“To lead people, walk beside them ... As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existenceThe next best, the people honour and praiseThe next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ...When the best leader’s work is done, the people say,We did it ourselves”; — Lao Tzu (6th century BC)On February 8, 1959, some 15 “hardly known” residents gathered for the first meeting of the Progressive Group, in Flatts. These people were committed to transform their island. They took up the baton from previous generations and galvanised a movement ending segregation.What can we learn from the success of this effort in 1959 that may inform us today?Otto Sharmer, a senior lecturer at MIT, who began researching societal transformation by examining the removal of the Berlin Wall in Germany and apartheid in South Africa, concludes that societies evolve when people undergo an internal shift. To quote Gandhi: be the change. “This internal shift, from fighting the old to nurturing an emerging future possibility, provides the core,” Sharmer says. “It requires us to shift from caring about ourselves alone to a caring for all. As a consequence of this shift, we are driven by a concern for the wellbeing of the whole.”At that first Sunday meeting, at the home of Edouard and Roslyn Williams, it was evident that many of those attending were driven by a concern for the wellbeing of the whole. They were industrious, mostly married with the responsibilities of young families — two women were pregnant — but most maintained a big-picture perspective; a “caring for all”.The chairman, Stanley Ratteray, had invited men and women in equal measure. Women’s voices were affirmed, modelling the future possibilities they sought, in a society that tended to marginalise women.The group’s decision to maintain anonymity was genius. This empowered them individually and reinforced a culture of humility.The group’s goal was to avoid becoming mired in “fighting the old” and instead engaged in imagining what their island could be. They focused on “future possibilities” and members volunteered to research and present visions on how a “New Bermuda” might look: regarding education, social systems, health, etc.They were so engaged in this vision that they had forgotten, until Rudi Commissiong reminded them, their earlier decision to stage a theatre boycott. It was in that “zone” that they quickly set June 15 as the start date.Bermuda had been inspired by the significant challenges overcome by the US Civil Rights Movement. The bold invitation from the Progressive Group galvanised the island. By negotiating pitfalls, a peaceful conclusion of the boycott was achieved within two weeks. Formal racial barriers were removed.After that success, many members of the Progressive Group continued their efforts. Roslyn Williams, who along with husband Eduoard had been hosting those meetings, restarted Sunday afternoon discussions with friends in the autumn of 1959. They focused on voting rights and initially involved group member Florence Maxwell and friend Edwena Smith, with other members and various friends, including Roosevelt “Paulo” Brown, eventually joining.As a result, the Committee for Universal Suffrage was formed with Roosevelt as chairman, implementing a successful campaign leading to Voting Rights.Ratteray, the group founder who was the only former member to pursue political office, joined the United Bermuda Party and eventually served as Minister of Education. Eugene Woods served as the chairman of the Progressive Labour Party in the early 1960s and also served as the secretary of the Bermuda Industrial Union in the mid-Sixties.Clifford Maxwell, who had served as the “quarterback” for the boycott, went on to serve as the president of the Bermuda Union of Teachers a year after that success. Other members of the Progressive Group went on to serve their island in a variety of ways.What does this legacy offer present generations, who are facing local and global challenges, with Bermuda at a crossroads in 2016? By avoiding “fighting the old”, those pioneers accessed a “zone” that galvanised the community, helping the emergence of a better Bermuda. It is evident that most of these pioneers had a simple personal philosophy: caring for all, concern for the whole.Many of them modelled that generous spirit beyond the Theatre Boycott in a variety of ways without ever boating: the Williamses mentoring scores of young people in St George’s, Maxwell tutoring maths across the island and others going the extra mile as educators and in serving the community.Perhaps, it is their spirit of generosity that is their greatest legacy to us; and we might be inspired by their example to employ our own sense of abundance in addressing those shared challenges that we all face today.• Glenn Fubler is chairman of Imagine Bermuda