0:00:01.833,0:00:05.393 A few years ago,[br]I found myself in Kigali, Rwanda 0:00:05.417,0:00:08.351 presenting a plan to bring[br]off-grid solar electricity 0:00:08.375,0:00:11.768 to 10 million low-income East Africans. 0:00:11.792,0:00:14.518 As I waited to speak[br]to the president and his ministers, 0:00:14.542,0:00:19.434 I thought about how I'd arrived[br]in that same place 30 years before. 0:00:19.458,0:00:21.976 A 25-year-old who left[br]her career in banking 0:00:22.000,0:00:24.934 to cofound the nation's first[br]microfinance bank 0:00:24.958,0:00:27.684 with a small group of Rwandan women. 0:00:27.708,0:00:31.184 And that happened just a few months[br]after women had gained the right 0:00:31.208,0:00:33.917 to open a bank account[br]without their husband's signature. 0:00:35.208,0:00:37.101 Just before I got on stage, 0:00:37.125,0:00:38.750 a young woman approached me. 0:00:39.875,0:00:41.434 "Ms. Novogratz," she said, 0:00:41.458,0:00:43.476 "I think you knew my auntie." 0:00:43.500,0:00:44.809 "Really? 0:00:44.833,0:00:46.684 What was her name?" 0:00:46.708,0:00:48.167 She said, "Felicula." 0:00:49.958,0:00:51.875 I could feel tears well. 0:00:52.958,0:00:56.184 One of the first women[br]parliamentarians in the country, 0:00:56.208,0:00:58.059 Felicula was a cofounder, 0:00:58.083,0:01:00.184 but soon after we'd established the bank, 0:01:00.208,0:01:03.667 Felicula was killed[br]in a mysterious hit-and-run accident. 0:01:04.875,0:01:08.518 Some associated her death[br]to a policy she had sponsored 0:01:08.542,0:01:10.434 to abolish bride price, 0:01:10.458,0:01:14.750 or the practice of paying a man[br]for the hand of his daughter in marriage. 0:01:16.500,0:01:18.250 I was devastated by her death. 0:01:20.083,0:01:22.559 And then a few years after that, 0:01:22.583,0:01:24.268 after I'd left the country, 0:01:24.292,0:01:26.125 Rwanda exploded in genocide. 0:01:27.542,0:01:30.518 And I have to admit there were times 0:01:30.542,0:01:34.684 when I thought about[br]all the work so many had done, 0:01:34.708,0:01:37.792 and I wondered what it had amounted to. 0:01:41.042,0:01:42.809 I turned back to the woman. 0:01:42.833,0:01:45.667 "I'm sorry, would you tell me[br]who you are again?" 0:01:46.917,0:01:49.184 She said, "Yes, my name is Monique, 0:01:49.208,0:01:53.434 and I'm the deputy governor[br]of Rwanda's National Bank." 0:01:53.458,0:01:57.184 If you had told me[br]when we were just getting started 0:01:57.208,0:01:58.809 that within a single generation, 0:01:58.833,0:02:03.976 a young woman will go on to help lead[br]her nation's financial sector, 0:02:04.000,0:02:06.351 I'm not sure I would have believed you. 0:02:06.375,0:02:10.958 And I understood[br]that I was back in that same place 0:02:12.125,0:02:16.125 to continue work Felicula had started[br]but could not complete in her lifetime. 0:02:16.958,0:02:18.809 And that it was to me to recommit 0:02:18.833,0:02:23.059 to dreams so big I might[br]not complete them in mine. 0:02:23.083,0:02:25.958 That night I decided to write[br]a letter to the next generation 0:02:27.125,0:02:32.226 because so many have passed on[br]their wisdom and knowledge to me, 0:02:32.250,0:02:34.518 because I feel a growing sense of urgency 0:02:34.542,0:02:37.476 that I might not finish[br]the work I came to do, 0:02:37.500,0:02:40.518 and because I want to pass that forward 0:02:40.542,0:02:45.143 to everyone who wants[br]to create change in this world 0:02:45.167,0:02:48.059 in ways that only they can do. 0:02:48.083,0:02:51.101 That generation is in the streets. 