"We must imagine a world which combines in equal measure economic development and eradication of poverty, ecological stewardship and social justice. We must harness the forces of globalization to create this outcome. We have to imagine this future. If we cannot imagine it, we cannot create it. We cannot create this world if we cannot imagine it. I do hope that we can bring to this task our collective imagination, passion, courage, humanity, humility and intellect. We cannot expect less of ourselves." - CK Prahalad

Last year, I had the chance to listen to CK Prahalad give his lecture entitled, "Democratizing Commerce" at the University of Michigan. He urged the audience to push for a globalization that benefits all, particularly the poor. I listened with great intent and thought that his final comments of the talk were quite profound, particularly related to BoP strategies.
A few thoughts on what Prahalad suggests as the building blocks for business leaders seeking to create a more inclusive global economy:

• Imagination: Creating BoP ventures that serve the poor entails having the eyes to see what could be in an environment often neglected and left for dead.
  
• Passion: This is the fuel that keeps BoP entrepreneurs up late at night, fighting against all odds, and refusing to bow down to the complexities and challenges of creating enterprises that serve and employ the poor.
  
• Courage: When entering communities of the poor, a BoP entrepreneur must be willing to accept the inherent risk that comes with serving the poor, seeing the failure that may come as a step in the right direction rather than a signal to give up and go home.
• Humanity: Whether you are the privileged elite at the ToP or the poorest of the poor at the BoP, we all share one thing in common: our humanity. Since the beginning of time, we humans have lived in the pursuit of purpose, significant and meaningful relationships, fulfillment, happiness, and longevity. The fact that some of us have been given unbelievable opportunities and privilege is grace. By grace I mean that which we do not deserve but we receive anyway. It is critical in our pursuit of poverty alleviation that we from the ToP develop what Jacqueline Novogratz from Acumen Fund calls "moral imagination," or the ability to empathize with the poor and to place ourselves in their shoes so that we can "make tough decisions in the name of the greater good."
• Intellect: Bill Gates, in his Harvard commencement speech in 2007, reflected, "The crucial thing is to never stop thinking and working – and never do what we did with malaria and tuberculosis in the 20th century – which is to surrender to complexity and quit." The issue of poverty is highly complex and needs our collective thinking and brainpower in order to bring forth true transformation.

Now, I'd like to expound more on the subject of humility because I think this is the one characteristic that is the most elusive, as it cannot be obtained through effort, work, or education. The reason it is so difficult to obtain is because the mere desire for it precludes one from having it. Have you ever heard a person state, "I have finally become a humble person!" The statement alone is a signal that humility has not been gained.

 

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