About Us

Our Mission

To strengthen.
To inspire.
To save.
And most important, to remind us that there is greatness inside all of us.
We are all ordinary.  We are all boring.  We are all spectacular.  We are all shy.  We are all bold.  We are all heroes.  We are all helpless.  It just depends on the day.  And on remembering that we should never ever ever apologize for who we are.
Unless we’re real jackasses.  Then apologize away.
 

Our Story

OrdinaryPeopleChangeTheWorld.com was founded in 2008 by New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer. Here's why:

Let me be as clear as I can here:  I believe ordinary people change the world.

It doesn't matter how good-looking you are, or how much money you have, or where you went to school.  That's all nonsense.  What I believe is that we are all ordinary and boring -- and that we are also all filled with greatness.  All of us.  We all know the things we love to do.  Yet we spend so much of our lives putting those loves on hold and spending so many hours worrying about what others will think of us.

I'm done with it (or mostly done with it, except on the days where I’m feeling super pathetic, which is right about...now).  But to prove the rest, we've crated this site:  OrdinaryPeopleChangeTheWorld.com.

Is it idealistic?  Yes.  Is it naïve?  Absolutely.  But there's no reason to apologize for who you are.  I am idealistic, and I'm okay with being naïve and silly and kinda (mostly) soft.  I learned that one from Mr. Rogers.  When Mr. Rogers was a boy, he had allergies that were so bad, his parents made him spend the whole summer in the house.  The only thing he had to entertain himself was his piano and a bunch of sock puppets.  Freddy made the best of it.

So is this the part where I’ve had a little success and now I get to go a little nuts?  For sure.  My wife jokes that the site is my new religion.  And maybe it is.  But I really do believe in it.  I believe ordinary people change the world.  I believe in Mr. Rogers and Jim Henson.  I believe there is greatness in each of us.  And I don’t believe change needs to come through government or big business or any of the ways we’ve come to rely on.  Change comes through us.  Through regular people.  I’m just a guy who went to Cleveland, Ohio and saw that the house where Superman was created was falling apart and a total wreck.  So now we’re saving it.  We don’t need grants, or political favors, or government, or skeevy politicians.  All of those entities let it languish.  We’ll save it.  Or we’ll at least try.  And how could I not believe in that?  

Find out more about Brad Meltzer and his works, including his latest novel The Book of Lies at http://www.BradMeltzer.com.