convene

in the words of...

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:28:03 +0100

…Lewis Carroll, as Jeff Skoll loves to quote,

The Dormouse: “You've got no right to grow here.”
Alice: “Don't talk nonsense. You know you're growing too.”
The Dormouse: “Yes, but I grow at a reasonable pace, not in that ridiculous fashion.”

Having had the privilege of attending Skoll World Forum as a delegate in years past, and now the luxury of attending as a ‘family member’ of the Skoll Foundation, I can attest to the ridiculous fashion in which I’ve grown from the support and wisdom of Jeff Skoll, Sally Osberg, Pamela Hartigan and others who’ve transformed the Said Business School at Oxford University into one of the most magical places to put transformative ideas into action. It’s hard to describe the astonishing caliber and diversity of people attending the Skoll World Forum, and it’s humbling to hear directly from Jeff Skoll that we - Skoll Scholars and Fellows past and present - are seen as future leaders within this thriving community.

The pace at Skoll World Forum, as you might expect, is completely unreasonable…and so completely natural for those of us who’ve been juggling the full-time, accelerated MBA programme in addition to expanding the vision and reach of Skoll Center through various individual and collective ventures. Before the official event kicked off, over thirty current and former Skoll Scholars and Fellows (dating back to the Skoll Center’s inception) gathered to share our personal and professional triumphs and challenges, and to lay the foundations for a deeper transformation of values in business education and action in the years ahead. We were lucky enough to meet with the incoming and inspiring new Dean of the Said Business School, Peter Tufano. Dr. Brilliant, Director of Skoll Global Threats Fund, helped us develop a better sense for the risks that threaten life as we know it and possible cross cutting interventions.

We then raced home to change in time to attend a very special dinner at Christ Church College for Skoll family and friends: Skoll Entrepreneurs of the Year and Skoll Scholars past and present, as well as Skoll Foundation board directors and staff. We current Skollars finally got to personally meet (and thank!) Jeff Skoll and Sally Osberg. The highlight of the evening, however, was the convocation prayer by the Most Rev Archbishop Desmond Tutu who concluded "both for those who lack food with appetite and for those with food who lack appetite, may we see a world where such suffering comes to an end."

Amen!

To impact!!! (in ridiculous fashion)

Sean Holt, Skoll Scholar 2011

next trillion - community power capital & skoll scholars

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:24:05 +0100

transforming climate and finance through regional resiliency tied to energy independence and resource conservation...in case you haven't heard, i dedicated my summer to launching a new community investment fund in toronto, ontario (community power capital) before heading to oxford for residency as a skoll scholar....to expand my vision and cultivate broader investment and secondary markets for regional initiatives like community power capital....more to come!

why ancient wisdom matters in the modern world...

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:10:03 +0100

[adapted from a blog post at skoll world forum]

Wade Davis and others like him are initiating timely conversations about how bio/ethno diversity can inspire and potentially drive prosperity in the modern world. Looking through the lens of social enterprise, opportunities are rapidly emerging to combine social and ‘soft’ technologies to form new experiences (beyond the story) that connect consumers, children, teachers and elders in demand economies with artisans, producers, entrepreneurs and elders in traditional cultures. The tide is turning, as our modern society confronts natural resource depletion and chokes on its own waste, and (hopefully) as we dismantle price distortions that create and perpetuate those problems.

So where do we see ancient wisdom driving not just social value, but also financial prosperity in modern society? [For if such wisdom is to proliferate and transform the modern world, financial alignment is a helpful, if not vital.]

One example of a social enterprise that has achieved breakthroughs, but which still has major potential to expand impact, is Indigenous Designs. Indigenous was a client of mine for many years, and is the leading purveyor of handmade, organic, fair trade apparel in North America. Over the past fifteen years, they have developed relationships with hundreds of family groups organized into dozens of cooperatives throughout the Andes from Ecuador to southern Peru. Indigenous works with SEY'05 Root Capital to provide the highest quality materials and low cost financing to artisan co-ops who produce premium quality apparel designed and branded by Indigenous for modern lifestyles.

