Insights from the White House Forum on Cross-Sector Leadership

By Monisha Kapila, CEO of ProInspire
 

Last month, I had the opportunity to participate in the White House Forum on Cross-Sector Leadership. Hosted by the White House and the InterSector Project, the Forum brought together leading organizations from nonprofit, government, and corporations to discuss the need to develop leaders who can enable collaboration across all sectors. The White House has made this a priority because they believe that all sectors will need to play a part in creating lasting solutions to large-scale social problems.

During the Forum, we heard about the movement towards developing cross sector leaders and different organizations that are making this a priority. Matthew Thomas, Executive Director of the InterSector Project, discussed the research his organization has done around “tri-sector athletes.” Nick Lovegrove, Vice Chairman of the InterSector Project (and spouse of ProInspire Board member Alyssa Lovegrove), shared the six characteristics of tri-sector leaders. Nick also highlighted the market failure that currently exists in developing cross sector leaders because most programs bring people from business to nonprofit or government, versus the other way around. He discussed the opportunity to bring nonprofit and government expertise to the business world, particularly around systems thinking, stakeholder management, and motivating people.

It was also interesting to hear perspectives from different leaders in this space:

• Public Sector: Todd Park, United States Chief Technology Officer, said “There is no more important task for America than to incubate leaders for all hands on deck.” He shared that when President Obama met the inaugural class of Presidential Innovation Fellows, he was most interested to understand why Fellows had left their jobs to serve their country in this capacity. 
• Nonprofit Sector: Jennifer Anastasoff, CEO of Fuse Corps, highlighted the success of Fuse Corps Fellows in working with states, cities, and local coalitions. Like ProInspire, Fuse Corps is focused on attracting private sector professionals with a passion for public service. Their program is targeted to more mid-career professionals with a minimum of 8 years of work experience. She said they are looking for “civic entrepreneurs who are ready to make intergalactic change at a national level.”
• Private Sector: Dominic Barton, Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Company, discussed why they believe the leader of the future needs to be a tri-sector athlete. McKinsey sees multiple forces that are cutting across lines – the rise of emerging markets, changes in technology, and resource scarcity – and will require organizations to make cross sector approaches and cross sector talent a priority.

The Forum was exciting for me because it aligns directly with our ProInspire Fellowship program, which recruits young business professionals to work for leading nonprofits and public sector organizations. As I look at the motivations, transferable skills, and leadership potential of our Fellows, I see the “tri-sector athletes” that Nick was describing.

I think the InterSector Project is laying important groundwork by creating a language around “cross sector leadership” and demonstrating the impact of these leaders. The more we have organizations from different sectors embracing the importance of cross sector leadership, the closer we will get to solving society’s great social problems.