Dear friends,
In a recent presentation by the Yunus Social Innovation Center, I remember saying at one point, quoting Proust, N'allez pas trop vite. A phrase that the author used a lot, as a way to draw attention to the need to be curious, and to be very attentive to the small details. For Alain de Botton, a great connoisseur of the life and work of Marcel Proust, this would even be a way of giving more value to life, giving it the opportunity to become more interesting.
At the Yunus Social Innovation Center, we couldn't agree more with the principle behind this idea. The need to respect and value time, not in the sense of taking advantage of every second to do something, whatever it is as long as you show yourself to be active, but to know how to use time to breathe, observe, feel and analyze the small roughness and textures of each moment, each movement, each change in society, in people's lives to, in the end, then yes, act. But to act with the certainty that the process was serious, deep, rigorous and scientific. But also empathetic, sensitive, sensitive and practical.
At the Yunus Social Innovation Center, we are not rushed, although we are aware of the need to be aware of time and the ability to respond to the challenges of deadlines. We are not hasty, because we like to know how to listen, read and feel, before saying, writing or acting. We believe in the timing of things, because that is what we see happening in the numerous social innovation projects that we have followed over the last 20 years – it takes time to change consciousness, behaviors, organizational models, installed systems of interests. Only with this patience, which wisdom gives us, will we be able to offer our students, partners, collaborators and investors, what we know how to give best – the body, mind and soul necessary to change the world, one day at a time.
That's why it also took us a long time to have this NL. Because the right time had to come to communicate. It was necessary to go inside, and then come outside. We deepened concepts, aligned models, defined positions, designed strategies, strengthened ties with partners, designed the first programs and reinforced the focus of much we had already done before the Centre. Since November 2022, until today, 2 years have passed. 2 years that would never have been possible without our dear founders and partners believing in this team, and in the work it would be able to do. And trust, accepting it, in our time.
Now is the time to start giving. At the same time, we continue, attentively, to observe the world around us. We invite you to dive with us into this deep, sometimes turbulent, sometimes serene sea of social innovation and the many entrepreneurs, social organizations, companies, States and supranational entities, who are, a little more so, All over the world, planting seeds of what we believe in, will be a new world. With more time for yourself – nature and people; with more resources, because it respects the cycles and needs of all; more aware that to distribute is to receive; and also more confident that healthier people, with a more balanced life and with more capacity and independence, are people who feed richer and more sustainable organizations.
We hope that this Newsletter will be a space from which you can leave, every month, more informed, with more knowledge, and inspired to act. Have a good trip!