3 Nations, 4 Years, 15 People

On February 19-21 2010, the Lead Change Group came to life. Real life.

Prior to that time, we were just some friends on Twitter and a LinkedIn group. Most of us had never met face to face. On those days in 2010, we launched our own little corner of a global movement. Fifteen people drove a stake in the ground by meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to talk about leadership, social media and community impact. We came from 3 nations. We shared tons of ideas. We became friends. We dared to believe we could instigate a leadership revolution. We realized we share a commitment to an idea about leadership, even a hope, that leadership comes from who we are and not our power or position. Together we embraced the idea of character-based leadership, instigating a revolution and making a positive difference. Leadership is a choice and a responsibility. A leader is someone who sacrifices and who invests in others. Good leadership makes the world better. We embraced those ideas before we came, but now we knew we weren’t alone. We would carry those ideas with us.

I’m forever grateful to the 13 people who joined Vicky and me at Leaderpalooza in 2010. They took an amazing chance and made a tremendous difference in my life. They are my friends. Their names and links to their social media profiles are shown below. These are some of the greatest leaders in the world.

1. Deb Costello (@costelloland, LinkedIn, Web)
2. Sonia Di Maulo (@soniadima, LinkedIn, Web)
3. Monica Diaz (@monedays, LinkedIn, Web)
4. Fanny Korman (@innerwonder, LinkedIn, Web)
5. Jim Holland (@Jim_Holland, LinkedIn, Web)
6. Steve Keating (@LeadToday, LinkedIn, Web)
7. Susan Mazza (@SusanMazza, LinkedIn, Web)
8. Mark Oakes (@MarkOOakes, LinkedIn, Web)
9. Jane Perdue (@thehrgoddess, LinkedIn, Web)
10. Erin Schreyer (@ErinSchreyer, LinkedIn, Web)
11. Don Shapiro (@DonShapiro1, LinkedIn, Web)
12. David Wachs (@DavidWachs, LinkedIn, Web)
13. Chris Zaucha (@czaucha, LinkedIn)

Because of the actions of these people, my world will never be the same. Because you’re reading this, their actions may have made an impact on your world too. As a result of their actions we’ve connected hundreds of people, started 4 local communities, funded a national community blog that has enabled over a hundred people to share leadership content, and written a book. More is coming too.

Have you done anything that significant in the last 4 years? Will you take the kind of risk necessary to make that kind of impact in 2014? These people took a huge risk and made a dent in the universe. What will you do this year? One idea... Check out the Revolutionary Impact Boot Camp.  Another, simply comment below. How can the members of this group help you make a greater impact in 2014 than you've ever made before?

Links:

• What is LeaderPalooza Anyway?
• Leadership Un-Conference
• Revolutionary Impact Boot Camp