To create a better world, "all we need to do is change 3 people."

I don't know which is more amazing; the statement or the man who said it.
A statesman, an educator, a world leader, a champion of the poor and a rocket scientist, yesterday, the world’s most populous democracy paid homage as it laid to rest one of its finest minds and most inspiring leaders, who just so happens to also be a Muslim.

Every once in a long while, you come across a personality so powerful that it shakes your beliefs to the core. For me, one of those people was Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the 11th President of India.

In 2004, a group of us were invited to a reception at the Presidential Palace, a sprawling estate larger than Buckingham Palace surrounded by the cacophony of New Delhi. When his entrance was announced by his Aide-de-Campe, we jockeyed for position along a rope line that had been placed in one of the gardens. (that's me, the tall guy, way in the back).  Escorted by a cadre of 7 foot honor guards, a short man with long salt and pepper hair walked up to the lectern and began to speak. Only his microphone didn't work. They rushed to find an alternative but that one didn't work either. Finally, they found a hand held mic.

Sensing our discomfort and dismay, he left the safety of the lectern and his prepared remarks and approached the rope line. One by one, he shook hands of those lucky enough to be in front. Afterwards, he took a few steps back and in the center of the crowd he announced 'you have come from so far away, today I must speak from the heart'. And he did.

It wasn't a soaring speech, it wasn't a thundering call to arms, it wasn't a fact filled display of logic on fire, it was just a simple conversation. The awkwardness disappeared and his genuineness mesmerized us.

At the end, someone in the crowd broke the magic of the moment with the shout "what are you going to do about corruption?!"
There was an audible gasp from those of us that were not accustomed to attacking a gracious host, never mind the fact that this was the President of India.

But corruption has robbed India of so much of her potential. However inappropriate, it was a very important question. He stopped, considered and then gave one of the best replies I have ever heard to a loaded question.

"To fix corruption in India, we need to change 3 people".
We looked at each other with the same thoughts; did he say 3 people?? What 3 people could he be talking about? Is he going to name specific individuals? Who is he going to accuse?
"Just 3 people" he continued. "The father, the mother and the teacher"
"If we can change those 3 people, corruption in India will disappear."
It wasn't just the politicians that needed to change, it was all of us. In how we behaved and in the example we created, we were causing and perpetuating the problem. But we were also the solution.

Corruption, racism, violence are all diseases of the mind that rob us of our potential as a society. But like most diseases, they need a host to survive.
President Abdul Kalam proved that we can inoculate our children from these diseases and that we ourselves can eradicate them from our minds and our hearts.

As an entrepreneur and public speaker, I learned so many things about communication, about perception and the critical role of human connection that warm January day ten years ago.  The experience fundamentally changed the way I present.

But those lessons pale in comparison to the true value of President Abdul Kalam's message:

A better world is within our grasp.

And to think, all we have to do is change 3 people.

The question is...
     Will you be one of them?