A conversation with my friend Ehon on the weekend prompted this post. I shared with him a story of a girl I recently met in San Francisco who by way of introducing herself, asked me a question: "So what are you doing to save the world?" This kind of question usually grates on me, and…
How forgiveness went viral in Rwanda
A few years back I had the privilege of traveling to Rwanda to spend time with a friend with whom I had been collaborating with on a business start up. I met Ndekezi originally in South Africa in 2006, after which he and I both spent some time together in each of our countries. Through…
A Global Social Change Lexicon
Language emerges, morphs and gains new meaning, as it seeks to describe how one might think, feel or act in any given space. Changemaking is no different, and is currently creating, borrowing and bastardising words from all over the world; flipping them, twisting them, giving meaning, destroying their origins. Language is creative and subversive. It…
Who put the Ego into Entrepreneurship?
Who put the bomp in the bomp bah bomp bah bomp? Who put the Ego into Entrepreneurship? One of the most common misunderstandings and judgements that I come across regularly is this strange notion that all entrepreneurs are full of Ego. Well of course, but who isn't. The thing that I find most puzzling, disturbing…
The rush for change
This world seems to operate on some kind of speed, with the pace quickening and quickening at such a rate that it gains a momentum all of its own. This 'speed' is more than metaphorical, our world is actually operating on stimulant overdrive. Over the past ten years we have seen the rise of coffee…
The Parable of the Rescuer
Once there was a family who went to picnic by a river. While settling in, one of the mothers saw a body floating down the river. She quickly jumped up, pulled the body out of the water, gave CPR and the man survived. Startled by the incident, the family sat reflecting on what happened. This…
The ethics of rescuing food
I want to explore the idea of rescue as an approach to changemaking, and why some aspects of the 'rescue industry' have hidden ethical challenges. This is a follow on from my post on how to rescue a racehorse, which explored a new rescue-based idea to tackle problems in the horse-racing industry. Rescuing others is…
A time for talk, a time for action
I have attended many events in the social innovation and changemaking space, and a phrase I have heard a lot is "WE NEED LESS TALK AND MORE ACTION!" I have heard this said with a lot of gusto and a great dose of frustration, and perhaps for various reasons. For some they have attended so…
To solve or not to solve? Is that the question?
Sometimes in exploring the ethical dimensions of changemaking, I get to the point of wondering whether not solving the problem is actually ethically better than solving it. But then I wonder whether that is the right question to ask at all. Perhaps there is a third option to whether to solve or not solve a…
How to rescue a racehorse
About a month ago a guy pitched me his idea in an elevator (yes, it actually happens). His idea was to 'rescue a racehorse'. Actually, he wanted to not just rescue one racehorse, he wanted to rescue thousands of them. He explained to me what he saw as a problem of racehorses being slaughtered for…
How To Do Good 