I Need Your Thoughts

To kick off the New Year in a new way, I need your input on a new initiative.

In coming weeks, I’ll be telling you about some new writing, teaching, and business activities.  But all of these relate to my central concern that, in the years ahead, we need to think very differently about notions of common good, “public goods,” and governance.  That’s where you come in.

A year or so ago, I pulled together a group from diverse backgrounds – government, politics, finance, non-profit, social venture, and technology – to brainstorm about these issues:  With technology changing the ways we interact and make choices together as a community, a society, or even a planet, how can we define a new politics of common good beyond government?  How do each of us pursue our commitment to this “greater good” – something bigger than our individual selves – in an increasingly atomized world?

What started as a small discussion group grew to over 100 on-going participants.  And what interested them most was bringing even more people into this discussion – which produced the idea of a larger conference.  That conference, the “Greater Good Gathering,” was held this fall.

Now, we need you.

The conference featured Martin Luther King III’s keynote address on “Doing Good in the 21^st Century,” an opening panel led by former Delaware Governor Jack Markell on improving government today, experts on the future of democracy, and an exploration of how public and private sector innovation might solve the health care problem.

The heart of the conference was three panels thinking creatively across traditional categories of public, private and “social” enterprise:

One consisted of entrepreneurs behind for-profit (yes, for-profit) ventures to insure low-income families, to help families obtain public benefits, to help prisoners maintain family and community relationships, and to monitor the status of seniors living independently.

Another featured experts on how market forces are being tapped to increase social investment, shift “policy risk” from taxpayers to private investors, and induce large corporations to respond to issues like worker rights.

But perhaps the most enthusiastic group was the college students who had started self-sustaining enterprises to solve social problems:

– One student produces prosthetics for those in her native Viet Nam who have lost limbs from traffic accidents or landmines, at a fraction of market cost.

– Others started a business to speed the processing of rape kits.

– Another markets technology to help his fellow dyslexics with their reading.

– One uses food waste to produce insects that replace fish as chicken feed (reducing overfishing).

– Still another builds client relationship management software for homelessness service agencies.

These young people are truly inspiring – but, in the timeworn manner of entrepreneurs everywhere, they hadn’t set out to change the world, or to make a buck:  They simply saw a problem and, instead of just asking why, asked “why not?”  At one point, when I questioned the director of a social venture fund about what she thought the field would look like in a decade, her answer was that there would be no distinction between social enterprise and “normal” businesses:  All businesses will be “social ventures” – promoting the greater good even while making a profit.

Organizing the conference, I was struck by how many people – venture capitalists, former White House officials and Cabinet secretaries, non-profit leaders and intellectual innovators – asked me to keep them “plugged in” in a way that implied that this wasn’t just a conference, or a one-time event:  Something about this notion of pursuing the “greater good” really struck a chord.  People are looking for new paths for making a difference, seeking the social relevance many used to look for in government … somewhere other than government.

People have suggested to me various forms this Greater Good Initiative could take:

– A think tank – or “institute” – to address these issues (my original intention).

– Smaller conferences, more frequently, in a variety of locations.

– “Franchising” the Greater Good concept to anyone, anywhere who wants to stage similar, local conversations – like TEDx – or building local organizations for people to meet and plan, like MeetUp groups.

– Building a virtual national community and ongoing conversation online.

– A political movement.

– A foundation.

– A venture fund to support young (or even not-so-young) entrepreneurs in developing sustainable solutions to societal challenges.

– Maybe all these things.

– Maybe something else entirely.

What’s the best answer?  I don’t know.  But I’d like your help in figuring it out:  What I do know is that we won’t advance the greater good if we don’t advance it together.  Please visit my blog, or email me, so you can share your ideas – and get “plugged in” as we move forward.

Quick Links – Conference Videos:

Public Section Innovation: Can Government Be Saved?

Martin Luther King III: Doing Good in the 21st Century

Defending Democracy & The Future of the Public Good

Current Innovations in Social Venture

The Next Generation of Innovators

New Models of Economic Empowerment

Application & Illustration – The Future of Health Care Reform