Adaptive Innovation in Times of Disruption

Sura Investment, the largest pension provider in Latin America, approached us. We brought their country managers to New York for a week of innovation and taught them to see differently: their clients, their regulation, their own business – not as urgent firefighting, but strategically. Entrepreneurship is looking at exactly what other people look at, and seeing different things. They went home and put it to work, and a year later their business had grown by 20%. Was it only because of us? We don’t know. But we hope what we gave them helped.

Our first NYU cohort was rabbinical students, earning certificates in spiritual leadership and social impact. Our message: you are more than a rabbi – you are a spiritual leader responsible for your impact. Afterwards, Restore NYC, which helps women escape sex trafficking, asked us to offer the same programme to survivors. We were honoured. Together, we ran the first-ever entrepreneurship and innovation course for survivors of sex trafficking, giving them recognition, confidence and tools to shape their futures.

I love working with high-school students and teachers. With innovation, the younger the better: reach students early and you change how they see the world and their ability to change it. With teachers it is even better, because you give them the tools to reach the kids. After a course at Kibbutzim College, participants thanked us for two things: they could walk into the staff room and change things in their school; and now they could read the business pages and understand what they were talking about.