Bill Drayton is known to have given a name to a growing industry of “social entrepreneurship” subsequently fathering a movement to reform how society sees businesses and equipping current and future change makers for a changing world. He is one of the few living exemplars of a life led for others as a servant leader of high ethical fiber and seeking the ultimate good for people everywhere. In the world of non-profit organizations, non-governmental-organizations, and social-entrepreneurship, Bill needs no introduction. People know him or his organization because of the good that he’s helped create in this world.

1. Bill Drayton
Father of Social Entrepreneurship, Leading Leader of
Social Change makers around the world.
Rahul Singh
Character, Conscience, and Courage. Spring 2013
Professor Nan Ellen Dixon
5/4/2013

2. Table of Contents
Bill Drayton ............................................................................................................................................................. 1
Father of Social Entrepreneurship, Leading Leader of Social Change makers around the
world. ................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Bill Drayton ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 1
Ashoka ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Man of Character, Conscience, and Courage .......................................................................................... 6
Character ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Conscience .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 8
Encouraging with Courage ............................................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................ 11
Bill Drayton
ii

3. Rahul Singh
Character, Conscience, and Courage. Spring 2013
Professor Nan Ellen Dixon
5/4/2013
Bill Drayton
Father of Social Entrepreneurship, Leading Leader of Social Change makers
around the world.
Bill Drayton
Bill Drayton is known to have given a name to a growing industry of “social
entrepreneurship” subsequently fathering a movement to reform how society sees
businesses and equipping current and future change makers for a changing world.1 Bill is
one of the few livingexemplars of alife led for others as a servant leader of high ethical fiber
and seeking the ultimate good for people everywhere. In the world of non-profit
organizations, non-governmental-organizations, and social-entrepreneurship, Bill needs no
introduction. People know him or his organization because of the good that he’s helped
create in this world.
What is Social Entrepreneurship?
Whenever society is stuck or has an opportunity to seize a new opportunity, it needs
1(Hsu,
2005)
Bill Drayton
1

4. an entrepreneur to see the opportunity and then to turn that vision into a realistic
idea and then a reality and then, indeed, the new pattern all across society. We need
such entrepreneurial leadership at least as much in education and human rights as
we do in communications and hotels. This is the work of social entrepreneurs.
– Bill Drayton2
When the author asked Bill Drayton, or as he would like to be called “Bill,” what his “road to
Damascus” moment was in his life that made him follow his life’s passion of social
entrepreneurship, he said that it started when he was a kid. He said he was extremely lucky
to be born to great parents who let him do what he wanted. His parents were both hard
working and provided a life for him in Manhattan.3
As he grew up as a child in Manhattan, he didn’t really like subjects such as Latin or Math
and preferred History and Geography. He didn’t like learning through memorization. His
first “venture” was a newspaper business he started in the 5th grade. In a world without
copy-machines and printers, he used a typewriter and carbon paper to produce 50 copies
and sold them to his classmates. Eventually his mother found out that Bill was skipping
school to run this business. When she talked to his school’s principal, the principal vouched
for him and told his mother to be proud of such an enterprising young person.
2(Drayton,
3(Drayton,
Bill Drayton
GOOD Q&A: Ashoka, 2007)
2013)
2

5. Bill used this freedom wisely and continued to recruit other students and eventually
bought a mimeograph machine. He grew his newspaper from a one-page newsletter to a
20-30 page newspaper and increased distribution. He continues to support the
development of programs to help children become entrepreneurs. He said that over 700
out of the 3000 fellows in his organization, Ashoka, are centered on children. He believes
that children are the future and need to be invested in as he was invested in.
As Bill grew up, he went on to the Phillips Academy for high school, Harvard for his
Bachelors, Oxford for his Masters, and Yale for his law degree. He went worked at McKinsey
& Company, in the Environmental Protection Agency in the Carter Administration, and has
taught at Harvard and Stanford.4
Bill’s role models are Gandhi, Jefferson, and Jean Monett (the father of the European
currency).5 As he went through his higher education, followed Gandhi’s followers. While in
college, Bill was involved in the civil rights movement and was impacted by Bayard Rustin’s
work in New York. During a summer off from Harvard in 1963, Bill drove from Munich to
India to work with VinodaBhave who, as Rustin, was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.6Bhave
was helping the poverty stricken untouchables in India by taking “gifted” land and
redistributing it to them. Bill learned from Bhave’s example the simple idea of creating
social good for sake of social good and not necessarily for any monetary gain. Later when
Bill was at Harvard, he started Ashoka Table, a round table for people to talk about ideas on
4(WikiPedia,
2008)
5(Hsu,
2005)
6(Hsu, 2005)
Bill Drayton
3

