandaffectfoundation.org/) founder Adam Carter shares why Brazilian shanty town favelas offer a pure win or lose view into community philanthropy efforts. Failure to engage children early translates into high potential they will enter the drug trade and die young. Community programs and education initiatives provide favela children opportunities for hope and achievement. Based on experience working in several favelas, Charter shares that kids not engaged in these programs are all-too-easily lured into the drug trade, sometimes by the age of ten, beginning a downward spiral that often leads to death by age 25.

What Does It Mean to Be a Humanitarian - Adam Carter

In Chapter 2 of 16, micro-philanthropist Adam Carter provides his definition of what it means to be a humanitarian. Carter urges individuals to look beyond defining the word based on humanitarian organizations and think more about the word root, specifically the common humanity amongst society members. By acting on this common bond, built upon equal rights and shared fears, desires, and experiences, Carter captures the meaning of humanitarian purpose. Carter has been pursuing humanitarian work since graduating from the University of Michigan and is the founder of non-profit foundation Cause and Affect (http://www.causeandaffectfoundation.org/).

How Micro-Philanthropy Helps 80-Year Old Man Rebuild His Home - Adam Carter

In Chapter 1 of 16, micro-philanthropist and humanitarian Adam Carter finds clarity of purpose while rebuilding an elderly man's El Salvador home after a mudslide. Carter looks for the most direct way to support those in need by partnering with or complementing existing organizations, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In effect, Carter seeks and identifies overlooked or underserved opportunities to contribute, in this case pooling local labor resources and investing his non-profit's funds - in this case $300 - to rebuild the house of an 80-year old man, Senor Montoyo, after a mudslide catastrophe. Carter has been developing a micro-philanthropy career for over a decade and is the founder of non-profit foundation Cause and Affect (http://www.causeandaffectfoundation.org/).

How to Assess Kenya Mobile Health Care Project Viability - Michael Olsen

In Chapter 14 of 16 in his 2010 Cature Your Flag interview, social entrepreneur and technology consultant Michael Olsen walks through the Kilifi Kids non-profit decision making process for its mobile health (mhealth) project. First, Olsen and his team confirm there is community-based support within Kilifi to provide project resources. Two, his team identifies senior public health support, specifically at the Kenya Ministry of Health (MOH). Third, Olsen reviews at technology capability, ease of use, cost, and scalability and confirms technology, developed by organizations such as UNICEF, available and ready. Lastly, Olsen then confirms there is a story and an investment pitch that will resonate with project funders. Only after working through these decision inputs does Olsen green light and initiate the mobile health project.

Why Cell Phones Will Revolutionize Developing World Health Care - Michael Olsen

In Chapter 13 of 16, social entrepreneur and technology consultant Michael Olsen details the transformative potential of mobile health care - or mhealth - solutions across the developing world. Olsen specifically highlights public health and medical services access issues and how high cell phone penetration, especially in developing nations, can improve services scheduling, messaging, and provisioning in areas long without access to care.

What Rotary International Teaches About Balancing Service and Career - Michael Olsen

In Chapter 12 of 16, social entrepreneur and technology consultant Michael Olsen joins the 1.2 million Rotary International members across 150 countries. There, he learns how to integrate service into a balanced life and career. Olsen notes that beyond Rotary's motto, "Service Above Self," there is a focus on how to make contributions while also developing a lasting, fulfilling career. Olsen uses the Rotary approach, and Rotary funding, to create Kilifi Kids (www.kilifikids.org), a sustainable non-profit providing education and public health services from the Kilifi, Kenya community to the Kilifi, Kenya community.

How Non-Profit Assembles Mobile Health (mHealth) Project Team - Michael Olsen

In Chapter 11 of 16, social entrepreneur and technology consultant Michael Olsen founds a non-profit, Kilifi Kids (www.kilifikids.org) and builds relationships with Kenya-born project team members. The relationships develop across IT, education, and public health project initiatives and inform the organization's decision to pursue a mobile health care, or mhealth, initiative to use cell phones to improve health care data collection and service provisioning in Kilifi, Kenya local communities.