In the middle of probably the greatest disruptions we've experienced in our lifetime — a global pandemic and a long overdue reckoning on racial equity — I am so grateful for the opportunity to speak with Jacqueline Novogratz about her new book, Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World.
2020 is a year when moral imagination and a moral manifesto has probably never been needed more.
Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder of Acumen, a global nonprofit that has been changing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in sustainable businesses, leaders and ideas for nearly 20 years. In her new book, Manifesto for a Moral Revolution, she shares an essential list of leadership ideas for everyone who wants to do good in this world.
Drawing on inspiring stories from change makers around the world and on memories of her own most difficult experiences, Jacqueline calls out the most common leadership mistakes and the mindset needed to rise above them. The culmination of 30 years of work developing sustainable solutions for the problems of the poor, Manifesto for a Moral Revolution offers the perspectives necessary for all us — whether ascending the corporate ladder or bringing solar light to rural villages — who seek to leave this world better off than we found it.
In our conversation, we talked about reimagining leadership — especially in this time of Covid-19 and the uprisings — and cultivating a new definition of success, one not based on money, power and fame. Look for her upcoming TED Talk on TED.com soon, too. In the meantime, here are some highlights from our conversation:
HIGHLIGHTS
On Needing a New Operating System
Jacqueline says that “one of the things the pandemic and Black Lives Matter make clear to all of us is that we need a new operating system, one that puts our shared humanity and the earth at the center of our systems — a radically different definition of what success is. We need millions of heroic acts and we honor those who give more back to the world than they take. The work of Acumen is the work of using the best of markets without being controlled by them. …Right now, it’s at the margin. What we have to do is actually now build systems that recognize the tensions so that we could have a more inclusive capitalism.“
On Inclusive Capitalism
“We're starting to see the business models and the role models that are pointing the direction to where we might not just talk about stakeholder capitalism, but building it. I'm feeling hopeful about a growing group of young entrepreneurs and change makers in the nonprofit sector who are entrepreneurial, who are hellbent on solving problems, and aren't just focused on their own narrow interests of success.”
On Connecting Leaders
“We need to have our leaders start to talk each other to each other across sectors so that we can actually build a society where we all have a voice. But if we one don't understand the principles and too many of our leaders are just flinging opinions at each other or we're only [engaging] people who think like us, then we're not going to build unity out of any diversity.”
On the Urgency of Having Values-Based Conversations
“Right now our countries are increasingly diverse. In the United States and the UK, there's an urgent need for values-based conversations. Not values in a namby-pamby, we-all-agree-on-the-values [kind of way], but deep conversations about: How do we trade off freedom in the community? How do we trade off the idea of equality and the idea of let innovation ride? What is our responsibility to each other, not just our rights?
And so I think it's a practice of leadership and a practice that we've got to do a much better [job of] integrating into every one of our schools, our universities, our corporations, our nonprofits and all of our organizations. So that we're much more conscious about who we are and what is the work we came to do, knowing that we are going to have to learn to partner with those who have a completely different belief system possibly.”
On Character
“I think we have to start by actually living what we say we most value. [That can be] as simple as redefining success ourselves in terms of what are we doing on behalf of other people, not just for our ourselves. This idea of holding values, intention, modeling — even how to have a hard, a difficult conversation. You know, we're seeing all of our leaders flaying opinions at each other, rather than start by acknowledging even a partial truth of what the other side believes and opening up a space for the possibility, if you will, of conversation, which doesn't say or mean give up your principles, but at least provide the space where you can debate your principles.”
A Whole New Set of Questions
“In the short term, things may have to even get worse before they get better. Even two weeks ago, I heard a different conversation than the conversation I'm hearing now, which is more and more people saying, how do we find each other again? As inflammatory as some people find the pulling down of statues and as liberating as other find it, it's provoking a conversation of like, Wait, stop. What is the conversation we want to have with each other? And I think that there are so many more reasonable minds in this country who are asking themselves a whole new set of questions.
As the civil rights leader, Bryan Stevenson says, ‘Once you've seen something, it becomes impossible to unsee it.’ Suddenly every American has seen a very, very ugly underbelly of America. The killing of a man at the hands of a policeman. A pandemic that has disproportionately affected people of color and the poor. The inability of a country that has prioritized freedom without any sense of responsibility, [and] that is producing literally the worst results on the planet. Nobody wants this anymore.
And so for me, this actually is a moment of huge opportunity for those of us who do have moral imagination to put forth a different vision in every single conversation that we are in, in ways that also recognize who else is in that conversation and not only speak from our own perspective. And I see more and more people doing that.”
On Where We Start
“I see the peril of this moment. Having lived in Rwanda before genocide, I watched a country that allowed for people to start fully demeaning each other. I watched a leader cast dispersions and prey on people's insecurities, and I watched that grow. And then they only had one radio station to accelerate and amplify those dissident voices. We now have social media, [and] we have enormous peril right now.
