The question begs many others. What kind of change are we talking about? Climate change, political change, social change? And how much change are we talking about? Enough to notice a difference in daily life, enough to alter the lives of future generations?
When Jack Hallis was confronted with this challenge his approach was simple. What is the smallest number of people needed to make the world a better place?
He had no doubt. It was the global community of the super-rich.
Forget the politicians, judges, religious leaders and civil servants. Forget the heads of the banks and great companies. Unless, of course, they were also the owners of those entities.
As we know, in the west, around 2,000 people at the top of tree own an average of $4 billion. Together they own around $9 trillion. It stands to reason that if you can convince a reasonable number of these fortunate folk of some noble cause, they would surely have the means to make it happen?
If only they were a community. There’s the rub. They are a far flung and disparate bunch. They protect their wealth and privacy fiercely. Many have egos the size of planets.
If you’ve ever done cold calling you’ll know how harsh the numbers are. Perhaps 2% of those you approach can be leads. Of those you are lucky to convert 10% into sales. That’s a strike rate of 1 in 500. Odds like that are no good for Jack’s cause.
His solution is Lodestar. A social network unlike any you have seen. Membership is by invitation only and it comes with a dazzling array of tools to see your life to date, measured against your own beliefs. But why would any of these targeted plutocrats expose themselves in this way? The answer is ego. You can paint it as philanthropy if you like but it amounts to the same thing, especially when you show the subjects how their endeavours compare with others, anonymized, of course.
In Infinite Truth, the second volume of The Infinity Trilogy, we see how Helgar Osmath rises to the challenge of captivating these exotic users.
Photo by Zoe Holling on Unsplash