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October 2007
Editor’s Note: Mario Morino was a keynote speaker for Legacy 2007, the first annual conference by the National Philanthropic Trust. The speech was, in large part, based on his Chairman’s Corner “Business Entrepreneurs & Philanthropy: Potential and Pitfalls,” but was presented within the context of the actions by the business entrepreneurs of 1980 to 2020 to make the world a better place. The full speech is available. This Chairman’s column poses provocative questions to challenge our thinking and adds additional suggestions.
In 1991, futurist and noted author Peter Schwartz framed a remarkable period of transformation, which he described as the “long boom”—spanning from 1980 to 2020—in The Art of the Long View. Schwartz sees a period of economic and societal transformation driven by a continuing stream of new technology and the relentless process of globalization. Today, well past the half-way point of the “long boom,” the entrepreneurs of this period have generated a wealth creation of near unimaginable levels, with great impact and implications—economically, politically, socially, and philanthropically.
In the midst of this period, comparisons are often made to the philanthropy of more than a hundred years ago that came from the wealth created with the Industrial Revolution at the turn of the 20th century led by industrialists like Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Flager, and Morgan. There are countless examples of how these families created great value and changed the American landscape in positive and lasting ways. Yet, despite their accomplishments, critics termed them “robber barons,” and Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner wrote of the waste and ridiculous excess of the era in The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today.
Even now, more than a century later, it is not clear in some circles how history judges these industrialist leaders against the scale of “robber barons” to philanthropists. It is prudent to similarly consider the positives and negatives that this “long boom” cadre of new wealth will have on society. I am fortunate to have been an entrepreneur who benefited from this period and have focused the last 15 years on philanthropy and civic engagement. With this context, I pose several questions to myself and others who have created wealth and are turning their focus to benefit society.
• How will our actions to better the world be judged in 2107?
• Will history deem our actions as leading to lasting, meaningful, and positive change, or will they instead see us as narrow, greedy, arrogant, and ineffective? Or, even worse, as causing unintended consequences with adverse impact on society?
• Will history conclude that our generations of wealth helped unify an increasingly divided America and world? Or will it find that we created our own virtual and isolated world populated by those with great wealth that disconnected from society at large as social and economic gaps widened? This question has already been posed in Robert Frank’s Richistan.
I hope we will respond to the remarkable opportunity that lies before us, so aptly described by John Gardner:
“There occurs at breathtaking moments in history an exhilarating burst of energy and motivation, of hope and zest and imagination, and a severing of the bonds that normally hold in check the full release of human possibilities. A door is opened..."
I believe we are in the midst of one of those breathtaking moments. To seize this moment, it would serve us well to learn from those who have plowed these fields before us. As Carl Sagan said, “You have to know the past to understand the present.” And Winston Churchill emphasized, “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.”
I hope we will be thoughtful, willing to learn from history, respectful of the success and failures that preceded our efforts, while bringing energy, resources, and innovation to make the world a better place.
There is no assurance of how the new philanthropy emanating from the “long boom” will be viewed in 2107. In my relatively limited 15 years of observing the transition of business entrepreneurs to a broader philanthropic venue and having lived it myself, I suggest that the success from a social and civic standpoint—the real fruits of our labors—will be achieved or negated based on how well some of the challenges are encountered and handled. This has been conclusively demonstrated to me in our work with Venture Philanthropy Partners, where what we thought so simple, obvious, and ready for our “business-like approach” proved incredibly complex and involved—needing skills well beyond our business expertise. What we learned is that true impact comes not only from what we do but also is the result of the thoughtfulness, empathy, humility, and, yes, effectiveness of how we do it.
The “long boom” as characterized by Schwartz is alive and well. We indeed find ourselves in a truly remarkable period. Business entrepreneurs will have a stunning impact on philanthropy, global issues, and society. In many cases they already have, driving change through political engagement, civic involvement, and through their philanthropy.
Some additional suggestions to entrepreneurs from my own experiences include:
▪ Be meaningful. Satisfy your personal interests and needs, but move beyond your comfort zone to get engaged with the truly formidable challenges facing our society.
▪ Be willing to learn. Seek the advice of others who have gone before you for they can share valuable insights and lessons learned to increase your chance of success.
▪ Be transparent. Let people know what you are doing and the logic and criteria guiding your actions and decisions.
▪ Invite scrutiny. Make yourself and your efforts publicly accountable, and be open to criticism and provocation as a means to becoming more effective.
▪ Be collaborative with purpose. Pay heed to the African proverb, “If you wish to go quickly, go alone, but if you wish to go, far go together.”
▪ Be yourself. But do so with a large dose of empathy and humility. Don’t relegate or delegate away the conviction, energy, and resourcefulness that helped you succeed to others. They may bring a different value set to carrying out your philanthropic purpose.
▪ Have positive impact. Seek actions that lead to systemic change, reshape sectors, and strive for fundamental change to the status quo. Insist on ambitious (but realistic) goals, clarity of mission, raising the “talent bar” with excellent leadership, accountability, and building great institutions that can deliver truly, lasting, relevant change.
As Gardner said, “A door is opened..." The possibilities—and unintended consequences—are limitless. Our challenge is to ensure that the impact we have is positive and lasting. One way we can help ensure our civic and philanthropic endeavors have positive impact is to step back, learn, and adapt to the ways of the world beyond the private sector. The real magic happens when we blend our business expertise and entrepreneurial ways with the lessons of history and the learning of the social sector.
And as we take actions to better the world, always keep in mind a sobering premise: In this arena when we experiment and learn new ways to do things, there is often a direct intervening and influencing of people’s lives—children and families. The stakes become very personal, much higher than what we knew in the private sector.
Let’s hope that those who judge us a hundred years from now will say, “The entrepreneurs and their families of the 'long boom of 1980 to 2020' seized a remarkable time in history and were instrumental in making the world a better, safer place.”
- Mario Morino
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