Meeting Social Innovators & Heroes at GSIF 2009

Nanz and I were at the Global Social Innovators Forum just last Thursday through Saturday. It was my first time — and Nanz’s — and wow, it was pretty awesome.

Our treasured friend Elim Chew had a vision for a world-class forum that would draw thinkers from around the globe to our island. She “wanted to bring all these brains and expose Singaporeans to a global level of thinking.” Well, her thinking worked!

When Elim gets excited, other people get excited. GSIF is the baby of Member of Parliament Penny Low, who, with Elim, made it happen through sheer force of their personalities.

Social innovators are the individuals and the companies and policymakers who recognize that a new world has emerged, and we must learn new ways to manage it. The earth that has been ravaged greatly during the industrial age has now to be lovingly restored (yes we can!). The divide between the first world and third world countries has to be bridged. Leaders can no longer take – the new style of leadership is to serve and to give, and first of all, to love.

The opening session had one of my heroes as a young (impressionable) reader — Alvin Toffler, whose book Future Shock made my heart pound and head race. His prediction of the “Third Wave” (his other book that sent chills down my spine) is happening before our very eyes. The age of “knowledge-based industry” is upon us and industrialists are trying to figure out how to solve new problems with obsolete tools. The economic crisis we face, he says, cannot be solved by throwing in money and leaning on what has traditionally worked because even economics has shifted in this knowledge-based world. (Oops, too many billions too late.)

Social innovators may not be very well-paid now, says Toffler, but they are the world’s biggest heroes.

Other luminaries who came included Rob Walton (CEO of Walmart, which is on the forefront of supporting sustainable products), Peter Seligmann, founder of Conservation International (the Singapore branch launched during GSIF), Suhas Gopinath the world’s youngest CEO (of Globals Inc, a web solutions company) and Calvin Chin, the enigmatic founder of Qifang which matches needy tertiary students to big-hearted funders.

The star of the conference was John Hope Bryant, founder of Operation HOPE, a nonprofit organization that provides financial literacy to low-wealth communities. An advisor to the White House, Bryant’s magnetic personality and quick wit drew everyone to his message of “love leadership”. Love leadership is to lead by showing love — being vulnerable (!), using loss to birth forth a leader, refusing to let fear be your motivator, giving (which leads to getting) and, what made my ear prick up — love is money.

It’s wrong to think that capitalism is all money, zero love. It’s equally wrong to think that doing good means you gotta be broke. Bryant proposed that we can all “do well by doing good”. It can be a win-win situation.

He is obviously living that statement. And frankly he makes me want to learn just how to do that — because that’s exactly what Nanz Inc wants to do: DO WELL BY DOING GOOD.

John Hope Bryant launched his book Love Leadership at the GSIF. Nanz (and her daughter Zara) and I queued for his autograph. Nanz gave him a copy of her book, which he promised to read on the plane (somehow I doubt he read all 99 chapters). What captivated him was Zara, whom he carried for a photo. Bryant has a deep and real passion for kids and the potential they carry within them.

He asked me, “Why are you so passionate?” It is a great question to ask — it is a powerful question that puts the answerer in a vulnerable position. If the answerer accepts, and answers truthfully, a bond is instantly built.

So what was my answer? Another blog, another day.

Meanwhile, Elim, if you are reading this — WE LOVE YOU. We are SO proud of you and your vision to expand the minds of your fellow Singaporeans. To quote John Hope Bryant, possibly the most quotable man of our generation: “You feel that your life, what you’ve learned, and what you have to give are valuale to someone else. You’re seeing that person’s life transformed because of you.”

That’s one for you, Elim Chew. Thanks for making GSIF happen!

Photo of Elim and Suhas nicked from Darren Chin’s uploads — great shot Darren!

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