Over the course of the Global Medical Brigades Conference last weekend, I had the privilege of listening to two very interesting speakers talk about their approaches to life in hopes of inspiring their attendees to make changes in their own lives. I first listened to Linda Caldwell’s talk called, “Learning How to Help A Society Help Themselves — The Appreciative Inquiry Approach“ and then shuffled over to watch the keynote speaker, Bob McKinnon, make his presentation called, “Make it Happen: A call to action for risk takers, doers and agents of the future.” I noticed my true sense of passion for helping people as well as the ability to inspire others as I listened to these speakers, and I believe their intentions to inspire were truly working on me.
The first speaker I watched was Linda Caldwell. She is a Professor of Recreation in the Department of Park and Tourist Management here at Penn State and is the Director of the Global Leadership Initiative as well. She talked about how she went abroad to areas in Africa and practiced “Appreciative Inquiry” with the people in these places. The concept of Appreciative Inquiry in this context involves the idea that if Americans or people from more privileged countries travel to a third world country in hopes of promoting positive change, they must approach the root of the problem in a positive way. The root of the problems in these countries is, of course unintentionally, the people. The people are the ones living in these areas and the only ones who know the true story behind living here, including their struggles and inconveniences as well as the aspects that bring them joy. They are also the only ones who can come up with ideas and take action to change their lifestyle for the long-term. That being said, if for example, Americans, come to a third-world country and ask the people everything that is wrong with their community in hopes of changing it, the problems will seem overwhelming and this approach can lead to self-destructiveness and shame instead of progress. Also, if Americans come and simply change the society themselves, no long-term change will take place because the Native people will not understand how or why the change has happened and therefore cannot keep it going, and feel disrespected. Therefore, the Appreciative Inquiry approach focuses on a dialogue between the people living in these communities and those visiting them. The visitors ask questions prodding answers about the positive aspects of the community in order to strengthen those. This approach truly inspires and empowers the people in these third-world countries through recognition of their successes and in turn, building confidence. Therefore instead of approaching people with a condescending or doubtful tone, this type of leadership uses an approach of respect and humbleness to give others the power of autonomy.
Bob McKinnon’s presentation was equally inspiring and, I felt, enhanced by the ideas I obtained from the previous talk. His main message was “Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.” At first I doubted this message a bit because the phrase, “Do what you can” seems to be a bit limiting at times- we are often capable of much more than we think we are, and this phrase seems to encourage limiting oneself. However, McKinnon gave twelve examples of people who proved my doubt wrong, and exemplify the true message behind the speaker’s philosophy. He gave one example of a man who studies viruses for a living. This man had read a story about gang violence in the United States and wondered what he could do to help, not thinking that he had the resources to make much improvement in this area. However, he realized that gang violence spreads in a similar way that viruses spread, so he used his specialty knowledge as a metaphor to promote change in a seemingly unrelated way. He decided to hire gang members to stop violence in communities and in that way, the gang members actually had jobs and were using their skills to positively impact the world. McKinnon gave another example of a man who traveled abroad and saw poor kids asking for money in the streets. He knew it was unacceptable to give them money, so he handed one of them one of the only readily available items he had at his reach- a pencil. The kids expressed their gratitude and need for more pencils, so the man started and organization called Pencil to Promise which raises money to buy children in other countries writing and drawing supplies that seem so mundane to Americans, but are actually extremely valuable to others as a form of expression. McKinnon also talked about an ex-marine who used his desire to help people and skills as a qualified, highly-ranked military personnel, to create an organization giving other ex-marines the opportunity to use their skills to help people in Haiti. Basically, these people realize something missing in the world and use this realization as well as the skills and knowledge they have to bring people together and create something impactful.
Both of these speakers emphasized the idea of positive leadership in order to make an impact in the world. The speakers were truly inspiring in their approaches to spread the word about these leadership methods, and their stories were unquestionable. I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to witness these presentations and hope that I can take their words as advice on how to live my life each day.
