by Jean Case
TWENTY-FOUR
NOW GO, BE THE ONE
“We are what we choose,” Jeff Bezos told Princeton University students in a 2010 commencement address that was all about the importance of choosing to act. When I read this address, I realized he was talking about letting urgency conquer fear. And the most striking part was when Jeff asked a series of pointed questions that challenged the graduates to think deeply about the most important choices they would make for their lives. Let me share some of them with you:
How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?
Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?
Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?
Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?
When it’s tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?
These are fitting questions for college graduates, but I share them here because they are also the kind of questions anyone who aspires to live a life of purpose should ask—and answer. The first step to greatness is deciding to be the one who doesn’t just let life happen to you.
Each of us is responsible for the kind of impact we have on the world. If you’re reading this book, I suspect that you have a deep desire to strike out—rejecting the ordinary and making a difference. So pick your arena. You can make change through business, through the arts, through education, through a social movement, through politics, in your neighborhood. It’s up to you which trail you blaze.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
—MARGARET MEAD
In his book The Excellence Dividend, management consultant Tom Peters describes how traditional organizations too often rely on careful, studied analysis before making a move, whereas young organizations excel through urgent action. “There was no grand plan,” he writes. “There was no plan at all. The starting point was the STARTING.” So start. Take the path Peters describes as “WTTMSW—whoever tries the most stuff wins.”
As John Kotter of Harvard Business School points out, nobody wants to admit they’re complacent. People are busy. If you ask them, they’ll cite many ways they’re engaged. What we’re talking about here is different. It takes some bravado. Ask yourself: Can you stand in the shoes of people like Corrie ten Boom? Can you, like Walmart’s Jessica Lewis, get on that bulldozer and bust into the rubble to find supplies? Can you adopt the spirit of Oprah or Astro Teller and let failure teach you? Can you align your daily business with a larger mission, as chef José Andrés has? Can you, like the Holts, see a need and figure out, without overthinking, how you personally can help?
Can you imagine saying out loud:
• I’m the one who will find a solution to this problem.
• I’m the one who will show up when there’s an emergency.
• I’m the one who will take the big risk when the company needs a spark.
• I’m the one who will care for the person who’s left behind.
• I’m the one who will speak up when others are silent.
• I’m the one who will tell the story that needs to be told.
• I’m the one, with my heart in my throat, who will dare to act.
Can you decide to be the one? Here’s the secret: it doesn’t take a remarkable ability, great charisma, or any special advantages. People become heroes not because they are blessed with extraordinary powers, but because when they see the urgency, they simply choose to act.
The time is now for all of us to decide whether we will hold back or plunge into lives of meaning. It is my sincere hope that you will feel that urgency as an inner force and choose to be among those who step forward. That voice calling is meant for you.
EPILOGUE
ON RETURNING TO NORMAL
They say when one door closes, another one opens, but the saying is usually used figuratively. In this case, when the airplane door closed in Washington, DC, it wasn’t long before another one opened in a small town in the nation’s heartland, seemingly worlds away.
It was my husband’s idea that I travel alone to the town where I was raised to begin writing this book. He couldn’t have known that along the way, I would fall in love. Not with some new person, of course, but with the town that raised me, the town that instilled in me the values that form the basis of who I am, the town that in so many ways shaped me, even though circumstance didn’t allow me to stay beyond adolescence.
I returned to Normal to ask big questions and seek big answers. I no longer have any family there, except for those whose graves I visited, but the Airbnb home I rented just around the corner from the house where my grandparents once lived assured that I would not run from my past. I rented a bike for my breaks from writing, and every day I would pass the home of my grandparents and offer a knowing nod. I never did knock on the door to introduce myself to the new owners. It was enough to just be near a place that held so many cherished memories.
The home in which I stayed was more than a hundred years old and lovingly restored. It wasn’t lost on me that I was dwelling in a structure whose own past had been so thoroughly explored. The foundations of the home were solid, carrying the structure through a century of change. Its best and most defining attributes—the wavy glass, the rich mahogany wood, the bowed patio overlooking the generous, tree-lined backyard—were unchanged at their core, but carefully restored to bring back their original glory. In the silence of the evenings, or in the early-morning light, one could almost hear echoes of the family that first occupied the home in the early 1900s.
In the quiet of my solitude, I reflected that we have foundations too, set at birth, and special attributes to nurture and protect, lest they be scratched or worn down over time. As children, we rush to climb high trees, to try new things without much thought to our own limitations. When we fall, we get back up and keep going. For me, this was life in Normal. But this type of fearless living is not “normal” at all.
So the question becomes, how do we each dig deep inside ourselves to find our own path back, perhaps not to normal, but to that early, more fearless self who whispered, “I dare you”?
