Because intelligence and idealism are not mutually exclusive, I have chosen to shadow the remarkable social entrepreneur Bill Drayton. Mr. Drayton is the founder and chair of Ashoka, an organization he founded long before social entrepreneurship was as well understood as it is today. He has been called a "visionary," and the "godfather of social entrepreneurship," and was rightfully identified as one of America's 25 Best Leaders by U.S. News and World Report in 2005.
Selecting Bill Drayton to shadow may seem to be overly ambitious -- perhaps even presumptuous. I don't choose to shadow Mr. Drayton because I believe his greatness is the only valuable model for me, but rather because I admire his actions at the earliest point in his career. Bill Drayton had ideas that were completely new. He didn't dismiss them, the way I sometimes do my own ideas, as things that must not be realistic ideas or someone else would have thought of them already. Rather, he turned those ideas into realities, taking essential risks that have ended up bettering the world dramatically.
I hope that by shadowing Bill Drayton, I will see the value of having that essential, beautifully simple idea, and more importantly, following through with it. That way, when my amazing idea comes along, I won't wait for someone else to have it, and I won't dismiss it as silly, or too difficult to realize. Instead, I will seize the opportunity to show the world the idea I have come up with.
I plan to shadow Bill Drayton by setting up an RSS feed from Ashoka's press releases and blogs. That way, in addition to news about Mr. Drayton, I will have news about his amazing organization. After all, I suspect that is how he would want it.
You need to be a member of Urgent Evoke to add comments!
Join Urgent Evoke