The Hardest Question in Leadership: How Do We Get People to Care?

On August 25, I hosted the very first Leaders & Innovators Roundtable, a new Zoom-based discussion series that brings together a small group of civic leaders, entrepreneurs, and community builders to wrestle with a specific challenge or opportunity. Each month, the focus will be on one pressing question, approached not as a lecture but as a shared conversation.

Our inaugural session took up the growing problem of electronic waste—e-waste—the fastest-growing waste stream in the world. The technical dimensions of the issue are well documented. Engineers and policymakers know how to recycle electronics safely, reclaim valuable materials, and reduce environmental harm. Business models exist that could make the process cost-effective. On paper, the problem looks solvable.

And yet, despite all that ingenuity, less than one-fifth of e-waste in the United States is actually recycled. The solutions exist, but the follow-through does not.

That gap became the heart of our discussion. Again and again, participants returned to the question that underlies not just e-waste but so many community challenges: How do we get people to care?

It is one of the most enduring questions of leadership. Policies, programs, and infrastructure matter—but they only succeed when people are willing to engage. The difficulty is rarely just the technical fix; it is cultivating the human will to act.

This is where leadership becomes human work. Facts and figures persuade some, but real traction comes when people feel connected: when they see how their action benefits neighbors, protects future generations, or expresses pride in their community. Sometimes the key is convenience, sometimes it is a sense of responsibility, and sometimes it is the emotional pull of belonging to something larger than oneself.

There is no turnkey formula. But a common truth emerged in our roundtable: solving technical problems requires first solving human ones. Without inspiring care, even the most elegant solution will stall. With care, however, momentum builds, partnerships form, and creative answers multiply.

That is the spirit of the Leaders & Innovators Roundtable. Each month, I’ll convene a small group to brainstorm openly around one challenge. The goal isn’t to provide perfect solutions, but to wrestle together with questions that matter—to surface insights, share experience, and lend one another perspective and courage.

If you have a challenge or opportunity that you believe is worthy of group deliberation, I invite you to bring it forward. Send me a note at Matt@SocialProsperity.us with a short description. You may find that the most valuable answers aren’t technical fixes, but the deeper strategies that help people care enough to act.

Because at the heart of every community challenge, the question is the same: How do we get people to care?