Do you get excited when you hear the word “strategy”? In the past 15 years leading and executing strategy in different organizations, I’ve learned a lot about what makes leaders succeed (and fail too) in creating a new path forward to better serve their clients. Based on my first few months getting to know Atlas Corps, I want to share with you the three reasons why I’m excited and energized to kick off the #AtlasCorps2025 strategy process in February:
There is a huge sense of urgency for us to do more for young people
The founding principles of Atlas Corps are more important than ever in the midst of a global pandemic, a climate emergency, and increasing inequality and conflict in many parts of the world, including in the United States. Over the past 15 years, Atlas Corps built a community of 1,100 young people that have grown as leaders solving critical issues in every sector across 110 countries. When the pandemic hit, we did not stand still and stop serving young leaders. We continued to work with our partners to bring young talented leaders to serve in the United States and developed a successful Virtual Leadership Institute serving hundreds to develop themselves, lead others, and build movements. If you join any virtual or in-person meeting with this group, like I have been able to in the past months, you will also experience the energy and passion that makes differences in language, ethnicity, and viewpoints seem smaller. We need much, much more of this antidote to narrowmindedness than ever before! Join us to create more opportunities for young leaders!
We have a unique window to create opportunities regardless of location and background
Atlas Corps Founder Scott Beale started this organization more than 15 years ago believing that talent is everywhere but opportunity is not. And that investing in young leaders is the best way to further development across the globe. Now, it has become obvious that the future of work is already here: Organizations in every sector have managed to function remotely. This shift means that physical location does not have to be a barrier to skilled talent anymore – talent can truly thrive from anywhere if we find them and help grow their skills! According to research firm IDC, more than forty percent of the global workforce—at least 1.5 billion people—is “location independent”. Now is an opportunity for more equity in making skills and leadership potential, rather than location, the decisive factor in hiring young talent. And we are only scratching the surface of the iceberg of talent if the Atlas Corps Alumni and the thousands of annual applicants are any indicator.
We are bringing a great team of people and organizations together for this journey
Our great team will bring their experience from the first 15 years into this process. We will work with Jesse as a coach and facilitator to ensure we learn and grow from our values and principles as a team and community. We are also grateful to receive the pro-bono Board Fellow advice from the Boston Consulting Group‘s Steffyn and Rifaiyat who will help us run an effective process and add their insight to our benchmarking and analysis efforts. Our Atlas Corps Board members have volunteered to work alongside our team in the areas where they can add most advice and insight. And Adi joined us to help manage the strategy process while finalizing his MBA at Georgetown McDonough School of Business. He brings a unique skill set in AI and machine learning that can help us investigate the latest approaches to recruitment and vetting talent. Last week, I addressed our Fellows, Scholars, and Alumni during Global Leadership Lab Immersion and invited them to engage. More partners are joining soon and we will challenge ourselves every single day to be curious and think about scaling opportunities for talented young people across the globe to lead.
We want you to join us on our journey!
As the founder of BRAC, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, once said, “Small is beautiful but scale is necessary.” To scale serving young talented leaders, we need your support. I will continue my Listening Tour with the Atlas Corps partners and community to get insight and advice on building #AtlasCorps2025 – the talent and leadership development platform for purpose-driven young leaders to address the social challenges we face today and in the future.
Schedule a quick call with me here, and reach out to Adi at strategy@atlascorps.org to join our efforts. And follow blog.atlascorps.org for additional highlights on #AtlasCorps2025. Learn more at www.atlascorps.org.
