5. SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

“There is hope of change. [We should not] feel hopeless and powerless when we realize that we can make only a small change in the society as a single person … that single person is the best there is.”

ABRAHAM MASLOW¹

Where can you find Social Entrepreneurs? All around you. It’s remarkable how many people are striving to break the barriers holding others back. It’s even more remarkable how many people want to but don’t know where to start or, despite their best efforts, aren’t making much of a difference.

If you recall from the introduction, a Social Entrepreneur is someone who looks for new ways to help others realize their potential. Like the rest of us, they have unique gifts. Like the rest of us, they can attain fulfillment through the principled application of those gifts. And like the rest of us, they succeed when they discover where they can make the greatest contribution. The more of us who do, the more likely we will be able to transform the core institutions of society so that they enable every person to rise.

I began to see the importance of Social Entrepreneurs through my studies of social progress and history, although at first I didn’t use those words to describe them. Gutenberg, Luther, Galileo—these and so many others used their talents to topple the obstacles that held virtually everyone back.

The more I studied, the more examples I found. History is filled with people whose contributions enabled many others to succeed. While we remember the most famous ones, there are countless others whose names and deeds are not recorded. Many Social Entrepreneurs labor in obscurity, although my goal is to change that, as the pages ahead show. We owe history’s progress as much to them as we do to those who are honored with statues and memorials.

STAND BY THOSE PRINCIPLES

Of all the inspiring change-makers I have encountered—either on the page or in person—none represents the ideal more fully than Frederick Douglass.²

Douglass is held up as an American hero for good reason. Born into slavery, he escaped to freedom and dedicated his life to realizing our national ideal of equal rights and life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, saying, “Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.”³ Douglass lived by his words, helping to bring about the abolition of slavery and committing himself to the elimination of many other injustices. Few Americans have accomplished more, especially considering where he started.

Douglass’s life is worth exploring in brief because of the lessons it teaches. To be clear: while I have learned much from him, it is not my intention to claim that Frederick Douglass thought about the world in the same way that I do (a claim that various others have made about themselves). Rather, I view his accomplishments as a model for Social Entrepreneurs. His actions show how self-transformation can lead to societal transformation—something all of us can strive for.

If you look closely at Frederick Douglass’s life, you can see everything that defines a Social Entrepreneur.

Douglass’s desire to help others was an elemental part of his character. Like Viktor Frankl, whom we discussed in chapter one, he strived to contribute even while he was being deprived of his most basic needs. Like most enslaved people, Douglass was estranged from his family, usually hungry, perpetually in physical danger, and continually denied any sense of belonging or self-worth.

His first opportunity to develop his gift came at age eight, after he was moved from the plantation where he was born to work in a house in Baltimore. Upon hearing the slave owner’s wife reading the Bible, Douglass persuaded her to teach him to read. When the slave owner discovered this tutoring, he exploded with rage, screaming words that made a profound impact on the young Douglass: knowledge would “forever unfit him to be a slave.”⁴ In that moment, Douglass realized that he wasn’t a slave because he was inferior. But he was purposely being kept ignorant.

This realization caused a profound mental shift in Douglass. He became filled with an unquenchable desire to learn, which led, in time, to the discovery and development of his unique talent for writing and oratory.

One book in particular—Caleb Bingham’s The Columbian Orator—inspired his passion for freedom and opened his eyes to underlying principles about the moral dignity of every human.⁵ The book also showed him how to employ his natural abilities in a way that would help himself and others, teaching him that orators must practice and constantly improve.

After being sent back to the plantation at age 17, Douglass began teaching other slaves to read and write at a Sunday school he helped organize, one of his first opportunities to empower others. He wrote later about the experience: “Here, thought I, is something worth living for; here is an excellent chance for usefulness.”⁶ Even as a slave, he was contribution motivated.

