6th
4 Short Essays
Since I never get around to writing for this blog anymore, I thought I’d post the rough draft of 4 essays I just wrote for the Acumen Fund Fellowship that I’m applying for (which is probably out of my reach but you never know right?).
If you have a chance to read them before next Friday and have any thoughts I’d really appreciate if you let me know. They’re just first drafts so I’ll be revising them and I wrote them all tonight while consuming a few glasses of wine to get the “creative juices flowing” so I don’t know if they are good or crazy or obnoxious or what.
The last one definitely needs some work but it was at the end and I was tired. They all had to be this short. I just copy and pasted from word so the formatting is a little nutty. Please email or comment your thoughts!
Question 1: Gandhi is often quoted for saying, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” How have you brought about change in your world?
I like to start small and watch the ripple effect. The everyday acts of kindness. Knowing you made someone else smile. Making the connection between two people who you know will do great things working together. Listening and offering advice. Finding the person who will do what you’re trying to do so much better than you can. Then figuring out what you can do so much better than everyone else.
The single biggest change I can point to is launching the Drexel Student Consulting Group (DSCG), for MBA students at my university to provide free business consulting to nonprofits and social ventures. Not only are we helping organizations achieve important goals, but the students gain experience and are exposed to and involved in important issues such as improving low-income communities and the environment. A lot of MBAs don’t realize there are great career opportunities beyond investment banking, and when I introduce them to, for instance a nonprofit consultant, it can make a big difference in their thinking.
A blogger that I admire disputes the typical characterization of entrepreneurs as huge risk takers. He believes that successful entrepreneurs take a series of small calculated risks that, compounded, lead to a world where the entrepreneur’s goal is possible. Bold, disruptive action is necessary for real change—but the steps that get us there are often quite small.
Question 2: What is your greatest fear?
My biggest fear is not achieving—and the definition of achievement is always changing. Achievement is setting meaningful goals and reaching important milestones, both on a day-to-day basis, and for the long-term. It also means setting goals that are achievable, and not being too hard on myself when everything doesn’t work out exactly as planned.
I sometimes try to do too much. Right now I am working full-time, taking classes for my MBA part-time, running the Drexel Student Consulting Group, and helping to run two Net Impact chapters as well as stay involved in other organizations and committees. When I list it all out like that, it looks like an achievement in itself—“look at me and all the great things I’m doing!” But having a list of activities isn’t enough if I’m not successfully moving each activity forward. So achievement becomes, not only achieving tangible results, but achieving balance as well. It’s knowing when I stop being effective and learning to cut down on activities—or taking an evening to relax.
My biggest fear isn’t achievement on a day-to-day level, because there’s always a reason why it didn’t get done and there’s always tomorrow. My fear is that I will look back on my life (when there aren’t very many tomorrows left) and find that all those “maybe tomorrows” piled up and I never made as big of an impact as I could have. Being too achievement-oriented really means trying to achieve perfection. But you can’t be perfect without acknowledging your imperfections—and that there will always be imperfections.
Question 3: Tell us a story…
My senior year of college I did a semester abroad in New Zealand. A fellow exchange student that I became friends with repeatedly insisted that we needed to make a trip to Fiji before returning home. I didn’t know anything about Fiji and was low on money, but she kept saying “it’s heaven” and eventually convinced me that Fiji was not to be missed.
We had been traveling all over New Zealand without much planning and either through laziness or pure naivety planned to do the same in Fiji. To save money we decided to stay in hostels and do most of our traveling through Fiji’s public bus system. As our plane circled down toward the island, my friend pointed out the window and said, “There it is—heaven!” We were so excited.
My first sign of trouble was the look on the custom’s officer’s face in Fiji and told him we didn’t know where we’d be staying. The second was our conversation with the taxi driver that took us from the airport to the first hostel that we picked out of my friend’s Lonely Planet, about the ethnic tensions and frequent political coups. “Don’t worry,” he said as he casually swerved down a side road and began driving on the beach, “most of them were bloodless.”
Most visitors to Fiji spend the entire time on one of its many beautiful beach resorts. We visited a couple of those, but spent most of our time traveling across the country and inadvertently witnessing the devastating poverty that the vast majority of the population lives with. After seeing both sides of the country, I turned to my friend and said, “You told me we were going to heaven—but I’m pretty sure this is hell.”
Question 4: There are 20 million people in Pakistan who have been devastated by the country’s floods. You’ve just received a grant of $100 million - how will you use the money to have the greatest impact possible?
My first step, before rushing in, would be to make a plan for how this funding could have a long-term impact in the region, and how I could leverage it to increase that impact. What made the difference between the recent earthquakes in Haiti and in Christchurch New Zealand? The building code and the architecture—fundamentally, the poverty level. So many deaths in developing countries are the results of poor infrastructure and the lack of efficient, long term planning. Yet so many of the resources of the nonprofits and NGOs that serve these communities go to short-term emergency aid or ineffective solutions.
I would begin by researching into the best way to prevent future disasters in Pakistan—natural disasters will always occur, but there are ways to plan for them so that they are less devastating. I would also find other organizations, both non-profit and for-profit, to partner with on long-term solutions for Pakistan, increasing the funds and expertise being focused on this issue. Lastly, I would leverage the available funding by seeking matching funds through individual and foundation giving.
There are two major issues resulting from the flooding. One is the infrastructure improvements necessary to prevent future disasters, and the other is addressing the needs of the displaced Pakistanis. Both are long-term (as well as short-term issues), and there are likely ways to address both at once, such as bringing displaced Pakistanis back to work on the necessary clean-up and infrastructure improvements. And most importantly, to listen to their ideas.
