Challenges the viewer to ask "What is the meaning of my life?" "How can I make a difference?" "What is the value of my life?"

1. What are you going to
do to change the world?
Is your life going mean something –
or are you going to waste it talking?
Are you human?
How would I know?
How do you know?

2. ARE YOU WILD AND NEW?

3. OR ARE YOU IN THE ZOO?

4. I BET THIS IS YOU

5. I BET THIS IS WHO YOU WANT TO BE

6. Only if you’re an animal
DOES WILD AND NEW MEAN
BEING AN ANIMAL?

7. Does wild and new mean
being an animal?
ONLY IF YOU’RE AN ANIMAL.

8. But what does it mean
for a human?
Power?
Wealth?
Status?
Designer sun glasses?

9. NO COMMENT

10. So what is WILD and NEW
for you?
And then acting!
For me
It is seeking meaning in my life.
It is living a meaningful life.
It is asking myself every day:
“What is my measure as a human being?”

11. Do you want to lead a
meaningful life?
Make the world a
better place?

12. Have the courage to
break out of your cage to
try something completely
NEW?
Let me tell you a real life story so that you know
that I am not making all this up.

13. We had it all
•Yale, Columbia, Harvard
•Businesswoman
•Professor
•Two cars
•House, country house
•Kids
•Real middleclass
•Smug
But then…

15. Why?

16. Because we believe in a better world.
Because we believe in a world in which all
people are created equal and have an
equal opportunity to make better lives for
themselves whether they are born into
poverty or plenty.

17. Because we believe that you do not
leave important things to others.
Because we believe that if it is worth
doing, you do it yourself.
Because we believe that we are
responsible for others.

19. Because we believe that through social
enterprise we can make this vision a reality.

20. Lessons from
child prostitutes

21. Like what?

23.  I resigned my position at the university.
 My wife quit her job in big business.
 We threw away stuff.
 We sold stuff.
 We gave away everything else.
 People thought we were out of our minds.
 We never felt so free.
Free to work like hell on something
we believed in.
So we decided to do something

24. Our core belief
Social enterprise and smart business plans can
transform the world’s greatest problems –
poverty, public health, climate change – into
profitable businesses that generate social good.
No more pretending that we cannot
 End poverty because it is too expensive.
 Provide public health because it is too expensive.
 Stop climate change because it is too expensive.
Win-win-win solutions are possible if you are
smart enough and care enough.

25. Win-win business models for poor farmers and a greener world
WE KNOW; WE ARE DOING IT.

26. So what do you
believe in?
And what are you going to do about it?

27. Are you all talk-talk?
Café philosophers save the world every day, but bull shit is bull shit.
There is talk-talk and there is do-do. Meaning comes from do-do.

28. Are you
do-do?
Are you going to
change the world?

29. Do you want to be
wild and new?
Then get out of your cage, stop talking, and start
turning your complaints into clearly defined social
problems that you can address with sustainable
programs of change.

30. Your measure as a human being is:
How much better you
leave the world than
when you entered it.

31. I wish I could be like you, but…

32. Don’t be so lame!
If you can complain…

33. …you can make change!

34. So…
If your measure as a human
being is how much better you
leave the world than when you
entered it…

35. …what’s your measure?

36. Did you hear my question?

37. LIFE ISN’T JUST ABOUT BEING FREE

38. The question is:
To do what?

39. ESCAPING FROM THE ZOO IS EASY
ANY MONKEY CAN DO IT

40. MAKING SOMETHING MEANINGFUL
FROM YOUR FREEDOM IS HARD

41. WHAT WILL BE YOUR MEASURE?

42. Thank you very much.
Now get to work, there’s a lot to do.
Michael Shafer
Founder and Director
Warm Heart Foundation
A.Phrao Chiang Mai Thailand
d.Michael.shafer@gmail.com
This talk was originally presented in Chengdu, China to the Idea
Meeting “Wild and New,” Aug. 20, 2015