Innovation for the Next 100 Years

An Interview with Judith Rodin, Ph.D., President, The Rockefeller Foundation

EDITORS’ NOTE Dr. Judith Rodin were working at the same time and The world is so deeply interconnected and joined the foundation in 2005 and doing extraordinary thinking – there things happen at a more accelerated pace, so was previously President of the is a lot of dialogue between the two there are more people in more places moving University of Pennsylvania and of them. Rockefeller wanted to cure more quickly with ideas moving more quickly. Provost of Yale University. Dr. Rodin problems at their root cause and Globalization was being debated and we has actively participated in infl uen- search for finalities. He said, “Don’t didn’t want to decide whether it was good tial global forums, including the put Band-Aids on weeping wounds.” or bad but instead look at what is both good World Economic Forum, the Council So he tried to differentiate his about it and what problems are being pro- on Foreign Relations, Clinton Global view of philanthropy from his view of duced by it. Initiative, and the United Nations charity, though he was an extraor- Of the good things, we decided to make General Assembly. She is also a dinarily charitable person and tithed sure that more people in more places around member of the African Development all his life. the world gain the opportunity to take advan- Bank’s High Level Panel and a Judith Rodin He viewed philanthropy as search- tage of those good things. This led to a real board member of the Alliance for a ing for the cause and working towards focus on equitable growth. Green Revolution in Africa. In November 2012, the solution of problems. We also wanted to recognize that not every New York Governor Andrew Cuomo named Dr. bad thing can be predicted or even mitigated, so Rodin to Co-Chair the NYS 2100 Commission we want to make sure we’re building resilience on long-term resilience following Superstorm against those shocks that are going to come, be Sandy. Dr. Rodin was the fi rst woman named it climate related or fi nancial. to lead an Ivy League institution and is the fi rst So against Rockefeller’s original mission, woman to serve as The Rockefeller Foundation’s which hasn’t changed, we reframed our goals president in its 100-year history. A research psy- Against Rockefeller’s towards building greater resilience and more chologist by training, she was one of the pioneers equitable growth, and defi ned the issue areas of the behavioral medicine and health psychol- original mission, which that we see as most compelling within those ogy movements. Dr. Rodin is the author of more two goals. than 200 academic articles and has written or What are the issue areas you defined and co-written 12 books. She has received 18 honor- hasn’t changed, we how do you maintain a broad focus that ary doctorate degrees and has been named one makes sure you have the desired impact? of Crain’s 50 Most Powerful Women in New York reframed our goals We have developed a sophisticated inter- three years in a row. Dr. Rodin is a graduate of nal scanning function and we work with exter- the University of Pennsylvania and earned her towards building nal partners to do scenario planning. We do a Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University. lot of forecasting and scanning for global trends, greater resilience and so that within each of the issue areas, we can ORGANIZATION BRIEF The Rockefeller choose where the dynamic opportunities are, Foundation (www.rockefellerfoundation.org) is because they’re vast in terms of the world’s one of the world’s leading philanthropic orga- more equitable growth. problems, particularly with a global perspective. nizations. Marking its centennial in 2013, the We’re developing initiatives that are at the foundation supports and shapes innovations to intersection of critically important properties strengthen resilience to risks and ensure more and that have some dynamic movement where equitable growth around the world. The founda- we can create a tipping point or a strategic tion accomplishes these goals through initiatives advantage. to address climate change in poor communi- He also had an enormous perspective on The four issue areas we chose are: ties, strengthen global health systems, catalyze the world, so some of his earliest philanthropy • revalue ecosystems, where our perspec- the fi eld of impact investing, mobilize an agri- was global. That was a differentiator and for a tive is helping identify the role that natural sys- cultural revolution in Africa, and shape smart, long time, the foundation was giving more for- tems play in human, economic, and personal/ sustainable transportation policies in the United eign aid than the U.S. government. social well-being, which is different than a con- States. When I came onboard in 2005, we were servation approach; looking towards our centennial and we thought it • advance health, where we focus on pro- What is the heritage of The Rockefeller was a critical moment to ask, as Rockefeller was moting advances and incentives that increase Foundation and how have you worked to trying to solve the problems of the 20th century, both nutrition and overall wellness; maintain it since coming onboard in 2005? what are the problems of the 21st century and • secure livelihoods, working to im- John D. Rockefeller invented modern how can we direct our attention, philanthropic prove opportunities for more people in more American philanthropy with his view of it be- resources, and infl uence towards solving some places around the world and what specifi c inter- ing a global endeavor. Carnegie and Rockefeller of those problems? ventions are needed, such as jobs and security; 16 LEADERS DISTRIBUTED WITH PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT © 2013 LEADERS MAGAZINE, INC. VOLUME 36, NUMBER 2 • transform cities, as there are now more It also involved innovation in the green also partner with the private sector to effect people living in cities than in rural areas for the revolution with the idea of what you could change and impact lives. This flexibility has fi rst time in the world and we’re seeing the in- achieve initially by cross-breeding wheat, but made us a trusted entity. creasing explosion of population in cities largely backed by the innovation of recognizing that Is the talent still coming into this in- in the developing world. Most of those cities you could take that and convince governments dustry the way you had hoped? are not prepared for the kind of demographic to change their practices regarding land-use pat- Yes. Even in business schools, the students growth they are experiencing. We’re looking at terns and property rights in certain countries. are seeking out more