By Jennifer Corriero | Bio

Jennifer Corriero is co-founder and executive director of Taking It Global. Her poem, originally published on Jennifer’s blog in December 2009, is reprinted with kind permission from the author.

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How does change happen?
This is perhaps one of those eternal questions
that carries both simplicity
and depths of complexity
juxtaposed in a tension 
so bright and dark that
emotions explode and identities blur.

Is your belief defined by your role 
or is your role defined by your belief?

How does change happen?

POLICY says the policy maker
MARKETS says the business manager 
MASS MOBILIZATION says the organizer

DIALOGUE says the convenor
SYSTEMS CHANGE says the academic 
IMAGINATION says the artist 

INVENTION says the scientist 
INNOVATION says the technologist 
INVESTMENT says the banker 

DESIGN says the architect 
ENLIGHTENMENT says the spiritual guide 
RULE OF LAW says the lawyer

CONVICTION says the leader
EDUCATION says the teacher
REVOLUTION says the activist 

UNIVERSAL ACCESS says the philanthropist 
HEALTHY CHOICES says the coach 
AWARENESS says the communicator 

DATA says the analyst 
CRISIS says the journalist 
ACTION says the entrepreneur 
PERSPECTIVE says the author 

HOPE says the dreamer 
NETWORKS says the connector 
INSPIRATION says the storyteller 

LOVE says the mother
ASPIRATION says the father
LAUGHTER says the child
POSSIBILITY says the youth
REFLECTION says the elder 

And so we ask ourselves
Where we stand, where we shine and where we fly.
We ask whether or not
we are defined 
by the roles we take
or the collective outcomes that emerge
when our efforts and beliefs collide.

Is it magic or tragic that we disagree?