Author discusses global leadership

Everyone can participate in issues of global effect, said Sam Daley-Harris, renowned author and nonprofit founder.

Students and IU faculty members gathered Tuesday to hear Daley-Harris speak in the Kelley School of Business.

Daley-Harris is CEO and founder of the Center for Citizen Empowerment and Transformation and author of “Reclaiming Our Democracy: Healing the Break Between People and Government.”

He spoke about the political will to end poverty and to empower ordinary citizens to become lobbyists for the end of hunger and disease.  

The lecture introduced the publication of a revised 25th anniversary edition of Daley-Harris’s book, which describes his journey in encouraging individuals to become global leaders.

“My purpose is to get people inspired about the difference they can make,” Daley-Harris said. 

Daley-Harris is also the founder of international groups RESULTS and co-founder of Microcredit Summit. Such organizations have been leading advocacy voices in child nutrition, climate change, and microfinance, which provides small loans for the poor around the world, Stephen Arnold, RESULTS volunteer and Bloomington resident, said.

Kathleen Sobiech, a returned Peace Corps volunteer and current staff member at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, arranged the event. It was co-sponsored by the Institute for Social Impact, the Center for the Study of Global Change, and the Center for International Education and Development Assistance.

Daley-Harris has also led Citizens Climate Lobby, an organization that aims to teach individuals how to make persuasive arguments about policies to win bipartisan support, Arnold said.

Daley-Harris advised students to make articulate, interactive arguments in their speeches.

When Daley-Harris was 17 years old, he began to question his future plans, he said, and was concerned about the state of human nature.

“Allow yourself to ask the questions of purpose,” Daley-Harris said. “Why am I here? What am I here to do?”

Following the lecture, Daley-Harris spoke to students interested in volunteer opportunities with local nonprofit organizations.

“I feel that I’m talking about a piece that many students are not involved in, and that’s using their voice as citizens,” Daley-Harris said. “These kinds of groups would as least begin to give you the tools.”

Daley-Harris quoted Man and Superman, a drama by George Bernard Shaw, saying, “Life is no brief candle to me, it is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as it can before handing it on to future generations.”

Follow reporter Torie Schumacher on Twitter
@shoe_torie.