Part 5: Why I Do What I Do

Everyone at NPC was asked to write a blog post about “Why I do what I do,” and this month it’s my turn . . .

I’ve been avoiding writing this for a while because, as you can probably imagine, after four months on a new job and nine months out of college, “why I do what I do” changes about every two weeks. I had a moment of clarity, though, last week while listening to Laura Flanders speak about her book, Blue Grit. There was obviously some discussion of the primary contest at the event, but I was impressed by how Laura kept emphasizing that we needed to be “keeping our eyes on the prize and the prize isn’t only the presidential election.”

I wrote down that phrase because it seemed like a great marketing description for NPC’s Victory in 2008 and Beyond “Political Mutual Fund,” but as I walked home that evening, I couldn’t get the line out of my head. It just made so much sense to me, and that, in a nutshell, is why I’m at NPC.

May 2007 was a great time to graduate from college for anyone with any sort of civic/political inclination because there was so much momentum for change in the political sphere and so many opportunities to get involved. While my initial thought was to work for one of the presidential campaigns, I couldn’t ever really commit myself to the idea that one candidate would be the answer, the person that was going to take us forward.

Though I found out about NPC by a lucky coincidence, what really sold me on moving across the country (after three phone interviews) was NPC’s optimistic and pragmatic approach to change. I was excited to be at a company that interfaced with such innovative and interesting groups in a place that is on the leading edge of the progressive movement.

What I love about the NPC team is everyone’s willingness to just roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty to find a solution, despite all of their cumulative years of experience with the problems in the current system. Though we don’t waste any time defining it, there is a real consciousness of and focus on “the prize” that shapes and drives all of NPC’s activities. It has been really inspiring to be part of a product that offers a tangible, viable way to move our country forward.