Winning the battle of ideas

After nearly 27 years, I am leaving The Economist - and I could not be more motivated by my next challenge.

I'm honoured to share with you the news that I will be joining the Rockefeller Foundation to lead its historic Bellagio Center and to create a new global institute and network. Though the details are still to be fully worked out (watch this space!), the purpose of this institute will be to seek out solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges, shine a light on them and figure out how to implement them to rapidly increase progress for all humanity. That is quite a challenge, I know, but one I could not turn down.

It is hardly controversial to say that, right now, the world urgently needs to find some solutions to its big problems. For most of my adult life, ideas that can build a better world have had the wind in their sails; now they are becalmed, and storm clouds are gathering. Human progress can no longer be assumed to be inevitable, though thanks to technological innovation the potential for it remains huge. There is a real danger of the world going backwards, of losing some of the progress that has been made, if we don't, say, meet the challenge of climate change, especially by shifting as fast as possible to renewable energy. Or if we don't modernise our models of government, from the multilateral and national levels to the city and even more local. If we don't find ways of providing meaningful work for all who want it. If we don’t figure out how to change our food system to meet the needs of a growing global population healthily and sustainably. Or if we respond to technological innovation and other significant changes with fear and tribalism rather than by embracing its possibilities for improving the well-being of the entire human race. The list goes on.

This is a moment for taking time to think deeply about such challenges, to step back, to reflect and connect - to look beyond our siloes, and beyond the urgency of the short-term, to imagine the future we can create together. I believe we need above all to engage in the sort of deep, probing conversations that only happen when you spend significant time together, face to face, rather than bent over our mobile devices. In my new role, I am particularly excited by the possibilities of what might result from gathering together small groups of big thinkers and big doers to have those conversations, both at Bellagio and in other locations around the world. This is one of those moments when, with so much noise distorting the mass media narratives, small groups can be one of the most effective catalysts of progress. I keep thinking of Margaret Mead's advice to “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

That is why, in my new role, my goal will be thinking and convening that leads to action. I have wasted far too much valuable time in conferences where there has been lots of talking and vigorous networking, but very little action afterwards. Today, we really don't have the luxury of talk for talking’s sake, however interesting the conversationalists. It is already clear to me, for instance, that the world is going to get nowhere near achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 unless we bring about some massive improvements in how the world works. Likewise overcoming the threat of climate change. So another of my priorities – and this is where the network part of the new institute can be particularly effective – is to embed our face to face brainstorming in ongoing conversations, collaborations and action plans.

I can think of no better place to build this new institute and network than at the Rockefeller Foundation under the leadership of Raj Shah, who I have known since he was doing some pioneering work on agriculture at the Gates Foundation. I have always been struck by his big vision, his ability to think about changing systems rather than just addressing symptoms, and above all his determination to make a positive difference at scale. A 21st century version of the “scientific philanthropy” that John D Rockefeller pioneered is exactly what is needed today, and will inspire the work of the new institute. The greatest moments in the Rockefeller Foundation’s remarkable century-plus history have come when it has engaged in deep reflection and breakthrough thinking, enabling it to make stretching yet achievable moonshot bets. The Bellagio Center has been at the heart of this: among other things, meetings there led to the Green Revolution in agriculture that saved hundreds of millions of lives, the Global AIDS vaccine initiative, and the birth of the field of impact investing. Hopefully we can help identify and catalyze our generation’s moonshots.

I will of course miss The Economist terribly, especially my many brilliant colleagues with whom I have brainstormed face to face for more than half my life. I have always appreciated the ingredients of the secret sauce that makes The Economist the best in the world at what it does: the lack of bylines, which ensures that the emphasis is on the ideas we are writing about, not the writers; the spirit of continuous debate between colleagues determined to get to the truth; the collegiality of intelligent, committed people working towards a shared purpose, inspiring each other to raise their game. It has long been a sort of second family.

I joined The Economist because I was attracted by its commitment to winning the battle of ideas, as expressed in its founding belief that applying human intelligence is the key to achieving human progress. It is one of the great privileges of journalism to be able to shine a light on ideas and thinkers that matter, and by so doing help those ideas and thinkers to matter even more. When I first sat down to start writing this post a few weeks ago, for instance, the Nobel prize in economics had just been awarded to Richard Thaler, whose work I first reported on in 1993, when he was unknown outside academia, as was his work on behavioural economics and (later) nudges. It was also great to have been able to shine a light on the early days of the movement I later called “philanthrocapitalism”: the social entrepreneurs, impact investors and results-driven philanthropists. It won’t surprise anyone who knows me that The Economist cover story I wrote of which I am most proud was about Warren Buffett and Bill Gates teaming up as donors, which we termed “Billanthropy” (though my first cover story, featuring a pair of mating camels, achieved far greater notoriety).

It is that same desire that lies behind my decision to take up this new challenge. I see this as a chance to do more deeply than is possible even at The Economist the things I have always been passionate about: to search for important new ideas, to engage with the people thinking them; to bring together those with ideas and those with the ability to put them into practice to help drive positive change; and to share the knowledge we generate with the wider world, through media of every kind, to help inspire the public debate and action necessary to make progress happen. (And yes, I certainly plan to keep on writing.)

So one of the first things I will do when I start my new role is reach out to everyone I have engaged with positively over the years, as a writer for The Economist, as a conference moderator and in helping to launch initiatives such as the Social Progress Index, the #givingtuesday campaign and the G8 Taskforce on Social Impact Investing, each of which turned good ideas into real forces for good. If you are one of those people, expect a call or an email from me. And if I don’t get in touch soon enough, please reach out to me. And, of course, the same applies to anyone else out there I have yet to meet who has a big idea for a solution to a big challenge.

This is exciting work. I can't wait to get started.