Jeroo Billimoria, a social entrepreneur whose work has grown into global movements for children, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about collective leadership. She shares the simple philosophies behind her work and how a network of leading social entrepreneurs breaks silos to accelerate impact together. What emerged is her distinction between incremental and catalytic change: when an individual does it, it's incremental, and when the collective does it, it's exponential.
Episode at a glance
- Guest: Jeroo Billimoria, Social entrepreneur behind global movements for child helplines and children's financial education
- Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
- Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released May 10, 2022
- Format: conversation, 29 minutes
- Topics: A shared story, not a solo one, Three guiding philosophies, Collaboration versus co-creation, Catalytic change, The spirit of sharing, Decentralized leadership
What Jeroo brought to the conversation
Jeroo Billimoria started social change work when she was very young, following in the footsteps of her mother, a social entrepreneur and academic. Her first social enterprise twinned children from rich schools with children from poor schools to bridge the class divide, and a phone number for street kids to call when they were alone grew into a global movement of child helplines in more than 150 countries, responding to more than 10 million calls a year. Another of her programs brings social and financial education to over 16 million children. Today she is inspired by a network of leading social entrepreneurs from across the world who recognize that they cannot work alone but together can accelerate impact.
What emerged
Niiamah Ashong noticed that his own language revealed an individual mentality, people coming together, while Jeroo Billimoria was describing something different: truly being a collective. Her distinction is that you collaborate to co-create, and you co-create to create catalytic change, the accelerated change that comes from the power of the collective. Niiamah Ashong connected this to his own charter of bringing outliers together, and Jeroo Billimoria described a future where the collective good, not individual ego, is at the forefront, with communities and their voices at the center.
Questions this episode answers
Can one leader create lasting change alone?
Jeroo Billimoria firmly believes no one person can impact change alone; everyone is a drop in the ocean of humanity. She adds that every drop counts, so each person does their bit while recognizing it is just their bit.
What is the difference between collaboration and co-creation?
Jeroo Billimoria says you collaborate to co-create, and her network takes it a step further: it collaborates to co-create catalytic change. She explains that when each individual does it, change is incremental, and when the collective does it, change is exponential.
What simple philosophies help leaders work well with others?
Jeroo Billimoria names three: there is always some good in the person you work with, so find it and build on it; five fingers are not the same, but you need all five; and you have two ears and one mouth, so listen more and speak less.
What does a spirit of sharing look like in practice?
During the pandemic, one social entrepreneur in her network was delivering food without a car; another lent a car and yet another raised funds for a vehicle, all within a week. On a larger scale, entrepreneurs came together to create a collective marketplace for ethical and artisan products where producers have ownership.
How can a leader help a team adopt a collective spirit?
Jeroo Billimoria's tip is don't centralize, decentralize, and believe in the power of the people who can facilitate and lead. She describes her network as a distributed entity with a team across the world, where the members are the governing council.
In their words
Five fingers are not the same but we need all five fingers.
Jeroo Billimoria
If each individual does it it's incremental but when the collective does it it's exponential.
Jeroo Billimoria
Don't centralize, decentralize and believe in the power of the people who can facilitate and lead.
Jeroo Billimoria
Key moments
01:38 – A shared story, not a solo one
02:39 – A helpline that became a movement
04:46 – No one changes the world alone
05:49 – The five fingers philosophy
06:21 – Two ears and one mouth
14:14 – Co-creation versus collaboration
18:53 – Putting communities at the center
21:27 – The spirit of sharing
26:01 – Don't centralize, decentralize
27:03 – Be yourself and be open
About Niiamah Ashong
Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.
Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference
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