Several things hit me about this video.

The first was that I laughed when he talked about starting businesses out of college instead of getting good grades. Yep, that sounds familiar. I’m not incredibly enamored of the mainstream educational systems that exist. Most of you know that already.

The second was the explanation of how both parties profit in a successful transaction; both sides win. The economics of this are awesome, and always make me a little bit excited. Results build on results build on results, and no charity is necessary.

But the big thing that struck me was the part about competition. An organization like Acumen Fund needs competition in order to accomplish its mission. It needs other people doing what Acumen Fund does, doing it better and more effectively, raising the bar for everyone, driving interest and young minds to get involved and change to be made in the world. Acumen Fund can’t accomplish its mission all by itself.

I believe that we all need this kind of competition in order to be the best we can be. This is why cutting down your competition instead of supporting your competition is insane. Quit worrying about the other guy and step up your game. The goal is not for you to win. The goal is for everybody to win.

I thought about my work with Charlie Gilkey and I thought, man, Not everybody can work with Charlie Gilkey, even if he’s the best dude for them to work with. Not everybody can work with Tim Brownson even if he’s the greatest life coach on the planet. Marty can only do so much illustration in a year; he can’t do this work for everybody. All these guys can accomplish an enormous amount, and still not affect everyone on the globe by themselves. And me, I can only consult and generate and write and design so many hours a day. There’s only so much time in the day for any of us. We need competition not only because it makes us better, but because combined with our competition, we can reach so many more people. More people get help. More people see change. This is benefit on a worldwide scale. As conscious capitalists we’re not out to profit for ourselves, though profit must be a piece of the pie in order for us to build bigger and stronger. We’re out to build a culture that thrives and supports itself, a healthy system filled with people who have meaning and vitality in their lives.

I just can’t think of anything better than that.

I feel insanely passionate about making people understand their options—their talents, their strengths, their innate holy-cow-ness—but I mostly think in terms of people who are living the same kind of life I am. People who have a place to live, family and friends, emotional support, access to (sometimes very) basic health information and services, transportation, and food. People who find themselves in scary situations, sure, but people who already have a very decent foundation on which to build a better life for themselves. I had thought some about people without those things before reading The Blue Sweater, but I don’t know if I thought about it enough. My passion for waking people up to their own potential hasn’t changed, but I have to wonder now what one has to do with the other.

What does confidence and purpose and passion and awareness mean if you can’t eat? Can’t keep yourself healthy? Can’t keep a roof over your head? I believe they can make the difference between a person who stays poor and a person who improves their own lot, but there are still missing pieces. If you don’t have a certain basic quality of life, can you even spare energy to consider these things? If I found myself without any resources, maybe I could—because I’ve already done it, I already know how and I’ve seen the results. But it’s hard enough to raise yourself up when you have most of your needs met. I’m having a hard time imagining the same process without family, food and shelter. When I say I’ve had a hard time buying groceries, I mean it—but I will probably always be able to eat somehow, even in the hardest of times. If I couldn’t eat, if I had to live out in the elements… I probably wouldn’t be preaching to you about confidence and purpose and passion and awareness.

I wouldn’t have the guts.

Would I?

Is there something to all of this, even for people who have much graver concerns than I do? Most of the people reading this blog do have their basic needs met, do have some resources to draw on, many of them (I might argue all of them, because I always do) are in an excellent position to mindset+action themselves into the place they want to be. Anyone with access to the internet has a huge array of options at their disposal. “I can’t” means less and less to you and I every single day. But what about everybody else?

I suppose this is one of the reasons the work of Acumen Fund appeals to me—they’re not about hand-outs or charity projects. They’re about giving people the tools to build themselves up. I resonate powerfully with that mission. It’s what I want, too. Teach a man to fish, folks. And maybe it’s just a difference in scale: Teach a man to fish. Teach him to connect with others. Teach him to use the internet. Let him teach others. Help him set up a fish consulting business. Make him the primary source on the web for fish information products. Then he has a fish empire. He’ll be fine.

Nope. I don’t know what it all means yet. But I’d love to hear what you think.

Early yesterday morning Seth Godin wrote that the world is getting smaller every day. You—yes, YOU —have the ability to touch and change the lives of people you’ll never once meet in person, often from your living room. The ways in which we affect the world around us are sometimes thrilling, sometimes humbling, but all of them are important. The smallest thing that makes a difference is still very necessary.

I’ve already started to hear whispers and reviews of Jacqueline Novogratz’ book, first from Seth and then from others. It’s called The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World. There’s no doubt that it’s worth reading—the way it was, doubtlessly, worth living.

Ms. Novogratz actually founded the Acumen Fund, and the things they do are heartening. As high-impact positive enterprises go, the Acumen Fund is impressive. (Not to mention that they have truly great champions.)

For each copy of The Blue Sweater sold this week, an additional $15 will be donated to the Acumen Fund. This will affect the first 5,000 copies sold, and the money is coming from an anonymous $75,000 matching grant. I suspect those copies will go quickly (especially considering Seth’s wide-ranging readership), but each of the people who buy them will be changing the world in just a little way. It will take almost no effort at all. It’s such a small thing to reach out make a difference, somewhere. It’s the little things that add up, and really count.

I want to be a part of that (and I ordered my book this morning).

I’m pretty sure you do, too.