Jeff Skoll – The Power of the Collective – Skoll World Forum 2011 opening remarks
Jeff Skoll, Founder and Chairman of the Skoll Foundation, Participant Media and Skoll Global Threats Fund, delivers a speech on the power of the collective at the 2011 Skoll World Forum opening plenary.
With: Jeff Skoll
Hi, thank you very much for those kind words, Stefen. And good evening every one and welcome to the eighth annual Skoll World Forum on social entrepreneurship. I'm very excited about this years forum and I like to start by acknowledging a couple of very special guests. Please join me in welcoming one of the truly great heroes of humanity, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
You don't want to miss tomorrow night's award ceremony where we celebrate the incredible life of the Archbishop. Would you also please join me congratulating our dear friend, mentor, and the godfather of social entrepreneurship, Bill Drayton, on the thirtieth anniversary of Ashoka. Well, my job's done.
And to all of you who have come to Oxford to shear your insights, innovations, and ideas for accelerating large scale impact. Thank you, and welcome.
I'd like to kick off this year's forum with a quote from one of my favorite Oxford philosophers. I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind, some come from ahead, and some from behind. But I bought a big bat, I'm all ready, you see, now my troubles are going to have troubles with me. These are the words of Theodore Geisel, who attended Lincoln College here at Oxford in the 1920's.
Show of hands. How many of you have heard of Theodore Geisel? Well, quite a few I see. But you may remember him better by his pen name, Dr. Seuss.
Dr. Seuss was Theodore Geisel's invention so that he could freely write his own brand of humor and his own take on the human condition. He didn't just break the rules of writing stories, he created his own rules to make his mark in the world. And I can't think of a better emblem of social entrepreneurship than Dr. Seuss.
After all, social entrepreneurs also make their own rules to create a better world. Like Dr. Seuss, social entrepreneurs have purpose, courage and a firm determination to combat the troubles that we all face. Simply put, social entrepreneurs are the ones who carry a big bat. And there are plenty of people in the room tonight who carry a mighty big bat.
Andrea and Barry Coleman's big bat is to use motorcycles to deliver healthcare in rural Africa. Carlos Sussa and Berdo Verissimo's big bat is satellite monitoring of the Amazon. And Bart Weetjens big bat is actually a big rat that detects landmines. And it's in honor of all the big bats here today that I would like to continue another Skoll World tradition where we make a gift to the leadership of the Skoll Center at Oxford.
As many of you know the sport of Cricket is played in over a hundred countries. And at the Skoll Foundation, our social entrepreneurs' work in over 126 countries. So, it seemed fitting that this year's gift be none other than a big bag that represents the global significance of social entrepreneurship so Stephen if you would like to rejoin me here.
It's with gratitude, admiration, and hope that I present this big cricket bat to our partners at the Skoll Center for social entrepreneurship.
Now we all know that just
like playing cricket, saving the world is a team sport. Even with the biggest bat, you aren't going to win without well coordinated team of coaches, fielders and other players working together towards a common goal.
The purpose of the Skoll World Forum is to bring together current and prospective teammates to shrink playing fields and to make progress against the worlds most pressing problems. Unfortunately what we are doing here is not a game, not by any stretch of the imagination. The challenges we confront, are far more complex, the adversaries are far more fierce, the stakes immeasurably greater.
We are fighting for our collective future not for national pride. The trophy were playing for is sustainable growth of peace and prosperity for everyone and everywhere. For the most part, human kind created these seemingly intractable global problems. These are not natural disasters, their wholly unnatural disasters that affect us all.
Whether it's climate change, education, water scarcity or human rights. The only way we're going to survive as a species is to pull together in our collective self interest. That's why I want to recognize not only the social entrepreneurs in the room today. I also want to welcome representatives from the policy sector, finance sector, academic, private and public sectors. You are the ever so essential coaches, fielders and batters.
In fact, you may very well carry a big bat of your own.
One case in point, is our dear friend, Muhammad Yunus. Through his invention of microcredit and the Grameen bank, Professor Yunus is responsible for lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Yet today, as we all know, Yunus stands to be removed from his post by the government of Bangladesh.
We at the Skoll Foundation, stand firmly behind Yunus and offer our unequivocal support. And you'll hear more about Yunus in a moment. The point is that even these game changing social entrepreneurs can not do it alone. They need you. They need your insights, your access, your influence your
resources and your commitment. Large-scale change through collaborative action is not a new idea. We've done it be. for the Marshall plan after World War 2, the ban on ozone depleting chemicals in the 1970's, and the global effort to eliminate small pox are all examples of what can happen when we work together.
Cooperation across sectors is what drives the pioneering work of many social entrepreneurs here this week. For example the Marine Stewardship Council collaborates with fisheries, seafood companies, conservation groups, and the public to promote the best environmental choices in sea food. The Half the Sky Foundation has a unique partnership with the Chinese government and children's hospitals to care for thousands of orphan children and the Visayan Forum Foundation partners with Phillipian government and private shipping companies to eliminate human trafficking.
