How to spot a changemaker: signs, habits, and habitat
Have you ever wondered if something is wrong with you?
If that is because you feel responsible for the world’s problems you did not cause, see possibilities others miss, and feel compelled to improve this world, you may be a change-maker. And that makes you the world’s most precious resource.
Over my 20+ years of research and practice in transformation across six continents, I have become convinced that changemakers are a distinct type of people that exists outside of all known psychological profiles.
The signs
I have observed changemakers to exhibit a consistent set of five attributes:
They can’t help but feel responsible for the world’s problems they did not cause. Guilt for all that goes unresolved is the surest tell you’ve spotted a changemaker in the wild.
They see possibilities others miss; alternative but plausible futures where today’s problem cease to exist.
They can’t stay in their “lanes.” It is not “just a job” for them.
They feel compelled to intervene. They’d rather dare to improve this world and fail than not try at all.
Their appetite for uncertainty is greater than that of the general population. Like ballerinas’ legs seem to wrap around their bodies, changemakers’ comfort zones seem more pliable.
WARNING: If you — or somebody you know — exhibit the symptoms listed above, you are a changemaker. This makes you the world’s most precious and least valued resource.
Image credit: Pat_Photographies
Ecological function
Our work — remaking the world for the better — sure is cut out for us. For centuries, our impact has been haphazard. The unlikely upside of nearly assured self-destruction. An incidental byproduct rather than the planned outcome of our effort.
Thankfully, we are creative, versatile, relentless, and many!
Misunderstood, ill- or unequipped, short on support or altogether vilified, we’re still unstoppable!
Imagine what we can achieve without the counterforces we combat on the daily?
The dangers
As changemakers, we are ever navigating major fault lines.
Loneliness. Most change-makers — and I have asked hundreds worldwide — feel alone. When most people can’t understand why we care — why you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders — it can be isolating.
Shame. If guilt is brutal, shame is cruel. Unlike guilt, which at least picks on behavior, shame concludes that you — at your core — are no good. Dr. Brené Brown is a leading social researcher on this topic, and I would be honored to apply her findings to the change-maker community.
Burnout. How do we call it a day if the world is still on fire? How can we give ourselves permission to watch Netflix if [insert the entrenched problem you fight] persists? For changemakers, overwhelm is commonplace. If unchecked, it is debilitating and leads to depletion and burnout. While I have started, I hope your engagement helps me understand this better.
Mental health. Anxiety may be the only rational response to awareness. Who can blame us for depression when our efforts to shift entrenched systems feel futile? I even know of changemakers who deemed taking their own lives as the responsible thing to do. Feeling “othered” makes our experience only harder, and I welcome collaborations to research whether change-makers are more likely to experience mental health challenges and chronic illness.
Other sacrifices. We rely on support from our partners, families, and friends. We don’t climb the right ladders. We borrow money that’s not for ourselves. We forego expected commitments in favor of our work in the world. I don’t yet know how to talk about this category, but perhaps you can help me understand the real value change-makers create for society, and the cost they unwittingly pay to do so.
Hands down, there are easier ways to make a living and to craft a respectable life.
The perks
After all that (necessary) gloom, YES! There are upsides to being a changemaker!
Meaning. Remember how many good outcomes come with a sense of meaning? We hit all those balls right out of the park, reaping (another research collaboration I’d welcome) the substantial correlated benefits.
Impact. Changemakers are a step (or several) ahead of normies who find exercises like, What would you like people to say at your funeral? confounding.
Community. The biggest reason I recommit, every day, to doing what I do is the people it puts in my life. On the not-so-good days, it is the unbearable loss of the fellowship with other change-makers that motivates me to figure out how to live and thrive as one.
Do I have a choice whether to be a changemaker?
I don’t think so, but you tell me.
I doubt you ever knelt before your god and asked them to show all the horrid, shameful things about this world and to make you feel personally vested in making it right. And yet you do. And so do I.
Twice, I tried to ignore my wiring. To “pray away” the changemaker by deciding that I would, damn it, be content with charting a path that prioritized “number one” (aka, me) and felt generous when that cup overflowed. According to sources close to the experiment, I was miserable to be around. And that was after I masked the true torment.
It may well be in our DNA to dare to change the world. It is a power. And a power that is not ours as much as it is ours to direct.
While being a changemaker may be a wiring we did not choose, we do get to choose how we navigate this world. How to make the difference that is in us to make. And whether we manage to do so with joy in our hearts. That is what this Substack is about.
Prime conditions for change-makers
Expect detailed posts and leading science on these high-level points.
Self-awareness. If what I’ve shared piqued your interest, dive deeper.
Community. You are not alone! Connect with people around the world who are wired just like you, starting with the many subscribed to this Substack.
Self care. I am no expert, but I’m told it helps. Let’s work on that together.
Tools. Chemists, geneticists, architects, florists, physiotherapists, and pet groomers all start with a base knowledge and a set of tools that define their professions. Until now, change-makers got, well, nada… Unacceptable. And another reason for my work.
My commitment to you
As we strive to accelerate the global transition to a brighter future, we must recognize, support, and equip changemakers for their vital role.
You may have felt yourself a misfit, been pegged as a troublemaker, or been honored as a mover-and-shaker. If you are a changemaker, everything I do — my writing, PhD research, advocacy, consulting — is for you.
I wrote Change-maker’s Handbook (2023) to distill my professional, personal, and research experience into a roadmap for impact.
My current PhD research aims to generate the “periodic table” of change-making. Imagine a comprehensive framework where every change element is identified and arranged, showcasing its properties and relationships and informing a robust, detailed roadmap to the impact you target.
My global consulting practice, Vivit, enables change-makers to launch and scale their transformational ideas.
I coach countless change-makers and am open to starting group sessions.
This Substack as well as my efforts on LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, and Threads aim to reach, validate, and support change-makers wherever they are.
The changemakers’ task is nothing if not vast, as is my hope that together, we expand and equip our ranks.
If you’ve wondered why you — or somebody you’ve spotted in the wild — are the way you are… Well, now you know.