I have known Charly Kleissner for almost two decades now. We have both (in our own particular and peculiar ways) explored how to commit our efforts, influence and capital to generate positive impact. We met in the budding field of #impactinvesting, a movement to set precedent and tools for values-alignment of investment activities. It’s been a rocky ride.
Through this movement, a wonderful community of changemakers and visionaries developed, creating what became a beautiful and colorful impact bubble: ultimately too small and delicate to match the scale of challenges and winds of change we currently face.
My ‘theory of change’ used to be “shift as much capital towards impact investing (and philanthropy) as possible”. With that mission, I became an active investor and teacher/preacher of all things ‘impact’. I joined boards and investment committees across funds, family offices and other investment structures (even hedge funds), taking each opportunity to engage with the next generation of investors and wealth managers. I took my role (very…overly?) seriously to ask uncomfortable questions and encourage accountability and intentionality (what we call the #impactimperative @TIIME). It has been exhilarating and humbling. After reading ‘Hospicing Modernity’ (Vanessa Andreotti) for a third time, I began to understand I was intrinsically part of the problem - and the systems change would not happen within the same structures replicating the issues we were allegedly ‘addressing’.
When Charly invited me to his podcast (Charly’s Angles - witty that!) to explore the ‘reckoning of impact investing’, I was very hesitant - I spent many years yapping on stages and then (consciously) evolved a strong preference to just observe and listen. Charming as he is, Charly invited a deep and personal conversation about our experiences and journeys in the field - yet I still balked. It was only after I spoke to his co-host Andrea Wyss, who described with sincerity how much Charly had impacted her life and how being exposed to his world had inspired and moved her. She gently and convincingly added how important my particular story and voice could be... If you get a call from Charly and he sends Andrea after you, it's simply impossible to decline.
Recorded in Amsterdam during Katapult Future Fest together with Charly’s jolly and delightful crew Andrea and Felix Zeltner, our discussion went from whether impact investing is actually working (and why not), to sharing our journeys within and how we use that to guide our aspirations and efforts. I was able to share references to the voices of inspiration and guides (Joanna Macy, Bill Plotkin, Francis Weller, David Abram, US Andersen, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Gabor Maté and more) and the friends who have touched my life along the way.
I invite you to listen:
Spotify podcast:https://open.spotify.com/episode/1sHrpY8mZw17VyYqxFouXK
Apple podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/lu/podcast/charlys-angles/id6793066585?i=1000778555749
and let me know: how do you want to step into the arc of awareness and be part of the #GreatTurning?
https://www.tiime.org/blog/our-blog-1/the-long-arc-of-awareness-6