Reply To: Exercise 10: 10 Valuable People
Exercise 10
Hi everyone. The Initiative class is over… kinda. This past week was officially our last week but I didn’t complete the final exercise. Given what I wrote about in my last post, I’m quite happy about this as well. I was able to get a lot done this week while also taking care of other important aspects of my life like my real job, socializing, exercising, relaxing, and sleeping. I didn’t push myself to have conversation after conversation because I wanted to prioritize rebalancing my life. It’s easy for me to say, “well, I can just grind it out this week and then get back on track next week.” But then I can say that same thing again, or some other version of it to rationalize another less-than-ideal situation. I do think there are times when doing that is necessary and helpful, but now is not one of those times.
This week I had 7 conversations with people I view as valuable in the field. The first was with Johannes, co-creator of Effective Animal Advocacy Austria (EAAA). This is a group that functions very similarly to the project idea that I came up with. I spoke with Johannes a few weeks back and he helped me see what I really wanted to create. He inspired me to shift my focus from improving communication skills to discussing effective animal advocacy and connecting members with more meaningful opportunities to help animals. After my chat with him on Monday, I decided how I want to move forward.
Together with his friend Kevin (who I also chatted with today), Johannes has spread EAAA to eight different countries around the world. The groups utilize the same resources and tailor them to their specific needs. So, I’m going to heed the advice I received from several others and not re-invent the wheel. Since I’m moving in two months, I won’t be fully establishing an “Effective Animal Advocacy Albany”, but I’ll be introducing it! I’ve checked with my boss and got the green light to have a meeting at the Five Rivers visitor center some time in October. The only sticking point is that I have to be clear that I am not representing DEC as it is such a large bureaucracy with specific guidelines and, as state employees, we can’t be involved in lobbying or anything like that. In the meeting, we’ll have time for socializing and snacking before we discuss a topic I have yet to decide. I initially thought I would give a succinct presentation of the core ideas of effective animal advocacy, then people could ask questions and we could discuss as a group. However, Kevin advised me to have a slightly more focused and open discussion so people don’t feel lectured at. Instead, they’ll feel invited and encouraged to share their thoughts, making for a more enjoyable experience and learning process. So, I have some thinking to do. Either way, I’m excited to put this plan in motion!!
From my call with Johannes I also realized that I could take this anywhere. I didn’t know it had spread to so many places already. Seeing their success inspired me to believe I could be a part of it too. I even considered the possibility of going all in, seeking funding for the project and making it my full-time focus. I could move to DC where I already have some connection to the Effective Altruism community and really make it happen. I’m not by any means committing to this now, but it feels good to consider it as plausible. Before, I was stuck feeling like my project was bound to fizzle. It’d be a good idea and maybe gain some traction, but it wouldn’t hold up. That can absolutely still happen, but I can at least see the possibility of success now. I can feel the excitement of actually creating something and helping people help animals.
Several of the other calls were not directly related to this project but they were all with people in the same field. I was gaining insights and advice on getting into a career and more volunteering roles in animal advocacy. In fact, one conversation was with Marine Lercier, founder of a brand new organization based in France called the International Center for Animal Rights and Ethics (ICARE). I applied for a volunteer fundraiser role and after our meeting on Thursday, it seems I got it!! This is an amazing opportunity to learn and grow a lot and potentially significantly help this new organization. Entry level roles in animal advocacy are hard to come by, and especially in fundraising because grant-writing and securing funds is so crucial to nonprofits they need people who really know what they’re doing. Marine doesn’t mind my minimal experience and said that I can learn as I go. There are online grant-writing and fundraising courses that I can take and more people I can connect with to learn from!
Right now I have one conversation scheduled for next week and a few more in the following week. I’ll be reaching out to more people over the weekend to try and set more up. I feel pretty good about the project and now just need to decide on my topic and start inviting people!
Reflections
I’ll be referencing the seven principles from Initiative, so here they are:
1. Personality matters less than skills you can learn
2. The idea of a lifetime comes once a month
3. Better than a great idea is an okay idea plus market feedback, flexibility, and iterations
4. Start where you are with what you have
5. Pitch and they’ll judge, ask advice and they’ll help
6. The problem leads to the solution
7. Almost nothing inspires like helping others so much that they reward you for it
This week felt like the perfect balance for me. I had a good number of meaningful conversations while also maintaining other important aspects of my life. I didn’t put too much pressure on myself to complete the exercise perfectly. I’m happy with how it went but have some things to improve. First, I drifted away from the script a little too much, I think. The conversations were still very helpful, but I forgot to ask for referrals or specific advice from most people. I think I got a little bit complacent, feeling like my project was where I wanted it to be, so I didn’t need more advice. That’s obviously not the case! I also wish I was more intentional with my meetings; I could have been more prepared with questions I wanted help answering or things that each specific person could help me with the most.
I think I’m getting better everyday at asking for help and advice instead of pitching ideas or solutions. I’ve been applying principle #5 in all parts of my life. It simply feels better to approach someone with humility and ask for their help than to come to them with an idea without inviting them to respond. When doing the latter, it’s often met with judgement and a kneejerk response to list all the problems instead of excitement to try to make it work. This can lead me to feel crummy about my idea and ultimately scrap it altogether. Similarly, principle #3 is proving to be as accurate as anything. Comparing what my project was at the start to what it is now is pretty impressive. I suppose it didn’t undergo an unbelievable transformation, but it has definitely improved and become more valuable to me thanks to advice and iterations.
Many of the other principles have been very applicable, especially as of late. My meeting with Marine about joining as a fundraising volunteer is a perfect example of the coming together of principles #1, #4, and #7. I’ll be jumping into a role with very little experience but it seems clear that I can learn the necessary skills. And Marine’s interest in bringing me on board felt really good, like I can really help her.
I’m thinking more about principle #6 because I have a new sub-problem that I need to solve. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not sure how exactly to run the meeting or what to focus on. It’s an introductory meeting, but I also don’t want people to feel the typical negative emotions (frustration, boredom, helplessness, resentment, etc.) associated with being lectured at or told what to do. So, my focus now will be figuring out the most effective way to structure the meeting to keep people engaged and interested in the concept.
Now at the end of the exercises, I feel pretty great about talking to people about things that are important to me. I still experience feelings of anxiety and think things like “who am I to take this person’s time” or “they don’t care” but it’s gotten way easier to push past that and just message them anyway. I reach out to several new people almost every day just to connect and see if they want to chat. It seems like everyone I speak with appreciates the conversation, especially when they have the opportunity to share things and help me. I’m learning to talk less and keep my points brief (although this is not easy for me!). I’ve definitely noticed improvements in my relationships at work because of this class. Not that I had any bad relationships but now I feel a lot closer to my colleagues because I’m asking for help more than doing stuff on my own. I’m much more open to advice and enjoy learning from others instead of shutting down when they give feedback. I know that I don’t necessarily have to take their advice (though I often do!), which takes the pressure off.
I’ll have an opportunity to share my ideas and plans tonight at a vegan potluck I helped organize. It’ll almost be like a test run for the test run.