When Douglass’s efforts were discovered, he was sent to a notorious slave-breaker. The man’s brutal attempt to break his spirit failed when Douglass fought back and won. With the slave-breaker’s reputation and business hanging in the balance, Douglass escaped the usual fate of death. This incident further transformed him. He wrote, “I was nothing before; I was a man now.” This gave him “a renewed determination to be a free man,” which he accomplished at age 20.⁷

Douglass settled with his new wife in Massachusetts, where, despite rampant racism, he felt liberated. He now had the opportunity to contribute and be rewarded for doing so, rather than punished. His elation at earning a dollar for putting away a pile of coal was almost indescribable: “I was not only a freeman, but a free-workingman.”⁸

Douglass then began to apply his extraordinary gift for communication to the area where he could make the greatest contribution: eliminating slavery and other injustices. At the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society convention in 1841, he was asked on the spot to give a speech. Although he was petrified, Douglass’s remarks inspired the crowd. It marked the beginning of his career as one of the most famous and effective abolitionists in America.

Over the course of the next 50 years, through triumphant highs and excruciating lows, Douglass’s fame and influence grew. He honed his skills as a speaker and writer, the better to persuade others of the justice of his cause. He became the most photographed American of the nineteenth century. He published his own newspaper for 16 years. He was also appointed to prestigious government positions, and after befriending Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, he met with each subsequent president through Grover Cleveland.

Ultimately, Frederick Douglass played a leading role in catalyzing the movement that led to the abolition of slavery. He then lent his skills to the struggle for equal rights, not only for black people but also for women, immigrants, and religious minorities. He said in a speech in 1869, “In whatever else other nations may have been great and grand, our greatness and grandeur will be found in the faithful application of the principle of perfect civil equality to the people of all races and creeds.”⁹ Through this spirit, he contributed mightily to the foundation on which future reformers built.

If you look closely at Frederick Douglass’s life, you can see everything that defines a Social Entrepreneur.

Unlike others who have suffered injustice, Douglass didn’t succumb to negative motivation, and he refused to seek vengeance. From the beginning, he was contribution motivated, a characteristic that strengthened as he succeeded. He discovered, developed, and applied his unique gifts in service of others. The fulfillment he then found caused him to keep looking for new ways to make a difference. This led him to diverse partnerships that helped make progress possible.

Frederick Douglass helped transform society because he continually transformed himself. He demonstrated that just one person who inspires others can set the country on a better path.

Douglass’s efforts contributed to the transformation of society’s core institutions—community, education, business, and government. Each had been constrained by discrimination and control, keeping all but a minority from exercising their gifts. Those barriers began to fall as Douglass and others confronted them. Of course, many injustices remained following his death in 1895, and many are still with us today. But his actions as a Social Entrepreneur enabled others to make progress toward a more just country.

In the end, Frederick Douglass helped transform society because he continually transformed himself. He demonstrated that just one person who inspires others can set the country on a better path.

YOUR NORTH STAR

I never cease to draw inspiration from Douglass’s life. He still helps me gain a deeper understanding of fundamental principles. One that his story has reinforced in me is the importance of a “North Star.” (North Star was also the name of his newspaper.) It is the vision that guides a Social Entrepreneur’s efforts, the yardstick by which one measures her actions, determining whether she is going in the right direction, whether she is making progress.

Every effective Social Entrepreneur I have ever known has a North Star. It goes with the territory: you envision a world without the barrier (or barriers) you seek to break. Your inspiration and persistence come from moving closer to making that vision a reality. For Douglass, it was a society that fulfilled the promise of equal rights.

Now, none of us is Frederick Douglass. I don’t know anyone who faces challenges of the same magnitude as slavery. But that fact alone should fill us with hope. If it was possible to eradicate slavery in America, then how much easier should it be to overcome even our worst problems today? In Frederick Douglass, every Social Entrepreneur has a role model.

There are many inspiring people today who are blazing their own unique trails in the fight against injustice. Their paths are different, but the steps they’re taking are the same.

