10 Traits of People Who Change the World | Nonprofits, Social Enterprise, Service

What does it really take to change the  world? If your goal is to make a long lasting impact - whether that's through starting  a non-profit or social enterprise, a socially responsible business, running for public office,  or helping out through service or activism, what are the characteristics and traits and  skills that you should work on in order to increase your chances of success at making  an impact? That's what I'll talk about in this video. Throughout history the people who have  helped

change the world share many common traits. Ever since I was a kid i was fascinated by people  and events that changed the world by leaders and heroes who inspired others and made things just  a little bit better before they left the earth this fascination led me to travel across the  country volunteering major in social change leadership at my university start a non-profit  with a mission of inspiring others to take action and it eventually led me to you where we're  here connecting on YouTube

as you watch this and if we haven't met before hey there my name  is Amber Melanie Smith, I'm a non-profit founder and executive director of the nonprofit that i  started i make these videos here on youtube to help people who want to make a difference whether  that's through starting a non-profit of their own starting a socially responsible business helping  others through service or activism as i mentioned before basically all the various ways that you  could possibly change the world i'm here

to share the things that i've learned in the hopes that  it will help you out too and if you are starting a non-profit be sure to check out my website  FounderToFullTime.com, i've got some trainings and resources there for you. I also have a newsletter  that i send out for non-profit leaders and change makers of all types i'll leave the links to those  things in the description below and just one more little thing before i get into our topic of the  characteristics that it takes to change the wo

rld i just want to say thank you all of you  who are watching my videos here on youtube are change makers in your own way and i have  had such an amazing time getting to know you connecting to all of you people throughout  the whole world it's just astounding to me how interconnected you can be here on youtube  so i just wanted to acknowledge the community of change makers that we've had growing here over  the past couple of years through this channel and share my appreciation and gratitude for

you all  right let's get into this if you are setting out to create massive positive change in the world  good leadership and strength of character are core things you've got to have so here are 10  characteristics of people who change the world let's go characteristic number one is vision  if you are going to change the world you have to know what changing the world actually  looks like what does the world look like once you have helped change it not only do you have to  be able to clearly envi

sion this vision you also have to be able to clearly articulate this vision  to others it's important that you're able to keep this vision simple enough for the masses to  understand while also not being embarrassed by big or seemingly lofty goals we all know that  eventually we were able to make it to the moon and that started with a big clearly articulated  simple vision of getting to the moon that takes us to characteristic number two and it tags along to  number one and that is being a stron

g communicator you might have the biggest dreams and the best  vision ever but if you can't get people to understand it it's not going to get you very far  some of the people who have changed the world and are most renowned throughout history for making  an impact have all been very strong orators and speech givers and able to really communicate  their ideas very effectively and here's one other thing i want to say about that learning how  to communicate effectively is a skill if you don't feel

like you have the skill already don't be  afraid don't be discouraged you can work on it i know for example that i was terrified of public  speaking several years ago but after a lot of practice and getting comfortable with my message  i now rather enjoy it so practice is definitely key and if you're not sure whether your message is  clear try it out on someone and see what feedback they have for you the third characteristic of  people who change the world is curiosity you have to be curious eno

ugh to want to dig into the  complex problems that you're trying to tackle in the world you also have to be open minded and  agile mentally enough to change directions if you discover an assumption that you had was  incorrect so curiosity is definitely a trait that you need to have if you're going to make an  impact because it will allow you to change course and go on to in a more effective method of making  an impact if you discover that one is out there kind of going along with curiosity the f

ourth  trait is humility in other words knowing that large-scale positive social change does not occur  because of the actions of just one single person a 2016 article in Forbes magazine talked about  the traits of inspirational leaders and found that inspirational leaders commonly  believe in collective power of people in other words the power of the group over  the power of the individual the fifth trait is the ability to see strengths in others i just  talked about how inspirational leaders a

re able to believe in the collective power of the group over  the individual well in order to inspire people to take action you've got to see the strengths that  they have the talents and the assets they bring to the table and be able to help them understand how  to use those talents in order to help the cause sixth is continuous growth you've got to have a  commitment to always learning and growing as an individual looking upon all of the skills that you  can expand upon the new things that you

can learn the perspectives that you can seek to understand  and figuring out how you can become the better most best version of yourself and according to  entrepreneur.com this also happens to be a trait of some of the most successful entrepreneurs  out there in the world the seventh trait is stamina stamina or determination or grit in  fact is definitely a very important skill for people who are changing the world to have and  to cultivate because unfortunately a lot of social change is very c

omplicated and can take  quite a long time you've got to be in it for the long haul because you might not see results  until years later and if you don't stick around you might never see those results at all so  stamina and the patience to understand that it's gonna take a while to change the systems and  the things that have always been a particular way uh is going to do you a great service  in your journey to change the world and look i can tell you as a fellow impatient  person that this can

be one of the hardest things to to be willing to accept but i will say  something that helps me look towards the long term is celebrating small victories having an awesome  team around me who's also in it for the long haul and just making sure that we are acknowledging  when we are making progress the eighth trait of people who change the world is vulnerability  and i mean this in two different ways the first is you've got to be brave enough and  be willing to risk looking silly sometimes or put

yourself out there and speak up whether  you are alone in doing so or the first to do so the second type of vulnerability i'm talking  about is an emotional vulnerability that you would have with other people around you people  are more likely to connect to a human authentic leader than they are to someone who comes across  as fake or insincere and that vulnerability is a very impactful way of showing that you are  a real person with real feelings that deeply cares about this cause the ninth ch

aracteristic of  people who change the world is trustworthiness and i think that this goes along with a vulnerability  which can help you build that trust but people who change the world throughout history have  prioritized trust and integrity and honesty people are more likely to fulfill their obligations to  one another or believe that someone has their back if you have that mutual trust when you're  trying to create social change there are a lot of stakeholders who are involved in so many dif

ferent  complex social issues out there in the world and there's a lot of mistrust that is an obstacle to  solving some of these problems so someone who has a great ability to cultivate trust in others is  going to be very effective in creating positive change and the tenth and final characteristic I'm  going to mention today of people who change the world is listening and inviting others to have a  voice as i said before it takes a lot of people and a lot of movement and momentum to create  pos

itive change and the people who've been able to successfully do it have been those who have  uplifted others and listened to their feedback and their needs as they went along through their  actions to make an impact not only does listening help you build that trust and those relationships  but it also gives you very valuable information to let you know if you are making actual progress  and if you're not this feedback can help you change course as i mentioned earlier i would  love to hear from y

ou at this point did i leave out traits that you were thinking of for people  throughout history or maybe even in the modern day who you know are changing the world or possibly  even yourself because i truly believe that you are all change makers and have changemaker potential  within you which ones are you personally the most interested in working on for yourselves what are  the traits that you see in leaders around you who are inspiring you today leave your thoughts in  the comments below and

as i mentioned before if you are starting a non-profit or working on some  of these change making efforts yourself be sure to check out my website FounderToFullTime.com, and  my newsletter the links are in the description below. Finally if you are on Facebook i invite  you to come check out my group, Change the World or Bust. We have thousands of people in there  from around the world it's really inspiring every one of them is trying to make an impact in  their own way and i just know that you w

ould fit right in so come check that out and join the  group if you're so inclined i hope that this video was interesting or helpful or inspiring in  some way please don't forget to give it a like and subscribe to my channel for more content  like this and i hope to see you next time bye