There may be no greater aspiration than changing the world in a positive way.

So why do so many of us believe in great causes but fall short of taking them on?

From KERA in Dallas, this is Think. I'm Chris Boyd.

For one thing, we may be scared off by the enormity of the big issues we care about, or believe that

the people who make big things happen are fundamentally different from us, natural-born speakers,

with special charismatic powers of persuasion. In fact, my guest believes

organizations can cultivate transformational advocacy skills so that all their supporters can be

effective at persuading lawmakers, generating media buzz, and organizing for maximum beneficial

impact. Sam Daley Harris is a social entrepreneur who founded the organization's results and

civic courage and co-founded the MicroCredit Summit campaign. His book, Re-Claiming Our Democracy,

Every Citizen's Guide to Transformational Advocacy has just been updated and republished. Sam,

welcome to think. It's great to be here. What is transformational advocacy?

How is it different from what you call transactional advocacy? Well, when it comes to advocacy,

most people know protests. And then there's transactional. They know it. They don't know the word.

That's like sign the petition, transaction complete.

Transformational advocacy is when you're trained, encouraged, and then succeed at doing things as an advocate that you never thought you could do.

Things like meeting with a member of Congress and bringing them on board to your issue

or having a letter to the editor published on an issue you care

about. When you do something like that, you see yourself in a new light. You see yourself basically

as a community leader. And that can be trained if organizations are up to doing that.

Why do so many organizations that really want to do good things not end up

training everybody associated with them to do those things? Right. Well, I don't know. It's a little

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