They’re discovering, developing, and applying their gifts to help others. They’re learning through trial and error how to discover a North Star that will give meaning to their lives. And these Social Entrepreneurs are inspiring others to get involved. They can create—and in some cases are already creating—the kind of excitement and energy that can transform the institutions to empower more and more people.

Take a man I met a few years back. His name is Antong Lucky.

Antong grew up in the projects in a rough part of Dallas. Before Antong’s first birthday, his father went to prison on a 50-year sentence. Although he had some good influences in his life—his grandparents chief among them—he was often pulled in the wrong direction. He saw it as a matter of survival.

Antong was knee-deep in drug dealing by the time he was a teenager. He saw plenty of other kids take a similar road—starting out washing dealers’ cars, then becoming a lookout scanning for police, and finally graduating to selling drugs on their own. For someone who grew up in poverty, the money he found helping people get high seemed too good to pass up.

It wasn’t long before he got involved in gangs. The Crips dominated most of Dallas at the time, but Antong wasn’t interested in following an established gang. Instead, he started and led the Dallas chapter of their hated rival, the Bloods. He wasn’t even 15 years old, yet Antong Lucky sat atop a pyramid of drugs, violence, crime, and suffering.

All the while, the life he had chosen was claiming the lives of those around him. Antong was fortunate he didn’t get killed himself. Instead of a body bag, he wound up in prison.

Behind bars, Antong Lucky had two options. The first—and easiest—was to keep heading in the same direction. He ruled the streets on the outside and became one of the most powerful men on the inside. His fellow inmates either looked up to him or feared him—the legend who started the Dallas Bloods.

But something gave Antong pause. He noticed that many young men were committing crimes to get into prison thinking it would impress him. Instead, it destroyed him inside. He could see their lives were taking a tragic turn, in large part because of him. As a gang leader, he had tried to protect the people under him, but now he was seeing that he couldn’t do that from within a gang. While others wanted to be like him, Antong wanted to be someone else entirely—someone who could help others, not hurt them and the community.

ANTONG LUCKY

DISCOVERING MY NORTH STAR

A FORMER GANG LEADER, ANTONG LUCKY TURNED HIS LIFE AROUND IN PRISON AND IS NOW TRANSFORMING INNER-CITY CULTURE AS THE MASTER EDUCATOR OF URBAN SPECIALISTS.

The things I did before I turned 21 … The gangs. The violence. The drugs. I was running the streets of South Dallas. And after I got busted, I was on my way to running the prison.

Even behind bars, everybody wanted to be around me. They flocked to me, followed me everywhere I went. Kids were committing crimes just to get to prison to meet me. They wanted to be like me and impress me. If I said something, they listened. If I did something, they did it too. And if I gave an order … man, they jumped.

I didn’t really understand it at the time. I barely noticed what was going on. I was too young and dumb to see the power I had. Then one day, an older guy pulled me aside. Willie Flemming was his name. He’d been there like 10 years.

I remember what he said like it was yesterday.

He said, “Little brother, let me holla at you.”

He goes, “Man, you elite.” Then he kept going: “All these guys in here do everything you tell them to do. They always trying to impress you and meet you and blah blah blah.” Then he got quiet and looked right at me. He said what my 20-year-old self needed to hear:

“If you can lead these dudes to do wrong, you can lead them to do right. You are a leader.”

I had never heard that before. It set off an explosion in my head. I realized he was right. I’d been leading young men like me to do terrible things. Now, for the first time, I saw that I could lead them in the opposite direction.

If he hadn’t said that, there’s no way I’d be doing what I’m doing now. What he said opened my eyes, and once that happened, I started seeing things. Things I never saw before.

That’s why I paid attention a few weeks later when this news story came on the TV in the dayroom. There was a man on the screen named Omar Jahwar. He was talking about gang intervention.

Then two of my cousins showed up on the screen, because they were working with this guy. I was like, “This is crazy.” So I wrote my cousin a letter that said, “Man, whoever this guy is, hook me up with him.”

I met Omar just a few days after getting out. We’ve been working together ever since. He gave me a beat-up car, not like the ones I used to drive. He gave me a salary that was a lot smaller than what I made on the streets. But he also gave me something way more valuable: a purpose in life.

Now, I know that kids will emulate those around them. When I was running the Dallas Bloods, they wanted to be like me. Now I’m showing up in their neighborhoods, in their schools, showing them it doesn’t have to be that way. They still want to be like me.

I’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for. I messed up a lot of kids and a lot of lives. I can’t undo the damage I did. But I can go to the streets I used to run and show kids how to take a different road in their own lives. That’s what I do. That’s where I am, every single day.

— ANTONG LUCKY

Watch a video about Antong’s work with Urban Specialists at BelieveInPeopleBook.com/stories

Now Antong is using his firsthand experience to end gang violence and help kids find a better path.

Something the judge said at Antong’s trial stuck to his soul—that Antong was a “menace to society.” When he heard this, he didn’t want to be that man. It wasn’t long before a mentor in prison convinced Antong that if he could lead others to do wrong, he could also lead them to do right. He was beginning to discover his North Star. His internal barriers began to fall.

The challenge was discovering what to do next. In his search for a different path, Antong began reading as many books as he could get his hands on, one of which was Plato’s Republic. Plato’s story of the cave—where people thought the shadows on the wall were reality because they had never seen the light outside—made Antong realize that he was in that exact place. More important, it made him realize that he could leave the cave. As he tells it, one of the great lies of being in a gang is that it’s permanent—”blood in, blood out,” as Antong says.

Suddenly he saw through this. He wanted to step into the sun and help others find their way out of the darkness. He didn’t know it, but he was on his way to becoming a Social Entrepreneur.

One day, on the prison TV, Antong saw something that resonated: a profile of a local pastor, Omar Jahwar. (You’ll meet him in chapter six.) Pastor Omar (now Bishop Omar) was working to break the cycle of gang violence in local communities. This immediately struck Antong, who was just a few weeks shy of parole. After his release, he went straight to Pastor Omar. He was determined to help solve the problems he once created.

He’s been on that journey ever since. Antong Lucky is now the master educator and lead trainer at Urban Specialists, a group that Bishop Omar founded about two decades ago specifically to “transform urban culture,” with a focus on ending violence. He works in the same communities—on the same streets—where he was once a gang leader. The difference is that he’s now applying his skills to help people instead of hurt them. Using his leadership gifts, he’s guiding them down a productive path, not a destructive one.

Antong’s unique skills and background allow him to make inroads where once he saw dead ends. He forges truces between warring gangs by building personal relationships with their members. He shows kids, many of whom are a reflection of his old self, that they have other options and a future of opportunity, if they’re willing to reach for it. He works to restore trust between inner-city communities and the police. In everything he does, Antong Lucky empowers people to break the cycle of drugs, crime, and violence. (I’ll share more about what Antong is achieving in the next chapter.)

Antong Lucky is a shining example of a Social Entrepreneur. He’s using his personal knowledge to address a major problem: violence in communities. As he makes progress, he constantly develops and applies his unique abilities in new ways, enabling him to make a bigger difference. He is truly contribution motivated: the more he helps people, the more people he wants to help.

DO WHAT YOU KNOW

Antong Lucky embodies many of the characteristics of successful Social Entrepreneurs.

First, he is close to the problems he’s trying to solve. He has firsthand knowledge of the crisis in so many of our country’s urban communities. Who better to mentor troubled kids in those environments, providing them with the guidance and support they need to take a better path? He could have devoted himself to tackling other barriers, but he likely would have found less success.

This holds true for every Social Entrepreneur: embrace who you are and what you know, because that’s how you can make the greatest contribution and find fulfillment. Don’t, and you will struggle to help others or find the success you crave. Your natural abilities—and the firsthand knowledge you have gained from your experiences (and, yes, from your mistakes!)—are central to what you can be and what you want to be.

Second, Antong unites with others to make progress, even those who seem to be unlikely allies.

Embrace who you are and what you know, because that’s where you can make the greatest contribution and find fulfillment.

Look no further than his partnership with me. It seems odd at first glance: the fortysomething former gang leader from South Dallas working with the wealthy eightysomething businessman from Wichita, Kansas. Yet whatever our differences, both Antong and I know that we can achieve more together than we ever could on our own. Sure enough, Antong is working with me and many others to expand his effectiveness in Dallas and beyond.

Finally, Antong Lucky has a North Star. He envisions urban neighborhoods free from violence, gangs, drugs, and crime. He also sees the kids he serves as leaders who can achieve far more than they might imagine. Antong uses his North Star to guide his decisions, enabling Urban Specialists to continually expand its effectiveness and reach.

I have a North Star too. It’s what I described in the introduction: a society in which everyone can realize their potential and find fulfillment. My pursuit of this vision is why I partner with Antong Lucky and so many others. My greatest ability—understanding and applying abstract concepts—means I could never do what Antong does. Instead, I use my capabilities to help him and other Social Entrepreneurs increase their effectiveness and scale. When Social Entrepreneurs’ North Stars align, it enables them to accomplish much more, much faster.

Consider another Social Entrepreneur I’ve come to know: Scott Strode.

Scott’s North Star is simple but profound: a world without drug and alcohol addictions. This is deeply personal for him, because he’s in recovery from substance use disorder himself. He lost track of the number of times he woke up in an unfamiliar place, reeling from his actions the night before. Fortunately—for himself and others—his years of drug and alcohol misuse did not cost him his life. Realizing he would die if he didn’t get clean and sober, he vowed to break free of the drugs that had such a hold on him.

Scott soon found that he could rise through exercise. The day after he gave up cocaine and alcohol, he stepped into a boxing ring at a local gym in Boston and never looked back. He climbed mountains, competed in races of every kind, and pushed himself harder and farther every day. More than two decades later, Scott Strode is still sober.

But Scott didn’t just want to help himself. He wanted to empower people in similar straits. He came to see a connection between exercise and community in helping people recover. He saw it in the gym, on the mountain, while cycling, and on the track. His experience led him to start a nonprofit called The Phoenix. It was Scott’s hope that others struggling with addiction would be able to follow the same path of recovery through an active, sober community of peers.

The Phoenix is named after Scott’s own journey. Like the mythical creature, he burned bright, and then burned out. But from the ashes, Scott was reborn. He had discovered his unique gift: helping others who share his struggle.

Founded in 2006, The Phoenix employs instructors who are in recovery from substance use disorder themselves. This gives new members a sense of acceptance, safety, and trust. The only membership requirement for The Phoenix’s free programs is that participants have at least 48 hours of sobriety. The first workout helps people start to realize they have a new support system—one that believes in them. Alive with encouragement, their first day turns into two days, then two weeks, two months, two years, and more if needed.

Scott started small, in Colorado, with only one location. But he kept developing his model and his own abilities, enabling him to expand his operation to help more people. Though over 21 million individuals need treatment for a substance use disorder, only 17 percent are able to access care.¹⁰ About half relapse within the first few months, if not the first few weeks.

By contrast, less than 20 percent of participants in The Phoenix relapse in their first three months of recovery. A stunning 80 percent stay sober. Think what this means: The Phoenix is well over twice as effective as traditional recovery efforts.¹¹ (I’ll share more detail about The Phoenix in chapter six.)

I could name many other Social Entrepreneurs who are valiantly—and successfully—pursuing their North Star. Whatever it may be, it’s important to realize that it’s a guide, not a destination. Just as navigators of old used Polaris—the North Star in astronomy—to mark their passage across the seas, you can use your North Star as the critical reference point on your journey to discover your innate abilities and apply them to help others.

NOT JUST ANY PATH WILL DO

What is your North Star? Be wary that however praiseworthy it may be, how you pursue it matters just as much as what it is. Not every Social Entrepreneur uses his or her skills for good.

For example, several years ago, I attended an event where a well-known philanthropist spoke about education. His North Star was excellent: dramatically improving the public education system to help more students discover their gifts. I share this goal.

Then he got to his suggested path forward: shutting down every private and charter school in America and forcing all kids into traditional public schools. His reasoning was that once the children of influential parents had to endure failing schools, they would finally force the system to reform. This is the antithesis of a bottom-up approach!

You can use your North Star as the critical reference point on your journey to discover your innate abilities and apply them to help others.

The philanthropist admitted that a generation or two of students would suffer from the loss of some good schools, but he suggested that the benefits would outweigh the pain—that is, it’s okay to hurt some people now on the chance that it will help other people later. Unfortunately, that perspective isn’t all that unusual in philanthropy and public policy. But I wholeheartedly reject the “you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet” approach to social change.

I pressed the philanthropist on his views during the Q&A session, and he publicly admitted that there were probably less destructive ways to help improve public schools (more on this in chapter seven). But the entire exchange rattled me. It showed how easy it is for Social Entrepreneurs to use top-down control instead of bottom-up empowerment. As you will see throughout this book, that approach has never worked—it cannot work—and it causes much suffering.

Fortunately, there are many Social Entrepreneurs who show there’s a better way, people like Antong Lucky and Scott Strode. As with Frederick Douglass, they both discovered a North Star that enabled them to use their gift to help others. They broke down the internal and external barriers that held them back, becoming contribution motivated. In Antong’s case, he left behind gang life. In Scott’s case, he left behind addiction. Now they’re empowering others to do the same.

While many who rely on an approach based on control are well intentioned—like my philanthropist friend—they will never find the kind of success they seek. Or the fulfillment that comes from empowering people.

EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE

Social Entrepreneurs like Antong Lucky and Scott Strode are helping to transform the institution of community. They are already transforming themselves, accomplishing more than they imagined. Their belief in people’s potential enables them to better help others rise.

But they can’t do it by themselves. Communities suffer from a host of problems, going beyond violence and addiction to homelessness, alienation, and poverty, to name a few. Breaking these barriers requires a greater number of creative problem-solvers applying the principles of progress. Without more Social Entrepreneurs growing in effectiveness and showing a better way, we can’t overcome the many crises that afflict America’s cities, towns, and neighborhoods.

That’s what we need: more people working together to transform community and every other institution—education, business, and government. My journey to discover how to accomplish this began when I first became a Social Entrepreneur in the 1960s. As I was applying principles to transform Koch Industries, I was also focusing my efforts to foster a society where everyone can thrive. I was looking for ways to empower everyone in our country, just as we were empowering our employees at the company.

As with my experience in business, I don’t have all the answers, or even most of them. Instead, my work has brought me into hundreds of partnerships that have helped me see what’s possible.

Stand Together, the organization that I founded in 2003, partners with nearly 200 community-based programs that unite millions of people helping others rise. Antong Lucky and Scott Strode are among them. The people we work with are making progress on every front. They are transforming themselves and the core institutions, with the goal of transforming society for the better.

In the pages that follow, you will meet more of these amazing people. You will see them practicing the principles of progress and applying the road map I laid out at the end of chapter four.

Most important, you will see how you can help them and others like them, join them, and be like them, using your own unique gifts. As I share their experiences across each of the institutions, I hope that you will see opportunities to apply those lessons in your life. I hope that you will make social change your story.

Only 25 years after he became free, Frederick Douglass helped break one of the tallest barriers in American history. Now imagine what the Social Entrepreneurs of today could accomplish in 25 years.

Antong Lucky could put an end to senseless violence in so many of our cities.

Scott Strode could enable millions of people to beat addiction.

And you could be on the cusp of ending the injustice you’re most concerned about. There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you approach it by empowering people from the bottom up.