6. how to create social change. Bill said the ideas that came from his discussions at the Ashoka
table were realized in the 1980s when he went on to found the Ashoka Foundation.7
Ashoka
The AshokaFoundation is a non-profit organization that Bill Drayton started with some of
his coworkers at McKinsey & Co in the 1980s. He started the idea as a “Social Venture
Capital” firm that would identify, nurture, and cultivate people who wanted to change the
world to improve life for people in the “citizen sector” with the same quality as the
business sector.
Also known as “Innovators for the Public, Ashoka has more than 3000 fellows today.
TheseChangemakersare involved in various projects in the citizen sector. As mentioned
earlier 700 of them are involved in ways to empower children to impact the world in a
positive way. When Ashoka was launching “Youth Ventures” a program to educate young
people about entrepreneurship, Bill mentioned that Georgetown University helped his
organization with funding and strategic support.8
Bill and Ashoka’s vision of “Everyone a Changemaker” is to help empower people
everywhere to become change makers because it is what is required for people to survive
and thrive without getting marginalized by stronger business forces. When asked what
does it mean or what does it take to be a Change maker, Bill explained that fundamental
change happens at different levels and the highest level of change is that at the
7(Drayton,
8(Drayton,
Bill Drayton
2013)
2013)
4

7. “framework” level. There are several levels of change and true change makers utilize
leverage from “social jujitsu” to achieve it.9
Levels of Change10
Level Change
1
Direct
Service
Description
One person serving another
directly impacts people.
2
Scaled
Service
3
Pattern
Change
More people are impacted
because a team is created,
trained and is then directly
serving people.
Other people in the ecosystem started to mimic
direct service, or the scaled
service because it works.
4
Framework
Change
Institutions recognize that the
pattern is creating a positive
change and institute it as
practice.
Example
An individual teacher who teaches
their students a new way of
learning math.
The teacher recruits and trains ten
teachers who also start to train
others in the same way.
Other teachers not in the core
group start to teach their students
in the same way. Schools adopt the
practice because it’s mandated by
State board of education.
U.S. Congress passes legislation
that impacts the Department of
Education, which then impacts all
States boards of education.
Many of the change makers empowered by Ashoka have helped bring national policy
changes to impact people in their countries. Ashoka empowers its change makers by
supporting them to instill certain core skills that they want everyone to learn:empathy
9(Drayton,
Conversation with Georgetown University Students before SIPS Fund Lecture,
2013)
10(Drayton, Conversation with Georgetown University Students before SIPS Fund Lecture,
2013)
Bill Drayton
5

8. based ethics (applied empathy), learning to work in teams of teams (team work), and
leadership.11
Change at the national level in policy is not an easy feat, but Ashoka teaches its change
makers “social jujitsu” to “flip” the social system using leverage from interested parties that
have influence.12 For example, in order for Ashoka to achieve it’s vision, social
entrepreneurship and the core skills of social entrepreneurship should be taught at every
University and utilized by management consulting companies. To start, they work to
convince the 10% of the most influential organizations to adopt the vision and start
propagating it through the education system.
Ashoka creates change by empowering the future generation of leaders to be effective at
dealing with people, working in teams, and by learning core leadership development skills.
They empower future leaders to be people of character, conscience, and courage.
Man of Character, Conscience, and Courage
Character
Bill exudes character with the work he has done with the Ashoka Foundation. He lives his
legacy. He practices moral leadership, builds his ethical fiber, and lives in the service for
others. People of character are not hard to spot if one is looking in the right place. The
11(Drayton,
12(Drayton,
Bill Drayton
Everyone a Changemaker: Social Entrepreneurships' Ultimate Goal, 2006)
Everyone a Changemaker: Social Entrepreneurships' Ultimate Goal, 2006)
6

