Cord Jefferson, the senior editor of GOOD magazine, shared this and more during the closing keynote for GES 2012. Based on his experiences a writer, editor, ethical consumer, son, and citizen, he spoke to issues of storytelling, crowdsourcing, confidence in yourself and the world, and living an engaged life. As a reporter who focuses on issues of race, politics, and animal rights, he writes what people sometimes do not want to hear – and is challenged to stay invested in his beliefs, when they no longer become convenient or easy.

One of the biggest pieces of advice Cord offered spoke to our role as emerging workers and people in the social change field, workforce, and world. Being young does not mean being stupid, uneducated, unqualified, he said. Age does not always equate to  experience or wisdom – it’s just a mark of when your parents procreated. In the new era of 27-year-old CEOs and creative minds like Mark Zuckerberg, young people have a voice. Use it, he said. Work hard, but do not let people take advantage of your youthful spirit. Hold onto that passion.

Live with honor and dignity in the tiny moments, he said. These are the times between public events, intellectual conferences, and projects, where it’s easy to make choices based on convenience, instead of staying true to your beliefs. This proves to be the true test. Cord challenged the audience to make this our measure of ourselves, beyond our professional success, as we all move forward into the post-GES world. There is a common thread between all of us, far beyond the acquaintances we have in common. Our duty, as people, is to find that thread and embrace it.

Here are some photos from Cord’s closing keynote and of delegates talking to him after his address.

Led by GES staff member Naomi Rosen, the team combined interviews with Northwestern students – GES staffers, other social change-makers, and many who work and study outside the realm of social chance – with lectures, GES staff activities, and their own research. The four actors presented a realm of experiences beyond their own, framed by the questions above. It was designed to challenge delegates and staff alike, to grapple with these issues while also trying to build meaningful individual lives.

One scene dealt with the story of student volunteers in New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina. For the first time in the narrator’s life, he was working alongside the people of the community he was trying to help – the same labor, the same goal. While some volunteers stayed in touch with the community, however, most did not. Were those relationships, which the speaker found so solid, really lasting? Is that important for change?

The play resulted in questions – no explicit answers. That, after all, was the point: to continue – and complicate – the conversations started this weekend.

Look at these photos, which don’t do this awesome performance justice!

Teju Ravilochan of Unreasonable Institute opened the presentation by drawing a metaphor to love.  He encouraged audience members to find a project or job that they feel as much passion towards as they do when they are in love.

After asking audience members to describe the crazy feelings of love, he asked, “How many of you feel the same way about your job?”

Ravilochan condensed his advice on finding this dream job to five steps.  He dared his audience to take risks and surround yourself with a strong supporters.

In her address, Elmira Bayrasli also stressed the importance of finding a position in life that you truly enjoy.  She told a story about her brother that wanted to be a mailman.  Her family members laughed at the idea, but after explaining his reasons behind her mailman aspirations, they conceded he had a point.

Receiving mail was the only way Bayrasli’s mother, an immigrant from Turkey, could keep in touch with her family back home.  Each day she set aside time to wait for the mailmen. Bayrasli’s brother the happiness the mailmen brought in her day, and wanted to bring happiness to others.

Bayrasli also stressed the importance of thinking about your needs in the process of finding a career path.“You don’t have to do just what makes others happy; you have to do what makes you happy,” she said.

Both speakers encouraged audience members to push themselves, but also stressed the importance of finding enjoyment in life. Check out photos from the final short talk here.

Watch the video:

In the Beyond Burnout workshop, Sean Knierim gave delegates tips to avoid losing their passion as their projects intensify. “Know what works for you­­­­—have different methods to recognize and mitigate stress.”

In the environmental responsibility workshop, Weslynne Aston warned against compromising integrity.  “Put truthful information out first before another organization reports your environmental impact,” she said.

Delegates learned how to deal with culture shock from Patrick Keane of ThinkImpact. A self-declared lifelong outsider, Kneane has had to overcome cultural differences to succeed.  He has found humor particularly helpful in making transitions, and sometimes being in a new environment has its advantages.

“Use culture shock to your advantage. It will bring a heightened sense of awareness, fresh perspective for your community, and personal growth,” he said.

Gordan Davis gave workshop participants a chance to look into the future, and address how to wrap up their projects when that time comes.

In Storytelling through Design, Sami Nerenberg encouraged delegates to make their projects more personal in order to reach success. “Bring it to the human scale, to one family, one person,” she said.

Nyla Rodgers cautioned her delegates to beware of overemphasizing poverty as they market their personal projects.

“With this kind of advocacy, you’re not trying to get everybody’s money. You
want donors who understand the importance of human dignity, who will not just
support a cause because they feel guilt or pity and who really want to change the
world.”

In today’s age, social media increasingly plays a growing role in this storytelling process. Malaka Gharib encouraged delegates to take advantage of the social media opportunities. Tweet away!

“How to Effectively Pitch your Story” and “Branding and the Social Enterprise” also addressed ways to improve storytelling successes.

Check out our photos from some of these workshops!

In the workshop on Interfaith work, we had a fascinating discussion on the enormous weight that religion plays in the field of development, engagement and social entrepreneurship. It’s the massive elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about, everyone tries to avoid, yet everyone thinks about. And what’s most important is that so many of the people in the communities served by development initiatives have very strong religious connections; often, the religious leaders are the most respected of the entire community. One of the most prominent religious-related conflicts that comes to mind is of course that of Palestine and Israel, but we discussed that of all the formal peace agreements that have been arranged between political leaders, not one has ever included religious leaders.

