Why I Wrote My Book / Campaign Kick Off / Upcoming Events

Thanks to everyone who came along to the kick off of my book campaign plus some more upcoming events in both DC and NYC

Feb 06, 2024

Dear Friends and Supporters,

First off, I’d like to thank those of you that joined my Ideas to Impact book event hosted by Changing Our World last Tuesday evening. I am grateful for all of your support to help us become the next Amazon best (pre-)seller and spread the word about this important policy playbook! I owe special thanks to the panel of incredible speakers and will be posting snippets of the wisdom each of them shared in the coming weeks. I’ll also be posting my own talk as well. If you have not yet done so please remember to pre-order your copy. Pre-sales have an impact on how well books get promoted online. That’s why we have set a goal of 1000 pre-orders!

If you missed the event I will be having more both in person and virtual over the coming months in different parts of the world. So please be on a look out for that! I can already tell you however that on April 18th I will be participating in a book talk at Columbia University.

I poured my heart and soul into this book. Alongside having Miki and marrying Wendy this is one of the biggest personal milestones for me. Most of it was written on planes, boats, hotel rooms and on my phone on the subway in a compressed time scale. I didn’t take any kind of sabbatical. The final book is 186 pages, which might surprise some of you. For those who know me well, know this could have easily been 500 pages! You can thank my wife Wendy for being at times a most brutal but always honest reviewer.

So why did I write this book?

I often get asked for advice about how to influence policy: how to turn talk into action.

Often such questions come from other nonprofits but in many cases they come from university student activists, Rotary clubs, and high school students.

Sometimes I’ve been unsure about how best to offer meaningful advice. I knew the size of GC might be intimidating to some grassroots advocates who wanted to create policy change in their local community but didn’t know how. The last message I wanted to send was that everyone had to create their own nonprofit to participate in policy change.

Indeed, frequently these questions brought back to my time playing sports in high school. I was that kid who was very bad at sports. I would kick a football and just hope it would go in the right direction let alone hit the goal posts. In many cases it would simply go in the opposite direction, with everyone laughing.

Then we would go into a school assembly and listen to a motivational speaker, and for some reason the speakers were always - always in Australian high schools - a sporting superstar, or some kind of Olympic medalist. I would be sat there thinking “This is all good for you, you’ve already achieved this. What am I meant to do.”

So I wrote this book with these questions for help in mind. If I wasn’t part of a large scale org like Global Citizen, what would I want to know about how to influence policy? What steps would I find helpful to make a start?

In the book I outline 8 simple steps of what I call policy entrepreneurship. Where I first heard this term was back in university when we were first starting what would become global citizen. Candidly, we didn’t know if we would be successful and so I had to find a back up option. I had submitted an application to study public policy and had to write an entrance essay. I had asked my college professor for advice and telling him about the proposed model of GC, he said “ok you’re basically a policy entrepreneur.” The term always lingered in the back of my mind and is something I’ve embraced and outlined further in the book.

I interviewed many many people for the book who have been in my view policy entrepreneurs, and am looking forward to sharing these stories with the world.

The book doesn’t try and provide all the answers but it does aim to give people a start. Once people take the first step the forward motion of action taking tends to trigger its own momentum, inspiring others in our friend and family circles to also act. As former US First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The Way To Begin Is To Begin.”

Thank you to also all of those who have contributed to our book giveaway. We have so far received donations for 300+ copies to grassroots NGOs! Please help us reach the goal of 1,000 books for grassroots changemakers by making a tax-deductible donation here!

On the Global Citizen front, I am looking forward to spending the latter half of this coming week for meetings in Washington, D.C., capped off by an event at the Australian Embassy. If you’re in DC on the 9th, please reach out to my colleague Kellen (kellen.edmondson@globalpovertyproject.com) if you’d like to join us for a reception starting at 5pm. But please be sure to RSVP ASAP as interest is running high!

Now onto other updates:

Please join for an NYC Impact Roadshow on February 15!

If you’re in New York, GC would be honored to have you join this year’s iteration of the New York Global Citizen Impact Event at Global Citizen HQ, 740 Broadway, NY 10003 on Thursday, February 15th, 2024 from 6:00-8:00pm ET.

Global Citizen will bring together close friends and supporters to share the impact you helped create - and discuss upcoming opportunities and campaigns for impact in the year ahead. Last year, GC were honored to be joined by leaders from major corporations, New York City officials, global partners, artists, talent agencies and management companies, record labels, publishing houses, and more.

