We live in a world where technology truly can bolster, strengthen, and reinvent people’s relationships with our communities, and yet all too often we do not see this happening. Kate Otto proposes a smart game plan, through vibrant storytelling, for twenty-first-century citizenship, and how we can use technology in pursuit of, not deterioration of, strong communities.
Everyday Ambassador articulates some of the most important trends of our time. Through Kate Otto’s travels and stories we can’t help but reflect on our own lives and the incredible importance of the everyday hero that is in each of us. Kate’s focus on humility and international empathy is the type of thinking that will, at scale, solve the most pressing challenges of our time… and it all starts with the individual thinking collectively. If you ever doubted that one person can change the world, read this book.
"Kate Otto, like so many in her generation, is committed to being a good global citizen and doing her part to make the world a better place. Everyday Ambassador is a refreshing approach which encourages collaborative work with focus, empathy, humility, and patience to better affect positive change in communities throughout the world."
Kate Otto’s stories illustrate the care, patience, and deep listening that are vital to crafting lasting solutions to social problems around the world. This book shows how humility and perseverance are needed to turn good intentions into meaningful action. It will provide valuable insights for the growing community of globally minded changemakers.
"Rich with provocative ideas, Everyday Ambassador is a book that will inspire you to create meaningful change on a person-to-person level. The four core values that are explored seem simplistic, but Otto lays out how important they are for anyone who wants to promote compassionate action and social change. With greater focus, empathy, patience, and humility, the world would be a better and more just place to live."
Everyday Ambassador is a necessary read for anyone thinking about contributing to social change. Foundation for Sustainable Development has been working with professional and student volunteers for seventeen years, and we have seen both the great benefit and great damage foreigners abroad can do to communities. Kate addresses the issue of the outsider in development head on and with no holds barred. We need informed and honest advocates like Kate to ensure that those seeking to ‘help’ actually ‘serve’ and do no harm to our partner communities. Our deepest appreciation to Kate for doing a huge service for community-based development!
A powerful twenty-first-century story, Everyday Ambassador will inspire you to believe in your personal capacity to make a difference. Kate shows moral courage by pushing her generation to acknowledge its unique vulnerabilities. But she also guides her peers to solutions through her own example. No matter who—or where—you are, Kate’s message is to look in the mirror first. This book reveals the secrets of how to bring people together, even when technology pulls us farther apart. Throughout her adventures, she pairs tenacity with humility, revealing a blazingly original voice with which she speaks her mind yet listens deeply to others. [Kate’s book] will fill you with hope for our inter-connected future.
Kate Otto gives us an inspiring and clear example of how one must not just exist in the world, but rather be in and of the world. Everyday Ambassador exemplifies the value of strong relationships in our global era, taking seriously the attention and care required to form and maintain those relationships in the pursuit of a better world for everyone. Our world is increasingly interconnected and Kate demonstrates how to embrace that diversity through respectful and responsible global citizenship.
We need a cadre of ‘everyday ambassadors’ to translate our best intentions into pragmatic actions that promote health and social equity. Kate Otto illuminates a way, in our digitized age, to develop deep human relationships to further these goals. Kate’s lessons are valuable ones for any young person who, as so many now do, travel in hopes of serving communities far from home.
"Kate Otto is the ultimate example of how someone can mobilize the spirit, the heart, and a true love for mankind to become an everyday ambassador...We all have a role to play in building a more peaceful world for future generations, and this book shows us how to act in order to build that better future."
Disparaging her generation’s addiction to multi-tasking and superficial digital connections, [Kate] offers hard won critical insights to others who want to be of service in the world as she discovers that the way to change the world is to change yourself.
Everyday Ambassador presents a terrific portrait of an often-missing perspective on public service. Kate Otto’s stories illustrate how important the contributions of ‘everyday people’ can be to foreign affairs and international relations in an era of globalization. I applaud Kate’s commitment to making a difference in the world. Her thoughtful assessment of the value of humility and self-reflection is a great read with useful lessons for those of us who make our careers in public service.
Kate Otto writes as a millennial yet has lessons to offer all of us. She writes from her heart and from her travels and helps us see that ‘how’ is as important as ‘what’; that in order to change the world, we must change ourselves; and finally that deep connections trump multi-tasking. I applaud her commitment and her wisdom.
Everyday Ambassador is a book whose time is long overdue, and Kate Otto is a changemaker who exhibits that all too rare combination of realizing great impact with deep humility. The lens through which she views the world is as much a student’s as it is a teacher’s, and the lessons she shares by example will have a profound impact on how social entrepreneurs understand themselves and their work. Everyday Ambassador reminds us of the power of human connection, and how courageous self-reflection is a necessary first step for those who hope to responsibly change the world, and be transformed themselves in the process.
2015-03-04
The founder and director of Everyday Ambassador, an organization to combat digital isolation, provides wisdom for those interested in making real and positive impacts.Otto, a longtime activist, begins by revealing a crucial epiphany that inspired her to write the book. Upon meeting a group of new volunteers in Indonesia, she saw her younger self; they harbored the same expectations that they could quickly "change the world" and that their help would be welcomed and appreciated. She explains how she came to realize that foreign volunteers sometimes make a negative impact due to poor language skills and cultural misunderstandings. Making positive societal change, Otto writes, requires meaningful personal interactions, and she bemoans the fact that this tech-savvy generation seems to have lost the ability to form strong in-person relationships. Though Otto is a true believer in the power of digital communication to foster greater understanding of disparate societies, she cautions that it also has given rise to impatient, narcissistic multitaskers. Four attributes are necessary, Otto writes, to become successful everyday ambassadors: focus, empathy, humility, and patience. She explains that EAs don't need to set out to change the world; they can make positive impacts in their own neighborhoods by simply showing kindness and being polite. Otto provides encouragement by sharing compelling stories about what she and others have accomplished—both singly and as members of larger organizations. Wise, inspirational, and thoroughly readable. (Nonfiction. 12-18)
