Youth Years Leader, Ashoka Global

Every Child Must Master Empathy

At the foundation of Ashoka’s efforts to create an Everyone a Changemaker world, and to transform youth years, is the paradigm that empathy must be at the foundation. We are looking for an extraordinary entrepreneur to lead the Global Empathy Initiative. We have a powerful opportunity for an imaginative, collaborative entrepreneur. If you are an accomplished leader (from any field) who has built or grown an organization from early stages to large size, has built teams, believes in the power of networks, and are looking for the next big challenge, come join us.

What You'll Do: Ashoka is looking for an exceptional changemaker to join its Global Leadership Team to lead this change from our Global Office

Spearhead a Global Movement: Increase the number of young people, parents, educators, partners, and citizens that identify as changemakers so that “Changemaking” becomes the new norm.

Unleash Systems-Level Insights: Design and lead systems to extract and scale compelling insights from Ashoka Fellow innovations

Drive Resource Generation: Pioneer new revenue models, raise vital resources, and garner strategic support to make “Every Young Person Practicing Changemaking” the new societal normal.

Build a Team of Teams: Work closely with Ashoka’s Leadership, 6 regional leaders (Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, Latin America, and MENA), and senior stakeholders to integrate each region by weaving together Ashoka Fellows, business entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and strategic partners.

Strategic Partnerships: Search out, nurture, and solidify partnerships with funders, corporations, foundations, unions, educators, and other entities.

What You Bring: Given that this role is in Ashoka’s Leadership Group and involves international influencing and impact, the right candidate will have the skills and 15-20 years of related experience to effectively execute deliverables. They will have already:

Identified a shared problem and created an innovative solution with system- or sector-wide impact.

Founded their own social impact organization to scale their innovation, advanced a mission/cause through an innovation that has since changed a sector or system, or launched a movement driven in part by innovative approaches with measurable systemic impact; this work may have started as early as one’s student years.

Created partnerships with key actors to advance an innovation and its social impact.

Elevated the profile of an organization, cause or mission.

Supported the building of a systemic change movement and needs across teams to advance a mission through fundraising efforts. Or, raised substantial funding to support their own organization and mission.

The right candidate also

Has an ability to adapt and thrive in an entrepreneurial, fluid, team of teams environment in which needs, strategy and short- / long-term goals may change to adapt to shifts in the ecosystem or social impact landscape.

Demonstrated ability in fundraising and resource generation, major client/partner relationship management, resource mobilization, and balanced budget management.

Has an ability to balance creative strategy design with day-to-day execution based on current needs.

Is skilled at leading and managing a team that has autonomy and independence to further cultivate Ashoka’s emphasis on creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.

Understands and exhibits empathy, teamwork, leadership and changemaking in their lived experience and has the ability to enable or share these capacities with others.

Proven ability to lead through influence, ideas, and exceptional communication skills.

Core Criteria Entrepreneurial Quality: Compelled to take creative initiative and ownership (e.g. founding an organization or company, starting a movement, or re-shaping the work of an existing organization). Demonstrates relentless and realistic how-to-thinking and passion for seeing their ideas come to life.

Understanding and Belief in the Everyone a Changemaker: Understands and believes the Everyone a Changemaker vision at a gut level. To be able to innately ‘get’ this, candidates should have a broad and inquisitive intellectual and a thinking pattern that connects the dots between historical trends and current social context.

Emotional and Social Intelligence: Ability to work efficiently and respectfully in teams, putting organizational/team goal first (personal glory second).

Ethical Fiber: Exceptionally strong ethical behavior. Is self-reflective and has strong empathy skills. Trustworthy.

Self-Definition: The person expects that changing the world in big ways and on a continental scale is what he/she will do in life.

About Ashoka:

Ashoka is the world’s largest community of leading social entrepreneurs, having pioneered the field of social entrepreneurship over 40 years ago. We support a robust network of more than 4,000 Ashoka Fellows in 90 countries who have successfully implemented systems-changing solutions to human and environmental problems globally. By learning from and collaborating with our Fellows and other social entrepreneurs, Ashoka identifies patterns and key levers to help society gain a new framework for living in the world as a changemaker. 

Our current work is centered around the "Everyone a Changemaker" (EACH) movement, which stems from our belief that everyone has the potential and responsibility to make positive change in an ever-changing world. We continue to grow a global movement of social entrepreneurship, recognizing that the rate of change is accelerating and our problems are growing faster than our solutions.