Whether you're sitting with one other person or leading a country, your greatest asset is simply your presence: who you are, where you stand, how you show up. As Gandhi suggested, when you pay attention to the quality of your presence, you begin to create the world you want.
Your presence becomes even more powerful when you choose to see the world from a higher perspective, to stand for the lure of your ideals, and to show your confidence in the future and your belief in other people.
I've seen the power of that kind of presence time and again.
"When I'm on campus, the problems seem so real. There's always someone going on and on about some urgent need or looming crisis," Dan Loritz, vice president of Hamline University, said to me one day. "But when I step off campus, I can see the university as the beacon of hope that it is. And that's the reality I stand in when I meet with people of the community--and try to bring back to campus."
You might expect someone like Dan, who works with exemplary philanthropic leaders like Barney Saunders, to keep in his breast pocket a list of its top ten funding needs, or maybe his top ten "prospects." Instead, he carries with him a list of everything Hamline has going for it, a letter-sized sheet of paper completely covered in the smallest handwriting you can imagine.
Dan looks at that paper every day. He knows it takes some doing to stay true to such a confident, aspiring, and idealistic posture.
I learned 30 years ago how easy it is to let that stance slip away, when I hired a writer to develop a case for support for the Pittsburgh Zoo. I gave Steve my first book, Philanthropy and Marketing, which proclaimed that "non-profits" would be more effective if they focused (yes, here we go again) on ideals and assets rather than problems and needs. So I thought he'd return from his visit to the zoo with a donor-centric, society-focused case that would excite investment. Much to my surprise, he wrote a "case of complaints."
"Did you read the book, Steve?"
"Sure, I read it," he replied. "And then I got together with the director and he told me about the conditions at the zoo. He took me around and showed me how bad it was. The cages were old. The growth of the hippos was stunted because of the small quarters. Bears were pacing in cramped cages. I had to write about the needs."
As I've said before, the downward pull to which Steve succumbed is little more than a habit, toward which we all drift at times, myself included.
If we've chosen a different stance toward the groups and causes we care about, we can find our bearings again. When we invest our money and talent, we can adjust our framework so we send a message that reinforces others' courage. We can let people know we believe in them. We can point them toward what they have, their resources and capacities. We can give them even more confidence in their ability to make a difference, instead of perpetuating their self-image as "needy," deficient, and even powerless.
When we take this higher road, we show true leadership, moral leadership and faith in the future, rather than merely giving away money and time to meet "needs."
Could this message and our presence be a contribution greater than our money or time?
All of this may be in your hands far more than you might have thought. For I've noticed something about you: You've been reading this book. Really, I'm serious. I find it hard to imagine that anyone would stay with this book if they'd given up on society, or on their ability to have at least some influence on the future. You could have put this book down at any time, so I have to believe that something about you is reflected here.
I have more than a hunch that your idealism has been supported, reinforced, and expanded as you've read these pages. A rather clear and simple proposition is offered: It may be up to people like us, you and me, to turn the world's attention from needs to resources, from problems to possibilities, and from despair to confidence, and to elevate our species to its highest potentials.