Mark: The biggest myth about changing the world? That you need to be a CEO, a politician, or a genius. The truth is, the most powerful changemakers are often the ones you've never heard of—and you might already be one of them. Michelle: That’s so true. We're trained to look for the person on the TED stage, the one with the bestselling book or the billion-dollar company. We assume change is this grand, top-down event. Mark: And that assumption lets most of us off the hook. It gives us an excuse to wait for someone else to fix things. But a fantastic book we're diving into today argues that this entire model is outdated. It’s called Becoming a Changemaker: An Actionable, Inclusive Guide to Leading Positive Change at Any Level by Alex Budak. Michelle: And Budak is the perfect person to write this. He’s a faculty member at UC Berkeley, and his course on this very topic is so impactful that students have literally gotten tattoos inspired by it. Tattoos, Mark! Mark: I know, it’s incredible. It speaks to the personal resonance of his message. He's not just an academic; he also co-founded StartSomeGood, a platform that's helped raise millions for social impact projects. He lives this stuff. And the book’s first big move is to completely redefine who gets to be a changemaker. Michelle: It throws the old definition out the window. Budak’s definition is simply "someone who leads positive change from where they are." That’s it. No title, no budget, no formal authority required. Mark: Exactly. It’s a democratization of leadership. And it’s not just a nice sentiment; he argues it’s built on a specific, learnable mindset.

Michelle: Okay, let's get into that. What is this 'changemaker mindset'? Because 'mindset' can sometimes feel a bit abstract. Mark: Budak breaks it down into a few core pillars, but the one that really stands out is what he calls "learned hopefulness." It’s this idea that hope isn't a passive feeling; it's an active choice. It’s what fuels you when things get tough. Michelle: Huh. 'Learned hopefulness' sounds a little like a self-help poster. It's easy to be hopeful when things are going well, but what about when you're facing real despair or cynicism? How do you 'learn' hope then? Mark: That’s the perfect question, because the book’s most powerful example of this comes from a place of unimaginable tragedy. It’s the story of Dadarao Bilhore from Mumbai. In 2015, his 16-year-old son was riding on the back of a motorcycle, and it hit a massive, rain-filled pothole. His son was thrown off and died from his injuries. Michelle: Oh, that's just devastating. Mark: Completely. And in that moment of grief, Bilhore could have been consumed by despair. Instead, he made a choice. He took a bag of sand and gravel from a construction site and went back to that pothole and filled it himself. And then he did it again for another pothole. And another. Michelle: Wow. Mark: He has now filled over 500 potholes across Mumbai, saving countless others from the same fate. He turned his grief into action. That is learned hopefulness. It’s what the writer Rebecca Solnit calls "an ax you break down doors with in an emergency." It’s not a lottery ticket; it’s a tool. Michelle: That reframes it completely. Hope as an action, not a feeling. But again, that's a story born from immense tragedy. What about the more common, everyday version of losing hope? The kind of cynicism you feel at work when your ideas get shot down? Mark: The book has a perfect story for that too. It’s about one of Budak's own students, a young woman named Hana. She came into his class completely dejected. She’d spent her summer internship trying to launch a diversity and inclusion initiative, and management just shut her down at every turn. She told Budak, "I just don’t believe it’s possible anymore. I’ve lost hope." Michelle: I think a lot of people can relate to that feeling. You try to make things better, you hit a wall, and you just give up. Mark: Exactly. So Budak worked with her. He had her do an assignment where she had to present on a changemaker who inspired her. She did it, and after her presentation, another student came up to her and said, "Your story just inspired me to keep going with my own project." Michelle: Oh, I see where this is going. Mark: In that moment, Hana realized she had become a changemaker for someone else. Her act of sharing a story, even when she felt powerless, created a ripple of positive change. She didn't solve the whole company's DEI problem, but she made a difference. She learned that change can be small, and that was enough to reignite her hope. Michelle: That’s a much more accessible entry point. It’s not about filling 500 potholes; it’s about inspiring one person. It’s about realizing your own agency, even on a small scale. Mark: That's the essence of the mindset. It’s the belief that there's always another way, and that you have the power to find it.

