Category Archives: video

Life = Risk

One of the core lessons of financial markets is that you can only increase returns by increasing risk (you can be more talented than other people at any given level of risk, but the level of risk is the primary determinate of long term returns). I’ve been talking for a long time about why the social sector needs to embrace the idea that only people that run the risk of failure (and therefore fail sometimes) can achieve greatness.

Here’s video proof:

Bill Somerville on CBS

A producer at CBS read my Financial Times column about Bill Somerville and asked Bill to take them on the same field trip that he took me on. The result is this three minute video with the news crew visiting all the same places that I mentioned in my column.

Click here to view the video.

You have to watch the video just to hear Bill compare the grantmaking process of most foundations to someone trying to milk a cow upside down. The Project Streamline report seems to suggest that description is pretty accurate.