Please confirm you will attend by RSVPing to newyork@globalcitizen.org with your name and the subject line “RSVP: New York Impact Event” by Friday, February 9, and we will share additional details with you. The whole team looks forward to seeing you.

Solving Homelessness: Citi Foundation’s 2024 Global Innovation Challenge

The Citi Foundation has announced its 2024 Global Innovation Challenge, awarding $500,000 to 50 community organizations working to pilot or expand innovative solutions to homelessness. Affordable safe housing is a key contributing factor to the economic well-being of individuals, families and communities. With homelessness on the rise, an initiative like this will help enable trailblazing organizations to End Extreme Poverty.

Applicants must meet the following criteria to be considered:

Applicant organizations must be a registered as nonprofit entities under local law;
Applicants must be able to submit their most recent externally audited financial statements, including auditor’s notes, covering some part of the calendar year 2022 or a subsequent year;
Applicant’s proposed program must impact one or more of the target geographies.

The deadline for eligible organizations to register is Tuesday, February 13, at 12 p.m. EST. For more information, please visit citifoundation.com/rfp

Supporting Youth Voices in Politics!

Global Citizen is a proud supporter of the Be Seen Be Heard campaign. This is a global umbrella campaign co-led by the UN Office on Youth and The Body Shop, which seeks to increase the participation of young people in politics and supports local campaigns in 75 countries around the world.

In addition to the support GC is already lending to national campaigns in Canada, Australia, Sweden, South Africa and the UK, we are thrilled to also support the EU-wide campaign led by the European Youth Forum to lower voting age to 16, as various countries in the European Union have already done. You can support the campaign by taking action here. Young people believing in political participation and having avenues to participate is essential to thriving democracies and for affecting change!

Speaking on HOW to Implement Policy This Friday/Saturday

This coming Friday, February 9th at 6 pm EST I will be giving a sneak peek of my upcoming book focused specifically on that unglamorous but so important word “Implementation.” Come watch me speak about how we can all be part of solving our great Crisis of Implementation!

The event is FREE and OPEN to all though you do need to register here https://unity.earth/event-registration/

The event organizers will then send you the Zoom registration to get the unique Zoom ID of the Symposium.

Three Initiatives That Could Change the Way the Private Sector Responds to Human Rights

Global Citizen is very proud of our work to open civic space and defend human rights and environmental defenders. While this work revolves heavily around engagement with governments, six US-based companies have shown how the private sector can play a role as well through the anti-SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) campaign.

This new explainer covers three initiatives that could have a great impact in how the private sector engages with defenders and their overall approach to human rights. Impacts can be felt across supply chains and franchises around the world as the United States, the EU and the UN consider legislation and policy around this issue. Have a read and please share extensively!

Woodrow Wilson’s Cautionary Tale

This past Saturday marked 100 years since the death of America’s 28th President, Woodrow Wilson. In this article for Daily News, I provide a brief excerpt from my upcoming book and somehow manage to also weave in one of my favorite cli-fi writers!

President Woodrow Wilson’s legacy warns against impractical idealism. A century after his death, on Feb. 3, 1924, it is a stark reminder that noble goals demand compromise — a lesson perilously overlooked in our divided era, particularly in facing pressing challenges like climate change.

Wilson’s self-righteousness echoes in today’s political debates, both in Washington and globally, notably in tackling climate change. Urgent action is imperative for halving emissions by 2030, requiring extraordinary pragmatic idealism. Yet, societies remain divided between doomsayers and indifferent bystanders.

Despite recent U.S. and European emission declines, the world is still collectively dangerously off track from achieving 2030 climate goals. Given the urgency, the optimal solution now may necessitate impure and controversial measures.

Wilson uttered his last words on Feb. 3, 1924, reportedly stating, “Doctor, the devil is a busy man.” And yet, for his noble intent, he himself had unintentionally aided the devil by refusing to negotiate. Winning the initial battle, Wilson lost the war to end all wars with the U.S. failure to join his precious League.

His story stands as a cautionary tale amid one of the worst eras of polarization, both at home and abroad. Pure idealism, prioritizing feeling “right, righteous, certain, and safe,” can have catastrophic consequences. Progress demands blending idealism with pragmatism. As we consider the necessary actions needed to avert the worst of climate change, let’s be sure to heed the lesson from Woodrow Wilson.

My Weekend Reading List

As always, if you’re enjoying the weekly newsletter format, and want even more, you can subscribe to my Substack here where I publish reviews, lists, and articles regularly.

Til next time,

Mick