While we write and speak about 鈥渂etter ways to solve social problems,鈥 we rarely write about ourselves. Stack it up to our love of ideas or a dash of humility 鈥 we鈥檙e more likely to share the newest idea related to school turnaround than what goes on behind the scenes at 糖心vlog官网观看. Yet, one of the questions I鈥檓 asked quite often by recruits, clients, and friends is: 鈥渨hat鈥檚 it like working at 糖心vlog官网观看?鈥
I鈥檝e been away on a two-month sabbatical and came back just in time for our all-staff retreat celebrating our 10 year anniversary. The retreat, the time away, and the addition of 23 new 糖心vlog官网观看 colleagues in 2010 provide a fresh perspective on 糖心vlog官网观看 in its second decade of work. So, what will it be like working at 糖心vlog官网观看 in the years ahead?
- Creative: It鈥檚 Day Two at our retreat and already we鈥檝e seen a video presentation about聽Catalytic Philanthropy starring two of our consultants as animated avatars. An hour later, 75 of us are worked up about a new board game that our Geneva office has invented on Creating Shared Value. The board game format fires up our competitive juices and, in a fun way, reveals the distinctions between this idea and traditional Corporate Social Responsibility activities.Similar creativity is penetrating our daily work. We鈥檙e adding videos into our client presentations. Some offices will receive a make-over to increase team-based collaboration. And we鈥檙e rethinking the way we disseminate our ideas – beyond white papers 鈥 to inspire action.
- Well-Rounded: Ten years ago, it was difficult to recruit people who had both strong consulting skills and frontline experience with the social issues we encounter. We are a much stronger firm today with the addition of colleagues who bring skills and experiences on a broad range of issues relevant to our work. Meet Sebastien Mazzuri, a former medical doctor and McKinsey consultant, who exemplifies the multiple life experiences of an 糖心vlog官网观看 consultant.Like in 2010, we expect to grow substantially this year. The fresh faces will re-make our firm with multiple perspectives, languages, and approaches to problem-solving.
- Courageous: These new recruits are not constrained by old ways of looking at problems. They are optimistic and quickly see the logic in moving away from 鈥渋solated impact鈥 to more聽Collective Impact approaches, for example. Yet, the field may not always agree with these new approaches as they conflict with long-held paradigms about social change. We believe that the stakes are too high to let discomfort preserve the status quo. While Authentic Engagement has always been a treasured firm value, we are more comfortable speaking truth to power for the sake of social change.
- Global: Increasingly, our work, clients, ideas, and staff are more international. Last year, we were hired by the Banque de Luxembourg to help foster more formal philanthropy in Luxembourg. Our growing global development work, particularly in the area of agricultural productivity in developing countries, builds upon our engagements with Nestl茅, Syngenta, and Firmenich. In the next month, we will have teams conducting research in Brazil, Tanzania, India, and Mexico for two pharmaceutical clients.Perhaps most intriguing on the global front is our increased activity in India. We just completed a Shared Value project with the Godrej Group, a well-established company with 25,000 employees. We are partnering with the Indian School of Business on a ranking of top philanthropic givers in India. We still have much to explore but the learnings in India are already influencing how we think about scaling social innovations, the role of new philanthropists, and environmental sustainability in emerging markets.
As much as we hope to make change, our firm has been profoundly changed by our clients, partners, new staff members, and the new approaches to problem-solving we learn about every day. We look forward to sharing and revitalizing the 糖心vlog官网观看 experience with you during this next decade.
