Coalition of the Willing: An Open Letter to StartingBloc New York 2019 Fellows

Original draft: 15 August 2019

Greetings from New Delhi, StartingBloc New York.

I am writing to you while on extended working holiday turned mini-sabbatical around the Sustainable Development Goals, thanks to a series of happy accidents that sent me across Europe and into India over the course of the past year.

As the newest Fellows of StartingBloc Institute for Social Innovation, you are joining over three thousand fellow social innovators who, like you, are seeking to create positive change locally and globally. While I cannot be with you in New York for your Institute this time, unlike previous years, having observed and facilitated New York Institutes over the past seven years, I intend to leave you with a few thoughts and perspectives that will not only help you in achieving the change you wish to see, but also strengthen the entire StartingBloc Fellowship into a force powerful enough to transform business as usual.

From top to bottom and back

Imagine yourselves as parliamentarians, policy makers, and all other varieties of decision makers in position to set the direction of human society. Some, and I certainly hope many, most, or all, or you are already aiming to reach such heights.

Now consider why, for all the talk about sustainability and social responsibility, greenhouse gas pollution is reaching record highs, income and wealth inequalities continue to rise, and the promise of technological progress keeps regressing to its perils. You may already have been thinking through and acting on these questions intensely with sound mind and deep focus, perhaps realising that common threads run through them, threads that you as emerging leaders have the ready potential to tackle. These threads lead to those already at the top of organisations and institutions of influence, those who have gotten there by pushing others down, by playing to the worst human instincts, by reducing people to the lowest denominator, by leaving trails of collateral damage on the way, and, above all, by creating artificial scarcities and thus systemic failures of imagination. That is why StartingBloc exists, so you collectively can be in position to clear the hacks, sociopaths, psychopaths, and other maladaptive types from the top. Replace them with changemakers like you who lift others up along the way, who break down artificial walls and silos that limit human imagination and the human condition, who refuse to accept anything as progress unless shared by all, who realise one is only as strong as those around them, and who, most fundamentally, treat leadership with positive intention.

What if the latter, meaning you, really become the parliamentarians, the policy makers, and other persons of influence and authority? Think of the possibilities, and act on them.

"You first?" "Yes, I will go."

Of course, such possibilities might sound exceedingly ambitious, even daunting to the extent that even the well meaning might only muster a "you first" when confronted with all the action necessary and sufficient. You might correctly conclude that such a stance quickly leads to paralysis; why not be the first to break the jam? Perhaps you are feeling fearful that your actions will fail. Perhaps you are so uncertain about the future that you rather wait your next turn. Perhaps you may even doubt the abilities of yourself and those around you to carry on. Perhaps you have let your cynicism get the better of you, leading you to assume the worst of intentions. Perhaps all of the above has, despite your knowledge and awareness, led your interest and motivation to pall in the face of inaction by those ostensibly in charge and the concomitant seeming futility of attempting change.

Now ask yourselves: Is there really anything holding you back? Why settle with trying to predict the future when you can create it? Why not form teams composed of diverse life experiences and learn the skills you need while teaching those around you likewise? Will you really let yourselves be stymied by a small handful with ill intent? And most importantly, if you were to die now, will you have any regrets that you could have done something, or worse, if you were to be living decades from now when problems not being solved today have become increasingly intractable, will you regret that you could have acted but chose inaction? Show what all the talk about taking (back) control really means: taking full responsbility for a better tomorrow. Others might refuse to act unless you make the first move; embrace that opportunity to set a constructive precedent.

Four thousand strong and counting

You might be trying to picture what taking full responsibility for a better future really looks like. Look no further than your fellow Fellows, all of whom have effectively selected themselves for intent on creating positive change, not to belabour that point. During past Institutes in New York, your fellow Fellows have demonstrated the potential to do better than those currently in nominal charge of global trade and sustainable development policy, for instance; envision yourselves in such positions at the United Nations a walk or subway ride away. Now let us extend that thought; think of yourselves convening at the United Nations with the nearly four thousand Fellows from previous Institutes. What will you debate and discuss? What creative tensions amongst yourselves will you harness in support of constructive critique and continuous improvement? Around what solutions will you develop consensus? What will be your commitments towards the future of humanity? At this critical juncture in the course of human events when those entrusted with the well-being of all are opting to retrench, it is up to you to seize the day.

What about technicalities such as winning people over, you might ask? Remember, you are together a coalition of the willing, a coalition strong and clear in conviction, growing ever more powerful with each and every new cohort of Fellows joining you quarter after quarter and year after year. As long as you take that to heart, your message will get through. Instead of each of you pursuing disjoint projects in separate ways, what if you act collectively to ensure everyone amongst you and all around you are fully enabled and impelled to realise change? Nothing can really impede you beyond that.

Your world, your choice

Here in New Delhi from where I am writing, there are two holidays just past that together capture what makes StartingBloc uniquely positioned to cultivate leaders for our common future. The first is Independence Day, a day to reflect on what the future of India and by extension the future of human development could be. The second is Raksha Bandhan, a day to celebrate brotherhood and sisterhood, both representing the spirit of leaving no one behind. Take a moment to reflect on both these holidays and their deeper meanings pertinent to you as changemakers. Can you picture a world free from want? Free from fear? A world transformed from one of scarcity to one of abundance?

StartingBloc is far more than just an institute for social innovation or even a community of changemakers. It is an institution designed to kindle the positive intention of people like you from many walks of life into a force that, through your dedication and perseverance, enables solving the seemingly gnarliest and most intractable problems lingering from the past and continuing to afflict the present. You create institutions, and they create you.

Thank you.

Yangbo Du, New York 2012 Social Innovation Fellow

To learn more about StartingBloc, start with the latest Transparency Report, and visit startingbloc.org for ways to be involved in cultivating leadership for an era of accelerating change.