0:02:51.125,0:02:55.476 They are crying urgently[br]for wholesale change 0:02:55.500,0:02:57.309 against racial injustice, 0:02:57.333,0:02:59.601 religious and ethnic persecution, 0:02:59.625,0:03:01.809 catastrophic climate change 0:03:01.833,0:03:04.934 and the cruel inequality[br]that has left us more divided 0:03:04.958,0:03:08.184 and divisive than ever in my lifetime. 0:03:08.208,0:03:09.667 But what would I say to them? 0:03:10.833,0:03:14.375 I'm a builder, so I started[br]by focusing on technical fixes, 0:03:16.583,0:03:19.559 but our problems are too interdependent, 0:03:19.583,0:03:21.518 too entangled. 0:03:21.542,0:03:24.684 We need more than a system shift. 0:03:24.708,0:03:26.559 We need a mind shift. 0:03:26.583,0:03:31.417 Plato wrote that a country[br]cultivates what it honors. 0:03:32.375,0:03:36.875 For too long, we have defined success[br]based on money, power and fame. 0:03:37.625,0:03:42.667 Now we have to start the hard,[br]long work of moral revolution. 0:03:43.875,0:03:46.476 By that I mean putting our shared humanity 0:03:46.500,0:03:49.875 and the sustainability of the earth[br]at the center of our systems, 0:03:51.042,0:03:54.059 and prioritizing the collective we, 0:03:54.083,0:03:56.000 not the individual I. 0:03:56.833,0:04:00.583 What if each of us gave more[br]to the world than we took from it? 0:04:01.625,0:04:03.000 Everything would change. 0:04:04.417,0:04:09.226 Now cynics might say[br]that sounds too idealistic, 0:04:09.250,0:04:12.059 but cynics don't create the future. 0:04:12.083,0:04:15.643 And though I've learned the folly[br]of unbridled optimism, 0:04:15.667,0:04:19.875 I stand with those[br]who hold to hard-edged hope. 0:04:21.833,0:04:23.976 I know that change is possible. 0:04:24.000,0:04:27.934 The entrepreneurs and change agents[br]with whom my team and I have worked 0:04:27.958,0:04:31.809 have impacted more than 300 million[br]low-income people, 0:04:31.833,0:04:36.643 and sometimes reshaped[br]entire sectors to include the poor. 0:04:36.667,0:04:39.518 But you can't really talk[br]about moral revolution 0:04:39.542,0:04:42.893 without grounding it[br]in practicality and meaning, 0:04:42.917,0:04:47.226 and that requires an entirely[br]new set of operating principles. 0:04:47.250,0:04:49.268 Let me share just three. 0:04:49.292,0:04:51.726 The first is moral imagination. 0:04:51.750,0:04:54.851 Too often we use the lens[br]only of our own imagination, 0:04:54.875,0:04:56.893 even when designing solutions 0:04:56.917,0:05:00.434 for people whose lives[br]are completely different from our own. 0:05:00.458,0:05:06.143 Moral imagination starts by seeing[br]others as equal to ourselves, 0:05:06.167,0:05:08.226 neither above nor below us, 0:05:08.250,0:05:10.792 neither idealizing nor victimizing. 0:05:11.667,0:05:14.434 It requires immersing[br]in the lives of others, 0:05:14.458,0:05:17.976 understanding the structures[br]that get in their way 0:05:18.000,0:05:21.208 and being honest about where[br]they might be holding themselves back. 0:05:22.833,0:05:27.476 That requires deep listening[br]from a place of inquiry, 0:05:27.500,0:05:28.792 not certainty. 0:05:29.750,0:05:33.518 Several years ago I sat[br]with a group of women weavers 0:05:33.542,0:05:36.643 outside in a rural village in Pakistan. 0:05:36.667,0:05:38.893 The day was hot ... 0:05:38.917,0:05:40.833 over 120 degrees in the shade. 0:05:42.292,0:05:46.476 I wanted to tell the women about[br]a company my organization had invested in 0:05:46.500,0:05:52.143 that was bringing solar light to millions[br]of people across India and East Africa, 0:05:52.167,0:05:55.059 and I had seen the transformative[br]power of that light 0:05:55.083,0:05:59.809 to allow people to do things[br]so many of us just take for granted. 