In September 2008, I was invited by Gay Gaddis of T3 to speak at the C200 Conference in Dallas. At the conference, Jacqueline Novogratz of the Acumen Fund was presented with an award for philanthropic efforts in emerging economies. She discussed a couple of powerful personal stories of her experience with water in India and mosquito nets in Africa. Her stories are collected and published in her book, The Blue Sweater.
In February 2009, Seth Godin offered a copy of Novogratz's book to citizen reviewers and I took him up on the offer. I received a copy in March from Sasha Dichter, who works at the Acumen Fund.
- We all have choices. It's tough to know which ones are "correct" in advance, but the key is how you respond to the emergent outcomes you encounter along the way.
- Meaningful results take time. Achieving success at scale takes a lot of hard work over years of foundational work. This lesson is absent from today's instant gratification society.
- Things change. The world is a different place today and to get value from history, you need to study strategy and adapt tactics. Simply copying behaviors won't do much for you.




