Impact Interview: Nick Martin
What are you working on these days?
At TechChange, we’re in the business of building best-in-class events and at the moment, we’re working on new models for hybrid convening and training.
One of the most exciting projects coming up is our flagship Global Digital Development Forum with USAID in late April. It's a virtual conference that looks at the intersection of digital development and all things global. This year, we have lots of exciting partners and dynamic sessions lined up. We’re also going to convene watch parties in a handful of cities around the world, including Washington, DC, to enhance the experience. It’s going to be awesome, both in terms of content and format.
On the training and learning side, we’re doing a ton of work on digital health with WHO, USAID and PATH. Across the world, we've been training Ministry of Health officials in small learning cohorts on how to build more robust architecture systems for digital health. Obviously, this has big implications with COVID-19 and trying to prevent the next pandemic but we're also thinking beyond digital health. Another topic that we're really excited about is connecting digital and global health to climate change. This is a very emergent field but we’re seeing a growing body of research and a strong desire to convene more conversations around this intersection.
In my other life posting #NickatNoon on LinkedIn, I’m helping to connect people with opportunities and great coaches. I really believe a good coach can transform someone's journey in social impact but I also recognize it can be intimidating to find one. So I’m trying to figure out – with the help of my colleague Caroline Ouwerkerk – how to best match people with coaches based on what they're looking for. If it's not coaching, then maybe it's courses or training or other opportunities. How can we do a better job at connecting those dots?
What was the “aha” moment that sparked your interest in social impact?
I had a weird childhood. My father was a prominent political figure and expected me to follow in his footsteps to work for the CIA. But I was on a totally different wavelength. I took a peace studies class in high school and never looked back! I studied English and peace studies in my undergrad and then did my Master's in peace education at the University for Peace in Costa Rica. From the early days, I was pretty clear on my values and my path.
I had a series of “aha” moments with the values I wanted to reflect in the world. I knew I wanted to be a teacher and I loved technology, it was always a personal passion. In founding TechChange, I really believed there was an opportunity to leverage the Internet and the democratization of information to provide training and capacity-building to people around the world, and that it wasn't being used to its full potential. We launched the first cohort-based course in 2011 and thought, let's see what happens! People signed up and paid and we realized there was a market for this. That was an affirming “aha” moment — the topics we wanted to teach, the way that we wanted to teach them and the audience we wanted to reach were aligned enough to build a business around.
How did you break into the social impact space?
I made a conscious decision to not spend a lot of money on grad school. The University for Peace was $20,000 and my rent was $250 a month, which gave me more freedom to be entrepreneurial after graduating. I’m a big believer in using grad school to build the skills you need to be competitive but if you go into crazy debt, it does limit your opportunities. I write a lot about alternatives to grad school. I’m not saying our sector isn’t degree-conscious, there are plenty of organizations that expect a certain path from their employees. But today, there are more opportunities than ever to redefine what a career journey looks like without going into debt. My path as an entrepreneur was enabled by not having big loans.
For two years after graduation, I effectively ran a nonprofit helping the University for Peace raise money. I learned about marketing, running a Board, recruitment, which were all things related to the field I ended up in. Education meets social impact… TechChange.
I’ve also always been a connector and believe deeply in the power of relationships and networks. About five years ago, I got really serious about investing in this and committed to posting on LinkedIn once a day, five days a week for a full year to see what happened. In the early days, I tried to push more TechChange content but I had a mentor at the time who told me to reflect on every post and think, “how does this add value to someone else’s life?”. If it’s just about you and your business, it’s marginally valuable. If it’s about them and their journey then it’s going to resonate. I knew a lot of people on LinkedIn were looking for jobs and that’s when I started curating jobs lists, while also hitting on topics I was interested in like gratitude, climate and grad school alternatives.
Sometimes people ask me, what’s the ROI? Why would you expose yourself to judgment and criticism? But I’ll tell you, I’ve gotten tons of new business, I’ve had thousands of convos with amazing people I wouldn’t have met in person and I’ve been able to help so many humans find jobs. I don’t always hear about all the people who I've connected to opportunities but I feel good about the amount of social impact karma I send out every day.
In terms of advice, I’d say be consistent, commit to a cadence and don’t assume you have nothing to write about. Everyone has something to write about and there are so many ways to create content around one topic (think listicles, educational posts, personal stories). Also, consider your funnel – not every post needs to get one million likes. Some posts will be broad and bring in people who are adjacent to what you’re interested in and some will be very targeted but won’t get the same engagement. Finally, remember it takes time to build a community. People give up when they don’t see instant results. You can easily go viral on TikTok, but LinkedIn is a slow and steady slog!
Working in social impact is often about driving change. What is the skill or trait that has been most important for your work as a change agent? How did you learn or hone it?
I see my role as a change agent, a connector and a human platform for others to connect with one another. I love using my platform for good and believe the more people who are connected in the social impact space, the more good will come. This also correlates to the TechChange ethos that great convening and training leads to better outcomes.
What does that mean for skills building? Don’t assume that progress is just about building skills. We offer training but we also want people to be building and expanding their networks because we are stronger together. Sometimes it’s an after-thought, especially during a global pandemic. Meeting people takes more commitment these days, which puts more onus on younger professionals to leverage LinkedIn creatively.
If you don’t feel confident posting once a day, then try following 10-15 folks who resonate with you and meaningfully comment on their posts. I’m wary about everyone being an influencer but it’s important to think about hard and soft skills alongside relationship-building. Cohort learning opportunities and fellowships can also support this.
What most excites you about the social impact space right now?
I’m super interested in the intersection of climate, global health and technology. There’s some great research being done by groups like Wellcome Trust, the Rockefeller Foundation and Gates Foundation, and others are starting to pay attention to it. It’s exciting for us because we’d love to be able to convene and disseminate research findings as this intersection emerges. I'll be posting more lists, organizations and insights that are coming out of my conversations on LinkedIn, so stay tuned!
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