skoll school of thought

I recently watched “An Inconvenient Truth” the film we all relate to as Al Gore’s film. The film in which he redeems himself after a failed run at the US Presidency. In the film he refers to himself as someone that used to be “the next president of the US”. “An Incovenient Truth” is a good film. It was a good mastery of the art of clearly communicating what to many seemed a dull subject to contend with.

But the point about this post is not to highlight Al Gore or global warming. This post is dedicated to the person behind the recent surge of socially relevant movies such as “An Inconvenient Truth”, “Good Night and Good Luck”, “Syriana”, “Fastfood Nation”, etc – Jeff Skoll. He is someone that exudes a general nonchalance that can be very misleading in his pursuit to change the world.

Jeff Skoll used to be the President of eBay. Since leaving the company, he’s started 2 ventures that have made significant social impact. His $600 million Skoll Foundation makes funds available to social entrepreneurs who are tackling the world’s biggest problems. Participant Productions is the first film company that produces compelling films and other kinds of media that are socially relevant. The company is a social enterprise in that it aims to boost awareness of one of six issues: the environment, health, human rights, institutional responsibility, peace and tolerance, and social and economic equity while remaining financially sustainable. So far, his movies have garnered 11 Academy Award nominations.

In essence, this is proof that one person can be all the difference in creating change.

Links:
Skoll Foundation
Participant Productions
Fast company article
Wikilink