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Not so long ago, Global X was bragging that he personally knew two MacArthur “Genius” Fellows –Jim Fruchterman and Victoria Hale. Looking for another opportunity to drop famous names on his blog, he was carefully watching the news to see what his next topic of conversation would be.

The big news came on Friday morning. As he was conducting his usual board-related business over breakfast (yes, Global X is on the board of a few social benefit organizations), he was interrupted by two txts, also called SMS, received on his mobile phone.

The first one came from Untangled to announce that Apple was launching a (Product) Red iPod to help eradicate AIDS in Africa. Excellent, thought Global X, as it gave him an excuse to buy a new iPod and appear socially conscious at the same time.

The second message came from France and simply said MY a le Nobel. It was pretty clear to Global X that MY was Muhammad Yunus and that the Nobel Prize had to be about peace.

Global X knows Muhamamd Yunus very well. They met once for approximately two minutes. They exchanged 14 words. Here is the whole conversation, as well as Global X remembers it:

- May I take a picture of you?
- But of course.
- Thank you very much.

How did this meaningful, deep, conversation occur? Global X was at the Skoll World Forum at Oxford last spring when he noticed that Muhammad Yunus was having lunch by himself on a bench in the main lobby. Eager to strike a conversation about the positive impact of micro-lending ventures on poverty in Bangladesh (a country X knows quite well), Global X convinced Rachel, his google.org friend, to pose with the Master. She didn’t need to be asked twice, as she has always been a great fan of his.

Then Global X noticed a few other well-known social entrepreneurs who were too shy to ask but obviously were eager to have their picture taken with their idol. That’s how Global X took pictures of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus with Sakeena Yacoobi, Vera Cordeiro and Albina Ruiz.

Global X is now eagerly checking his Tréo to see what the next big news will be. He already knows that he didn’t get this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature, despite his grandiose and epic blog. Global X checked his Flickr: no, he doesn’t know Orhan Pamuk personally.



Global X also keeps a wireless mobile photo blog.

Unfortunately, Global X was not able to go to Burning Man this year. Again.

Many things seem to be getting in the way around the first week of September, like back to school day or This Thing Called Work. Apparently, launching a billion dollar company gives you more free time, as it was reported that Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founders of search-engine-company-turned-advertising-conglomerate Google, were again making their pilgrimage to the Black Rock Desert, along with another 38,987 people.

Rather than drive all the way to Nevada, Global X just sat in front of his Apple computer and visited the scene remotely. He first went to Mickipedia’s Flickr, where he was shocked (and envious) to discover that his friend didn’t drive to Burning Man --she flew there in a private jet. Seeing this picture, another friend said: “Not very ‘burning man’ like. But very Micki.”

Then Global X looked at some of the 56,000 pictures on Flick tagged “burningman.” He had to go through hundreds of pictures of men wrestling in the nude to find what he was looking for: a series of pictures taken by Fabrice Florin, a digital media entrepreneur currently leading NewsTrust. Fabrice Florin asked fellow “burners” (as they are called at Burning Man) this burning (!) question: "What's your wish for the future?”

The 75 pictures he posted on his Flickr tell us more about the world as it is now than the way it should be. Burners want an end to hate, a regime change, more love and clean air, more regime change, joy, free ice cream, more money and fewer things, more scalable toolkits for sustainable communities, perpetual hapiness, red skys (sic), true love, more love, to be loved, AIDS eradication, world peace, freedom from fear, felicidad, a new religion, happy dogs.

Simply put, burners want to be happy, to have a future and more future and even more future. Some even want to be blinded with beauty. Global X couldn't have said it better.


Global X also keeps a wireless mobile photo blog.

Yesterday, Global X was invited to have lunch at Google, the Internet-based company organizing all the information available to mankind while doing its best not to be evil.

Global X was not surprised when he entered the lobby to find out that he had to register on a computer to receive his security badge. What bothered him, though, was that he had to sign an electronic NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) even before knowing what he would eat. They don’t even dare do that in the most expensive French restaurants...

The next step was even more troublesome. The computer (no evil machine, mind you) asked Global X for his citizenship, a question that he had not been asked for a very long time, certainly not to have lunch. A true global citizen, Global X entered “none,” which seemed to satisfy the machine. The label was printed, but Global X could feel a sour taste in his mouth.

While waiting in the lobby, Global X had a chance to watch a monitor where live searches were displayed. Every second, a new topic would appear, and it was tempting to imagine the human beings typing these key words somewhere on the planet.

Global X took notes of the most interesting queries: “child foreskin removal photographs,” “amour femme,” “mating black panthers,” “flake duty lyrics,” “banana docks café mobile,” “hand geometry,” “café de paris, london...”