0:05:59.833,0:06:01.309 "We have this light" I said, 0:06:01.333,0:06:02.809 "costs about seven dollars. 0:06:02.833,0:06:04.393 People say it's amazing. 0:06:04.417,0:06:08.101 If we could convince the company[br]to bring those products to Pakistan, 0:06:08.125,0:06:09.893 would you all be interested?" 0:06:09.917,0:06:11.393 The women stared, 0:06:11.417,0:06:14.601 and then a big woman whose hands[br]knew hard work looked at me, 0:06:14.625,0:06:16.583 wiped the sweat off her face and said, 0:06:17.833,0:06:19.226 "We don't want a light. 0:06:19.250,0:06:20.559 We're hot. 0:06:20.583,0:06:21.976 Bring us a fan." 0:06:22.000,0:06:23.351 "Fan," I said. 0:06:23.375,0:06:24.893 "We don't have a fan. 0:06:24.917,0:06:26.268 We have a light. 0:06:26.292,0:06:28.976 But if you had this light,[br]your kids can study at night, 0:06:29.000,0:06:30.268 you can work more -- " 0:06:30.292,0:06:31.559 She cut me off. 0:06:31.583,0:06:33.976 "We work enough. We're hot. 0:06:34.000,0:06:35.292 Bring us a fan." 0:06:37.000,0:06:42.518 That straight-talking conversation[br]deepened my moral imagination. 0:06:42.542,0:06:44.059 And I remember lying -- 0:06:44.083,0:06:48.143 sweltering in my bed[br]in my tiny guest house that night, 0:06:48.167,0:06:53.143 so grateful for the clickety-clack[br]of the fan overhead. 0:06:53.167,0:06:55.643 And I thought, "Of course. 0:06:55.667,0:06:57.226 Electricity. 0:06:57.250,0:06:58.684 A fan. 0:06:58.708,0:07:00.476 Dignity." 0:07:00.500,0:07:02.601 And when I now visit our companies 0:07:02.625,0:07:06.143 who've reached over 100 million people[br]with light and electricity 0:07:06.167,0:07:07.934 and it's a really hot place, 0:07:07.958,0:07:09.768 and if there's a rooftop system, 0:07:09.792,0:07:11.417 there is also a fan. 0:07:12.625,0:07:18.083 But moral imagination is also needed[br]to rebuild and heal our countries. 0:07:18.875,0:07:21.768 My nation is roiling[br]as it finally confronts 0:07:21.792,0:07:24.018 what it's not wanted to see. 0:07:24.042,0:07:28.143 It would be impossible to deny[br]the legacy of American slavery 0:07:28.167,0:07:32.018 if all of us truly immersed[br]in the lives of Black people. 0:07:32.042,0:07:35.934 Every nation begins the process of healing 0:07:35.958,0:07:38.958 when its people begin to see each other 0:07:40.542,0:07:45.059 and to understand that it is in that work[br]that are planted the seeds 0:07:45.083,0:07:47.958 of our individual[br]and collective transformation. 0:07:49.458,0:07:52.684 Now that requires acknowledging[br]the light and shadow, 0:07:52.708,0:07:55.542 the good and evil that exist[br]in every human being. 0:07:56.875,0:07:59.518 In our world we have to learn[br]to partner with those 0:07:59.542,0:08:02.393 even whom we consider our adversaries. 0:08:02.417,0:08:05.059 This leads to the second principle: 0:08:05.083,0:08:08.059 holding opposing values in tension. 0:08:08.083,0:08:11.934 Too many of our leaders today[br]stand on one corner or the other, 0:08:11.958,0:08:13.643 shouting. 0:08:13.667,0:08:17.250 Moral leaders reject[br]the wall of either-or. 0:08:18.042,0:08:21.893 They're willing to acknowledge a truth[br]or even a partial truth 0:08:21.917,0:08:23.893 in what the other side believes. 0:08:23.917,0:08:27.893 And they gain trust[br]by making principled decisions 0:08:27.917,0:08:30.393 in service of other people, 0:08:30.417,0:08:32.059 not themselves. 