Purpose, vulnerability and beating rape: a summer note.

I am reading the beautiful book “Regenerative Purpose” by Wendy May. In it, hidden like a beautiful little gem, is the idea that purpose, social connections, and vulnerability are all deeply connected.

That’s because you can’t do purpose alone… At Innate Motion, I often remind the people I work with to develop a brand or corporate purpose that it does not need to be unique: if it is, it probably means it does not matter to anyone! As organizations, as people, we don’t own a purpose: we contribute to one. And it’s where vulnerability comes in. Making an impact requires sticking your head out. Asking for support. Offering help. Reaching out. Building an interdependent impact network. In that social engagement lies the chance for success, but also the possibility of failure. What if I am not followed? What if I don’t get the help I need? What if we don’t achieve the aim we set? I admire those who confidently brush these questions away. For an introvert, they are scary.

I am deep in the middle of them. Two years ago, I co-founded what became Steppin.app – an initiative to beat sexual violence, combining social innovation and tech into an Uber of bystander intervention: an app that allows you to get help, or give help, in minutes, whenever an encounter turns too pressing; focused on universities, where the need is acute. The potential: over 5 Mio students using it in the next 5 years, over half a million cases of rape and assault to avoid. The risk: total failure. Nobody wants it, and it dies before it’s out.

A business to prevent rape: can you make it more purpose-driven? And it makes us deeply dependent on others. The early investors I pitched, one after the other. The universities we talk to – who face the fear of embracing something new. The influencers and NGOs we speak with, who need to come out and support an approach that’s new to them. The students who help prepare the crowdfunding event that will get us the financing we need. The mass of students we offer to embrace a new way to look at sexual violence – reclaiming the power to intervene it away from their communities... The public, who will decide to finance it.

It is scary. And yet amazing. Purpose, I figure, is a muscle. Mine is building up, along the one law of muscle that's printed on the gym wall: no pain, no gain.

The Crowdfunder starts on August 21st. Register your interest in the app and follow our social media at www.Steppin.app .