I wrote this book because in the six years I’ve been sharing the Be Fearless principles, I’ve had countless men and women come back to tell me how the principles inspired them. A young MBA student from Notre Dame changed his career focus to public engagement. A woman who had for decades thought about hatching a plan for a new museum in her town is now well on the way to making that happen. Such stories come back to me often, from companies, nonprofits, entrepreneurs, social activists, and everyday people who have been inspired to be bold, take risks, make failure matter, and march toward their dreams to make a difference in the world. Maybe one day I’ll hear one from you.
Now go, change the world.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
* * *
The decision to write a book, and the process to get it done, varies for each author. For those writing their first book, once the manuscript is complete, there can be a tendency to approach the acknowledgments with a broader lens that includes people in life beyond those who specifically contributed in one way or another to the book itself. Such is the case here as I reflect on those central characters whose influence and inspiration brought me to this incredible moment where I sit poised to publish my own first book, in addition to those who have played a central role in bringing the Be Fearless principles to life with us over the last six years. Some of these individuals I’ve written about in the preceding pages and I’ve highlighted their stories, while the names of others appear here for the first time.
My husband, Steve, provided the earliest encouragement for this book. He was taken with the Be Fearless principles when I first shared the original research with him, and he saw the potential power of encouraging this entrepreneurial thinking across sectors and to people of all backgrounds. When Steve saw how the Be Fearless message resonated, he suggested I thin
k about writing a book to more broadly convey this work. Steve is the Chairman of the Case Foundation, and although we are cofounders together, I credit Steve for his generous contributions to our work and to the scale of financial resources we have brought, as well as for providing his incredibly valuable insights as we’ve taken forward our philanthropic efforts over the last twenty-one years. He is a remarkable leader and brilliant innovator I continue to learn from and grow with, and I count myself blessed to have him as a life partner. Much as he does in the everyday life we share, in the writing of this book Steve encouraged me, challenged me, and expressed his loving support of the effort at each stage. There is no question I am more fearless in my life because of Steve.
Our blended family is comprised of five millennial-generation kids—my daughters, Nikki and Katie; and stepkids, Everett (and his wife, Meaghan), Annie, and Katie. My life has been deeply enriched by becoming a mom. As I reflect on my own fearless journey through the years, I can clearly see the influence our kids had on how I viewed the world. I learned from them, had my own views changed and expanded because of them, and have witnessed firsthand the potential power of this generation to change the world. Being a mom has been among the greatest privileges of my life, and I am grateful for each day with the family I love. My daughters have a loving, supportive father, Dan Villanueva, and I am grateful for the important role he has played in their lives.
When I made the decision to write this book, I turned to our treasured colleague and Case Foundation board member (and friend) Ron Klain, whose own life could be a book, having served as chief of staff to not one but two former US vice presidents. Ron knew our work with the Be Fearless principles well through the years and provided valuable insights that helped make the book possible. As a starting point, Ron fearlessly encouraged me to pursue Bob Barnett as my book agent. Bob is renowned in the publishing industry, and most especially in Washington, DC, where he has been the agent for former presidents and other luminaries. Bob’s guiding hand has played a role in countless bestsellers through the years. I am enormously grateful to him for accepting this book from a first-time author and for the encouragement, wisdom, fun, and valuable expertise he brought each step of the way.
It was Bob Barnett who suggested I consider working with a collaborator and arranged for me to meet another proven veteran of the publishing industry (and of bestsellers), Catherine Whitney. Bob knew I was quite passionate about the stories I had written to convey the Be Fearless principles, and he wisely suggested that Catherine could be a valuable voice and careful eye to help shape the manuscript. The moment I met Catherine, I felt that fate was playing a role. From our very first meeting, it was clear that she shared a passion for the larger calling of this book, and for the stories we were highlighting. But it was Catherine’s skilled hand that took these stories and edited, tweaked, culled, and worked with me to determine the final placements and organization of them in the book. Throughout this process, my respect and true affection for Catherine grew even stronger. I feel so fortunate to have had such a world-class collaborator, and I suspect (and hope) she will become a friend for life.
Turning this book into a reality could not have been done without the stalwart team at Simon & Schuster, all of who supported this project from the outset. In particular, I greatly appreciate the guidance and insights provided by Jonathan Karp and Richard Rhorer and the dynamic duo of Priscilla Painton and Megan Hogan, who provided careful guidance and helped to ensure the book stayed on track.
I will forever be grateful to Dr. Jane Goodall for writing the foreword to this book. Jane is an extraordinary model of fearlessness and was from such a young age. Her story reminds us that sometimes the lack of training or education can be an advantage when we set out to pursue our Big Bets. I have been deeply inspired by Jane’s lifelong pursuits of justice and fairness for animals and for human beings. Few people have made such a mark, and I have been grateful that my role with the National Geographic Society has enabled my connection to her.
