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A wooden tray for class materials caught the eye of Thunderbird President Ángel Cabrera, Ph.D., as he arrived March 12 to address a group of social sector leaders on campus for a weeklong development program funded by the American Express Foundation. A sign attached to the tray read “handouts.”
“The message I want to share with you this morning is: Handouts no more,” Cabrera said, holding up the sign. “Donors who give to our organizations don’t give handouts. They fund innovative solutions to seemingly intractable problems.”
>> Read President Cabrera’s global leadership blog
His audience included 26 leaders from nine social sector organizations, who gathered at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz., to study strategy, scenario planning, brand management and other topics crucial to survival in an economic downturn.
Thunderbird Corporate Learning designed and implemented the program, which included participants from The Peace Corps, American Cancer Society, Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, International Rescue Committee, Fresh Start Women’s Foundation, The Grameen Foundation, National Audubon Society, Habitat for Humanity and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
“If you try to draw a line around the types of problems that government deals with, and then draw a line around the types of problems that business deals with, the space that is not covered is huge,” Cabrera told the participants. “That’s where you come in.”
He said business and government leaders must use innovation to be successful, but they also must operate within certain constraints. Business leaders must deliver quarterly returns for investors, which means they must target easy-to-satisfy customer needs.
“You’re going for the low-hanging fruit,” he said. “You’re looking at big markets with available income — with big needs that you can address with your solutions.”
Government leaders face different constraints. They must work within short election cycles and serve broad constituencies. “You’re often punished for taking risks,” Cabrera said. “Especially if the payoff doesn’t come within your elected term. Your job does not allow you to be terribly creative.”
He said social sector organizations must fill the gap, which has grown wider as corporate revenue shrinks in the business sector and tax revenue shrinks in the government sector.
“Many of you deal with incredibly complex problems — seemingly intractable problems that scare everybody else,” Cabrera said. “Your central role is to drive those engines of innovation. Nobody else can do that.”
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