9. citizen sector is where people go to help other people help themselves. Bill is a luminary in
this sector and has helped influence it for more than 30 years.
Juts as William Wilberforce decided to challenge the system in the United Kingdom, Bill is
challenging the way people think of business and what it means to give back as individuals
to create a better world. Wilberforce set out to change society in a positive way from the
ground up.Wilbeforce. He wrote “God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the
suppression of the Slave Trade and the reformation of manners” in his journal and in his
lifetime helped end the British Slave Trade and emancipate slaves in the British Empire.13
Bill similarly has set formidable purpose for his life: everyone a changemaker. He has set
out to help society by empowering people to be better people by learning how to be more
empathetic, work with others, and be leaders in their communities. He exercises moral
leadership by willing to dedicate his life on wanting to help everyone understand the
concepts of the empathy-based ethics.
Just as Gandhi, Rustin, and Bhave sacrificed and chose careers that served others, Bill
continues to work for a growing organization of leaders that preaches and practices service
for others. Gray Keller said that good servant leadership can be summarized by people that
love their community, listen to people, learn from others, liberate others from suffering,
and live their legacy.14 While sitting next to Bill in the small-group interaction, the author
felt that Bill lived every element well. He is a true servant leader and showed that he truly
13(Belmont
14(Keller,
& Stetson, 2007)
2013)
Bill Drayton
7

10. loves young people, is willing to listen to them, wants to learn from them, wants to liberate
them, and lives his legacy.
Conscience
Bill’s career shows his decisions were made by his conscience to stay true to his character.
When he was involved in the civil rights movement with Rustin, he was doing what he felt
was right by fighting for equality. When he went to serve in India with Bhave, he wanted to
help those in poverty. These are just some of the larger aspects of his life that show Bill’s
ability to keep in line with his character. One story shows specifically how Bill faced a tough
situation when it came to doing the right thing.
Bill Drayton served as a courageous follower to those he respected.15 He worked at
McKinsey & Company for 10 years. Early in his career, there was an incident when Bill’s
conscience and courage was tested. He was working for the City of New York by way of
McKinsey & Company as a consultant. He was working to design a tax system that would
have cost certain companies more money. He was pressured by someone in the Mayor’s
office to change what he was doing to better suit the needs of certain companies that
worked with the government. Bill resisted being ‘pushed around,’ even though he is very
soft spoken, and told those in charge that people were either mistaken or lying.
One of the partners came and berated Bill and asked, “Who did he think he was?” Later on,
one of the founding partners, Marvin Bower,vouched for him, and fired the City as a client.
15(Chaleff,
Bill Drayton
2009)
8

11. Bill said that this was exactly the type of company he wanted to work for, a company that
was high in “ethical fiber” and always did the right thing.
A McKinsey consultant is supposed to put the interests of his client ahead of
increasing The Firm's revenues; he should keep his mouth shut about his client's
affairs; he should tell the truth and not be afraid to challenge a client's opinion; and
he should only agree to perform work that he feels is both necessary and something
McKinsey can do well. Along with the professional code, Bower insisted on
professional, as opposed to business, language, which is why McKinsey is always
The Firm, never the company; jobs are engagements; and The Firm has a practice,
not a business.16
He worked with McKinsey for 10 years before working at the EPA. He developed an inner
circle that he was able to later found Ashoka. He developed close friendships with those he
worked with at McKinsey. John Maxwell says in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, the
Law of the Inner Circle can drastically help or hurt leaders.17 He surrounded himself with
people that were of high moral and ethical fiber.
Bill mentioned that he was lucky to be able to work with such a group of people. Ashoka
still maintains a strategic partnership with McKinsey & Company. As he was able to enjoy
the company of good people, Bill “pays it forward” by growing Ashoka to include the best
and the brightest change makers to come together and solve the world’s problems.
16(Huey,
1993)
1998)
17(Maxwell,
Bill Drayton
9

