On December 18, 2014 I visited Amman, Jordan, to participate in #DDX – a conference hosted by the Munathara Initiative. Founded by Belabbes Benkrada in response to the Arab Spring, Munathara is a Tunisian-based online and television debate forum that aims to foster the participation of youth, women and marginalized communities in Arab public discourse. The theme of this conference …
Mobilising the Missing Trillions to Solve the Sustainable Development Goals
— Want to cut to the chase? Click here to download the concept note — Each year hundreds of millions of people work in tens of millions of organisations, and deploy trillions of dollars in an effort to solve the most pressing challenges of our time. Yet despite this vast commitment there remains an estimated $50 trillion funding gap required to …
Make Shift Happen
For about a decade now I’ve been opening my keynotes and workshops in pretty much the same way: “Hi, I’m Cameron, and you may not like everything I have to say – and that’s ok. In fact, by the time I’m done, you may not even like me, and that’s ok too. I’m not here to make friends, although I’m certainly …
Namaste Donald Trump
There will be many words written about the election of Donald Trump over the coming hours and days, and I feel bound to add mine to the mix. The easiest response of all is despair. The much harder, yet more essential response, is to practise self-awareness, and to find out who is despairing. Compassion requires the willingness to feel another …
Why ‘Being the Change’ is not Enough
The business of change is brutal. At times it is glorious, uplifting and inspiring, certainly, but the real work, the work of solving the most pressing human challenges is arduous, heart-breaking and, at times, interminable. It is messy. It is tedious. It isn’t instagrammable, or quotable, and nor is it fit for Facebook. It is, more often than not, the …
An Open Letter to America
Dear America, We need to talk. Actually, I need to talk. And I’d like you to show me how great you already are by sitting down, resisting the urge to interrupt and listening – I mean really listening. Listen like your life depends on it. Because even if you think it doesn’t, mine does — and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone. I …
Rise Up! – Inspired by the Memory of Martin Luther King Jr.
Today is Martin Luther King Day. I woke up this morning to a feed full of inspiring quotes from a great man, most of which exhort tolerance, love, compassion, forbearance – the essential and gentler side of change. At this time, when racism, classism, religious fundamentalism, economic extremism, xenophobia and hatred for all that is not ‘us’ fills the airwaves, …
Social Technology, Social Capital and Social Impact
While living in Boulder in 2010, I was invited to guest-lecture at the University of Colorado on the intersection between social media and social good. My lecture, perhaps not surprisingly titled Do Something That Matters derided the infantile obsession displayed by many of the great new minds who were fiddling with intricate technologies of limited value while all about them …
Preparing for Burning Man 2015
As the countdown to Burning Man proceeds apace, I am struck once again by the (perhaps false, I’m really not sure) dichotomy between getting shit done in the world and heading out to the desert for two weeks of I-don’t-know-what. I’m a cynic. I’m not sold on the everlasting rhetoric of a desert festival being the most profound and life-altering …
When Will You Begin that Long Journey Into Yourself?
I’ve spent almost twenty years helping others to increase their revenue, reach and impact, and now I’m committing to doing the same for myself. After five brief, challenging and extremely rewarding months as interim CEO at COG1 Interactive in San Francisco, I’m moving on to refocus my efforts within the impact sector. In my time in the hot seat, we’re …
Inshallah – in Israel
The Jewish people I’ve met in Israel so far have been both inquisitive and dead-pan. I’m never entirely sure if they’re being serious, but this is pretty much how my conversation at lunch today with the waitress went. W. Do you speak Hebrew (in English)? C. Inshallah W. Are you Muslim? C. No, I’m Australian W. Oh, so you’re Christian? …