opportunities to enter so- how we can transform cities to take advantage So the focus of the foundation has been to cial enterprise. of all of the things that attract people there and think about products, processes, markets, and orga- Also, we create entrepreneurs here. Good build into them opportunities for growth that is nizations as potential targets for innovation. We have people move on to other organizations, but I more equitable while also building resilience in elevated and animated that today in three ways: take pride in our being a launching pad. those cities. • we’re looking for and funding innovators We’ve also been working on accelerating In areas of the world such as Africa, do and innovation; the fi eld of impact investing or double bottom you need to have people on site or are you • we’re trying to turn innovation practices line investing, so we’re getting a lot of people partnering in the region? on ourselves and how we operate; that might normally go to an investment bank We have an Africa offi ce in Nairobi; we • we’re trying to help transfer the really coming here to work on that piece of it. have a Southeast Asian offi ce in Bangkok; and strong learning in innovation, particularly in in- At the meta level, more people are looking we have a conference facility in Italy to touch novation processes, that are being developed in to blend their social and fi nancial goals, so this Europe. In each of those, we have trained staff the private sector to the social sector. is a great place to be. and a lot of intervention capacity to run projects What is your focus to make sure the from the ground. foundation continues on the right track? Except for those locations, when we’re in We recently completed a year-long analysis a country deeply, we either fi nd a project man- on changes in the global trends and on aligning agement grantee or co-locate with a grantee. We’re excited to deepen the organizational structure to the goals we’re What metrics have you put in place to trying to accomplish. It will now be critical to track impact? implement that strategic and organizational re- We have built a robust evaluation capac- people’s understanding alignment, so just as we monitor and evalu- ity here for two reasons: for starters, in philan- ate the work, we’re monitoring and evaluating thropy, we don’t want to wait until the end to about resilience as ourselves. know how it’s working. We’re learning, along Our resilience work was initially conducted with the grantees and often with the ben- the critical buzzword with Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience efi ciaries, what is working. We can then make Network and also involved work we were doing mid-course corrections if things aren’t working. in Africa on building resilience to climate change, We can also tell whether the environment has for the next century. It particularly among poor rural communities. changed in any way that is making us want However, we have also found the oppor- to do main course corrections or whether the means understanding tunity to approach it at home. We were deeply on-the-ground work somehow isn’t achieving engaged with New Orleans after Katrina; we’re what it was expected to achieve. how to rebound more currently working with the folks that have re- The only way that works well is if you ceived Gulf Coast restoration money on build- set clear goals at the outset. If we want to im- quickly, how to fail ing resilience along the entire Gulf Coast; and pact one million lives in Africa through tech- I was asked by Governor Cuomo to chair his nology related jobs, we know our goal and commission on New York State’s recovery from our target population, so we know what we’re more safely, and not Superstorm Sandy. measuring. We’re excited to deepen people’s un- We also want to understand the output so, take the whole system derstanding about resilience as the critical in the shorter term, we’ll evaluate if the training buzzword for the next century. It means un- programs are effective and if the global multi- down, be it a fi nancial derstanding how to rebound more quickly, nationals or governments are hiring these kids. how to fail more safely, and not take the Once you are clear about your goal, your met- or climate shock. whole system down, be it a fi nancial or cli- rics are easy. mate shock. The second reason we monitor and mea- Too often we think more about disas- sure is because philanthropic capital ought to ter recovery and too little about how to re- be risk capital, so we want to take greater risks. bound when the disaster occurs by building These are tax-privileged dollars and we don’t What do you do differently to build suc- in advance. have the short-term factors that other sectors do, cessful relationships in other countries? Do you ever step back and celebrate so we should take more risks. We do a lot of listening; we don’t think the foundation’s success? At the size and scale of the foundation, that all the great ideas come from within these The centennial is a celebration but also it’s how important has it been to maintain an walls. We want to be open to the ideas of ev- about using everything we have learned to con- innovative culture? eryone, especially the benefi ciaries but also the tribute even more over the next 100 years. The tagline for our centennial is “Innovation governments. We’re producing six books, each writ- for the Next 100 Years,” which builds on our A lot of foundations don’t partner with ten by a historian, and we have an amazing belief that so much of what The Rockefeller government. They feel their funding of an archive center. The books will focus on the Foundation did in the prior 100 years was to NGO is in opposition to what government is history of Rockefeller’s philanthropy and im- push the leading edge of innovation. doing. pact in agriculture and health. They’ll be less It helped create the fi eld of public health But The Rockefeller Foundation’s ap- about the man and more about the interaction because it recognized and innovated around the proach includes partnering with every sec- between what philanthropy could produce in idea that not all illness could be solved by medi- tor. Sometimes those sectors are our funding terms of accelerated change and the issues that cal solutions alone. Education and sanitation partners and sometimes they’re our grantees. were occurring in each decade of the last cen- were also involved; all things that now seem so We both give money to governments and also tury. We can really learn from our history for a obvious to us. partner with government on projects. But we successful second century.• VOLUME 36, NUMBER 2 DISTRIBUTED WITH PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT © 2013 LEADERS MAGAZINE, INC. LEADERS 17