Entrepreneur for Social Change

8/3/2019 Entrepreneur for Social Change

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navy blue suit and a skinny tie, one can almost imagine him in monk's robes, fascinated disciplesat his feet.

Yet Drayton, like three of his heroes, Mohandas Gandhi, Thomas Jefferson, and Jean Monnet(architect of European common currency), is a scholar and political operator deeply rooted in the

hows and whys of society. He notes Gandhi's mania for organization, down to counting pencils.For Drayton, social change isn't romantic. "It's not a poem; it's not like Xanadu," he says. "Thereare many people who are creative and altruistic, but they are never going to change a patternacross a continent." In other words, a vision of Xanadu is nice, but it won't happen without atransportation plan and a sewerage system.

Which is why Drayton named his organization after another visionary pragmatist: Ashoka was athird-century-B.C. Indian emperor who waged war to unite a huge swath of south Asia. Hesubsequently renounced violence, adopted Buddhism, and dedicated his empire to tolerance,economic growth, and social projects. Launched in 1980 with $50,000, the organization now hasa budget of $30.5 million and has funded 1,600 "fellows" in 60 countries. Fellows, who must

undergo a rigorous testing and screening process and numerous interviews, have done things likefinding a way to provide cheap electricity for Brazilian farmers, changing the Indian schoolcurriculum from rote to independent learning, and distributing microcredit loans of as small as$60 for poor women in Bangladesh to start businesses. That original program has set a newstandard in development work, and microfinance is now used all over the world to help add tothe ranks of the world's entrepreneurs. Within five years, says Drayton, more than 50 percent ofAshoka fellows change national policy in their respective countries.

Visionary. Early on, Drayton saw that while government can be inefficient and the private sectormotivated by profit, the nonprofit sector was ripe to provide change. Indeed, this "third" sector,or so-called citizen sector, as Drayton calls it, has exploded--70 percent of registered nonprofit

groups in the United States are under 30 years old. "More and more people want to do this kindof work," says Drayton. "We are creating the jobs; the salaries are going up. We are desperate formanagers."

Much of the change in the citizen sector can be attributed to Drayton, who made it his life's workto not only expand Ashoka but also develop the field as a whole. "Bill was the pioneer; he reallylaid the foundation for the rest of us," says J. Gregory Dees, professor at Duke University'sFuqua School of Business. When Dees attempted to introduce the first social entrepreneurshipcourse in business school, he was rebuffed. Nearly 15 years later, it is a common offering atleading business schools like Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Chicago.

In many ways, Drayton's life has been a long road toward learning how to change systems. AtHarvard, he founded Ashoka table, where students could ask government and industry leadershow the world really works. Drayton continued at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and graduatedfrom Yale Law School. Later, at the consulting firm McKinsey & Co., he learned about publicpolicy and industries. While advising New York City, he created the nation's first nicotine tartax. In the Carter administration, as assistant administrator of the Environmental ProtectionAgency, he pioneered the concept of emissions trading, in which companies or whole countriescan reduce their allotment of pollution emissions by selling those allotments to others. During


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the Reagan years, Drayton successfully used the media to stop the administration fromdismantling the EPA.

Though he characterizes himself as a moderate introvert, Drayton has the innate charisma ofgreat leaders. Former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton, who cochaired the 9/11 commission, recalls

that he had misgivings when the 21-year-old Drayton volunteered to help on his House campaignin 1964. "He looks like a scholar, and I said to myself, 'How will he fit in with Hoosiers--withIndiana farmers?' " Drayton was able to charm local party operatives as well as farmers, and hehelped Hamilton win.

The charisma stems from genuine interest and skillful listening. Kyle Zimmer, a board memberof Ashoka, remembers meeting Drayton when they worked on Walter Mondale's presidentialcampaign in 1984. "It was tremendously empowering to be around Bill. You felt as if when youtalked your ideas were considered." Zimmer describes similar scenes at Ashoka meetings. "Thefirst time I sat at a meeting, an intern raised a hand, and I thought, 'You have got to be kidding;that's someone with moxie.' But it happens repeatedly. Bill appreciates people who are thinking

and engaged and he doesn't care if it's someone very influential in Washington or a tribal leaderin some very remote area of the world."

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Publisher. Entrepreneurship came early to Drayton. As a child, he made crafts and set up a storein his bedroom. And he had no problems recruiting helpers. A one-page newspaper he started inthe third grade quickly turned into an ad-supported 64-page publication staffed with elementaryschool children. "I can't tell you how excited I was to get this mimeograph machine," saysDrayton. "It's amazing how supportive my parents were. There were 64 piles of mimeographedpaper that had to be collated and stapled, and it never occurred to me this might be inconvenientto my family."

Even now, Drayton's enthusiasm for a project has a way of sweeping up bystanders who question

how they end up laboring in the eye of his storm. Julien Phillips was working in Venezuela in theearly '80s when Drayton came for a weeklong visit. "He had asked me in his soft way if I couldarrange some appointments with people interested in making changes," says Phillips, a friendfrom McKinsey who runs his own nonprofit organization. He tried to oblige but soon realizedthat Drayton, who spoke no Spanish, had expected him to analyze the social structure ofVenezuela, find the top 25 change makers, and arrange interviews with at least 10. "He imaginedI would drop everything. It's never clear to me whether he's aware that he's making some fairly


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unreasonable requests or whether he's entirely oblivious to all that--and he relates to a lot ofpeople in that way."

But Phillips and others say they tolerate and even admire his demands because they are notdriven by ego. "His actions and his ethics are well integrated," says David Bornstein, author of

How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas. Drayton livesmodestly, in an apartment near his office. For years, he did not take a salary at Ashoka. SushmitaGhosh, president of Ashoka, remembers first meeting Drayton 17 years ago at a hotel inCalcutta, where she estimates the rooms cost about $12 a night. "One of Ashoka's policies isnever to do anything that is not compatible with the lifestyle of the fellows," says Ghosh.

Although Drayton's energies are stretched, he is continually moving forward with new projects.His latest, Youth Venture, comes from his belief that children are a great untapped resource insocial change--correctly leveraged, they have the power to "flip" society very quickly. He likenstheir marginalized position to what was once considered a natural secondary place for womenand minorities.

"We would like to have every middle and high school become a place where there will be lots ofexamples of youth competence and confidence," says Drayton. "You can be a cog in society ifyou've learned enough, but you'll never be a powerful person."

Like Vinoba Bhave, Drayton is in his own way walking through the world and trying to persuadeas many people to sign over their rights as a cog and join him. "Right now, 2 or 3 percent ofpeople control changes," he says. "Imagine a world where everyone is really a change maker."

BORN: June 15, 1943 EDUCATION: B.A., Harvard; M.A., Oxford; J.D., Yale Law SchoolFAMILY: Single FORMATIVE EXPERIENCE: Helped organize civil rights sit-ins FOOD

FO

R THO

UGHT: "Florence Nightingale is just as powerful an entrepreneur as AndrewCarnegie or Rockefeller, probably more so." HOBBIES: Backpacking, reading history, "helpingyoung people dream and do"

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Entrepreneur for Social Change