Indigenous presents a fascinating story and creative combination of ancient and modern innovations…if you’re interested read on!

Much of what Indigenous does is more than meets the eye, which is where opportunity lies to create a more direct connection (an experience altogether beyond the buyer-seller paradigm) between the proud owner of an Indigenous garment and the artisans who created it...providing us with something we can savor, use every day, and share with others why, in our own experience and words "ancient wisdom matters in the modern world" (part title to Wade Davis's latest book).

Exhibit 1: the art of fiber blending. By using different fiber combinations (organic silk, wool, cotton, alpaca, tencel, bamboo, etc.) and textural treatments (twisting and combining fibers in various densities and patterns), Indigenous is able to create a wide variety of garments with different textures, performance characteristics (e.g. outdoor vs. intimate), weights and colors, that are luxurious to the senses.

Did you know that alpaca is the only natural fiber that grows from whitest white to blackest black, and if used wisely can significantly reduce the need for dyes? Don't worry; most major fashion houses don't either! The art of fiber blending is an ancient one that Indigenous takes to a whole new level…but the artisans understand, they've been doing it for thousands of years, and those skills are thriving through work and trade with Indigenous!

Exhibit 2: the quality of craft(wo)man ship. We took the entire senior design and production team from NY fashion house Eileen Fisher (a company of extremely high quality, with such senior management as "Vice President of Hand and Feel") down to Peru to inspect the process, and they were astounded at the detail, sometimes not even being able to conceive how a particular stitch was made.

Traditional tailoring must survive the elements, and so many Indigenous garments remain a reliable favorite for many years. Few companies offer such quality, and their brand loyalty prove its importance…and is why Eileen Fisher chose Indigenous as exclusive production partner for all its organic, fair trade knits.

Exhibit 3: a phenomenal production scheme. Borrowing brilliance from Incan system (which connected far flung peoples under the largest territorial empire on earth), every month or so artisans descend ancient trails from Andean foothills to village hubs to deliver finished Indigenous goods, and collect new patterns and materials for the next production cycle. Because Indigenous consolidates yarn purchases across its network for quality control and certification purposes, artisans obtain yarn at value and quality sight unseen in such remote regions, some of which they can use for personal needs. The co-ops provide rudimentary banking/savings services, and while in town artisans often trade and purchase other goods.

The system is innovative in several ways. Each family group typically produces one size, one color of a particular garment run, which simplifies specialized instructions, quality control and inventory tracking. Co-ops typically work on receipt based-systems, which reduces the risk carrying cash and provides working capital in form of materials for artisans. Co-ops are artisan owned and democratically operated with lean administration, ensuring as much money as possible gets to the artisan. Indigenous and partner Root Capital confirm this annually through field visits. More importantly, however, artisans (typically women) can create valuable goods given modern designs and good materials, while remaining in their villages, thus maintaining the social fabric of the community. For over fifteen years, despite many hardships, Indigenous has provided stability for hundreds of families and communities throughout the impoverished Andes.

Exhibit 4: solving for pattern; financing the missing middle by networking elements into a cohesive whole. Despite all its innovations, after ten years (when I first began working with them) Indigenous was struggling to scale and profit. The model relies on production distributed across a dozen cooperatives (representing hundreds of family and village groups) spread over a thousand miles of rugged mountain terrain. None of its co-ops were bankable, requiring Indigenous to provide its own financing in the form of cash advances on production. Meanwhile it was carrying interest on cash it disbursed, while waiting for retailers to pay on net 30-60 days typical in hyper competitive apparel markets…effectively putting it underwater.

The solution was a groundbreaking financing and networking platform co-designed with Root Capital. It was Root’s first foray into value-added handcraft production financing (outside commodity harvest financing), and created a remarkably successful and elegant solution to a classic challenge of “missing middle.” The key was getting the cooperatives to see the value of developing financial literacy and capacity to manage their own working capital instead of relying on Indigenous, which reduced its ability to invest in design, sales and marketing to increase trade. The next challenge was to get all cooperatives on the same system and terms, so no one received special treatment.

