How to catalyze change with real stories about compelling people

Lenny Skutnik was on his way home from work on an icy day in January 1982 when a Boeing 737 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington. He worked at the Congressional Budget Office, where he ran errands and handled the mail.

He stopped to watch the dramatic scene, as bystanders on the riverbank reached for survivors and a National Park Service helicopter tried to pull people from the frigid waters. Then he noticed that a drowning woman too weak to grab a rescue ring dropped from the helicopter. Skutnik, 28, who had never taken a life-saving course, dove in, swam to the woman and pulled her to the riverbank.

Priscilla Tirado was one of five people on the plane who survived; 78 died in the crash.