Bill Drayton is one of the world's greatest innovators for the public good. His life has, directly or indirectly, touched millions of people around the world.

Drayton traces his values and motivation to his family's roots in the Puritans and Quakers of New England, the rebel confidence especially of women including his mother, and the influence of some of the C20th Century's most significant figures. These range from presidents and business leaders to civil rights pioneers and Gandhian philosophers.

This is his story, and an introduction to the ideas he and his colleagues at Ashoka - the organisation he founded in 1980 - have been building for many years. They are ideas for how to change the world for the better through social entrepreneurship, conscious empathy, and the ability for everyone to be a change-maker.

(00:00) Introduction - How to change the world

(03:20) THE PAST - My Life and Career Journey

(06:45) Elementary school or enterprise?

(08:19) Growing up in New York

(09:55) Travelling to India

(11:10) Gandhian philosophy and the civil rights movement

(13:29) Harvard, Oxford and Yale

(14:56) McKinsey and the importance of 'ethical fiber'

(16:41) Working at The White House and then Environmental Protection Agency

(18:12) Does brilliance come from talent or motivation?

(20:58) Creative artefact

(24:11) THE PRESENT - My Work and Innovation

(24:42) About Ashoka

(27:02) Entrepreneurial Jiu Jitsu

(29:38) Catch them early : young people as changemakers

(30:55) THE FUTURE - Future of Work

(32:20) Concluding advice

BILL DRAYTON is Founder and current CEO of Ashoka www.ashoka.org

PEOPLE MENTIONED in this episode include key figures in the Gandhian movement in India, and in the political and business world in the United States.

Vinoba Bhave (1895-1982), considered the spiritual heir of Mahatma Gandhi

Jaiprakash (JP) Narayan (1902-1979), Indian independence activist

Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), Civil rights activist

Marvin Bower (1903-2003), "father of modern management consulting" (led McKinsey 1950-1967)

Jimmy Carter, US president 1977-1981

Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Secretary of State 2009-2013 and former first lady

USEFUL LINKS:

Ashoka: www.ashoka.org/en-us/about-ashoka

Inside Philanthropy (recent written interview): https://www.ashoka.org/media/70222/download

The Jujitsu of 'Collaborative Entrepreneurship': www.changemakercommunities.org/thought-pieces-full/2019/1/14/growing-up-the-new-paradigm-amp-the-jujitsu-of-introducing-the-new-mindset

Young Changemakers in Brazil: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/story/ashoka-welcomes-21-new-young-changemakers-brazil

What does it take to build a global network of millions of people taking action around a cause you care about? The story of Koen Timmers reveals some of the practical ways.

In this case the cause is climate change, the network is teachers and students, and the innovation includes a clever app for building community and measuring impact.

Koen tells how he gradually evolved this work from his humble beginnings in a family of teachers and a curiosity about technology, to a point where his work has been recognised in both the worlds of education (he was a top-ten finalist for the Global Teacher Prize) and climate action (supported by David Attenborough and others).

Today with Jennifer Williams and the team at Take Action Global, Koen Timmers is continuing to build this movement towards even greater scale and impact.

His story will encourage anyone who aspires to achieve great things and who is willing to muster the patience to invest and evolve over years or even decades.

(00:00) Introduction to Koen Timmers

(01:55) THE PAST - My Life and Career Journey

(11:21) Creative artefact

(12:35) THE PRESENT - My Work and Innovation

(30:50) THE FUTURE - Future of Work

(27:07) What's uniquely human?

(33:23) Concluding advice

USEFUL LINKS:

Koen Timmers www.timmers.me

Profile when elected as an Ashoka Fellow: www.ashoka.org/en-be/fellow/koen-timmers

Book - Game Changer: https://a.co/d/egl3ilo

Taking Action Global: www.takeactionglobal.org

Climate Action Project (from TAG): www.climateactionproject.org

EarthProject app for iOS and Android: www.earthproject.org

Climate scientist Shaun Fitzgerald OBE is director of the Centre for Climate Repair at the University of Cambridge (UK), and a former director of the Royal Institution.

As an innovator, Dr Fitzgerald founded and led a company 'Breathing Buildings Ltd', pioneering new ways to ventilate buildings that can halve energy bills.

More recently, responding to worsening climate forecasts and the fear of tipping points, his work has focused on 'climate repair' which includes trials of technologies to brighten clouds, obstruct warm sea currents and even refreeze the arctic.

(00:00) Introduction to Shaun Fitzgerald

(02:48) THE PAST - My life and career journey

(14:57) 'Reduce' - The role of buildings in reducing energy use

(21:49) What have you learned about innovation itself?

(24:49) Creative artefact

(26:15) THE PRESENT - Latest innovations in climate repair: 'Remove' and 'Refreeze'

(35:56) THE FUTURE - Future of work

(37:26) What's uniquely human?

(38:00) Concluding advice

Cover image credit: Katerina Pavlyuchkova on Unsplash.

USEFUL LINKS:

Cambridge centre for climate repair: https://www.climaterepair.cam.ac.uk/refreeze

Refreezing the Arctic (article): https://magazine.alumni.cam.ac.uk/refreezing-the-arctic-working-with-nature-to-buy-us-more-time/

Breathing Buildings (natural and hybrid ventilation systems): https://www.breathingbuildings.com/knowledge/natural-ventilation/

Cambridge Zero (the University's response to the climate crisis): https://www.zero.cam.ac.uk/our-mission