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TED- Gordon Brown: Wiring a Web for Global Good

I've become a HUGE fan of TED since I discovered it several months ago. Lately, I've taken to watching a TED Talk on my lunch break. Today's lunchtime video, Gordon Brown: "Wiring a web for global good" in which Brown lays out a challenge to leverage the connectivity of modern communication to spread media which connects people to and "confront[s] the challenges of poverty, security, climate change and the economy."

Brown delivers an excellent message, drawing on examples from Tiananmen Square, the 2007 protests in Burma, and the recent protests and crack down in post-election Iran. He concludes his talk with a comparison I've heard David Gergan say like this, "When Cicero spoke, people said, 'come, let us think.' When Demosthenes spoke, people said, 'come, let us march!'" Brown implores us to use technology in such a way that people march!

Muhammad Yunus - Medal of Freedom

My interest in microfinance has really accelerated lately. First, a good friend of mine read Muhammad Yunus' "Creating a World Without Poverty," which sparked a fascinating, challenging, and inspiring conversation about the application of Yunus' principles to social entrepreneurship and whether or not the negative effects of typical business models could be quantified to equal the profits yielded from the business. Then last week I had a great opportunity to sit in on a Q&A with Jessica Jackley of Kiva.

These two recent things made it all the more exciting to hear that today President Obama awarded Yunus the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest civilian honor) along with 15 other individuals who he called "agents of change."