The intellectual property of the Be Fearless principles belongs to the Case Foundation, not to me personally, and rightfully so. I could not have written this book without the help and support of our entire team, ranging from the most senior executives right down to college interns—together as a team we researched, debated, and celebrated each aspect of the book as it came together. This is not a book by committee, but rather a thoughtful presentation of what we collectively believed would be the best way to convey the important message of the principles through storytelling. There are two individuals who should be called out for their extraordinary help and support in this process—Sam Heitner and Louise Storm. Both embraced this process as if it were their own book, providing valuable insights and reviews and keeping me focused and motivated throughout the process. I am also grateful for the contributions of Sarah Koch, who, like me, brought many years of experience at the Case Foundation teaching and sharing these principles, with an astute awareness of what often resonates in conveying them. She guided much of the research underlying the stories (together with our intern Will Potts). Jess Zetzman, who brought her marketing and social media savvy, and Jade Floyd, whose commitment over the past six years has been unwavering, brought an important eye to all the avenues we contemplated in curating the book’s content. I can’t do what I do at the Case Foundation without the steady, guiding hand of Brian Sasscer, a longtime valued senior executive at the Case Foundation, and someone who worked with me dating back to my AOL days. Brian, together with former Case Foundation colleagues Michael Smith, Allie Burns, and Erich Broksas, comprised the original executive team that worked with me six years ago to first bring the Be Fearless principles to life—in a sense they were cofounders of this work with me, and each provided valuable insights on the manuscript of the book as it was being finalized. I’m also grateful to our Case Foundation board for their enthusiastic support of this work over the last six years: Sean Greene, Doug Holladay, Donna Hoyle, Ron Klain, Song Pak, John Sabin, Sonal Shah, and Steve.
In addition to the Case Foundation team, we had the expertise of three important contributors to the Be Fearless work. Raphael Bemporad of BBMG, who when studying our own work at the Case Foundation came up with the title and overarching framework of Be Fearless. We then engaged the research of Brad Rourke and Cynthia Gibson, PhD, to ask a simple question: What are the common elements where transformational breakthroughs have taken place across sectors and across time? In pursuit of data to answer this question, they discovered the five principles we highlight in this book. We are grateful for these important contributions to our work that set Be Fearless on a strong path right from the start.
When we first launched Be Fearless, we invited a cross section of leaders to come be part of that special day at the Case Foundation. Our deepest thanks to Walter Isaacson, Senator Mark Warner, Tom Tierney, and Barbara Bush—daughter of former President George W. and Laura Bush—who share some credit for the remarkable embrace this work had right out of the gate. At our launch event we had hundreds of partners join us via webcast who then went on to help share the principles throughout their own organizations and with their networks, and we remain enormously grateful that many remain actively engaged with the work and enthusiastic. The same spirit can be seen six years later in the guidance and insights that Ross Baird, Genevieve Ryan, and Brad Feld provided as they reviewed early versions of this book and shows the importance of reaching out to those who can provide different perspectives to improve every project you start.
This book simply would not have been possible without the love and support of so many who have nurtured me, inspired me, loved me, and encouraged me. I’ve tried to convey the outsized role my mom, Norma Norton, and my grandparents, Ernest and Anna Baumgarten, had in my life. They were models of lives fearlessly lived, and of a commitment to something bigger than one’s self. I’m grateful that my brothers, Jack and Jim, have had my back throughout my life, and for the love of my late sister, Judy. Jack and I speak n
early every day, and he remains a central source of love, support, and encouragement to me. After I sent this book out to Jack for a very early review of the manuscript, he read it within hours and called me bursting with pride and enthusiasm and valuable feedback. Additionally, I’m grateful for the Case Ohana (family), whom I’ve been fortunate to have in my life since marrying Steve. We lost Steve’s brother, Dan, to brain cancer in 2001. Dan was a fearless leader in his own right, whose life still serves as an inspiration. He cofounded Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure (ABC2) together with his wife, Stacey, Steve, and me with a commitment to accelerate therapies and a cure for this terrible disease in the years ahead.
I’m grateful to my close friend Jill Chandler for bringing me into her remarkable life story as an orphan from Korea. I had the privilege of knowing her wonderful adoptive parents in Michigan, who, with a family of three children of their own were compelled to fly to Seoul in the 1960s to bring back their much-cherished new member of the family. One more Korean child was added to the family a year later. Many thanks to Jill for allowing me to spotlight her story as part of this book (Chapter 23). Jill and I became friends long before I arrived at AOL or knew this extraordinary life of privilege, and she has stood by me with each passing chapter of life. Her steadfast support and special role in our family have meant the world to me.
Diane Wright has served as an inspiration to me for decades. A dear friend who is a talented lawyer by training, she has spent her more recent years tirelessly committing each day to making the world a better place through service in the nonprofit and faith-based realms, and that has served as an important inspiration to me through the years. I have cherished our early-morning hikes along a wooded path on the Potomac River in Virginia, where, as we walk and talk, we assess the fearlessness and purpose we are bringing to our own lives and we reflect on the role of faith in calling us to be in service to others.
