Using Your Influence Effectively

Some people have the ability to create more of an immediate impact for animals than others. For example—if you have a lot of influence at an organization, or a large audience, or a lot of money, then you may have the ability to make a bigger difference sooner than someone without these resources. A legislator can propose pro-animal bills; a CEO can shift product lines; someone with excess income can make larger donations; someone with a large audience can influence more people with their content; etc.

However, all of us have an opportunity to make a large impact for animals in the long run, wherever we are right now. And all of us will have challenges and face resistance, in one way or another.

The legislator might say "I can't propose a pro-animal bill, because there won't be support for it." A CEO might say "I can't shift our product lines to be more plant-based, because customers won't buy." Someone with a large audience might say "I built this audience on something completely different; I can't talk about animals."

You or I might say "I don't know where to start," or "I don't have time," or "I don't have resources."

Challenges of one sort or other always exist. For some people, those challenges will be larger and harder to overcome than for others. But the key question to ask isn't "do you have challenges?" (yes), but rather "are you willing to commit to overcoming them?"

Because where you are right now is less important than your will, your effort, and your commitment to learning, trying, and working to help animals. And it will inevitably involve struggle, challenge, and frustration, at one point or another. It may involve anxiety, or stress. And in the case of our work in animal advocacy, most of the animals who benefit will probably never be able to thank us or even know we exist.

And yet, for those of us here in this space, we know the importance of this work, because we understand what it is like to suffer or feel joy, what it is like to feel trapped or be free, in large ways or small. And we want to work towards a world that has more freedom, more joy, and less suffering, for all beings.

So however much power and influence you have right now, and however much you may have in the future, what matters most is how you use it, and how willing you are to overcome the difficulties that arise—this week, this month, and for the years and decades that follow.