Gorillas Can Dance

EPILOGUE THREE MINDSETS FOR THE SDG DECADE OF ACTION

Real business success, in fact capitalism generally, cannot be just the surplus that you create for your own core constituency, but also the broader surplus that is created to benefit the wider society…

– Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft¹

To say that 2020 went sideways for many is an understatement.

The material in Chapter 6 was always going to be relevant for 2020's Decade of Action. But as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, the notion of dancing with gorillas for the SDGs takes on even greater urgency – and challenge. In this concluding section, I offer some thoughts on what lies ahead, and suggest that it is important to consider the three mindsets that this book highlights – entrepreneurial, collaborative, and global – that hold relevance for corporate innovation, organizational transformation, and social impact, by harnessing entrepreneurship and globalization via collaboration.

CONTRIBUTING TO THE SDG DECADE OF ACTION IN A POST-COVID WORLD

The opening account of the Microsoft story of startup partnering concluded with the announcement of a global program to work with social entrepreneurs in late February 2020. As it transpired, the timing proved to be ominous. Within days, Covid-19 was declared a pandemic. Few, if any, have been spared the tumultuous effects of this once-in-a-century event.

The effects of 2020 are likely to be felt for a long time to come.² The 2020s – dubbed the “decade of action” by the United ...