Once achieved (through creative education and diplomacy), the platform transformed the entire process and eliminated Indigenous’ dead working capital weight. It returned to profitability, grew 350% and expanded production in what is now the largest integrated network of fair trade artisan apparel producers in the world. For their part, the co-ops are transforming into formal sector SGBs (small growing businesses), which affords them access traditional financing and even investment for expansion to serve wider community needs such as healthcare and education.

If you venture into the Andean foothills, you'll see women knitting while tending herds or with a baby on their hip...they could probably knit in their sleep! There is a virtually inexhaustible supply of highly skilled labor, not just throughout the South America, but throughout the world. And not just in apparel, but in dozens of trades. If more social entrepreneurs can find ways to tap such skill and creativity the way Indigenous has – without the financial and political risks of building centralized production, costs for which are inevitably forced upon workers who emigrate from native villages, which tears apart the social fabric and defeats the entire purpose – the potential for sustainable and symbiotic development for modern and ancient cultures is vast.

Still, there are opportunities for greater impact. Indigenous co-founders, Scott and Matt, have discussed creating a foundation to acquire land, convert it to organic production, and transfer ownership over time through a production earn-out scheme to the farmers, thereby not only securing the most reliable, low-cost source for their yarns, but also positioning them to become the first truly certifiable fair trade apparel company in the world. No standard in fact exists, because in an un-networked (interest misaligned) system it is cost prohibitive to certify and monitor each step from farm to mill to producer to retailer. Now that Indigenous is stable and growing, Scott and Matt might just be able to pull it off, and set yet another standard to which others should aspire.

Perhaps an even more compelling opportunity, however, is for Indigenous to create a new experience - not just a value exchange, but a value(s) exchange - through hang-tags, retailer training, point-of-sale kiosks and web tools that directly connect the hearts and hands of the lucky owner with those of the artisan who created their cherished good. Few, if any, companies have created such an experience. World of Good comes close, but Indigenous garments are more highly prized and well crafted…elevating native artistry to a level that competes directly with the machine precision and large budgets of global apparel cos. Kiva (SEY’08), lovingly called by Skoll Foundation’s Dan Crisafulli the “gateway drug” to social investing, also comes close in terms of the experience people come away with.

So there’s vast potential it seems. If you’ve come this far, you’re a real champion. I look forward to hearing more examples of how creative integration of ancient wisdom and modern innovation can positively transform our world!

start being so unreasonable!!!

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:29:47 +0100

friends at unreasonable institute in boulder, colorado recently announced the finalists in their inaugural unreasonable marketplace competition…

view a cool clip here!!!

from 284 applicants, u/i selected 35 of the boldest, baddest (good bad), most determined young social entrepreneurs out to change the world.

the standard? ventures must effectively address a social or environmental issue, be financially self-sustaining within 1 year, have a model which can be scaled out of the country of origin within 3 years, and must eventually meet the needs of at least 1 million people…easy right???

the challenge? a race to crowd source funding in increments of $10 for a total of $6,500, which - for the first 25 teams to reach that milestone - covers their investment in an intensive 10-week summer skills and mentorship training program at the unreasonable institute (in lovely boulder; tough luck huh?).

vote your alexander hamiltons (10s) here!!!

the payoff? besides incubation and global networks, at the end of the ten weeks u/i fellows receive start-up capital from the unreasonable village fund, sponsored by first light ventures (sister enterprise of gray ghost ventures).

the catch? the entrepreneurs decide who gets funded! inspired by village banking models used in microfinance, u/i will test first light's village capital investment thesis that, by working with and supporting one another, entrepreneurs are better positioned than arm's length investors to make intelligent investments in one another’s companies. so not all may come away with seed investments.

among my favorite finalists:

light up malawi, which aims to get an entire nation off the grid through 100% sustainable energy. now that's bad ass…and totally unreasonable! (full disclosure: i work with these crazy people on unrelated projects). in partnership with the government of malawi (world's 4th poorest country, with 12 million people) l/u/m plans to launch a national pilot program that provides import and domestic production incentives for manufacturers of solar, biomass and wind energy products, and that creates village level coalitions to install and maintain distributed energy sources at low cost or no cost.

