7gen Bloc

Last week I had the opportunity to speak to a group of Columbia University MBA students. The next day I received an interesting email, which asked:

"If you were given the power to decide how each of the MBAs in the room tonight spent the next 10 years of their careers, what would you have us do? What is the lever we should be pushing? Where can we have the most impact on the "system" right now? Many of us have a passion for change, but are still searching for "what to do with our lives," are unsure of where to push, and how to do it."

This is a great question and between its lines, we can find a lot of hope and promise. Here's what I would suggest...

First, given our goal of creating a just, equitable, and sustainable economy, I'd break you up into five teams and assign each team to work on one of the following questions:

1. What are the best models of large-scale cooperation, alignment, and movement building that might be most useful for us to learn from?
2. Because a large-scale values shift and increase in consciousness is fundamental to creating this change, how do we go about creating this foundation?
3. This work will require significant resources. How do we design a process to acquire these resources and in what places might we find them?
4. Because we are focused on systemic change, which specific changes represent the acupuncture points most likely to affect the largest shifts? Is there a natural sequence for which of these should come first?
5. How do we balance short term priorities like climate change with the need to focus on longer systemic changes?

Then, taking the findings of Group 3, which focused on the need to acquire significant resources, I'd go get that money and hire all of you to execute the findings of the other four teams.

OK. That admittedly doesn't actually answer the question, but it sure would be fun!

A more concrete answer about "what to do with your life," starts with clarity about your own personal passions. Clarity about what it is you will commit your heart and soul to, what you will refuse to fail at, and what is so exciting to you that nothing can stop your pursuit of it. This clarity is the most important first step in any successful journey.

Then you must determine the purpose and principles that will guide your journey as well as the specific effect you seek to have. Do not join a venture that is not aligned with your values, or whose purpose is antithetical to your own goals. Life is too short to hope that you can start a revolution inside a company that does more damage to the world in a few minutes then you will be able to undo in a decade.

If you ask me what it is that the world most needs, I'd ask for:

• Fundraisers who can convince the world's wealthiest citizens to invest in long-term systemic change.
• Coalition builders who can bring together disparate interests.
• Leaders of multi-stakeholder coalitions.
• Media mavens who can leverage social media into political change.
• Business case builders who can help companies see why it's in their long-term best interest to invest in a just and sustainable world.
• Strategic economists who can create a viable game plan for implementing full-cost accounting.
• Politicians who can make politics a reputable profession.
• New business innovators who can figure out how to take the caring professions (teaching, nursing, parenting, eldercare, etc.) and generate for the people in these fields income that is commensurate with the true value of these services.

photo: Les Chatfield