The secret to being the first at something? You have the freedom to fail

In this series, Influencers discuss their experiences accomplishing something for the first time #IWasTheFirst. Read their stories here.

I never considered myself to be a trailblazer. I have no illusions that I am Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg (but I must admit that every so often I do dream of being Tony Stark). In this latest LinkedIn editorial series, we were asked “What does it take to be the first to accomplish anything?”

I think my story may differ from most billionaires and glass-ceiling breakers, but perhaps I may be a bit more like you…

Let me tell you why.

But First, A Little Backstory: Starting With Low Expectations Can Be a Real Help

Coming from divorced parents, it was a tough time for my single mom in the 1960s to make a go of it. Compounded by the crush of medical bills resultant from my grandmother’s terminal cancer made things even more of a challenge. One outcome was moving away to live with my father. Although I was just a kid, I wasn’t universally welcomed by some of my extended family who opined that I “…wouldn’t turn out to be much…” Ouch.

Being without any silver spoon, having paternal grandparents who did not finish high school, I set forth on my “firsts.” I had some brainpower and a good work ethic, and graduated in the top of my high school class (a first in my family). I was the first to get into college, and via four years’ worth of scholarships and work-study, the first to get two undergrad degrees. Then I made it into grad school and graduated first in my doctoral class. Two firsts—double bonus.

The Paradox of Being the First

I have come to realize, that if no one is expecting much from you, most anything will come as a surprise. Honestly, I really found comfort, if not energy, from such a situation. Maybe I should instead refer to this as “The Irony of Being the First.” As long as I didn’t screw-up in some public way, who’s the wiser? Ah, freedom to fail, and to learn, and to keep trying. Iterate, iterate, iterate…!

My First That Really Mattered: Open Sourcing Humanitarian Intervention

I really hope I am correct in laying claim to having been the first person to have created a non-profit devoted to “Open Sourced Humanitarian Intervention.” By that, I mean, I don’t think anyone else is giving away, pro bono, at no charge, all the following:

• Consultations on humanitarian work
• Connections/introduction to others doing similar work
• Free access to a library of dozens of downloadable books
• A massively researched Excel file chock-full of content and links to make life easier for all non-profits that saves users weeks of work and is fully downloadable/ editable/own-able
• Connection to 86 free online courses on global health
• A free subscription to a monthly newsletter with intel on grants, funding, courses, jobs, tools, and current updates on infectious and other diseases issues (click for back issues on ISSUU)
• Access to discounted humanitarian airfares
• Access to a vast downloadable medical library, along with podcasts, videos, and other content and tools

It has been no easy task, but the impact has been wonderful, and it needed doing. Here is a sampler of outcomes: 

How It Started

Our first project was working with children in Tanzania who had lost their parents to AIDS. I had never really thought about how, or even if, these children went to school. I learned that they did not. Our in-country colleague believed their chances for a better life were improved if they could read and had knowledge-based skills as well as labor-based training. I agreed and we set forth on creating a modest school.

The “cost” was $8.90 in postage to mail a packet of materials that a group of volunteers from the Center for Global Initiatives compiled for a curriculum and supporting documents. The volunteers were elementary education experts—teachers, principals, developmental experts, etc. Our colleague in Tanzania tweaked the materials to be synthetic and consonant with cultural norms and traditions, and submitted the result to the Ministry of Education who approved it.

Today, we continue to be on-call for any help we can give, and always free of charge. We conduct fundraisers for them and are active in fiscally supporting the children in any and all ways under our colleague’s watchful and measured stewardship.

The most recent metrics for the school program found:

• 40 kindergarten children were able to join primary school.
• It’s planned that 40 more children will be able to be registered once they are 6 years old.
• 21 new students were able to be registered into the kindergarten.
• 22 orphan students supported by CGI passed their final national exams in primary school and they have been selected to join public secondary schools.
• 11 girls who accomplished their final secondary school exams and did passed very well, 10 we top scorers in Tanzania. They have been selected by the Ministry of Education to join in the special national government school program.

Other former students are in the vocational training centers or have gone on to University, many graduates are employed and they are now sponsoring some of the students.

Next Up

Our colleague there then sent me a letter about how many of the children were manifestly sad and tearful. The caretakers did not know how to respond, so they felt not discussing the children's emotionality was best for the children. I sent a set of basic counseling materials on grief and loss, some group exercises, active listening, empathic responding, Rogerian methods, and other "Counseling 101" materials that were for children, again with the caveat that they were developed and used in the West and that he needed to use his best judgment as how to adapt them for his use in that culture and setting. I also explained ways in which he could consider their use as well as contraindications.

