Who Are You?

I’ve seen people take disasters
and turn them into opportunities.
I’ve seen people take the best opportunities
and turn them into disasters.

How people react,
what they do,
depends upon who they are.

As Dan Pallotta shares

“All of our focus is on the doing.
We obsess over the latest models
churned out by for-profits and nonprofits alike.
The social enterprise classes
at Harvard Business School
study the things people are doing.
When a foundation asks for an impact report,
they mean the impact of the doing.

It is all backwards.

What we should be asking
is who people are being.
Are you being courageous?
Are you being authentic?
Honest? Rigorous? Unstoppable?
Because that’s what really makes a difference.

You can run the largest NGO on the planet,
and if you’re being chicken-shit,
then you’ve squandered the powerful position
you’ve been given.
It’s who you are being that matters
— whatever sector you’re in.”