Philanthropy is a funny sort of business. Its stated intention is to “change the world”, but then it goes about doing a multitude of things that don’t seem to have any real chance of reaching that goal.
It’s as if as a field we were saying our goal was to climb Mount Everest, but we went around living a normal life, doing normal things and simply hitting the gym every day.
Normal people don’t climb Mount Everest. You know who climbs Mount Everest? Crazy people.
So I think the field of philanthropy needs to start asking itself a new question.
Are we crazy enough to change the world?
If you are reading this post via email subscription, click here to view the video.
2 Comments
Indeed you do have to be crazy to take on the odds against you as a world-changer; thankfully there are a lot of crazies out there. But you can also change the world — or climb Everest as you put it — by one step at a time, by changing a piece of your world, then another and another, perhaps working with other people who are changing pieces of their world until suddenly the world is changed.
Yes, it takes great and brave thinkers to make a major break-through but break-throughs are also accomplished by each of us doing our share, speaking out in our neighborhood or office, opening our minds to new ways of doing things. The ethical and creative decisions we each make can change the world as well.
Well said, Geri. I completely agree!