The result was that the caretakers felt supported and empowered to have tools, supervision, and the approval to indeed talk about the children's emotional lives with them. Over time I learned that the children also had experienced therapeutic benefit. But what happened next is a great example of a quite incredible however unintended consequence.

One day the Bishop who was responsible for the Region was visiting and happened to see the materials I had sent. After asking what they were and learning more about them, the Bishop asked if he could borrow them to make copies and distribute to the other sites he would be visiting, and if our colleague would be able to consult with his counterparts at those sites as a follow-up.

So, what took me perhaps three hours to compile and write, and cost less than $9 to send, was now being used not only in the original area, but also with many, many other children who otherwise would not had such therapeutic and emotional support.

This is the kind of thing that I encourage readers to think about if they are so inclined to be involved in this kind of work as the bang-for-the-buck can be exponential.

Then We Expanded to Healthcare: 73 Cents a Life 

Our colleague working with the kindergarten became a Chaplin the Huruma Designated Hospital and Kibosho Hospital, in Kilimanjaro Region in Rombo District. The primary illnesses of patients are malaria, TB, pneumonia, immunosuppression, diabetes, and hypertension.

Following one particularly wet rainy season, there was a very problematic malaria epidemic. Of course treated bed-nets are an effective and inexpensive preventive approach, but they do little for those already infected—that’s who we were working with. I have seen a lot of malaria, and I have known some in the developing world die of it. As with most infectious diseases, it is an incredibly ugly way to die. It can be a preventable death—when intervention comes.

We were able to procure the proper medications needed and at follow-up we had been able to treat and thus help prevent over 4,100 people from dying of malaria. Twenty-eight percent of those infected were children under the age of five — an even more vulnerable group. When calculating the cost, it averaged out to...

73 cents a life

So what does it take to be the first to accomplish something? From my perspective and experience, these tips may be of help in your journey:

Start with a direction, but start, just start

I counsel so many people to not wait for something first to happen before they get started in making a difference. Don’t wait until:

You graduate…and then Get into and then graduate medical/grad/law school…and then Pay off your student debt/get a mortgage/pay off your mortgage…and then Get married/divorced/pregnant/and/or the kids go to/graduate school…and then… and then…? 

It’s too late

Don’t wait “until.” There’s no need to.

Start with that direction, but feel free to pivot

CGI did. We started off doing the in-country work ourselves. Now we provide the resources to accelerate and help others to help others. We did not have the talent, available time, or connections that would be needed to participate in EVERY request we received, but what we can do is help others scale to do what needs to be done. No jingoistic west-knows-best. Hubris is left at the door.

A Little More Backstory…

Organically Developing

As I have talked about my path to becoming an “Accidental Humanitarian.” Therein, I opine about having wished to be able to claim that I had articulated and executed a grand scheme of developing an award winning global health non-profit. Har, har. Briefly, I had been a bit of a globe trotter for business, giving talks, and going on climbs. Then I served on my first medical mission (with Flying Doctors), which really brought things into perspective. 

Expect speed bumps, potholes, and detours

Few roads are straight and perfect. Be forewarned, in spite of trying to do good, you may have more than your fair share of haters, nay-sayers, or I-told-you-so folks. This is heightened if you are on a quest for your own moonshot.

More on Starting (and ending) Open-Source Humanitarian Intervention

When I started the Center for Global Initiatives I didn't want some pretentious name. I wanted something simple and new. Something honest and adaptive. I was thinking of “Study the Problem and Fix It” except the acronym didn’t work. That is difficult if you are a government agency or an ideologue. But if you just want to study the problem and fix it, you can. Our Center has no bureaucrats, we're all volunteers. All monies go to the work. We run circles around other organizations that are thirty, forty, fifty-plus years old. They have big buildings, big obligations, big staffs. We don't (and we won’t). They may trade on their youthful dreams, but the truth is, they're now part of the establishment. And the establishment works to preserve the status quo.

It just does.

If I can do it….

I’m also working to ensure that I’m not the last person to do this kind of thing but, creative destruction is also important in the humanitarian space vis-à-vis not operating too long.

We want to develop new ways to think about this stuff without the posturing and pontificating. I plan to run the Center for twenty years, and my final task will be to disband it before it becomes another tired old humanitarian organization spouting outmoded wisdom, wasting resources, and doing more harm than good. By then I hope to have planted enough apple seeds so that a fleet of folks smarter than me will do what really needs to be done for those next 20 years. Then they will rinse and repeat…. Thank you Professor Schumpeter.

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If you'd like to learn more or to connect/subscribe, please do…! https://DrChrisStout.com. You can follow me on LinkedIn, or find my Tweets as well. Goodies and tools are available via https://ALifeInFull.org.

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