A Long Hiatus

Nearly three weeks ago, I returned to South America for the first time since 2000. That was the year that I took my first and only trip to the continent for my first training session at McKinsey in Caracas, Venezuela.

I remember a city crammed into a large valley surrounded by beautiful mountains carved into by desperate shanty towns and mansions walled off from unseen but very real dangers like some medieval castles. But the people, like I've encountered almost everywhere else in the world, were friendly, polite, and helpful. The food was delicious. The mood was a mixture of hope and a wariness developed through seemingly endless cycles of growing prosperity and leaders who failed to deliver on ambitious promises.

Santiago, Chile was my first stop in a five-week long journey of countless meetings with government leaders, scholarship providers, universities, and other representatives to raise awareness of Carnegie Mellon's Australia campus. In addition, we're working in conjunction with the South Australia government to offer generous partial scholarships that will result in more applicants from the region in our post graduate programs in public policy and management, and information technology.

According to the CIA World Factbook, Chile is one of the wealthier countries in South America with a per capita GDP (PPP) at 59th in the world and, according the the UN, a Human Development Index placing it in the world's top 40. Unfortunately, like much of Latin America (and many other parts of the world), it also has a vast gap between rich and poor with a 2006 Gini Index of 54.

Like Caracas, Santiago it sits in a bowl formed by majestic mountain ranges like the Andes with weather like South Australia which supports a similarly rich agriculture and wine industry.

My hotel was packed with tourists and tour groups from around the world, all looking to enjoy a safe, clean managable city of five million. Even in what were described as "poor" neighboorhoods, the "wealth gap" wasn't so obvious. It's hard to believe that less than twenty years ago, Chile was lead by Augusto Pinochet, a military dictator who rose to power in a violent 1973 coup.

One of the most obvious examples of how progressive the country's government has become is the recently announced Bicentennial Fund. Formed to celebrate Chile's upcoming 200th anniversary, the Fund was created by current President Michelle Bachelet (the only woman leader in Lantin America and the first in Chile's history) to provide thousands of post graduate scholarships to the country's "best and brightest" in areas like public policy and IT, and create a new generation of leaders throughout the government, business, and social sectors.

One country down, five to go. Next stop: Argentina.

Watch This Space

The South Australian Government has an exceptionally innovative program called Thinkers In Residence which brings some of the world's leading intellectuals to the state for extended residencies. Their objective: make specific recommendations and catalyze actions in areas of critical importance to the state and, in many cases by extension, Australia and beyond. The current Thinker in Residence is my friend Laura Lee, former head of Carnegie Mellon's Architecture Department and an expert on sustainable design.

At the conclusion of the residency of Geoff Mulgan, head of the UK's Young Foundation and one of the world's leading thinkers on social innovation, last June South Australia's visionary Premier, Mike Rann announced the formation of the Australian Centre for Social Innovation (ACSI). This independent organization, seed funded with $6 million, intends to develop, test, and support innovative approaches to address the kinds of social problems endemic to South Australia and countless other "hotspots" around the world--clean and plentiful water, shelter, and renewable energy just to name a few.

On February 6, at an event honoring the memory of his political mentor, Mike announced that the ACSI was ready to spin-out from the nurturing incubation chamber provided by his government and formally named its inaugural Board, lead by Phillip Adams, one of Australia's leading commentators and polymaths. I was honored to be asked by the Premier to join this august group (albeit in a phone call taken during the 2nd quarter of Super Bowl XLIII, ultimately won by my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers).

In the weeks and months ahead, we'll name ACSI's first CEO, help shape its strategy and operational plan, and figure out where and how to start, borrowing liberally from and linking to related initiatives around the world.

As they say in Australia: "Watch This Space."