There are moments that echo louder than applause. Words that pierce through the noise and make us pause, not just because of who said them, but because of what they ask of us.

Tom Hanks, standing on the Harvard commencement stage, didn’t deliver just a speech. He delivered a challenge. A quiet, courageous call to action.

“If you don’t, who will?”

It’s a question so simple it’s almost easy to miss. But let it settle for a moment. Those five words carry weight. They hold up a mirror, not to the world, but to us.

Too often we wait. We wait for the right moment, the right leader, the right movement. We wait for someone else to speak up, to step forward, to do the work. We wait, hoping the world will fix itself.

But what if it doesn’t? What if the only thing the world needs is someone willing to go first?

In my work, I talk about the importance of starting with care. But there’s a deeper layer, a more human thread, that binds care to the world around us. It’s responsibility. It’s ownership. It’s the realisation that waiting is a luxury we can no longer afford.

Because if you don’t stand up for what’s right, who will?

If you don’t pick up the rubbish, thank the waiter, speak the truth, act with intention, who will?

Leadership is not a rank or a role. It’s a choice. A choice to act when others hesitate. A choice to get uncomfortable when the moment feels too heavy. A choice to model the kind of decency, humility, and courage we wish was more common.

What Tom Hanks gave those students wasn’t just inspiration. He gave them permission. Permission to care. Permission to carry the torch. Permission to believe that ordinary acts of humanity are anything but ordinary.

And that’s what true leadership is: a refusal to look away. A commitment to leave things better than we found them. A belief that if something is broken and we see it, then maybe, just maybe, it’s ours to fix.

So the next time you find yourself hesitating, ask yourself this: If you don’t, who will?

That question isn’t a burden. It’s a gift. The gift of meaning. The gift of choice. The gift of becoming the leader the world is waiting for. The gift of you.