What does it take to lead a successful movement? Lots of money? Friends in high places? Tons of influence?
Or maybe just the ability to bridge trust and build relationships. Just maybe.
Our country has an amazing commodity that allows all of us to pursue our dreams, raise our children the way we see fit and build wealth. It’s not our GDP or anyone on Capitol Hill. It’s called bridging trust—the ability to trust beyond our in-group and bridge into different ethnicities, religions and races. Bridging trust is an incredible thing you don’t see in many countries around the world, and it’s actually disappearing from the United States.
But there is hope and encouragement that trust can be restored, and we can hand a country to our kids better than we found it. In fact, it’s happened in this country before.
In the early 1900s, coming out of the Industrial Revolution was a tough time. No one was stepping up to lead. So Rooftop Leaders like you and me inserted themselves into a new movement to create one of the longest periods of social capital and building trust in our nation’s history. Virtually every community-based organization that we know started during that time, from Kiwanis to Alcoholics Anonymous. It was leaders just like you who said, No one is stepping up, so it’s on me.
And here’s the thing: By virtue of your Internet connection, you already have more resources (and just as much reason) to step up in the same way—to lead a movement.
What if you don’t feel qualified to lead a movement?
Rooftop Leadership is service-based leadership. It means inspiring people to follow you through low-trust, high-conflict situations not because they have to, but because they want to. It doesn’t mean feeling qualified to lead, it means feeling called to lead.
There’s never been a more powerful time to carry your torch, to create a movement, to mobilize and inspire people to do great things.
If this makes your heart sing, I want you to think of these three things you can do to begin building a movement:
- Build your tribe. Build a cause or a belief. If you tell people what your tracks are, people with a common belief system will follow you. You’ll be surprised how many people will want to come with you.
- Take the microphone. There are so many amateurs and self-advancing people who only have their own agenda in mind who have the microphone. It’s up to us to take it. My tribe is growing, and now I’m going to take the microphone. Be an advocate and a voice for a message that’s bigger than yourself.
- Don’t be afraid to punch above your weight. People will tell you not to rock the boat or put yourself out there or you’ll get your heart broken. I don’t buy it. You have to be willing to take the risk and punch above your weight. Push through those naysayers who tell us not to do that because people are waiting for your message and your voice, but if you can’t push through that resistance, no one will ever hear the message you were made to give. Don’t look back.