Evolve Our World

After backpacking solo around the world in 1996, traveling to 35 countries across five continents, I returned home determined to stay connected to the places that had captured my heart and imagination. I wanted to contribute meaningfully, to make a positive impact. When a romance fell apart and dreams of moving to Tanzania unraveled, I found my way into a top-ranked International MBA program with the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business, earning a dual degree with the Vienna University of Economics and Business in Austria, graduating in 2000. While many of my peers went on to careers in investment banking or consulting, I was drawn to economic development and social entrepreneurship, believing that stronger economic ties and healthy interdependencies amongst nations lead to greater global stability, peace, and prosperity.

As artificial intelligence (AI) accelerates the blurring of what is real, Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2023 is authentic. With deepfakes, manipulated images and videos, and AI authored books and papers becoming more widespread, we can find hope knowing authenticity is still highly valued. America's oldest dictionary defines authentic as "real, actual, not false or imitation; true to one's own personality, spirit, or character; and worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact." Other aspects of authentic are being trustworthy, genuine, and sincere.

After attending Global Goals Week virtually since 2020, it was amazing to be there in person for 2023. New York City was buzzing all week with well over 600 events supporting the United Nations Global Goals Week, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), and Climate Week NYC. This year was the largest gathering yet as 80,000 people (my estimates piecing together news stories, see My Math below) showed up representing government, education, activism, business, finance, culture, non-profits and more-- all with the intention of evolving our world.

If you are reading the headlines and following the trendlines, then you’ve seen the urgent calls for more sustainable business practices. For changemakers and entrepreneurs, many problems equal many opportunities for innovative solutions. The Business and Sustainable Development Commission in its Better Business, Better World report estimates that making these changes can result in upwards of a $12 trillion per year opportunity in new products and cost savings. If you are not in the game, you are left behind in the most exciting evolution in the way we do business and build a better world.

The Dalai Lama shares that the purpose of life is to strive for happiness and that happiness gives us a sense of satisfaction. This leads to questions like what is happiness, and if I am not happy, what does that say about my life? I think the key word here is strive. Another one to add is authentic, after all not every situation calls for happiness. If you've taken the MOREcompassion course, you've explored the teachings of Marshall Rosenberg and non-violent communication where we learn that feelings can be pleasant, such as joy, happiness, optimistic, and grateful, or unpleasant, such as frustrated, afraid, upset, and angry. Feelings can simply be viewed as data points-- sensory information that lets us know if our needs are being met, or not. Needs are the core drivers and motivators within us. There are many universal human needs we can tap into like connection, meaning, peace, and physical wellbeing. When needs are met, our satisfaction increases. Likewise, when needs are unmet, we have a sense of dissatisfaction.

We hear the word joy a lot at the holidays. You'll see it on cards and decorations asking us to find joy in the season, bring joy to the world, and have a joyous new year. What does it mean to experience joy and how do we get more of it? It's interesting because the ways that we generate more joy at the holidays are the same types of things we do to be more resilient throughout the year: music, singing, movies, baking, festivals, resting, playing, prayer and meditation, quality time with family and friends, being in nature. Resiliency brings more joy.