When the Tough Get Going: Reflections from the Global Shapers Annual Summit 2020
It was towards the end of August — with the world still reeling in trepidation and fear from the pandemic — when I had the opportunity to meet fellow change-makers from all over the world at the Global Shapers Annual Summit 2020.
Kasley Killam, from the San Francisco hub, brought warmth and optimism in an engaging and deeply reflective impact session on ageing and longevity, when she shared the Intergenerational Friendship Pop-Up initiative, which addresses elderly loneliness and isolation. The initiative brings together millennials and “perennials’’ for two hours of conversation and connection through communal sharing, as well as mindful practice and deep conversations with the help of conversation cards. After a curated session with warm-up, facilitation and connection, the seniors walked out of the room deeply connected with someone who were complete strangers two hours prior.
And it was the seniors, originally intended to be the beneficiaries of the project, who took the initiative and looked for the solutions they wanted.
As I listened to Kasley’s sharing, what stood out to me was agency — specifically, the agency that the elderly had in creating their own experience. We always hear about the importance of us, the supposed “change-makers in the community”, having to create a medium for “beneficiaries” to find their solutions through us, through our hubs, through a particular activity. Rarely do we think about the alternative approach: empowering them with the agency to find solutions for themselves and take actions to shape these solutions with us.
One big takeaway for me from the Summit was the rethinking of the way we see who we are and what we do as Global Shapers. No one would question the importance of youthful voices in the world’s development agenda and progress, in upholding peace and justice, in leading a sustainable way of living. As Shapers, we know that we are young enough to take risks, to experiment, to break barriers and disrupt the system.
Yet, we tend to jump to saying “we’ll change the world” a bit too easily. We should also look into incumbent systems and how they are built; more often than not, we see them through the lens of our own privilege.
To be able to really change the system, it is not just about us doing our work in whichever social issues we choose; it is about engaging the community, having bigger conversations that cut across economic groups and age groups, and talking to people who lead completely different lives to ours. Yes, this takes a lot of courage, but it is also the only way we know what kind of future we look for as a collective, and understand what kind of narrative change is thus required to change the discourse and — eventually — impact research and influence policies.
It is also important for us as Shapers to move away from a simple altruistic mindset thinking that we are doing a favor for someone in need; it is even more crucial to engage and enable others to join forces together to shape the development of the community. To me, that is what Global Shapers, as our name suggests, are capable of doing — and should be doing — in pushing this much needed social change.
It feels apt and timely to recap one of Charles Conn’s great insights from his session on the Seven-Step Problem-Solving Technique to overcome roadblocks and create change, to remind us all to take a step further and pursue what we think is right for the world and for humanity. To do this, we need to have a mindset that:
· Cultivates curiosity
· Embraces being an imperfectionist, with a tolerance for ambiguity
· Develops a dragon-eye view of the world
· Experiments restlessly
· Taps into the collective intelligence, acknowledging that the smartest people are not in the room
· Practices “show and tell” because storytelling begets actions
The Annual Summit this year was unlike any previous one, not just because it was the first ever virtual Global Shapers Annual Summit to which all Shapers across the globe were invited, but because all of us around the world are facing the exact same challenge — which only means that our values and beliefs matter more than ever.
On the very first day of the Summit, my all-time idol Yo-Yo Ma reiterated that every life lives uniquely — and only values truly unite us all. What a warm and optimistic message — and yes, what an important reminder too.
I hope each of us sees more of what is common within and among us, and to work towards the future we all envision having — by empowering each other with the agency we all need to create it together.
About the Global Shapers Hong Kong Hub
With 10 different nationalities represented, the Hong Kong hub is diverse and comprised of young leaders passionate about making both local and regional impact.
Current hub projects include Learning Together, which provides asylum seekers and refugees with education and scholarship opportunities; Shaping Minds HK, which aims to raise awareness about community and employee well-being and to normalize the discussion on mental health; and SUSTAINHK, which convenes forums and events on climate change awareness and environmental sustainability corporate strategies.
Through various hub supporting projects, the Hong Kong hub also contributes to initiatives on entrepreneurship, smart cities, mental health and more in the capacity of mentors, speakers and organizers. We are proud to have hosted the first Greater China Retreat for hubs in the region, promoting collaboration and exchange across hubs on governance, projects and impact.