Before he could watch more of these lifestyle vignettes, Global X was invited to enter the main building. As to what was served and what was discussed during lunch, Global X can’t tell. He signed the NDA.


Global X also keeps a wireless mobile photo blog.

The other night, Global X met with Larry Brilliant and his team. Larry was recently hired to run google.org, Google’s corporate foundation.

Larry has a fascinating background. A doctor and epidemiologist, he was part of the WHO team that eradicated smallpox from the face of the earth. He also founded The Well, possibly the first online community, which got him significant visibility in the world of technology and in Wired and Time magazines.

In case that wouldn’t be enough, he also launched the Seva Foundation, a social benefit organization that helped two million blind people get their sight back. And he helped the WHO again recently, this time to eradicate polio.

When he was awarded the TED Prize last year, he had a chance to present his “one wish to change the world:” a global early-detection and early-response system for infectious diseases.

It will be interesting to monitor Larry Brilliant’s work at google.org. One thing is clear: he is already building a very talented team, as Global X witnessed the other night. It is an exciting time in philanthropy: just when billionaire Warren Buffet helps fellow-billionaire Bill Gates save the world, Larry and Sergey hire Larry to contribute to this effort. There is hope!


Global X also keeps a wireless mobile photo blog.

At the Skoll World Forum, Global X ran into Muhammad Yunus, the social entrepreneur who was able to lift 70 million people out of poverty.

He is not only a successful social entrepreneur, he is also a gentleman adored by women.

He was recently seen at the Skoll World Forum with Sakena Yacoobi, who launched the Afghan Institute of Learning, Vera Cordeiro (Renascer Child Health Association), Albina Ruiz (Ciudad Saludable) and Googlette extraordinaire Rachel Payne.


Global X also keeps a wireless mobile photo blog.

Global X learned a lot from his experience reviewing business plans for the 2006 Global Social Venture Competition. For example:

• Think Internet
One of the “double bottom-line” business plans Global X had to review was an interesting Web-based service to help non-profits become more efficient. It looked all good, until Global X tried to visit the venture’s Web site, only to realize that the founders had omitted to build one, or even to register an URL. A Web-based enterprise without a Web site? This business plan was quickly discarded.

• Details are important
The founder of another promising venture wrote in his bio that he was looking forward to a career in the health care industry. Very nice...except that this venture had very little to do with the health care industry.

A few highlights of the selection process:

• Tim Spicer, with the eCompanies Venture Group, and Rachel Payne, with google.org, had no hesitation selecting a plan. That was just the beginning...

• Things got more interesting when Stuart Davidson, Managing Partner of Labrador Ventures, started crunching numbers while presenting a business plan. No, he was not checking his e-mail on his Tréo.

• Jackie Khor, with the Rockefeller Foundation, defended a business plan with great passion while Doug Solomon, with the Omidyar Network, listened carefully.

• Rachel Payne (google.org) was also very eloquent about an interesting online venture.

• When we couldn’t reach a consensus, which happened a few times because several of the business plans were outstanding, Jerry Engel used a clever trick. It worked!

• And the winners are...
Adura Technologies
SEED Capital
SunFire


Jim Fruchterman, the founder - president - CEO of Benetech, previously a rocket scientist (literally) and now the ultimate social entrepreneur, was our keynote speaker. Divine!



Global X also keeps a wireless mobile photo blog.

The other night, Global X had a chance to hear David Vogel talk about corporate social responsibility. Professor Vogel teaches Business Ethics at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He is also a professor in Berkeley’s Political Science department.

David Vogel’s main question was: “Is there a market for virtue?” Another way to look at it: by and large, the stock market doesn't penalize socially irresponsible companies, but does it reward virtuous companies?

David Vogel took the example of Gap, the world’s largest clothing retailer. The company doesn’t run sweatshop and is very good at disclosing potential social issues.

Does it benefit from such virtuous behavior? In some ways, yes: the staff is certainly more comfortable and there are no demonstrations at their headquarters or picket lines in front of their stores.

But there is no clear financial benefit. The retailing industry is a very competitive business, and at the end of the day, consumers make the ultimate decision. Overall, fashion, style, price, quality and colors are more important than virtue.

Another example: When she was CEO of HP (Hewlett Packard), Carly Fiorina launched several socially responsible initiatives. No one talked about these initiatives when she was asked to leave. There were all about the bottom line.

On the other side, one can argue that capital markets do not penalize corporate irresponsibility either: certainly, Enron was not punished for its lack of virtues! Google is currently facing significant PR issues with its decision to add censorship to its service in China, but has not been penalized by the market.

“Corporate social responsibility does matter, but it’s not a critical issue. It’s not important enough to be central to business strategy. In truth, capital markets are fairly indifferent to corporate social responsibility,” concludes David Vogel.


Global X also keeps a wireless mobile photo blog.