On Collaboration - Darian Heyman at TEDxPresidio

Darian Rodriguez Heyman, Managing Partner, Code Green Agency

After five years of service, TEDxPresidio MC Darian Rodriguez Heyman recently stepped down as Executive Director of Craigslist Foundation. While there, he helped launch Nonprofit Boot Camp, the Environmental Nonprofit Network, and the Next Generation Leadership Forum. His new book, Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide for Leaders and Professionals, includes practical tips and tools from 50 recognized experts across 35 topics, and he recently launched a nationwide Social Media for Nonprofits conference series and his Advancing Social Impact blog on Skoll Foundation's Social Edge. Heyman previously served as a Commissioner for the Environment for the City and County of San Francisco and currently is a public speaker that provides strategy, messaging, and fundraising consulting for nonprofits and green economy organizations.

Event video by: http://repertoireproductions.com/

Darian Rodriguez Heyman
Founder, Code Green Agency

Co-Facilitator, TEDxPresidio
April 2, 2011

On Collaboration

The most common thing
that people associate with Darwin

is, of course, "survival of the fittest."

What people don't realize very often is
that Darwin actually never said that.

You can read throught
everything he ever wrote

and you'll never find those words.

It's, in fact, an incorrect
paraphrase of his teachings.

What he really wrote about was
"survival of the collaborative,"

"survival of the adaptive."

And the other lesson fron nature
that I want to point out briefly is

as we think about moving into a more
collaborative, abundant society,

part of what's impeding our ability
to do that is that we're brought up

in this mindset that
it is a zero-sum game.

It is what kind of world?
It's a dog-eat-dog world.

But, if you just take a second
to look at nature,

dogs don't eat dogs, do they?

(Laughter)

So, let's take a step back
in order to take a step forward.