The facilitator brought up a concept called religious literacy, which is a way of “mapping the role of religion in the community you’re working in- the institutions, the people, the issues. Often its not just the old men with the beards, but many other community members who play a role as well”.

Here are some memorable quotes from the workshop:

“The other problem you have, is that when you ask people about religious groups in the development world, the first word you’ll hear is proselytizing. And in some societies that’s very disruptive.”

“When you get on the ground, it’s almost dumb not to be linked in to what’s happening in the religious world, because that’s the infrastructure. And yet, there’s a lot of tension, unease, and simple ignorance.”

Afterwards, delegates met with professionals to brainstorm ways to improve their projects during mentorship sessions. Photos from the mentorship session are here!

Sarah Berghorst from Bain shared with us four lessons she wished she would have known when she was our age. The first was the importance of getting entrepreneurial experience early and from every opportunity you pursue. She explained that her time as a Peace Corps volunteer was her first and greatest entrepreneurial experience. She went into a community that had an unmet need, recognized it, came up with a plan to meet that need, and then had to recruit other people to help her meet this need. By doing this she learned a lot of important entrepreneurship lessons and convincing others to care about her passion. Her second lesson was the power of engaging in the stories of those around you. Investing and engaging in the stories of the people around you can lead to great connections and make you a better leader. Sharing your own story holds vast importance as well to share what drive you with others. The third lesson was to get outside of your comfort zone and see what the other side of the equation looks like. For Sarah this meant leaving the public sector and going to business school to learn about the private sector. The fourth lesson was to know yourself, and take time for self-reflection. Sarah stated the importance of carving out time everyday to journal or mediate about what you accomplished that day, what you were proud of, and what you could do better.

Nathaniel Koloc shared his story of frustration with finding a meaningful job after graduation from college. While working through the first couple of years after graduation, he realized two challenges that he faced. One was the pressure to settle for a job he did not love. He stressed the importance of not jumping into a job that you are not passionate about, and to rather take the time to research all of your options, and find the one that most excites you most. The other challenge was to understand what he could contribute to the working world. This means that you should ask questions and learn, because you will not have all the answers after graduation. He stressed again and again the importance of putting forth the energy and time to figure out the best career for yourself, going against the pressure to settle, and to recognize it is a journey that will not be figured out quickly.

Sarah and Nathaniel’s energy and passion for their work as young people in development inspired the GES delegates and staff and was a perfect start to our second day!

Watch the video of Sarah Berghorst and Nathaniel Koloc:

This exhibit, the OpenShutter Project’s spring showcase, aims to challenge common notions and definitions of modernity and what it means to be “modern” through the vocabulary of faces and people in contemporary photography.

All showcased photos are the work of Northwestern students. Photos from our fall showcase, “One Lens, Infinite Perspectives,” and winter quarter’s “The Campaign” were also featured.

Viewers at the exhibit were able to participate in a silent auction for the photos. Proceeds will be donated to one GES delegate, as part of the Outcomes initiative.

For more on Open Shutter, check out their tumblr!

A common thread that ran throughout the workshops promoted humility and listening skills, which was emphasized by Andrew Youn last night at the Opening Keynote as well. Erin Archuleta, who facilitated the “Scalability and Replicability”  workshop, reminded the delegates to “deeply listen to the needs and voices of the community in which you’re working, to be on the ground before you enter a community and to gain their perspective” rather than impose your own. She warned that “if you’re placing your hopes and dreams on someone without doing the due diligence to see if your hopes and dreams work for them, it may not work the way you think it will”. Humility is absolutely vital to deep listening. When doing work on the ground, we should assume a “posture of humility” that enables us to foster deeper, more authentic relationships that productively produce tangible change.

The “Creativity and Communication” workshop served as reminder of how design can serve as an effective leverage for social good. Several tips to keep in mind are: “design is a process and a set of tools” and “simplicity is KEY to conveying a message well”. When writing your organization’s mission statement, go from what YOU want to do to how you’ll help everyone else/the WORLD. For example, go from “we want to create a plant-based substitute for plastic” to “we will cure the world of its addiction to plastic”.

Garrett Neiman, as well as alumna Sana Rahim during our Alumni Panel this morning, insisted that having conversations and reaching out to rich individuals is essential to building your project and gaining finances. It’s not a bad thing to do! Sana actually gave a beautiful turn of phrase on the topic: “asking people for money is giving people an opportunity to be generous and have an impact”. Neiman echoed that, saying that “you could meet someone that could help with your organizaion- either you get a major donor or a new friend!”

Check out photos from our first block of workshops!

-Frances Alexander

Threadless is “a community of people making cool stuff together.”  Originally started to respond to international disasters by creating designs, selling T-shirts, and donating that money to charity, they have now expanded to “give the creative minds of the world more opportunities to make and sell great art” while helping needy organizations around the world.  They are using their skills to do good, and because of this, they enable thousands of artists to use their skills to do good as well.

Standby Task Force works in the sphere of international disasters, creating a digital platform for outsourcing and resource allocation.  Through social media communication, Melissa Elliott helped to build a trusted network both on the ground in Haiti and around the world where immediate coordination led to speedy resources in needy communities.  She now volunteers on the Standby Task Force, where just yesterday she had 317 new Skype messages asking for resources as a result of earthquakes on the West Coast.

Nickell advised the crowd to “use your hobbies to do good. You never know what it will turn into. You never know what will happen.”

Elliott also emphasized the power of a single individual. “Every individual can make a difference; they just have to stand up and start.”

Be confident, and do something to start change in the world around you.

Check out photos from our first short talk, Crowdsourced: Group Efforts in Social Change.

Watch a video of the first short talk: