“In January of 2008, while Greater Than Yourself was still being written, I gave a speech to the new students and staff of the Up with People program. They were around a hundred people, ages eighteen through twenty-nine, from twenty-three different countries, who were about to set out on a tour that would take them through the US, Mexico and Thailand.

I talked about Extreme Leadership. About taking on the challenge to change the world for the better. My usual stuff.

And then, unrehearsed, and more or less off the top of my head, I spoke to them about GTY. I had never talked to any group or audience about these ideas, and, frankly, I was still sorting a lot of this out for myself.

Nonetheless, I challenged all of them to practice the tenets of Expand Yourself, Give Yourself, and Replicate Yourself as they traveled the globe, worked in local communities, stayed with host families, and learned about each other over the coming six months.

I wasn’t very specific. Or prescriptive. I figured they’d figure it out for themselves. I encouraged them to stay in touch with me and share their GTY stories. I would be standing by, ready to help with advice and council.

Nothing happened.

So, I tried again.

This time, I went to the sixteen staff members—the Up with People employees responsible for facilitating a great experience for the student participants—and I made the challenge very specific: that each of them should take on one person as their GTY Project. Still, I didn’t prescribe what they should do or how they should do it. I just urged them to try.

That’s when the magic happened.”

--From Greater Than Yourself, by Steve Farber

www.UpWithPeople.org