Passion Is Not Enough
Mike Schlossman

It has been refreshing to take a break from the abstract theories and remote environment of Amherst College and to enter the fast-paced, work-driven world of New York City. An Anthropology and Sociology major, I spent the last year learning about America by studying other cultures as well as learning about the ways in which our capitalist system fulfills the American dream for some but is more of a nightmare for others. Working for the Common Ground Community and being part of the Everett Internship Program has shed some light on how our system functions in real life, how it affects real people, and how individuals can make a difference through non-profit work. In particular, the opportunity to hear founders of successful non-profits speak about their lives, the work they do, and what they have learned on the way to success, has taught me something about what it takes to be a leader in our country.

Clearly, all of the speakers we have heard were successful in part because of their foresight, hard work, and dedication. As Wendy Kopp made clear, Teach for America would not have taken off had she not planned out virtually every detail of how the organization would function in her senior thesis. She saw what others could not: that college students from the "me" generation would actually be interested in improving the public schools and becoming teachers. Likewise, Nancy Lublin, after deciding that law school was not for her, poured every ounce of her energy into finding funding and seeking publicity for Dress-for-Success. She used every trick in the book to goad Donald Trump into providing funding and space for her fledgling organization. When there was a water leak in the location where all the clothing for her clients was kept, she took it all into her own, small apartment. Last, Linda Tarry-Chard, when asked to make a large number of black dolls in a short period of time for needy South African children, had the nerve to ask random people on the street as well as those in her social network to donate their time.

Nevertheless, as all three of these women have admitted, founding a successful non-profit requires a lot more than hard work, dedication, and passion; there is also an element of good fortune that helps explain their success. I do not mean to say that any of the three founders succeeded simply because of luck. Rather, there were a lot of forces outside of their control that they recognized and used to their advantage. For instance, Wendy Kopp realized that members of the business community were starting to get concerned about the state of education in our country, and thus, might be open to supporting Teach For America. If she had not been attuned to this fact, she would not have known to solicit start-up funding from the Coca-Cola and Pepsi companies. On the other hand, if the business community had not recently become interested in education issues, start-up funding for her organization would have been much harder to come by. In effect, the time was ripe for Teach for America and Wendy's creativity and persistence turned that possibility into a reality.

Nancy Lublin, Wendy Kopp, and Linda Tarry-Chard deserve a lot of credit for starting up successful non-profits that perform important work to help the disadvantaged in our society. At the same time, we must be careful not to create the myth that anyone can succeed simply by having the right attitude. It is no accident that Nancy Lublin and Wendy Kopp both attended Ivy League schools or that Linda Tarry-Chard was a prominent minister at a well-known church in New York City. If we focus only on the hard work, intelligence, and passion that have made these women and their organizations successful without taking into account situational factors, we risk implying that--the poor women who cannot afford suites for job interviews, the children in poor, inner city schools who are three years behind their rich, suburban counterparts, and the South African women and children living in squalid shanty towns-deserve this plight because they don't have the right attitude or work ethic.