Finding Your "Why" is Half the Battle

In 2006 my friend and business partner David Batstone landed in Durban, South Africa. As he climbed into the van I used to pick him up from the airport he pulled out his laptop and frantically began to type.

This is the David Batstone I know. Go, go, go.

“What are you working on?” I recall asking him.

“I’ve got to get this chapter into my editor. I’m on deadline.”

“What’s the book about?”

“Modern-day Slavery. Human Trafficking. Let’s sip some scotch tonight and dig into it.”

“Done.”

Later that night we saddled up with a stiff drink and Dave began to unpack what he’d experienced over the previous few weeks that included time in Thailand, Uganda and now South Africa.

“I met this woman in Thailand,” he shared. “She is a badass. Her name is Kru Nam. She’s rescued over 20 kids from just horrific situations. Some in begging rings. Other kids from karaoke bars.” Karaoke bars in Thailand are often fronts for sex trafficking.

The Dave I knew was an energizer bunny of activity and mostly wore a smile, even in the face of hardship. If something doesn’t work, or we’ve royally screwed something up, more times than not his response is to chuckle at the predicament and get to problem-solving a solution.

But this night he wore different disposition. Something was clearly hanging on him.

Together, that night in South Africa, we discussed how we could go even bigger. Over the course of the next few weeks while traveling around South Africa we decided to utilize his soon-to-be-released book to start an organization to help Kru Nam and others like her.

It was from the spark of compassion that we started Not For Sale.

We can help. We must help.

We started Not For Sale to build one house for children who were society’s castaways. One house. That was it. Nothing more. One step. Easy enough. We appealed to our closest friends and family to engage with us through the greatest meaning of charity.

They can help, too. They must help.

Today this part of our work has blossomed into 8 projects in 9 countries. Since 2007 we’ve supported nearly 30,000 survivors and at-risk people. (And much more. However, more on that later.)

More importantly, I would argue, over the next 12 years, Kru Nam and her many children, there are now over 150 of them(!), are now a members of our family. No hyperbole. And, Kru Nam, along with the many incredible project directors and their work serve as our moral compass -- ensuring that all we do is guided by their feedback, orientation, and, yes, the fiery passion to always do things better for those who deserve better.

For 5 years our “Why” -- that spark of compassion “to help” -- generated enough zeal to work 100+ hour weeks and endure ungodly travel schedules. It drove us to beg, borrow, and, well, we didn’t steal, but to fund-raise to keep our work going sometimes it might have felt that way.

The problem is, of course, is “Why” is not enough to keep going.

“Why” is not enough to WIN. And we want to win.

After 5 years we realized that we were operating our work on a fundamentally flawed business model; this “How” would never allow us to achieve our absurd goal of *actually* ending slavery and human trafficking.

It’s a universality that anyone can work incredibly hard, but still not achieve the results required to meet a desired end-game.

We realized just that. We could work hard, but never end slavery.

We were stuck utilizing an antiquated 600-year-old operating system, called a non-profit, that would continue to yield results that were not going to allow us to make the scale of change required to REALLY end slavery.

And in a fit of desperation we decided to do what people always say they’ll do… we attempted to go big or go home. We actually attempted it.

We almost didn’t make it.

There were times that we came literally within months of failing completely. Flaming out. We had to make quick and difficult decisions.

So, today we have a brand new operating system that allows us to approach change-making in a new and powerful way.

To be a world-class change-maker today we are required to meditate not simply on “Why” we desire to do what we do; we are required to fundamentally change “How” we go about change-making -- challenging old paradigms within both the non-profit and for-profit worlds. Ultimately we must change the very means by which we create economic value in the world to include those traditionally left out of that process.

Critically this means that *both* non-profits and for-profits must evolve to make this a reality.

Even as David and I continue to prove out this new model, let us continue to be driven with the same underlying fortitude that drove us to "go big or go home".

After all what do we have to lose? In the grand scheme of things not much.

Here we go, go, go.