I gotta admit… When I saw the email from the Lancaster County Community Foundation, I had never heard of Dan Pallotta. But the marketing was good and the event sounded cool. So, Adam and I bought tickets.
Ever since then, I’ve been reading his blog on Harvard Business Review to do a little bit of prep for the event. I would have loved to have bought his book, Uncharitable, and read it before the event. But, life is flying by and I settled for catching up on his blog. And… I’m happy I did.
From what I’ve seen, Pallotta doesn’t waste time in tap dancing around topics. He wrote a recent post about the definition of philanthropy and whether or not Steve Jobs did enough for humanity (he thought yes, see here). This opinion was in stark contrast to a popular opinion that he did not. So, he’s not afraid to stand alone.
He also wrote a pretty provocative post about getting “rich in charity“. I can’t say that I completely agree with the post. Not that I think it’s a fundamentally flawed idea. If somebody is providing value and it is creating social change, then pay that man/woman. Also, I do agree that money gives access to a different talent pool than if you didn’t have the money available to acquire talent. But… I’m just not convinced that people say, “I will end world hunger within the next 10 years. That achievement will be worth billions upon billions of dollars of measurable value to society. Trillions, eventually. But if I achieve that goal, you must make me the wealthiest man in the world.” To me, the person who sets out to end world hunger in 10 years just isn’t concerned with earned wealth. Or, at least not as a central motivator… more ancillary benefit. Call me crazy (and I’m sure Dan would), but I don’t think it should or does work that way.
And perhaps my favorite of the posts I’ve read of his was his, “Delivering the Speech of Your Life“. My biggest take-away (and I need this advice badly) is to memorize the speech, plan the transitions and MEMORIZE THE SPEECH. I’m really looking forward to seeing Dan speak in person and taking in his craft.
Hope to see you there…