Before we begin, let us take a moment to think about video games. I think we can all agree that every good video game gives the player the option to pick and customize their character before the game begins. Similarly, before we all start thinking about our journey towards social impact, it is essential (and fun!) to reinvent ourselves in order to acquire the skills and qualities that will make YOU the most suitable character for the road ahead. Ask yourself: what are the characteristics that make me most appealing in this field?
In the previous blog, we talked about finding your story and making that your selling point.
However, it is not enough to simply have a unique selling point; you also need to be able to sell certain aspects of yourself that make you credible in the field you’re trying to impact.
For me, I always knew I wanted to have some sort of impact in the dementia space for both caregivers and people with dementia. But without having a clue as to what that impact would look like, I knew there were 3 qualities that I wanted to embody in order to sell myself as a leader.
- Commitment
- Knowledgeable
- A go-getter attitude
For each of these traits, there were certain steps I could take in order to demonstrate them. Let’s start with commitment. When trying to demonstrate commitment, it is important to recognize that for every broader cause (eg. climate change, poverty, education, brain health), there is always a specific community of people that we’re trying to support. For climate change, this could mean people who are directly affected by it – such as vulnerable populations living in rural areas that are particularly susceptible to climate disasters. For brain health, this could mean people living with dementia or any other type of neurodegenerative disease.
Part of our work towards committing to our cause is identifying the community we want to impact and working directly with them. There is nothing more valuable than on-field experience.
In my experience, I demonstrated commitment by volunteering in old-age homes for over four years, which not only reflected dedication on my part, but also first-hand knowledge of my field of interest. While advocating for people with dementia and trying to humanize their condition, I could thus draw on those experiences in order to build my credibility and make people listen.
Remember: every social impact pitch begins with a name and a face; not numbers and certainly not a graph!
Next up, knowledge. For every social impact issue, there is a labyrinth of interrelated factors, actors and stakeholders that feed into the root cause and perpetuate the problem. Your job? Learn. Do your research. Share your ideas. I personally find this part to be the most rewarding as it gives you a chance to upskill yourself and prove to the world that you’re not just an inexperienced teenager dreaming to change the world, but that you know what you’re talking about and you’ve come prepared.
For me, growing up with a grandmother who had Alzheimer’s definitely did not teach me everything there was to know about dementia. It was up to me to take those extra few steps, so that if I were to ever be put in a room with a neuroscientist and a health policy analyst, I would be able to have a conversation with both. This meant taking online courses, completing certification programs, doing research projects and taking every opportunity to learn more.
Finally, when trying to demonstrate a go-getter attitude, it is important to put yourself out there and network with other people in your field.
This may be as simple as sending a LinkedIn connect invite or as tedious as sending out a bunch of cold emails seeking opportunities even when they don’t present themselves. Personally, this was the hardest part for me as I was never too comfortable with the idea of advertising anything let alone myself! But in this case, how you represent yourself is what gets you those opportunities that others can only dream of. Luckily for you and me, the internet itself is a wonderful well of opportunities, and who knows, you may be just a single click away from scoring the most important internship of your life or winning a couple thousand dollars for your social impact project!
