The title of this years Skoll Forum, 25 – 27 March in Oxford was “Shifting the Power Dynamics”. The discussions centered around dealing with and overcoming the challenges faced by social entrepreneurs, especially in today’s economic climate.
The Skoll Forum was 3 intense days of “information overload” - an exchange of thoughts, ideas and business cards. But looking back, there are two powerful messages that continue to resonate in my mind:
The Power of Paradox
The first powerful message comes from the opening plenary, where Roger Martin used a quote from Obama’s inauguration speech – “We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals”.
The quote was used to demonstrate that great thinkers and leaders must reject the notion that existing models equal reality, but rather to look for newer models that will change the world. The challenge is to seize the power of the paradox and use this tension to create a better model.
This is applicable not only for our current banking and market system, which is in desperate need of a newer model, but also when looking at poverty and the failing models we have used for decades in the name of development. Jeff Skoll finished his closing speech at the final plenary with a quote from economist Paul Romer: “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” The Skoll Forum presented some great initiatives that are seizing the moment of crisis to confront the challenges of increasing poverty and forge a better model for change.
Creating reality
The second powerful message came from an unexpected source. I was standing in the lobby of the Said Business school feeling indecisive at the sheer scope of options as to which session to attend, so I decided to go “off the beaten track” and attend a session on Religion, Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy.
The speakers represented 4 of the world’s great religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism & Judaism. All gave a very open-minded view of their beliefs and need for the world religions to cooperate and work together for the betterment of humanity (as to be expected). However the most powerful message came from David Green. In his talk he did not subscribe to any one religion, but rather spoke of an inner transformation that enables each individual to be outwardly transforming.
He quoted the words “Thinking makes it so” and used his personal success experience of providing affordable eyeglasses to the poor as an example of how he used the power of his will to create reality. Through meditation and focus on what he truly wanted to achieve, he was able to touch on something far greater than who he thought he was.
These comments struck a cord with almost all who were attending the talk. A Muslim man from Jordan, stepped up and thanked David Green for cutting through the cultural and religious boundaries that divide us, reinforcing that we are not only part of a whole, but also that the whole is a part of each of us, and that another man’s pain is also our own.
It reminded me of Ghandi’s inspiring quote “Be the change you want to see in the world”, and reinforced the realization that change begins with the individual, and the time is now.