I recently came across a story that really moved me. It’s about how a group of people from around the world, who don’t know each other, came together to work on a project that makes people’s lives a little easier. They did this for no personal gain and volunteered their time and skill towards a common mission, for the greater good.
Jimmy Choi is a high-level athlete who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 27. He holds the Guinness World Record for the number of chest-to-ground burpees in one minute and qualified for American Ninja Warrior 4 times. Those feats are inspiring! He doesn’t define himself by his illness but pushes himself to the limits of his athletic potential. Google his name and watch some of the clips of him doing incredible things.
In January 2021, he posted a video on TikTok expressing his frustration with how tiny the pills for treating Parkinson’s are. This is particularly challenging for people who have Parkinson’s, where the main symptoms are uncontrollable tremors. The experience of spilling the pills and having to pick them up again is a well-known bugbear for Parkinson’s patients. And it’s a little ironic that pharmaceutical companies hadn’t thought of this challenge.
A few days later, Choi’s video was picked up by Brian Aldridge, a videographer, who was struck by Choi’s challenge and with no past pill bottle design experience, immediately began working on a design for a 3-D printable pill bottle that would eliminate the need to go fishing for a tiny, individual pill in a regular bottle.
But he didn’t own a 3D printer so he put out a call on TikTok for someone to print his design. At this point, both videos had received thousands of views and people with 3D printers were happy to help. Aldridge’s original design didn’t work but a few engineers had taken on the mission to tweak the design, print, and come up with a prototype that is ready for use and distribution.
All this took one week!
Today, the bottle is available for order on Etsy with the money going straight to the Michael J Fox foundation. The design is being patented to ensure it remains open-source and available for anyone who wants to access and produce it.
Choi is really excited about this bottle. It’s made his (and many others’) life much easier. He tells a story of a day when he ran a marathon and had to stop by a water fountain to take his medication before this bottle was designed. As he tried to get his pill, he spilled a few on the ground. He seriously considered just licking them off the ground so they wouldn’t go to waste. This bottle prevents those mishaps.
There’s so much to learn from the story. It’s amazing how a group of strangers was struck by a challenge and put their heads together to create a solution, purely because the cause touched their hearts.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
It makes me think about how often we see things that bother us, read the story, watch the video, and then we move on because we think we can’t really do anything about it. But maybe we can.
As I write this, there’s a war on in Ukraine. It makes me feel worried and also a whole lot of empathy for the people in the region. Being far away, we also get to feel grateful to be safe, while wondering how it’s going to develop from here. Will it spread further? How will it affect all of us?
And I’m thinking about what we can do even though we are far away? How can we show support?
What thoughts does this stir up for you? I’d love to hear if you have any idea of how we can show support.
And as always, feel free to reach out if you want to have a conversation about how you can impact your world and be a better leader.