There are three things you can do today: give, volunteer, or share, which means that you could donate some money or some time, or you could at least share the news with others.

In other words, just do something. This morning I listened to Diane Rehm interview Peter Singer. The conversation drove home the kind of impact the individual can have. He talked about his book The Life You Can Save as well as some wonderful sites for finding an entry point into the world of giving that works best for you like GivingWell.org.

What has this got to do with leading online? Well, it occurred to me these are both examples of people understanding the power of virtual networking and using it in a way that aligns to the values they hold and ones they hope others will share. This is what leaders do. They identify their values, from those values they create a compelling vision of the future that others can then choose to align with and work towards. In the scenario above, these two men are leaders in their own fields who I would submit have tapped into two  essentials of leading online:

1. Be clear about your beliefs and values, i.e. being credible, and align your actions with those values-consistently.
2. Using the viral power of net to be transparent about those values, share your vision for the future and make it accessible.

So check these sites out. My guess is you will want to crack open your wallets-however tiny they may feel these days. Peter Singer shared another valuable lesson. Focusing on making lots of money  you keep to yourself, and being consumed by consumerism, is a very narrow interpretation of  “doing well”. It feels good to help others and there are plenty of ways to do this.

Posted by Beth High