The moral imagination is a balance between the humility to see the world for all its ugliness, and the audacity to imagine how we get somewhere else. And I would say we have to start by recognizing just how fractured, divided, divisive, angry, tired and scared we are. And that's a really hard place to start, but it's a place of huge opportunity.
I think we start by finding those forums where we get people to listen to each other and talk to each other, in small groups where you can bring them together. And I think every single one of us can begin to make those [conversations] happen. I've been thinking a lot about, how do we courageously have conversations that right now, you know, I worry on the left end and I worry on the right. That on the far left, if you say the wrong word, you're often thrown out of a conversation. And on the right, there's a whole similar — we're canceling each other left right and center rather than recognize we need each other. So for me, it starts by trying to find ways to see each other.
We have got to do a better job telling the stories that matter. Across this country are individuals who hold the values that are truly American values of entrepreneurship, of ‘We solve problems.’ That’s what we do. We build communities. That's what we do. And so we need to celebrate those leaders, the real heroes that are building and not just telling us what's wrong with the country.
I actually think that’s where Acumen has an enormous role to be playing. Pat, you and this whole community of women leaders, who represent domestic workers, who represent the environment, you know, how do we tell those stories in ways that matter, in ways that other people can hear. So for me, it's get people to talk and see each other, lift up those role models, celebrate those business models and start saying out loud the kind of ethos and vision that we have. And also vote. There's never been a more important time to vote than there is right now.”
On the Concept of Accompaniment
“it actually started with Acumen's entrepreneurs. [Early on] we were always somewhat frustrated internally because we had classic post-investment strategies. We would make what looked like a more typical private equity investment in a company. And then we would treat them like: What's your progress? How are you doing? And then we would wonder why sometimes our local entrepreneurs who had less networks, less capital, less access, less confidence, and why they weren't doing as well.
When we really stepped back and thought about it, it was because we were being more transactional rather than really taking on their problems as our problems and using the privilege of our platform, our capital, our access and our brand. It is a more costly model in some ways, but one of the things I've learned over the last 35 years is that opportunity isn't enough.
And this goes also to questions on reparations, et cetera, et cetera… You can offer people opportunity. You can give them access to markets, but if they don't have the skill, the confidence, the capacity and the networks, they're not going to take full advantage of it.
In an interdependent world, that's just not enough. We've also got to help them get access to a market and be able to play within that market so that that person can actually succeed. I do think it scales. And one of the reasons I think it scales is that we have so many underemployed human beings, that there are real ways for us in the longterm to reduce costs. And you're seeing it.
I use this example in the book, but I've been thinking about it for so many other industries. The whole debate in health care in the United States is whether we nationalize insurance or stick with our broken, mixed mishmash of a model. And we clearly need that debate. And quite frankly, if there's ever been a moment to show us that every person in this country needs to be protected with the best basic health care, it is this moment. Health in America and health in the UK, in all of our countries, is more than just getting access to a doctor. It's all of the social determinants. It's our housing and our food and our school systems and our prison systems.
And so, accompaniment matters. There's a new group of entrepreneurs that are hiring people from the local community that have no previous health care experience. They're training them in ways that they can help other residents of the community manage their chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension. They will check in with them, check their vitals, help them do healthier grocery shopping, take them on walks, be a companion. And the results have been astounding. Hospitals are less burdened. The patients are much healthier. Health insurance companies and Obamacare have seen a reduction in hospital visits. They can provide a revenue stream into the company to make it profitable.
And when you talk to the health workers, they feel this incredible sense of being useful and contributing to their community, whereas their job previously might've been at a McDonald's. The community health workers, themselves and their families, also see major improvements in their [own] health. And so I start to imagine that and look at a country like any of the developed countries, which spend billions and billions of dollars, especially in the United States, we spend more than any other country in the world [on health care]. And we have some of the worst results. How do you reallocate those resources to employ local community members to actually help other community members?
Start to use that concept in the criminal justice system and when a person comes out of jail, rather than just being given a Metrocard with $5, someone's there to hold their hand, help them get their first housing, maybe find them a job in finance, where we see, and will see over the next year, like we did in 2008. People that are over-indebted. People who have a terrible credit record, Rather than just writing off their debt and saying you're a loser, forgiving it and helping them learn to manage their finance. And in education, same thing. We're seeing this now where people are willing to help each other, some paid some not paid.
I should think there could be a whole revolution in the way we recreate and reimagine an economy based on how we take care of each other, not just on how we make money off each other.”
Jacqueline is one of the brightest lights in my life and in the world, constantly inspiring, leading the work that lifts up hopes and illuminates the way forward to a better future that starts with a Manifesto for a Moral Revolution.
Onwards!
— Pat