get lit up by their short here!!!

rickshaw bank, which organizes and provides loans to pullers for new rickshaws, uniforms, licenses and a photo ID for 25-30 rupees/day. rickshaw bank also provides family health care, family planning, clothing, cooking gas and schooling for the children at affordable cost through micro-finance intervention.

get carried away here!!!

and another favorite:

who gives a crap!, which plans to support water sanitation projects in the developing world through the sale of non-profit toilet paper in developed economies…now that's what i call a closed loop system! the facts: 1 billion lack access to clean water and 2.6 billion lack access to hygienic toilets, acutely increasing incidence of preventable diseases and death. the g/a/c boys did a back-of-the-envelope and realized their fellow australians spend $750 million annually wiping their asses, yet it only costs 50c a year to provide individuals access to clean water. conclusion: 1% aussie t/p market share = 1,000,000 people with clean water!

catch their crappy video here!!!

for another blog featuring unreasonable shit (click Oct 08!) check out pamela hartigan's entry at harvard's center for public leadership on gram vikas of india, and why never to underestimate the power of a toilet! pamela also penned "the power of unreasonable people: how social entrepreneurs create markets that change the world"...got the gist yet?

with that, i suppose it's worth closing with the wisdom from george bernard shaw that inspired some of this radical shit:

"the reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him…the unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself…all progress depends on the unreasonable man [and woman]."

amen...now go vote you bums!!!

king and kahane : love and power

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:59:15 +0100

friend and fellow social entrepreneur nathaniel whittemore posted a great blog tribute to martin luther king, jr. today on change.org. he points out that "king was an incredibly astute observer of the application of power throughout history. his commitment to love and nonviolence were as much a strategy for claiming power as a philosophical stance. in his final presidential address to the southern christian leadership conference, he said: "one of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites - polar opposites - so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love...what is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love."

this is precisely the subject of a fantastic book - "power and love: a theory and practice of social change" - recently released by another friend and colleague, adam kahane of reos partners. adam is an organizer, designer and facilitator of processes through which business, government and civil society work together to address their most complex challenges. the following is an excerpt from adam's recent article in the oxford leadership journal:

"to co-create new social realities, we have to work with two distinct fundamental forces that are in tension: power and love. this assertion requires an explanation because the words power and love are defined by so many different people in so many different ways. in this i use two unusual definitions of power love suggested by theologian and philosopher paul tillich. his definitions are ontological: deal with what and why power and love are, rather than what they enable or produce. i use these definitions because they ring true with my experience of what in practice is required to address tough challenges at all levels: individual, group, community, society."

"tillich defines power as “the drive of everything living to realize itself, with increasing intensity and extensity.” so power in this sense is the drive to achieve one’s purpose, to get one’s job done, to grow. He defines love as “the drive towards the unity of the separated.” so love in this sense is the drive to reconnect and make whole that which has become or appears fragmented. these two ways of looking at power and love, rather than the more common ideas of oppressive power and romantic love (represented on the cover by the grenade and the rose), are at the core of this book."

incidentally, mlk wrote his phd dissertation on "a comparison of the conceptions of god in the thinking of paul tillich and henry nelson wieman."

you can subscribe to nathaniel whittemore's monthly newsletter - the "n-list" - by emailing him at globalengagement@gmail.com. you can purchase adam kahane's book - "power and love: a theory and practice of social change" - here at amazon.com.

palin vs. gore climate showdown

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:24:37 +0100

someone very important in the global climate debate (my mother) called to point out that we would be well served to present pluralistic views on such issues.

she described an article by a local reporter from my once (and probably only once) blue (now clearly red again) state, virginia, that describes climate science as a leftist religion bent on distorting facts to suit a socialist political agenda. at first i dismissed it out of hand, but then it got me thinking…

last year we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the origin of species by charles darwin. despite virtually irrefutable scientific observation supporting natural selection, wars still wage (literally and figuratively) over evolution vs. creationism. the opportunity here is to recognize (and embrace) that nothing in nature is absolute; there will always be possibility for exception because you can't prove something doesn't exist.

as this enlightening expose from factcheck.org points out, invariably people from both sides on such polarized issues tend to misrepresent (whether purposeful or not) the issues.

a point overstated is a point lost...and remember, resistance is persistence!

skoll world forum

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:44:26 +0100

we'll be returning to oxford university this april to attend the skoll world forum...dubbed the davos of social enterprise. hosted by the skoll center for social entrepreneurship at oxford's said business school. every year we come away with new friendships and exciting work on social transformation.

jeff skoll (ebay's first president and founder of participant media) makes sustainability sexy...check out his ted talk here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-RQ6i0_qRw

the now show - dr seuss at copenhagen

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:44:43 +0100

"the now show" on bbc...monty python esque!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_RlKxz_ymQ

played for attendees at post-copenhagen town hall where i panelled last weekend with kevin danaher of global exchange, norman solomon of fairness & accuracy in reporting, and social justice / climate activist evelina molina. as usual, kevin regailed the audience with hilarious metaphors, comparing corporate capitalism to a bus driven into a ditch and the titanic that's hit the iceberg of sustainability.

see press democrat article here:

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100109/ARTICLES/100109536?Title=Climate-change-From-Copenhagen-to-Santa-Rosa

daily acts & dual citizenship

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 05:04:01 +0100

finally a free moment to share some personal reflections heading into the new year...one that's sure to be pivotal in shaping a sustainable future, or not, for generations to come.

it was interesting (an understatement) to be meeting in washington with leaders from public, private and citizen sectors while wars waged against reform to provide access to basic health care for millions and while prospects disintegrated for a global climate treaty to prevent extinction for billions.

yet another reminder that no top-down fix will lead to systemic change; there are simply too many statistics to mislead and stakeholders to appease. real transformation will continue to come from countless individual actions of compassion and courage, animated by the hope that a collective consciousness might someday emerge.

personal ecology is about rituals that bring us into concert with the natural world.

humility - derived from greek "humis" or soil ~ of the earth

courage - derived from french "cuer" or heart ~ from the heart

qualities that i aspire to inspire in others this year through daily acts of love and healthy disruption of the status quo.

add to that an expanded claim to dual citizenship…of both outer and inner worlds. it’s hard not to lose ourselves in endless streams of tasks, time constraints and external distractions. one of my friends likes to say she seeks her news from within. this year i’ll be living my life more inside out, allowing spirit to guide my actions and balm my nerves in the face of certain challenges ahead.

speaking of daily acts, check out the work of an amazing friend, ecoleader and artist, trathen heckman, at www.dailyacts.org!

avatar allegory

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 05:14:35 +0100

although avatar enthralls in 3d, what surprised me more than the animation (given poor plot reviews) was its potential as a modern allegory for young audiences. anyone who's experienced first hand the tragedy of pristine peoples or ecosystems exploited, or who knows the work of paul stamets or lynn twist, will appreciate currents that run through this tale.

the story takes place in some distant future, as earth withers from environmental destruction and warfare, and humans have begun infiltrating new worlds with the same force, ignorance and deception that have destroyed indigenous cultures and ecosystems since time immemorial. although certain elements are banal (unobtainium?), critics seem to have overlooked a timely and relevant message: that nature's networks and native wisdom have the power to inform our understanding of how to integrate and leverage technologies to serve rather than to enslave.

my only serious gripe is the notion that native cultures have nothing to learn or want from modern civilization. lynn twist’s story of being 'summoned' by the achuar people of ecuador to help reunite the amazonian cultures of the condor with their long-lost 'modern' brethren of the eagle, is an example that inspires possibilities for greater balance, peace and shared prosperity in the real world.

to learn more about lynn twist’s pachamama alliance, visit www.pachamama.org. to hear from paul stamets how mushrooms can help save the world; check out his ted talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html.