Inspiring People: Jacqueline Novogratz of Acumen Fund
Since I discovered her work with Acumen a decade ago, Jacqueline Novogratz is up at the top of my most inspiring people list. It would be incredible to have even just a fraction of her impact on underprivileged populations. For those who aren’t familiar with her, Novogratz is the founder of Acumen Fund, an organization that invests in social entrepreneurs. Their work aims to bring millions of people out of poverty by improving their quality of life through innovative philanthropic practices.
If you want a quick primer, check out her 4 TED Talks and recent books:
Book: The Blue Sweater
Novogratz was recently on the Rich Roll podcast and I was excited to take it all in. She talks about her journey to starting Acumen, lessons she’s learned along the way, and some inspiring stories from the field. Here’s a link to the podcast episode: https://www.richroll.com/podcast/jacqueline-novogratz-657/
I have always dreamt of getting involved in social entrepreneurship. As I get deeper into exploring what it means to live a fulfilling life, I’m certain there are some threads of Jacqueline Novogratz’ story I can incorporate into my future vision. In the meantime, I have a few quick takeaways I’d love to share from the podcast that really resonated with me.
Pursue a purpose-driven life
Somehow Novogratz knew from an early age that helping people in need would be her life’s calling. I find this the most challenging because most of us go through life without really knowing what we want out of it. However my takeaway is that if you’re not lucky enough to stumble upon your life’s purpose it’s never too late to invest in finding it. And then even more importantly, no matter what cards you’re dealt, to keep coming back to it. Novogratz ended up becoming an investment banker to please her parents, but despite that career choice she always found ways to incorporate her purpose until she was able to completely shift and focus on it through the creation of Acumen Fund.
I find this inspiring — I might be much later to the game than Novogratz for finding my own purpose, but the foundation is set and I’m on the path to pursue it now.
Leadership starts with finding out who you are
Novogratz talks about finding out who you are first, and your unique set of strengths before you’re able to effectively lead. Especially if you hope to change millions of people’s lives for the better! For her she has a strong bias to action with an insatiable need to fix things, so she built Acumen to amplify her strengths.
I love this concept as this is my core philosophy for building strong teams. Knowing your own strengths and those of your team can help create engagement, ownership, and trust. As a leader, creating those opportunities for yourself and your people to employ those strengths will have a huge return. I aim to make sure I’m using my own strengths in my future endeavours to ensure I stay passionate about what I’m doing and maximizing flow state.
The solution is in the doing — just start!
In the massively complex and deeply rooted problems that Novogratz is trying to solve, there’s only so much you know going in. She’s discovered that most of her original assumptions have been challenged or completely wrong, and the best way is to immerse yourself into the problem by simply just starting. You need to start to see what the process reveals to you. One example she gave is that even though it wasn’t already a branch of business her investment bank pursued, her interest in microfinance (micro-lending, usually to budding women entrepreneurs) led her to ask her boss to start a pilot within the bank, and that led to her eventually starting Acumen. And she learned invaluable lessons with each baby step that guided her to her eventual success.
Starting has always been my Achilles heel so this resonates with me. Even though I would never suggest that I’m a planner, the unknown is enough for me to pause, and then I would spin forever in an analysis paralysis phase. Howard and I have recognized these and we’re embracing action at every step so I’m glad to hear this reinforced, and I’m excited to learn along the way. If you’re ever stuck — maybe the key is to find the first easy step and the path may reveal itself.
Income and wealth are not the opposite of poverty
This was a beautiful quote from the interview:
Income and Wealth is not the opposite of Poverty. Poverty is the opposite of dignity, and dignity is the ability to make choice.
Acumen’s vision is providing everybody, especially those suffering from extreme poverty, with dignity. Dignity is the ability to choose: where you want your kids to go to school, where you get your next meal from. I love this reframe as many of us think of charity as trying to build income for impoverished people. But that’s not the actual outcome they’re looking for.
This reminded me of the concept of enough: my fulfilment stems from having the dignity to make choices that are important to me, and I really don’t need more than that. And when presented with an opportunity for more, that I could base my decision on whether or not it would create more dignity. If not, then perhaps I already do have enough.
