Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
I wrote this book for a distinct community of people I have come to identify as the change-makers. This is not a new term[1], so here are the two attributes by which I define this community for the purpose of this book and my work more broadly:
● Change-makers feel responsible for the world’s problems they did not cause.
● Change-makers have an above-average appetite for uncertainty; a quality that allows them to pursue solutions to those problems.
See more on this in Section 5 Getting Yourself Ready.
This book is for you if you recognize possibilities others miss; if you see an alternative but utterly plausible reality where today’s problems cease to exist. It is also for you if you have wondered whether your inability to stay in your lane means there’s got to be something wrong with you; if you can’t help fixing problems you did not cause. And it is for you if you have wondered why you seem, time and again, to choose the path less traveled – and perhaps concluded that you like discovering something nobody else has. You may have felt yourself a misfit, been pegged as a troublemaker, or been honored as a mover-and-shaker. If you feel personally responsible for making the world a better place, you are a change-maker even if you don’t think your impact warrants the title (and many of you don’t). And it makes you the world’s most precious resource. My work – and this book – is for you.
I hope that through this book, more change-makers self-identify and enjoy the validation and practical support that their vital purpose warrants. The change-makers’ task is nothing if not vast, so it is also my hope that I can help us expand and equip our ranks.
It is in your DNA to dare to change the world. It is a power, and a power that, I will argue, is not yours as much as it is yours to direct. This book is the guide for your drive to remake the world for the better.
[1] Most notably, the term has been central to Ashoka’s (est. 1980; www.Ashoka.org) vision of “a world where all citizens are powerful and contribute to change in positive ways.” Accessed October 10, 2023.