Social Venture Network Leaders Explore Future
A recent panel conversation celebrating Social Venture Network’s (SVN) 25-year anniversary asked its emerging and founding leaders what their ideal future looks like.
Wayne Silby, who helped found SVN 25 years ago, says a new reality needs to start with articulating a bold vision.
Wayne says the public good has been robbed not only by Wall Street but ideologues who control the conversation. He remembers recently sitting down to dinner with Bill Gates Sr., father of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who said his son wouldn’t be the richest man in the world if he was born in Ethiopia.
Part of a forward-looking vision could be reinterpreting the role of people who have wealth beyond their means as stewards and trustees of a public good.
“We need to be more bold in putting out concepts that help create the new stories, the new tales and the new mythologies,” said Wayne.
Green For All CEO Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins agreed with Wayne, adding she’s ready to be bold. She says boldness comes from a conviction that change is possible in our lifetime.
To give an example of how fast things can change, Phaedra points to the stark contrast in political debates now and during the last United States presidential election.