0:08:32.083,0:08:36.434 To succeed in my work[br]has required holding the tension 0:08:36.458,0:08:41.059 between the power of markets[br]to enable innovation and prosperity 0:08:41.083,0:08:45.309 and their peril to allow for exclusion 0:08:45.333,0:08:47.458 and sometimes exploitation. 0:08:48.500,0:08:52.643 Those who see the sole purpose[br]of business as profit 0:08:52.667,0:08:55.018 are not comfortable with that tension, 0:08:55.042,0:08:57.458 nor are those who have[br]no trust in business at all. 0:08:58.458,0:09:04.184 But standing on either side[br]negates the creative, generative potential 0:09:04.208,0:09:07.958 of learning to use markets[br]without being seduced by them. 0:09:08.875,0:09:10.167 Take chocolate. 0:09:11.042,0:09:13.018 It's a hundred-billion-dollar industry 0:09:13.042,0:09:16.893 dependent on the labor of about[br]five million smallholder farming families 0:09:16.917,0:09:20.518 who receive only a tiny fraction[br]of that 100 billion. 0:09:20.542,0:09:26.268 In fact, 90 percent of them[br]make under two dollars a day. 0:09:26.292,0:09:28.851 But there's a generation[br]of new entrepreneurs 0:09:28.875,0:09:30.934 that is trying to change that. 0:09:30.958,0:09:35.851 They start by understanding[br]the production costs of the farmers. 0:09:35.875,0:09:41.101 They agree to a price that allows[br]the farmers to actually earn income 0:09:41.125,0:09:43.851 in a way that will sustain their lives. 0:09:43.875,0:09:47.726 Sometimes including revenue-share[br]and ownership models, 0:09:47.750,0:09:50.226 building a community of trust. 0:09:50.250,0:09:53.184 Now are these companies as profitable 0:09:53.208,0:09:56.833 as those that focus[br]solely on shareholder value? 0:09:57.708,0:09:59.934 Possibly not in the short term. 0:09:59.958,0:10:04.125 But these entrepreneurs[br]are focused on solving problems. 0:10:05.250,0:10:08.500 They're tired of easy slogans[br]like "doing well by doing good." 0:10:09.417,0:10:12.143 They know they have to be[br]financially sustainable, 0:10:12.167,0:10:16.226 and they are insisting on including[br]the poor and the vulnerable 0:10:16.250,0:10:18.143 in their definition of success. 0:10:18.167,0:10:20.226 And that brings me to the third principle: 0:10:20.250,0:10:21.976 accompaniment. 0:10:22.000,0:10:25.684 It's actually a Jesuit term[br]that means to walk alongside: 0:10:25.708,0:10:28.351 I'll hold a mirror to you,[br]help you see your potential, 0:10:28.375,0:10:30.559 maybe more than you see it yourself. 0:10:30.583,0:10:34.434 I'll take on your problem[br]but I can't solve it for you -- 0:10:34.458,0:10:36.542 that you have to learn to do. 0:10:37.375,0:10:39.893 For example, in Harlem[br]there's an organization 0:10:39.917,0:10:41.726 called City Health Works 0:10:41.750,0:10:43.976 that hires local residents 0:10:44.000,0:10:46.101 with no previous health care experience, 0:10:46.125,0:10:49.059 trains them to work with other residents 0:10:49.083,0:10:52.184 so that they can better control[br]chronic diseases like gout, 0:10:52.208,0:10:53.875 hypertension, diabetes. 0:10:54.708,0:10:57.184 I had the great pleasure[br]of meeting Destini Belton, 0:10:57.208,0:10:58.518 one of the health workers, 0:10:58.542,0:11:00.101 who explained her job to me. 0:11:00.125,0:11:02.268 She said that she checks in on clients, 0:11:02.292,0:11:04.226 checks their vital signs, 0:11:04.250,0:11:05.726 takes them grocery shopping, 0:11:05.750,0:11:07.042 goes on long walks, 0:11:08.125,0:11:09.583 has conversations. 0:11:10.917,0:11:14.208 She told me, "I let them know[br]somebody has their back." 0:11:15.583,0:11:17.583 And the results have been astounding. 