Michelle: That makes sense. So once you have the mindset, once you believe you can make a difference, how do you actually do anything? Especially if you have no formal power. You can't just will change into existence. Mark: You can't. And this is where the book moves from mindset to action. Budak introduces a concept he calls "Microleadership." The idea is that leadership isn't one big, heroic act. It's a series of small, conscious decisions to serve others and seize everyday opportunities to lead. Michelle: I like that. It lowers the stakes. But give me an example. What does a 'microleadership' moment look like in the real world? Something that isn't starting a global movement. Mark: A perfect recent example is the story of Sedona Prince, the college basketball player. In 2021, she was at the NCAA tournament and walked into the women's weight room. It was pathetic—just a single rack of dumbbells and some yoga mats. Meanwhile, she saw videos of the men's weight room, which was this massive, state-of-the-art facility. Michelle: Right, I remember this. The disparity was shocking. Mark: It was. Now, Sedona Prince wasn't the president of the NCAA. She was a 20-year-old student with a phone. But she saw an injustice, she gave herself permission to act, and she used her platform—in this case, TikTok—to serve her fellow athletes. She posted a 38-second video showing the difference. It went viral. Michelle: And the NCAA was shamed into fixing it almost overnight, right? Mark: Almost immediately. They completely upgraded the women's facilities. That was a microleadership moment. She didn't ask for permission. She didn't write a 50-page proposal. She saw a problem and took a small, decisive action that created massive, immediate change. It was leadership through influence, not authority. Michelle: That's a perfect modern example. But what about inside a massive, bureaucratic organization? A TikTok video won't change corporate policy at a place like Walmart. Mark: Great point. And that’s where you see a different tool from the changemaker toolkit in action. The book tells the story of Carolyn Davis, an hourly associate at Walmart. She was deeply troubled by the company's paid family leave policy. Executives got ten weeks of full pay, but hourly workers like her and her pregnant colleague only got half pay for a shorter period. Michelle: A classic two-tiered system. So what did she do? She couldn't exactly make a viral video about it without risking her job. Mark: No, she used a different strategy: coalition-building. She started small, just talking to her colleagues. She found her "champions," the people who immediately agreed with her. Then she used social media and a petition to reach the "fence-sitters"—the people who were hesitant but sympathetic. She expected a few hundred signatures. She got over 100,000. Michelle: One hundred thousand! From an hourly employee. That's incredible. Mark: Armed with that support, she went to the Walmart shareholder meeting and gave a three-minute speech. She wasn't just speaking for herself anymore; she was speaking for a hundred thousand other employees. She had built a network of influence from the ground up. A few months later, Walmart changed its policy, giving all employees, hourly included, ten weeks of fully paid leave. Michelle: That gives me chills. She led from the middle, or really, from the front lines. She didn't have a title, but she created the authority to lead through collective action. Mark: That’s the new playbook. It’s not about waiting for the corner office. It's about finding your tool—whether it's a TikTok video, a petition, or just a well-timed question in a meeting—and using it to serve others.

Michelle: So, when you put it all together, the book is arguing that leadership has fundamentally changed. It’s no longer a title you’re given, but a choice you make, moment by moment. Mark: Precisely. Budak has this great impact equation in the book: Impact = (Mindset + Leadership) x Action. You need the belief system we talked about, that learned hopefulness. You need the modern leadership skills of influence and coalition-building. But none of it matters if you don't multiply it by Action. The book is a powerful argument against waiting for permission. Michelle: It really is. And for me, the most powerful and practical takeaway is the simple phrase he offers: "Be the leader you wish you had." It’s such an empathetic starting point. It takes the pressure off of being this perfect, all-knowing leader. Mark: It really does. It’s not about having all the answers. It's about identifying a gap that you yourself have experienced—a lack of recognition, a need for clarity, a desire for a more inclusive culture—and then choosing to be the person who fills that gap. Michelle: It turns your own frustrations into a roadmap for action. Mark: And that's a great, concrete takeaway for our listeners. What’s one small thing you wish a leader would do for you or your team this week? Maybe it’s acknowledging someone’s hard work in a team chat. Maybe it’s asking a quiet colleague for their opinion in a meeting. That could be your first microleadership moment. Michelle: That’s a fantastic question to reflect on. And we'd love to hear what our listeners think. What's a micro-leadership moment you've seen or created? Let us know. It’s inspiring to hear these stories. Mark: It absolutely is. The world has never been more ready for you. Michelle: This is Aibrary, signing off.