Is Optimism Revolutionary? Don't Miss June 17 PBS Broadcast of Revolutionary Optimists To Find Out Why Ashoka Fellow Amlan Ganguly Thinks So
More than 1 billion people (1 in 6 of us) live in an urban slum and this number is expected to double by the year 2030. That is enough to make anyone pessimistic. For one Ashoka Fellow, however, the future is in our hands—we control our own fates. “ Make the surroundings your product,” Amlan Ganguly...
Future Forum Cheat Sheet: The Power Of Brevity And Other Storytelling Lessons
If you want to build a movement, you have to tell a good story. Julie Wiscombe (@jwiscombe) was at the 2013 Ashoka Future Forum; here, she shares her storytelling takeaways from the plenaries, workshops and breakout sessions. When I hear the word veteran, I picture an old man with a beard wearing an...
Future Forum Cheat Sheet: Leadership Practice In A World Defined By Change
Tragedies like terrorist attacks, school shootings or natural disasters create indelible bonds between the people affected. Lifelong friendships, based on deep empathy and profound trust, can be forged from a catastrophe. Unexpected chaos can spur intimacy in a split second. Social entrepreneurs...
Ashoka Fellow Steven Clift who places power back into the hands of citzens is honored by White House as "Champion of Change"
Last week the White House honored Ashoka Fellow Steven Clift (@democracy). Clift is the founder of E-Democracy.org, an online platform for citizen collaboration and government transparency. The White House honored 14 innovators from around the country as open government and civic hacking “Champions...
Grandma's Groceries: A Lesson In Becoming A Changemaker
My grandmother’s name was Flora, and she was all heart. Born and raised in Bristol, Tennessee, she had a deep connection to Appalachia. On occasion, I would ride with her into the Appalachian Mountains with a station wagon full of groceries to be delivered to several dirt-poor families for whom she...
How A Social Entrepreneur Created A Sustainable Business In Keeping Politicians Accountable
BONN, Germany – With the federal election season in full swing in Germany, social entrepreneur and Ashoka Fellow Gregor Hackmack is busy preparing his online portal, ParliamentWatch, to host a variety of special online forums with German media partners and to connect citizen’s questions to...
Why Voting, And The Voting Rights Act, Should Matter To Changemakers
On this blog, we seldom wade into the mire of politics. Social entrepreneurship is not a partisan issue. But changemaking—seeking to effect a positive change in a community—is inevitably a political act, influencing the way that individuals in society conduct themselves and interact. Democracy may...
Branson Commits To Cultivating Tomorrow's Talent: Ashoka Responds
When I read Virgin Group founder Richard Branson’s recent article on McKinsey on Society, my first thought was that the tycoon is actually far more articulate about what should be considered the most urgent priorities for social impact than many of my bleeding-heart colleagues have been over the...
How I, A Woman, Learned To Break The Rules And Do My Part To Help Better The World
Why is it that so few women have changed the world on a massive scale in the same way that men have? Where are the female Henry Fords, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates? Where are the women who have not only started companies but launched entirely new industries disrupting the way the world works? As a...