What an interesting speech Darian Rodriguez Heyman, Executive Director of the Craigslist Foundation, gave at the annual Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy's Showcase event. It was one of those speeches that makes you reach for a pen and a scrap of paper and scribble all over it because you don't want to miss even one of the great nuggets.

Darian talked about his life goal to maximize his sphere of positive influence. What a fabulous thought. What about if every time we considered doing something we asked ourselves that question, "Is this going to maximize my sphere of positive influence?" I think we would live very different lives.

Darian also talked about companies managing themselves on the triple bottom line - profit, community and environment. What a different way companies might conduct themselves if the last two measures mattered on Wall Street as much as the first.

He recommended a book called "How to Change the World". Later I researched it:

HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD tells the stories of people around the globe who are solving many of the world's most intractable problems. Full of hope and energy, exciting solutions and compelling characters, this book shows how a growing wave of "social entrepreneurs"- individuals with initiative, creativity, savvy and determination- are reshaping the world for the better.

He talked about Youth Venture (getting youth to help give away grant money). And today I got an email on this very subject:

The Administration for Children and Families is piloting a program to give college undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to review and make recommendations on the award of grant application for federal funding. At this time, this pilot project is limited to six area colleges and universities in the Washington DC. Even though the pool of schools is limited this year , we want to make you aware of the effort beginning across Federal Departments to include youth in the review process of grant applications. And he discussed putting youth at the Board level and training them to be active (and savvy) philanthropists in the future.

What a wonderful and inspiring speech. Thanks Darian. You have a lot of people thinking in Sacramento.

The Craigslist Foundation runs an annual Non-Profit Bootcamp in NYC and San Francisco. Here is a snippet about last year's event:

In 2006, Nonprofit Boot Camps in the SF Bay Area and in NYC attracted over 2,500 emerging and established nonprofit leaders for a day of workshops, keynotes, one-on-one coaching and professional development. The event earned a 97% approval rating and was the largest nonprofit gathering in Bay Area history for the second year in a row.

If you are interested in attending or sponsoring this world-changing event, (San Francisco is scheduled for August 18th), please let Darian know we sent you. It's part of maximizing the Sacramento Executive's sphere of positive influence!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive