CM 067: Mick Ebeling on Achieving the Impossible

Have you ever felt powerless to improve the lives of those less fortunate than you? Mick Ebeling believes that the key to helping many is to start by helping just one. He shares details and examples of this in his book, Not Impossible, The Art and Joy of Doing What Couldn’t be Done. Mick explains that through this philosophy, we not only solve an immediate problem, but we also learn more about what else we can do. Thought leader, speaker, and founder of Not Impossible, Mick and his team are crowdsourcing solutions through tech to help people around the globe. Along the way, he is helping us to see how powerful each one of us is to create change in the world. Here are some of the things that came up in our conversation: How it all started when Mick connected with LA graffiti artist Tony Quan The value he places on tech to meet human and social needs The power of committing first and then figuring it out - where it leads The important role diverse team members play in solving real-world problems How taking the time to see others in your world can lead to incredible change After 7 years with ALS Tony got to draw and communicate again with the Eyewriter What happened when Tony could no longer blink? He used brain waves. The inspiring story of 3D printing and Project Daniel The story behind the powerful quote  to preach always and when necessary, use words How Mick wound up taking charge on printing out 3D limbs What we learn and the impact we can have when we help start by helping one person How he got to his philosophy of helping one to help many Why his organization strives to keep innovative tech prices low How emotion plays a key role in determining which projects to take on The role of inspiring stories in picking projects and spreading the words How we do not need expertise to effect change in the world Ask why something needs to happen rather than how - why that is key Every single thing that surrounds us today was once impossible How not knowing what you cannot do is so freeing Episode Links @MickEbeling www.notimpossible.com Mick Ebeling TED Talk Tony Tempt One Quan Time Magazine Top 25 Inventions EyeWriter Cameron Rodriguez Optical character technology Open source The BrainWriter Consumer EEG Devices Project Daniel Dr. Tom Catena Richard Van As Maker Faire Gait Trainer If you enjoy the podcast, please rate and review it on iTunes - your ratings make all the difference. For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to subscribe. As always, thanks for listening!