12. Perhaps the best indicator on whether Bill lives what he says is by looking at his decision to
empower others. With his education, Bill could have had a lucrative career if he had
remained at McKinsey or could have become a CEO of a profit-oriented organization.
Instead, Bill decided to follow his passion and his personal mission to help create a better
world.
Encouraging with Courage
Bill’s life shows the author that it is possible to pursue social good before personal gain. He
shows that there is a sustainable model for developing leaders to develop a better world.
He shows that it is okay to create a strong vision that brings ultimate good to all people and
pursue that vision.
As a student of Leadership, the author has sought mentorship and advice from various
experienced individuals and has read several volumes on the subject. Bill exemplifies the
type of leaders that Jim Collins says lead organizations from goodness to greatness in Good
to Great.18 He isn’t loud and boisterous, but rather contemplative and passionate. He
exemplifies the level 5 leaders that Maxwell talks about in various books including The Five
Levels of Leadership.19 Bill develops leaders to develop leaders.
The author sees that his visions of “every citizen an entrepreneur” is not impossible just as
Bill’s vision of “everyone one a changemaker” is not impossible. It may be difficult, but not
impossible.
18(Collins,
2001)
The Five Levels of Leadership, 2011)
19(Maxwell,
Bill Drayton
10

13. Conclusion
Bill Drayton impacts the lives of individuals everywhere just as he impacted the author’s
life several years ago. While reading a book on business, the author came across a quote by
Bill explaining that standard words that describe business of “profit” and “non-profit” were
inadequate. This seed of thought caused him to change the vision for his company. When
further researching the subject of “social entrepreneurship,” the author came across The
Search for Social Entrepreneurship and was introduced to the concepts that helped shape
his own company’s mission.20 Many of the concepts from Light’s book on social
entrepreneurship such as pattern change, and social jujitsu are easy to read academically,
but are hard to comprehend.
It wasn’t until recently that Bill’s impact in the world of social entrepreneurship became
more palpable. It wasn’t until the author had been able to hear from Bill’s own mouth, how
to create lasting “framework” change, that he realized how much he has to left to learn. The
only way to create change is to practice it and continuously think about how to propagate
change to higher levels.The author’s personal leadership journey is going to be difficult but
it has been made just a little easier by the knowledge that people like Bill have walked in
front to show what’s possible.
20(Light,
2008)
Bill Drayton
11

14. Bill is a leading change maker that leads with empathy. He is a living testament to what is
possible with passion, vision, perseverance, and determination. He continues to walk
towards his vision of empowering people around the world to become change makers by
learning core skills to be able to live in the coming world. His focus on children and desire
to help the next generation of humanity cope with change is a self-less act of commitment
for others. He understands the unlimited capacity of human beings and their ability to do
good for each other.
Bill Drayton
12

15. Bibliography
(2007). A Man of Character. In K. Belmont, C. Stetson, & C. Stetson (Ed.), Creating the Better
Hour. Macon, GA: Stroud & Hall.
Drayton, B. (2013, April 23). Conversation with Georgetown University Students before
SIPS Fund Lecture. (R. Singh, Interviewer)
Drayton, B. (2006, Winter). Everyone a Changemaker: Social Entrepreneurships' Ultimate
Goal. Innovations .
Hsu, C. (2005, October 31). Entrepreneur For Social Change. Retrieved April 23, 2013, from
US News and World Report:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051031/31drayton.htm
Huey, J. (1993, November 1). How McKinsey Does It. Forbes .
Keller, G. (2013, March 23). Lecture to Character, Conscience, and Courage Class. (R. Singh,
Interviewer)
Maxwell, J. (1998). The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
WikiPedia. (2008, May 1). Bill Drayton. Retrieved April 20, 2013, from WikiPedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Drayton
Bill Drayton
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16. Bill Drayton
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