DON'T
TALK.
DO!
This Book Is About You
This book has been inspired by the impact entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs that I have met over the past four years – and continue to meet – as a mentor at the DO School, in Berlin. These men and women are spearheading a new, global movement of purposeful DOers, a restless generation of optimistic people who dream of ways they can help create a better world, then take action to get them done. I want to share what I have learned from them, and from my own experience as a technology entrepreneur.
You can become part of this growing community of DOers. All you need are a sense of purpose, optimism, passion and energy, along with a few simple tools. With these, you can create positive change in a world that so desperately needs it. You just have to stop thinking about it and start DOing.
Because if you don’t, no one else will.
About Chris
I am a cycling addict, entrepreneur, CEO, author, speaker, networker and humanity activist. I travel the world by bike, I meet people by the heart and I consult businesses by my experience in growth and problem solving.
I wrote this little book in Sicily, in the early spring of 2018, while avoiding an unseasonly cold month in northern Germany. I woke up every morning much earlier than I usually DO and started writing and drawing. I loved every minute of it. I hope you will find its simple advice useful.
Christian Ehl
Learn more about Chris by clicking this link – SPIN THE WHEEL
The DOer’s Manifesto
This is the age of the DOer.
At no other time in our history have technology, tools, and powerful social, information and communication networks been as affordable, widely distributed or as accessible as they are now. The ability to identify opportunity and quickly act upon it – to shape the world that we want to live in – and to enlist the imaginative and practical resources of others, wherever they might be, to help us DO it, is available to everybody.
In other words, DOing is more democratized than ever before. And it has never been more needed – at no other time in our history has the pace of change been as fast, or as relentless. Nor have the challenges been as complex and unpredictable.
Today, those who act with the least delay to confront the myriad, extraordinary scenarios and problems that influence, evolve, or, worse, threaten our future are DOers. They are an essential, evolutionary force.
DOers are not afraid of change. They embrace it. Nor are they deterred by the scale of the challenges they take on, which are often among the most insistent and complicated of our time.
DOers understand that their greatest strength is passion aligned with a purpose. They are uncommonly effective at turning ideas into action.
DOing is never inadvertent. It is conscious, directed and purposeful. Its value is measured by the benefit derived by others.
DOing needs critical mass. It thrives within community. Doers achieve the greatest impact when they transcend culture, race and social status to cohere as a global community, focus on important problems, and work together in new ways to solve them.
Successful DOers learn and collaborate with others who are working towards the same goals but whose perspectives and approaches are often different. Diversity of thought – and action – is essential.
Saba Khalid
Pakistan
Saba is a social entrepreneur, influencer, filmmaker, and freelance journalist committed to the empowerment of women.
Born in a small city in Punjab, Saba had always dreamed of living a life of creative and personal freedom. She worked for many years at newspapers, magazines, and advertising agencies, but an IFA Cross-Cultural Fellowship in Berlin made her realize that her dream of achieving such freedom was possible.
Today she consults with start-ups and mentors social entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Her blogging was nominated for the Social Media Empowerment 2018 Awards in New Delhi, and won the MHM challenge by UNICEF.
She was awarded a Seed Prize at The DO School, a grant by The Pollination Project, and an education grant by UNESCO and the ILM Ideas educational tech fund.
She also heads her own organization, Aurat Raaj. Her animated films on women empowerment have been screened all over Pakistan, and her app, Raaji, has recently been launched on Google Play.
Ryan Gersava
Philippines
Ryan is the 24-year-old founder of Virtualahan, a social enterprise that empowers people with disabilities through digital work.
He started Virtualahan in 2015 after qualifying as a doctor and being rejected from jobs as a medical laboratory scientist because of his medical condition - a rare, inactive Hepatitis B. His disappointment motivated him to create innovative solutions that offered people with disabilities or chronic illness a chance to find gainful employment.
Ryan is a Global Shaper at the World Economic Forum, a fellow at the Global Good Fund, an Asia-Pacific Future Maker and the recipient of the Lenovo Outstanding Tech Visionary Award and Google Business Stories Award.
He is driven by a mission to contribute to a future of work in which no one is left behind.
“Virtualahan is breaking down employment barriers for people with disabilities by empowering them to work from home as online service providers for digital companies all over the world. We train them and we work on placing them in valuable jobs. We are working towards inventing the future of work where no one is left behind.”
getting started in their first venture...”