Make No Small Plans: Lessons on Thinking Big, Chasing Dreams, and Building Community

As the age-old adage goes: “You never fail until you stop trying.”

We had raised a quarter of a million dollars for charity, and we knew we could do it again, because, for the first time, we had a double bottom line. Not only had we helped the UN Foundation, but our event had sold enough tickets to make a slight profit.

IT’S NOT ABOUT THE IDEA. IT’S ABOUT THE EXECUTION.

He conducted exercises like asking the audience—people he’d only met a few hours earlier—to greet the people sitting beside them like arrogant assholes. He then asked them to greet each other like extremely shy people. Everyone observed how the different exercises made them shut down or become standoffish to those around them. Then he instructed us

We saw life as a giving competition, not a game of trades or a reciprocity loop. And if you’re genuinely giving without the expectation of return, you create the ability to ask the same of other people. We called it the Triangulation of Goodwill.

One attendee looked Elliott in the eye and sarcastically said: “Is this a joke? I’ve never waited in a line this long in my life. Nice event you’re putting on here.” We quickly asked one of our DJs to set up in the hallway of the port building, hoping the music would help ease the tension. We then radioed our culinary team and got them to deliver u

All it takes is one person to change everything.

We wanted to build a business around delivering something better than expected; over-promise, then over-deliver.

meaningful.” And that, I realized, is what the members of the Summit community have in common: the insatiable desire to create and connect so that we can make an impact on ourselves and on generations to come.