Leaders of nonprofit organizations and social enterprises rarely take the time to reflect on and document what they have learned over the course of their careers. Most are simply too busy to do so, at least until they burn out or retire. In this talk, Alex Counts, who spoke last spring at SIPA about collective impact, will preview his new book, due out in May, titled "Changing the World Without Losing Your Mind". He will talk about the ten most important lessons he learned about leading and facilitating social change without it coming at a deep cost to ones well-being and family life. Those lessons will be illustrated with stories of how he originally learned them – often through an unexpected success or failure – and how he began to apply those lessons on a consistent basis. Most of these stories come from his time as the founder and CEO of the Grameen Foundation, during the period 1997-2016.
BIO
Alex Counts is an educator, consultant and writer. He founded Grameen Foundation and became its President and CEO in 1997, after having worked in microfinance and poverty reduction for 10 years, mainly based in Bangladesh.
A Cornell University graduate, Counts’ commitment to poverty eradication deepened as a Fulbright scholar with Grameen Bank, where he immersed himself in its innovative poverty solutions. He trained under Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, and co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Since its modest beginnings, sparked by a $6,000 seed grant provided by Prof. Yunus (who was a founding board member and continues as director emeritus), Grameen Foundation grew to become a leading international humanitarian organization. Counts stepped down as CEO of Grameen Foundation in 2015, yet remains involved in the organization in a voluntary capacity.
Counts propelled Grameen Foundation’s philosophy through his writings, including Small Loans, Big Dreams: How Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus and Microfinance Are Changing the World (John Wiley and Sons, 2008). His articles and blog posts have been published widely.
Today, Counts teaches public policy at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland College Park specializing in philanthropy, non-profit leadership and social entrepreneurship and has a consulting practice focused on helping nonprofit organizations and their leaders, boards, and fund-raising teams more effective. He is an active Court Appointed Special Advocate working as a volunteer for abused and neglected children in Prince George’s County, Maryland. For more information, visit www.alexcounts.com.
Event is co-sponsored by the Economic and Political Development concentration and Management specialization at SIPA.