Living in More Than One World

Gordon Pitts of The Globe and Mail in Toronto has a fascinating Q&A today, Why Joseph Rotman hates the ‘do-gooder’ label,  with businessman/philanthropist/volunteer/educator Joseph Rotman, who seems to embody the idea of living in more than one world. The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is named after him. He is highly educated himself and recognizes the value of education not just to individuals, but to all of society. One theme I took away from the interview was that working with and strengthening nonprofit organizations and the arts was in everyone’s interest. They are part of the pillars of making a better life for everyone in a community, or an entire country. Rather than focus so much on shareholder value in business education and running corporations, he says we should use a broader view that takes into account a wider set of stakeholders. “You are part of a total system,” Rotman says, “and, as a corporation and business leader, you have a responsibility to participate in all aspects, which is why I do my community work, why I do my public policy work. I am lucky enough to afford to do it and love doing it.” He sees the arts and the creativity that underpins it as a crucial part of life that should be appreciated on the same level as business, science and technology and other endeavors. The interview is relatively brief, but gives a nice overview of his life, the decisions he’s made about his career and education and how he’s gotten to where he is at age 74. Although he’s well past traditional retirement age, he is doing work and putting his personal fortune to use to benefit as many people as possible. I think it’s significant that the tagline for the Rotman School is “a new way to think.”

I’m one of the few people who have not read a Harry Potter book, and I haven’t seen any of the movies, either. However, I have been fascinated by the phenomenon of the books, and of the personal story and success of J.K. Rowling, since 1998, when I read one of the early reviews of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, written by my friend and former USA TODAY colleague Cathy Hainer, a year before Cathy died of breast cancer. I continued to read a lot about Rowling and the books over the years, and enjoyed the opportunity to do reference questions at USAT about Rowling, especially when the series-ending Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published in 2007. So it was interesting to read about The Harry Potter Alliance, which had escaped my attention until now, in Deborah Netburn’s July 20 Los Angeles Times feature story Finding lessons for life in Harry Potter books. Netburn interviews the nonprofit alliance’s director, Andrew Slack, about the good work being done in the cause of social justice, inspired by Rowling’s messages. “Slack’s organization uses parallels from the Potter books,” Netburn writes, “to educate and mobilize Potter fans around such issues as workers’ rights and combating genocide.” What is further fascinating to me is that Slack describes himself as a “Harry Potter rabbi.” There is more on the alliance recently in the July 16 CNN report For some fans, lessons of ‘Potter’ carry over into real world and July 14 on Newsweek.com, How Crazy Are Harry Potter Fans? Perhaps one day I’ll start reading a Potter book, but in the meantime, reading about the world and community that has been built around Rowling and her books remains enough for me.

Every year I look forward to the announcement of The MacArthur Foundation’s Fellows Program awards, the so-called “genius grants” that have been given to creative, make-a-difference individuals since 1981. The winners receive $500,000 over five years, with no strings attached on how the money is spent. Reading their profiles, and the media stories about them after they’ve won, is always enlightening. The 2008 fellows include a critical care physician, urban farmer, structural engineer, novelist, anthropologist, stage lighting designer and other professions. The entire list of winners, from 1981-2008, makes fascinating reading.  But the foundation also makes awards to organizations, and on April 27 it announced the worldwide, nonprofit recipients of the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. This is the fourth year of the awards. According to the press release, “All are highly creative and effective organizations that have made a remarkable impact in their fields, driving significant change on a modest budget.” Related to the latter point, the release states, “Each organization will receive up to $650,000, a significant sum considering their annual budgets range from $200,000 to $4.5 million.” There are eight winners; three based in the United States, two in Russia, and one each in Nigeria, India and Trinidad. Each is described in separate pages on the MacArthur site. You can also read the Associated Press article on the awards.