Sometimes, I get tired of listening to people on top. Yesterday marked the wrap-up of the fourth annual Global Creative Leadership Summit (GCLS) hosted at the Metropolitan Club in New York City and all I have to say is *yawn.* I went to their website on Saturday morning eager for fresh intellectual fodder on how to change the world. Instead, I found mediocre content in a painfully bright font – and this is a summit that is supposed to be co-sponsored by the United Nations Office for Partnerships. You’d think with the amount of time the UN has on its hands, they’d at least be able to assist in the design of a decent website. I guess not. Due to what appears to be a glitch on their website, I can’t even tell which information is from 2009 and which is from 2008.
Admittedly, the topic list for discussion for the three-day summit sounds tantalizing; technology, trade, security, media, poverty, innovation, global governance, financial crisis, education, environment, etc. – GCLS knows what’s up. Yet click any of the discussion re-caps or video playbacks and you’ll find a lot of long-winded diatribes by very important looking people saying nothing that hasn’t already been said before. In some of the videos, they even are sitting around what appears to be a poker table – which is nothing short of ironic.
I was hopeful when I came across a summary of the discussion panel titled “Social Entrepreneurs – The Next Generation of Smart Philanthropists” – perhaps this would provide material for my next blog – but I was disappointed again. U.S. business editor and New York bureau chief, Matthew Bishop is quoted as having emphasized that philanthropists need to forge smart and efficient alliances that use everyone’s skills to address the world’s problems and that “the public has to understand what is going on and be brought into the process as well.”
I disagree with him entirely. Public awareness and engagement is not the problem. The internet has done a good job of disseminating enough information at an exceptional rate that a person would have to be dumb, deaf, and blind not to understand the level of need that exists in the world. And today’s philanthropists are hardly just throwing money at the world’s problems – most of them are making very strategic investments a lá microfinance.
Michael Landau, chairman of Map International, goes on to stress the importance of “trilateral donor programs” that involve the government, the private sector, and the recipients. He acknowledges that in most philanthropic endeavors, you need the support of the government, but the government rarely has all the means to implement your development designs. That’s where the private sector comes into play. Unless he was born yesterday, Michael Landau just gave an entire pontification on things we already know. He should’ve just stayed home.
The last thorn in my side was Akhtar Badshah, the senior director of community affairs worldwide at Microsoft Corporation. Badshah talked about the need to “repackage capitalism” in order to create “incentive-based partnerships.” If we want the private sector to embrace corporate social responsibility, they must start getting economic returns on their investments. Only Badshah’s “repackaging capitalism” catchphrase sounds like a glorified way of posing the more sinister question: “How can we make money off basic human rights?”
Quite simply, you cannot and we’re all assholes for trying. Human rights are invaluable. You cannot use a business model to provide them. Yet I do believe in some form of social enterprise…Obviously. I’m writing for Social Earth.
The distinction I want to make is this: I believe in social entrepreneurs who start a business because they see a problem and want to better the world, but I believe much less whole-heartedly with social entrepreneurs whose first goal is to turn a profit and then look around and see who they can help (and simultaneously make themselves look good). Both are equally welcome in a time when any and all help is needed, but the former model is much more holistic.
I would like to rename Badshah’s incentive-based partnerships suggestion as “insensitive-based partnerships” because the first question we should be asking is not “where’s the money at?” but “where’s the need?” Maybe I’m asking too much. Maybe I’m calling for fundamental changes in the fabric of our society, a refurb for the foundations of our economy…Maybe I’m an idealist, but so be it.
We cover a lot of conferences here at Social Earth, some of them are really great, some – like this year’s GCLS – I feel can be a lot of pomp and circumstance. Most of them charge obscene entrance fees and require a list of hefty credentials just to get in. And some people are only going to hear themselves talk. So don’t get bummed when you can’t go – you’re not missing out. Everyone’s so afraid to hate on something that is dedicated to doing good, but there you go, I said it. GCLS gets two stars out of five.
The real conversations about change and making a difference happen when you’re out with your friends at the pub or at home in your pajamas talking on the phone with your grandparents. Or when that crazy homeless guy on the corner of 5th and 7th finally says something that makes a helluvalotta sense. One-on-one conversations, the passion in someone’s eyes, the fire in their hearts is what starts the ball rolling…rarely is it three days of speeches and discussions delivered from the same podium. Seriously, were humans even designed to sit that long?
Forced gatherings definitely have their merit, but in the long run, it’s those random chance occurrences that really put our lives into perspective. So move around, go outside, engage, talk to strangers, travel. You might gain more insight in three hours of daily exploration than you would at an entire GCL summit because contrary to popular belief, the world was not made for only the elite.
Global Creative Leadership Summit
The Global Creative Leadership Summit is focused on global poverty, global health, and global wealth and where they intersect.
- Organization Type: Non-Profit
- Website: http://www.creativeleadershipsummit.org/
- Founder(s): Louise Blouin Foundation and United Nations Office of Partnerships
- Founded: 2006
- Location: New York City
- See complete company list here
Contributor Profile: Ashley
Ashley is a friend of anyone who is fighting the good fight for social change. She currently resides in Bilbao, Spain where she is teaching English and researching the history of the Basque conflict. Personal blog
Twitter: @socialearth
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