The Importance of Building a Solid Foundation Before Scaling Impact

Introduction

"We all want to save the world, but can we help just one person closest to us?" – Buddhist proverb

“To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order; we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.” – A quote attributed to Confucius

As a Global Ashoka Fellow, part of my role in the world is to bring innovative ideas to fruition, ideas that create positive impact for social change. This is why I was elected as a Global Ashoka Fellow, for my work that brought together the intersections of Chinese culture and shark conservation. Many times, when we talk about social change, we try to scale our impact before the impact is actually made. Tatiana Fraser wrote a report on this very concept for Ashoka called "The Art of Scaling Deep":

Over the last 15 years the concept of scale has become a foundational part of the apparatus of the social and environmental change sector. A business mindset of growth has been seamlessly transferred to the social and environmental problems we are collectively trying to shift in the world. Scaling up, (influencing policy) has been considered the strategic pathway to systems change. Scaling out (spreading new models) is seen as a pathway to success. The allure of these scaling theories lies, in part, in their tangibility, and the easy way in which they can be measured. However this focus on growth has shifted our attention away from a series of messy truths. Endless growth is not sustainable and our urgency to try to fix the problem and seek solutions may be part of the crisis we are in. One unintended consequence of this has been that another type of scale has been devalued and as a result, under-resourced. It’s a scale that values the slow steady work of deepening relationships. It recognizes the significance of context, building connections that bridge diverse communities and it prioritizes inner work and healing as integral components of the scaling process. We call this type of scale ‘Scaling Deep’ and we believe that adequately supporting it, and funding it, holds the greatest potential for long lasting systemic change.

Impact with Integrity

For me, that Buddhist quote and quote that is contributed to Confucius cuts straight to the heart of the issue: integrity. In a Buddhist context, our job is to alleviate all sentient beings from suffering. Many times, as practicing Buddhists, we can get caught in spiritual materialism or spiritual bypassing. We perceive ourselves as helping others, when in actuality, we may be creating harm. Spiritual bypassing can sometimes be an "unconscious" defensive mechanism – our ego's knee-jerk reaction to being poked. If we can't even properly support one person closest to us, i.e. a friend, a colleague, our child, our partner, or pet, how can we claim to be helping "all sentient beings" (in a Buddhist context) or "saving the world" (in the context of social or political change). Where is our integrity? How big is the gap between our "espoused values" and "enacted values"? Can we really "walk our talk?"

Having worked in politics, nonprofits, and with "social good corporations", I have witnessed many leaders promoting values like kindness and justice in public and treating their closest family and colleagues with disdain and abuse. I myself have been a victim of abuse by people in power in both a professional and personal context. The biggest pain this lack of integrity brings me is the sense of powerless I feel in the face of being ganged up on by people who are unwilling to confront their mistakes and wrongdoing. Those who should be held accountable put all the blame on you so they can continue to purportedly "do good" in public eye while "doing bad" behind the scenes. The classic work of scapegoating.

Of course, integrity requires both a bottom-up and top-down approach. But the point I'd like to make here is to make sure that we continue to build leaders and community that strive to close the gap between the values we espouse and the values we live.