149: Ana Rocha, part 1: Cleaning Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Ana works in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Executive Director for Nipe Fagio (Give Me the Broom! in Swahili), my first guest who works in Africa.
This conversation is about leadership in an area lacking it — environmental action. I wish I met her before! It sounds to me like she leads effectively — not telling people what to do but leading them.
Ana promotes doing things, focusing on action, creating the joy of living by your values. She’s starting with beach clean ups and organizing people to act, but you can tell her vision is broader.
I’ve spoken a lot about people delaying action by making a goal of awareness when they’re already more than aware enough that their values are telling them it’s time to ac.t Ana’s focus on action reminds me that a main goal of leadership is to help people do what they already want to but don’t know how.
People want to act, they’re just frustrated by mainstream society and comfort and convenience. I wish people saw how much people want to act. The potential to lead is huge. Ana is stepping up. You can hear the passion resulting from her work.
There’s joy when you overcome the challenges. If you want to lead, you’ll learn what Ana did if you just start. People will thank you for helping them do what they already want to.
Read the transcript.