I believe that this level of collaboration must become the new normal where policy makers, CEOs, philanthropists, and social entrepreneurs work side-by-side to tackle these big difficult problems and perhaps that's the game changing innovation we need most, the will to make it so. On that note, I'd like to close with one more quote from our favorite Oxford philosopher "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better, it's not."
I'm thankful that you are those caring people and that we will have the chance to share and care about the world together over the next few days. Thank you all for being here.
You don't want to miss tomorrow night's award ceremony where we celebrate the incredible life of the Archbishop. Would you also please join me congratulating our dear friend, mentor, and the godfather of social entrepreneurship, Bill Drayton, on the thirtieth anniversary of Ashoka. Well, my job's done.
And to all of you who have come to Oxford to shear your insights, innovations, and ideas for accelerating large scale impact. Thank you, and welcome.
I'd like to kick off this year's forum with a quote from one of my favorite Oxford philosophers. I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind, some come from ahead, and some from behind. But I bought a big bat, I'm all ready, you see, now my troubles are going to have troubles with me. These are the words of Theodore Geisel, who attended Lincoln College here at Oxford in the 1920's.
Show of hands. How many of you have heard of Theodore Geisel? Well, quite a few I see. But you may remember him better by his pen name, Dr. Seuss.
Dr. Seuss was Theodore Geisel's invention so that he could freely write his own brand of humor and his own take on the human condition. He didn't just break the rules of writing stories, he created his own rules to make his mark in the world. And I can't think of a better emblem of social entrepreneurship than Dr. Seuss.
After all, social entrepreneurs also make their own rules to create a better world. Like Dr. Seuss, social entrepreneurs have purpose, courage and a firm determination to combat the troubles that we all face. Simply put, social entrepreneurs are the ones who carry a big bat. And there are plenty of people in the room tonight who carry a mighty big bat.
Andrea and Barry Coleman's big bat is to use motorcycles to deliver healthcare in rural Africa. Carlos Sussa and Berdo Verissimo's big bat is satellite monitoring of the Amazon. And Bart Weetjens big bat is actually a big rat that detects landmines. And it's in honor of all the big bats here today that I would like to continue another Skoll World tradition where we make a gift to the leadership of the Skoll Center at Oxford.
As many of you know the sport of Cricket is played in over a hundred countries. And at the Skoll Foundation, our social entrepreneurs' work in over 126 countries. So, it seemed fitting that this year's gift be none other than a big bag that represents the global significance of social entrepreneurship so Stephen if you would like to rejoin me here.
It's with gratitude, admiration, and hope that I present this big cricket bat to our partners at the Skoll Center for social entrepreneurship.
Now we all know that just
like playing cricket, saving the world is a team sport. Even with the biggest bat, you aren't going to win without well coordinated team of coaches, fielders and other players working together towards a common goal.
The purpose of the Skoll World Forum is to bring together current and prospective teammates to shrink playing fields and to make progress against the worlds most pressing problems. Unfortunately what we are doing here is not a game, not by any stretch of the imagination. The challenges we confront, are far more complex, the adversaries are far more fierce, the stakes immeasurably greater.
We are fighting for our collective future not for national pride. The trophy were playing for is sustainable growth of peace and prosperity for everyone and everywhere. For the most part, human kind created these seemingly intractable global problems. These are not natural disasters, their wholly unnatural disasters that affect us all.
Whether it's climate change, education, water scarcity or human rights. The only way we're going to survive as a species is to pull together in our collective self interest. That's why I want to recognize not only the social entrepreneurs in the room today. I also want to welcome representatives from the policy sector, finance sector, academic, private and public sectors. You are the ever so essential coaches, fielders and batters.
In fact, you may very well carry a big bat of your own.
One case in point, is our dear friend, Muhammad Yunus. Through his invention of microcredit and the Grameen bank, Professor Yunus is responsible for lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Yet today, as we all know, Yunus stands to be removed from his post by the government of Bangladesh.
We at the Skoll Foundation, stand firmly behind Yunus and offer our unequivocal support. And you'll hear more about Yunus in a moment. The point is that even these game changing social entrepreneurs can not do it alone. They need you. They need your insights, your access, your influence your
resources and your commitment. Large-scale change through collaborative action is not a new idea. We've done it be. for the Marshall plan after World War 2, the ban on ozone depleting chemicals in the 1970's, and the global effort to eliminate small pox are all examples of what can happen when we work together.
Cooperation across sectors is what drives the pioneering work of many social entrepreneurs here this week. For example the Marine Stewardship Council collaborates with fisheries, seafood companies, conservation groups, and the public to promote the best environmental choices in sea food. The Half the Sky Foundation has a unique partnership with the Chinese government and children's hospitals to care for thousands of orphan children and the Visayan Forum Foundation partners with Phillipian government and private shipping companies to eliminate human trafficking.
I believe that this level of collaboration must become the new normal where policy makers, CEOs, philanthropists, and social entrepreneurs work side-by-side to tackle these big difficult problems and perhaps that's the game changing innovation we need most, the will to make it so. On that note, I'd like to close with one more quote from our favorite Oxford philosopher "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better, it's not."
I'm thankful that you are those caring people and that we will have the chance to share and care about the world together over the next few days. Thank you all for being here.
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