0:11:18.625,0:11:21.809 Patients are healthier,[br]hospitals less burdened. 0:11:21.833,0:11:23.309 As for Destini, 0:11:23.333,0:11:26.542 she tells me her family[br]and she are healthier. 0:11:27.625,0:11:32.875 "And," she adds, "I love that I get[br]to contribute to my community." 0:11:34.292,0:11:36.458 All of us yearn to be seen, 0:11:37.500,0:11:39.143 to count. 0:11:39.167,0:11:40.601 The work of change, 0:11:40.625,0:11:42.268 of moral revolution, 0:11:42.292,0:11:43.893 is hard. 0:11:43.917,0:11:46.351 But we don't change in the easy times. 0:11:46.375,0:11:48.684 We change in the difficult times. 0:11:48.708,0:11:53.167 In fact, I've come to see discomfort[br]as a proxy for progress. 0:11:54.917,0:11:56.292 But there's one more thing. 0:11:57.167,0:12:01.143 There's something I wish I'd known[br]when I was just starting out 0:12:01.167,0:12:02.500 so many years ago. 0:12:04.042,0:12:06.476 No matter how hard it gets, 0:12:06.500,0:12:08.250 there's always beauty to be found. 0:12:09.167,0:12:11.351 I remember now what seems a long time ago, 0:12:11.375,0:12:15.309 spending an entire day[br]talking to woman after woman 0:12:15.333,0:12:18.393 in the Mathare Valley slum[br]in Nairobi, Kenya. 0:12:18.417,0:12:21.976 I listened to their stories[br]of struggle and survival 0:12:22.000,0:12:24.476 as they talked about losing children, 0:12:24.500,0:12:26.792 of fighting violence and hunger, 0:12:28.917,0:12:31.333 sometimes feeling[br]like they wouldn't even survive. 0:12:33.292,0:12:35.059 And right before I left, 0:12:35.083,0:12:37.893 a huge rainstorm poured down. 0:12:37.917,0:12:41.518 And I was sitting in my little car[br]as the wheels stuck in the mud 0:12:41.542,0:12:43.601 thinking, "I'm never getting out of here," 0:12:43.625,0:12:45.768 when suddenly there was[br]a tap on my window -- 0:12:45.792,0:12:48.393 a woman who was beckoning[br]me to follow her, 0:12:48.417,0:12:49.684 and I did. 0:12:49.708,0:12:51.309 Jumped out through the rainstorm, 0:12:51.333,0:12:54.559 we went down this little muddy path, 0:12:54.583,0:12:56.559 through a rickety metal door, 0:12:56.583,0:12:58.268 inside a shack 0:12:58.292,0:13:00.934 where a group of women[br]were dancing with abandon. 0:13:00.958,0:13:06.268 I jumped in and found myself lost[br]in the rhythm and the color and the smiles 0:13:06.292,0:13:09.601 and suddenly I realized: 0:13:09.625,0:13:12.708 this is what we do as human beings. 0:13:13.833,0:13:15.184 When we're broken, 0:13:15.208,0:13:19.434 when we feel that we are failing[br]or are in despair, 0:13:19.458,0:13:21.018 we dance. 0:13:21.042,0:13:22.726 We sing. 0:13:22.750,0:13:24.042 We pray. 0:13:24.833,0:13:29.101 Beauty resides too in showing up, 0:13:29.125,0:13:30.851 in paying attention, 0:13:30.875,0:13:35.268 in being kind when we feel[br]like being anything but kind. 0:13:35.292,0:13:39.476 Look at the explosion of art[br]and music and poetry 0:13:39.500,0:13:42.417 in this moment of our collective crisis. 0:13:43.417,0:13:45.559 It is in the darkest times 0:13:45.583,0:13:49.768 that we have the chance[br]to find our deepest beauty. 0:13:49.792,0:13:53.393 So let this be our moment 0:13:53.417,0:13:55.351 to move forward 0:13:55.375,0:13:58.309 with the fierce urgency[br]of a new generation 0:13:58.333,0:14:05.434 fortified with our most profound[br]and collective wisdom. 0:14:05.458,0:14:07.059 And ask yourself: 0:14:07.083,0:14:10.809 what can you do with the rest of today 0:14:10.833,0:14:12.809 and the rest of your life 0:14:12.833,0:14:15.333 to give back more[br]to the world than you take? 0:14:16.792,0:14:18.208 Thank you.