The Global LEAD Story

 For each of us it was different. 

Kevin had just become a YouTube phenomenon after his resounding commencement speech to 10,000 people at his alma mater University of Georgia and was working on a US presidential campaign, soon to be off to Capitol Hill with his message of faith and family. Courtney had just returned from a teaching program in the Marshall Islands through Harvard University and was about to start a lucrative career.

 Garrett had just been named one of the nation’s 10 Outstanding Young Americans by the U.S. Jaycees, joining previous honorees such as John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton, and was ready to take the next step after co-founding his first non-profit and raising $1 million dollars for children with HIV/AIDS. And Robbie was on the fast track to corporate success, had just spent the holidays in Southeast Asia visiting Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and was planning on joining forces with Garrett to attempt the Mongol Rally—a ludicrous idea to travel 10,000 miles in a race from London to Mongolia in an ice-cream truck that topped out at 40mph.

That’s when we got the urge to do something WOW. Never mind the tracks on which our lives were currently, never mind the crashing economy, it was the perfect time for us to start our non-profit and travel the improbable journey that led us to a Shark Cage in the middle of South Africa.

The four of us, all friends from the University of Georgia, decided to come together and set up an international service and leadership program like John F. Kennedy had done for an earlier generation—with a twist.  This program would include short term stays overseas with a carefully crafted curriculum around the elements of Leadership, Education, Adventure, and Diplomacy.  It would be a new way to see, serve, and understand the world.

Our mission soon came to be known as Global L.E.A.D., but what it would be beyond its name, we could only imagine.

While stealing free internet from a coffee shop in Atlanta, we decided on a carefully-crafted strategy of crashing international conferences for ideas and criss-crossing continents for opportunities.  Truly this would be trial by fire and learning from the school of hard knocks.  Garrett and Kevin were sent to an international conference in Brazil with 1100 student participants from 100 different countries armed only with a small camera and wigs, while Robbie and Courtney were given a map of Africa and a set of darts. If we had had the family name Kennedy and the power of the entire executive office behind us, our strategy might have been a tad different; but as it was, we were ready to risk everything on chutzpah alone.

“Team Brazil” flew home with notes from over 100 countries in what a program for our generation could look like, and “Team Bulls-eye” claimed that a 100 day route from Kenya to Cape Town seemed exciting enough to experiment with our framework and set up our pilot program in South Africa.  With a million dollar mansion as our backdrop, 200 supporters in attendance, and a Hall of Fame Football Coach vouching for our credibility, we hosted an event to raise funds. By the smallest of margins we missed our fundraising mark—by about $70,000. 

We decided not to panic; we still had one week before we were set to leave for Africa. We watched “The Secret”, made a Vision board, some of us cried, others of us laughed but all of us still believed.  With 48 hours to go, Garrett met with a gentleman and laid out the grand vision of Global L.E.A.D.  With only himself, his team, and their idea to change the world as collateral, Garrett walked out from the meeting with a loan for the money he needed to make it happen.  Was it smart? Was it crazy? Or was it exactly what every entrepreneur with a great team and a grand vision would do?  We agreed to do it—worst case scenario if we didn’t pull it off—Garrett agreed to drive the ice-cream truck to Mongolia and live out his days paying off the loan.

 We lived out the Global L.E.A.D. mission across the African continent, from Kenya to Cape Town, for 100 days, finding out what worked, realizing what didn’t, and filming the entire journey.  We caused a stir while speaking alongside the Prime Minister of Kenya; got bruised and beaten while white water rafting on the Nile River; served in the slums of Kibera and at an AIDS orphanage in Nairobi; spoke at universities, primary schools, and conferences; and even stared a 500 pound Silver Back Mountain Gorilla in the eyes in the forests of Uganda and Rwanda.  Each country was a new opportunity to see, serve, and understand the world.  Each was a small piece of the learning puzzle for what Global L.E.AD. Cape Town would become.

 Upon our return, we developed a Leadership and Service curriculum, secured course credit for our program, and lived off of our ideas alone. (For the four of us, our combined salary for the first year was $36,000 – far below the federal poverty level and dismal enough that the University of Georgia refuses to include us in their average salary rankings for recent grads.)

We believe in the power of our generation seeing and serving the world.  We believe in the possibility of what can happen when passion is combined with persistence.  We believe in Global L.E.A.D.

The last day in Africa we all stood together inside a thin cage as Great White Sharks circled around us.  It was a strange thrill almost being eaten alive by the outside world yet knowing we were still standing there, experiencing life, and surviving to tell the story. Global L.E.A.D. is much the same.   For as a great writer once wrote “never tell a young person anything is impossible, God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant of the impossible to do that very thing.”  We sure hope so.