I can’t possibly let the day go by without commenting on Marcus Rashford as being the incredible exemplar of courage and leadership that he is. A 22 year footballer reminding us all that you don’t need to be elected to be a changemaker and that we should remember that power comes in many forms.
I don’t imagine for one second as a 12 year old imagining his footballer future self, he had getting the government to make a u turn in his vision– yet here is and what an amazing achievement it is.
As a young boy witnessing homelessness and poverty in Manchester, experiencing hunger first hand, watching his single mum graft and care for 5 of them every week – his lived experiences have shaped within him a deep sense of clarity and purpose about the sort of person he wants to be.
Imagine what we could achieve collectively and individually if more of us were deeply connected to our own purpose and values.
Our ability to solve problems is what defines us as humans, and what better gift can any of us give to the world than solving those that we understand the most about? Playing to our unique strengths.
With grit, determination, resilience and hard work Marcus Rashford has earned himself a platform most of us will never have the burden of carrying – a platform that also did not come with a motivation to choose to be courageous for social good.
Yet with absolutely clarity from his own experiences he has connected with an issue, confidently understood his own ability to address it and the solutions needed, courageously taken action to hold those in power to account to address it and used his platform and connections to create change.
He has ultimately asked the question, ‘how can I best use the resources I have available to me to address this problem I care about fixing’.
Any one of us can ask this question. We don’t need be in a position of privilege to work with what we’ve got. All any of us can ever do is the best we have with the resources we have available to us. The point is to know what you want to stand for, work with what you’ve got. To start. To take action.
We all have connections, we can discover our drive and motivation. Learn to practice resilience. Find our confidence and determination. Get creative, find new solutions and fail forwards. We can all be courageous. We can all be change-makers. In our lives, organisations, community and society.
It was only a few days ago I was saying we should all be more Patrick Hutchinson. Today, I’m saying we should all be Marcus Rashford – tomorrow I am going to be saying you should be more YOU