“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.” (Margaret Mead)
Today, more than ever, it is clear that the world is interconnected. We can no longer divide the different spheres of our lives into neat categories, and nor do we want to. Business, family and society influence each other for better and for worse. As organizational consultants, we believe that we have a social responsibility to make a positive impact on the world around us.
Business leaders have an incredible platform to effect social change as a result of their networks, influence and vision. We have been honoured to work together with leading CEOS around the world in the last two decades to create meaningful opportunities for impact, whose results are still apparent today. This work began with YPO’s Peace Action Network (PAN), which brought business leaders together from conflict areas, including Israeli/Arab, India/Pakistan, Greek/Turkish and Turkish/Amenian, to have dialogue around key underlying issues and build plans for action. Out of these forums emerged a number of inspiring projects, such as the creation of Ruwwad Al-Tanmeya community empowerment platform in the Middle East, the creation of a Palestinian YPO Chapter, the development of a co-investing business relationship between Israeli and Jordanian companies, and the “Hands Up Not Handouts” initiative to support women in the West Bank.
Following the success of the project, Dr Amir Kfir along with his partner Stephen Hecht set up the non-profit organization Million Peacemakers, which has trained over 225,000 people in 23 countries in the Nonflict methodology for conflict resolution. This has included working with a number of social change groups around the world, including in India and Mexico.
In addition, in the last year we have helped set up and train Impact Groups in Europe, who are tackling the key social issues we face today, including climate change, migration, the future of work and democracy, with innovative initiatives.
Amirror has also been involved with a number of social impact mentoring programs, where business leaders are trained to become mentors for underprivileged populations, honing their skills of empathy, active listening, personal example and tough love in order to be a meaningful presence in their lives and encourage them to fulfil their potential and reach their targets. Today, we are building such a program in Europe which matches YPO mentors with refugees.
We understand that one of the key factors for creating social impact is having a group around you who offer you support, wisdom, love and hold you to account for the actions you plan to take. As a result, we are enthusiastic about offering all people the opportunity to be a part of a forum, whether as a peer group, or in your business or family. These forum groups build an environment where people coexist in harmony and reach their goals, dealing proactively with challenges and conflicts.
Today, we are excited that our CEO, Dr Amir Kfir, will be speaking at the YPO Forum University virtual event on Forum for Social Impact, sharing his experience and insights alongside leaders in the field such as Adam Grant, organizational psychologist and bestselling author, Erica Dhawan, Founder & CEO of Cotential, and Amin Foufani, CEO of T Labs.
