When I began Do The _ Thing, the blank in the title was intentional.

I didn’t want to define what someone’s “thing” should be.

For one person, it might be building an organization. For another, advocating for a community, solving a problem, creating something new, investing in an idea, or simply responding to something they could no longer ignore.

I was curious about what happens before the work becomes visible.

What makes someone notice?

What makes them care?

And what makes them decide, I need to do something about this?

After many conversations, I have begun to notice something.

Meaningful work does not always begin with a grand vision.

Sometimes, it begins with noticing.

Someone notices a child who is being left behind.

Someone notices a system that works well for some people but not for others.

Someone notices a community whose wisdom or potential is being overlooked.

Someone notices a problem that has become so familiar that everyone else has learned to walk around it.

And instead of walking around it, they stop.

They pay attention.

They begin asking questions.

That has changed the way I think about leadership.

We often associate leadership with being the person who has the answer. But some of the people who have stayed with me most are not simply providing answers.

They are creating conditions.

They are asking better questions.

They are making introductions.

They are directing capital toward possibilities others have overlooked.

They are creating spaces where someone else can step forward.

They are seeing potential before it is obvious.

Perhaps that is also why I have become increasingly interested in visibility.

Because meaningful work cannot travel very far if no one can see it.

A powerful idea may exist. A community may already know what it needs. A founder may be building something extraordinary. Resources may exist somewhere else.

And yet those things do not necessarily find one another.

The more conversations I have, the more curious I become about that space in between.

Not only, Who is doing good work?

But also:

Who can see it?

Who has access to it?

Who has the resources to help it grow?

And what might become possible if those people could find one another more easily?

I began the podcast because I love people’s stories and because gratitude made me want to shine a light on people doing meaningful work.

I still do.

But listening has also taught me that a story can do more than inspire us.

Sometimes, it helps us notice a pattern.

And sometimes, noticing the pattern leaves us with a new question:

What is mine to do now?