People On Purpose: Ben Metz

Ben Metz works with and creates environments for leaders and their organisations who are doing good to do better.  Ben is the Europe R&D lead for ImpactAssets and the instigator of OxfordJam, a three day fringe event to the Skoll World Forum which kicks off today in Oxford.  He is also the founding Trustee of and long time supporter of  Hackney Pirates and manages the Sarah Dodd Fund.  Ben was the former UK Director of Ashoka and now spends his time conceiving, incubating, launching and scaling new ideas that are good for the world.

1. Why do you do the job you do?

Why would I do anything else?  An acceptance of reality - that humanity is on an irreversible trajectory of decline - might be considered the ultimate force for disempowerment.  I see things the other way round, as kind of a 'positive nihilism'.  Once we know quite how f#ck£d we are this becomes a liberating force and allows us to act for good rather than react to the current 'bad' state of the world.

2. What are you most proud of?

No one thing.  I guess my increasing ability to focus on individuals and support them in thinking and feeling their way in the world is something I am increasingly proud of.  Paying attention to other people, I am coming to realise, is an art that has been overlooked in a world that favours bean counting and strategies for growth over real human interaction.

3. What keeps you awake at night?

One of two things - a) wondering whether I did my best or b) if I know I did my best the sheer excitement of realising this!

4. What were you doing 5 years ago?

Lying in bed wondering whether I had done my best...  And during the day I was establishing the UK office of Ashoka, working with world class social entrepreneurs across about 40 countries.  

5. What do you expect to be doing in 5 years' time?

Lying in bed wondering whether I've done my best...  I don't have a clue what I'll be doing.  And I like this.  I increasingly work using emergence as a core principle.  So planning for the future has faded from view in favour of guiding principles such as having a clear purpose (to help people to good better), fostering insistence (sticking at it damn it!), continuing learning (a Masters in organisational psychoanalytics is my current learning focus) and retaining humility guide my journey through life much more than big plans.

6. If you were Prime Minister for the day, what would you do? 

Resign.  Immediately after removing all tax allowances and the entire benefits system and replacing these with a universal living wage.  This could potentially fundamentally alter the social contract individuals have with society as society would value the individual from the day they are born to the day they die, rather than placing conditionality on individuals' value through a punitive 'tax and give' system.

7. Why are you involved with On Purpose? 

 Simple - because individuals with tenacity and the right kind of intention make the world a better place.  On Purpose Fellows have these - in bucket loads!  At first I was sceptical of the model.  But the first cohort proved me wrong.  The quality of the individuals and their commitment to doing things differently means I'll go the extra distance to help each of them that I am able to.