Transcript 3 Leadership Lessons from Amartya Sen   "We spend billions of dollars trying to understand the origins of the universe, while we.

3 Leadership Lessons from
Amartya Sen

 "We spend billions of dollars trying to understand
the origins of the universe, while we still don't
understand the conditions for a stable society, a
functioning economy, or peace."
Dirk Helbing, Professor of Sociology at ETH in Zurich
Examine the Problems

 Start by asking the right questions. Sen is a trained
economist. His Nobel prize is in
Economics. However, he realized that in order to
address the larger questions of poverty and
inequality he saw in places like South Asia, he
couldn’t rely on numbers alone.
Ask the Right Questions

 He needed philosophy and other disciplines to begin
to ask the right questions on how best make better
decisions about the poorest people in the
world. How closely are we looking at the problems
we face? Whether in a committee of seven, an
organization of one or one hundred? Are we asking
the right questions?
Go Where the Questions
Lead

 The questions may lead you somewhere
uncomfortable. You could be sent toward a mirror
and end up asking yourself questions. You might be
asking people questions that don’t want to make the
causal links and jumps you think are obvious. Those
same people might be the ones on our own
committees and teams. Go where the questions lead
you. Ask them. The answers matter.
Are We Willing to
Empower?

 For people to volunteer in my religious community,
they must feel welcome, be able to physically get
there, and be well-informed so they can integrate
into the life of the larger community. It is very easy
to take this process for granted. What are we taking
for granted, believing that everyone knows they can
participate in but can’t and as such they are inhibited
from being fully present?