HumanKind
Changing the World One Small Act At a Time
by Brad Aronson
On Sale: April 14, 2020
**All author royalties will go to charities, including Big Brothers Big Sisters.**
Sometimes the smallest acts of kindness can make the biggest
difference in the lives of others. Whether it’s smiling at someone,
calling a loved one to tell them how much you care or buying a coffee
for the person behind you in line, these gestures can change a life and
even have a ripple effect transforming thousands of lives.
Author Brad Aronson was inspired to highlight the stories of good
deeds being done in the world when his wife, Mia, was diagnosed with
cancer and he witnessed firsthand how a simple act of kindness can
change a life. In his debut book, HUMANKIND: Changing the
World One Small Act at a Time (LifeTree Media; April 14, 2020;
Paperback; ISBN: 978-1-928055-63-1; 256 pages; $15.99), Aronson
shares his story about the kindness that changed his family’s life as
well as stories from people whose small acts of kindness and empathy
generated widespread change, transformed thousands of lives or
simply improved the life of one person. Through each story, readers
will be inspired to find their own ways to give back.
The stories include a coffee run that expanded to give comfort to thousands of cancer patients; a spur
of the moment McDonald’s meal for a homeless youth that sparked a lifelong friendship; a teen who
set out to create a better diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer patients after the loss of a friend and
succeeded; the $20 that started a massive Secret Santa movement; and the gift of a puppy that
inspired an organization’s creation providing over a thousand trained therapy dogs for children.
Aronson also gives readers specific tips and advice on how to flip the script and offer support to
others in concrete ways that help take the pressure off those in need. In addition, he introduces
readers to a number of nonprofits, organized by opportunity so that readers can donate their time,
money, letters or experience to a worthy cause.
HumanKind is a ray of sunshine during stormy and divisive times.
About Brad Aronson
Brad Aronson started i-FRONTIER
after graduating from Haverford
college, and the digital ad agency
quickly outgrew the small apartment he
shared with his best friend and became
one of the largest and highest-rated
digital ad agencies in the United States.
His agency worked with clients such as
Universal Studios, Time Warner,
Microsoft, and Johnson & Johnson.
After selling the company to aQuantive,
he joined the management team.
Today, Aronson invests in startup
companies and spends most of his time
supporting youth nonprofits. He has
served as board president of Big
Brothers Big Sisters Independence Region and is currently board president of Hopeworks, which
provides tech training, jobs, housing, coaching and support to help young people succeed in life.
Using his business background, Aronson teaches entrepreneurship to inner-city students at
Hopeworks, instilling self-confidence, discipline and a healthy respect for hustle. He believes in
creating a hands-on learning environment, so each student starts their own business in class, which
has led to many adventures in entrepreneurship.
Connect with Brad Aronson
Website: https://www.bradaronson.com/
Facebook: @BradAronson2
Throughout the book, Brad teaches us how to give back:
❖ Help people celebrate
➢ The book’s Hall of Fame section showcases organizations through which you can
provide birthday gifts and parties for kids who otherwise wouldn’t receive them.
❖ Support college dreams
➢ Sign up to be an online mentor for students who will be the first ones in their
family to attend college and provide care packages for foster youth who are in
college and don’t have families to support them.
❖ Listen
➢ Learn to listen better with advice like: Wait three to five seconds to see if
someone is done speaking before you respond. Waiting those few seconds is hard,
but it will completely change how you listen and eliminate unintentional
interruptions. It’s a gift you can give anyone and it only costs seconds.
❖ Use word power
➢ See how a simple conversation—just a few words—can change a life.
❖ Write a letter
➢ Learn about opportunities to write letters to hospitalized kids, lonely seniors,
veterans, people suffering from illnesses and others who need support. You can
provide this gift in less than fifteen minutes.
❖ Start Small
➢ By helping a single person, we can ultimately bring about large-scale change. See
how one small action can make it all happen.
❖ Be Inspired
➢ You’ll find dozens of ways to help loved ones and strangers going through difficult
times, from what to say when offering support to how to change your perspective
and look out for areas of need in your community.
In the stories in HumanKind, you’ll learn about:
❖ The community that rallied behind a child in need of a therapy dog.
❖ A man who vowed to repay an act of kindness by anonymously giving money to those in
need, creating a movement of tens of thousands of people around the world.
❖ Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode Sr., who created Philadelphia’s first homelessness
program because of a single meal he had when he was twelve.
❖ A McDonald’s lunch shared by a New York City advertising executive and a hungry teen
that led to a lifelong friendship.
❖ Cantor Fitzgerald, a company that was devastated by the tragedy of 9/11 and set an
example by re-building the business to help others and inspire change, honoring the
legacy of lost loved ones.
❖ A retiree who turned her sewing hobby into a club of grandma seamstresses who trekked
from the suburbs into the city to mend clothes for the homeless.
❖ An Olympic gold medalist and Major League Baseball player who credits his success to a
third-grade teacher’s shoe-tying lesson and now inspires thousands of young kids as a
way to pay that teacher back.
❖ A monthly $15 donation from a stranger four thousand miles away that allowed a child to
finish school and inspired that boy to create a nonprofit that has helped hundreds of
families and their future children escape poverty.
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