The speaker learned from a failed project that it's important to know who to bet on when taking on big projects. Underestimating the impact of the US environmental community and the reactions of key figures led to the failure. The experience taught the speaker to be more conscientious of who to bet on for future projects. Despite the challenges, the speaker is launching a new effort to provide solar to seven million people in Eastern Congo, with a focus on protecting against corruption.
Are world hunger, pandemics and climate change “fixable” – or is mitigating their impacts the best we can hope for? Is there any point in making them moonshots? In his new book, Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens, Rockefeller Foundation President and former Administrator of USAID Rajiv Shah explains how going big impacts motivation – even if the result is a Big Fail. We speak with Shah about the outcome of the recent UN Climate Conference in Dubai (and the overwhelming presence of Big Oil), why he thinks global institutions like the World Bank and the IMF need to be revamped, and whether billionaire philanthropists are the answer to the world’s woes (spoiler: they aren’t).
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