Impossible to Possible, with Purposeful Empathy - A Spotlight on Ray Zahab

My weekly Purposeful Empathy newsletter is dedicated to amplifying the voices of people from around the globe who believe the world needs more empathy - and are doing something about it. This month, I’m highlighting social impact leaders who exemplify “purposeful empathy” and are featured in my book - officially out now.

On New Year’s Day of the new millennium, Ray Zahab woke up hungover on his brother’s couch feeling sorry for himself. He reached out for a magazine on the coffee table and started skimming the pages until came across an article about the Yukon Arctic Ultra Marathon . It’s considered the toughest foot race in the world because it requires competitors to drag their supplies ninety-nine miles by sled across a frozen abyss.?

The story’s cover photo featured a man who had just crossed the finish line, radiating triumph and bliss. At that moment, Ray vowed to compete in the next race. A mere three months later, the incredible happened: Ray ran the race and finished first. Nearly overnight, he’d become an ultra-marathon champion.?

In 2016, he and two friends decided to run across the Sahara Desert to draw attention to Water.org (then H20 Africa ), an NGO devoted to clean drinking water. For 111 consecutive days, they ran from Senegal to Egypt, covering an average of thirty-nine miles per day. The trio ran through sandstorms, injury, illness, and 100+?F for nearly four months straight.

After crossing the finish line, Ray enjoyed a burger and ice cold beer at a 5-star hotel. That’s when he had an epiphany: “I used to be a chainsmoker, but I just ran across the African continent. I think we’re all capable of extraordinary things.”

That’s also when Ray made three important life decisions. First, he co founded impossible2Possible , a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging youth to reach beyond their limits. Second, he committed to competing in races only if they could be leveraged for social good. Finally, he decided to step up as a role model. While his feet did the busy work of running across the Sahara to draw attention to the water crisis, his eyes bore witness to what water scarcity meant for real people, families, and communities.?

This cemented his resolve to engage in a lifetime of purposeful empathy. To Ray, sitting on the sidelines while others suffer is simply not an option, and he rejects all excuses to the contrary.

“Limitations are ninety percent mental,” he says. “And the other ten percent is all in our head.” What a great mantra for an empathy revolution!

Want to learn more about Purposeful Empathy? Order my debut book, Purposeful Empathy: Tapping Our Hidden Superpower for Personal, Organizational, and Social Change .

Watch my Purposeful Empathy interview with Ray later this week here or listen to it as a podcast on your favourite platform (Spotify , Apple Podcasts , or Google Podcasts ).