Three years ago, I attended The Global Leadership Summit for the first time. John Maxwell literally looked into the camera and called me by name. Watch what happened:

I may not know your name, and I’m certainly no John Maxwell, but want to tell you that there is change waiting to happen with your name on it.

The only question you must ask yourself is not necessarily What can I do? But it’s What will I do?

The only question you must ask yourself is not necessarily What can I do? But it’s What will I do?

I have learned that the “can” comes after the “will.” The ability comes after the availability. I’m well aware that the success of the Lisbon Project is not a product of my three-page resume or lengthy qualifications, rather it is a result of 22-year-old me simply saying yes.

Yes to going beyond my comfort zone. Yes, to going beyond the expectations that so often limit us. Yes to seeing that injustice that disturbed me was an invitation to create change.

Maybe you don’t have to start something new. Maybe, just maybe, there’s already movement happening around you and you just have to say yes to jumping in.

Thanks to The Global Leadership Summit, I was able to listen to the prompting that was shouting within my heart. I was given a vision.

I may have started the Lisbon Project, but I’m only writing to all of you, thanks to over 130 men and women who’ve volunteered over the last two years with their skills, time and resources. Men and women who said yes are going beyond with me.

Thanks to The Global Leadership Summit, I was able to listen to the prompting that was shouting within my heart. I was given a vision.

So, I want to thank all those who contribute to making the GLS available in so many nations of the world, including Portugal. The GLS not only trigged me into action, but it has helped form the substance of my leadership ever since. It has spotlighted the power of my influence and confronted me with how I choose to use it. Today, the Lisbon Project went from being a crazy idea to being a well-established organization that has assisted in the integration and protection of over 400 migrants and refugees from all over the world in the city of Lisbon.

As we grow, we will continue to live the motto we have so often experienced—It is only impossible until it is done.

So, these questions for you remain. What will you do with your influence? What will you do with the invitation to create change where ever you are?

What is your grander vision?