Kiwi entrepreneur Derek Handley is on a mission to change the world—and the world of business—through his involvement with The B Team and his own charitable foundation. So he’s asking Kiwis to help find someone who can straddle the worlds of venture capital, investment, innovation and sustainability through #theshouldertap campaign.
Handley, with the help of Augusto, launched the recruitment campaign in an interview on The Paul Henry Show and on Twitter and says the successful candidate will partner with him to define the role.
“For now, I’m calling it a ‘chief operator’, a financial and operational genius with the heart of a crusader, the courage of an entrepreneur, and an eye on the bigger challenges facing our future,” he wrote. “In the last decade, I have been involved in a range of innovative ventures as an advisor, director, investor, or as a founding entrepreneur. This year I have set up a charitable foundation to become a catalyst for ideas and new leaders pursuing a sustainable, socially progressive New Zealand. I really believe we need to break down the walls and silos between doing well for ourselves, and doing good for society. That’s exactly why I created this role – to achieve the goals of both the foundation and the breadth of my entrepreneurial activities. They will lead a range of initiatives connecting the worlds of social impact and sustainability, with new ventures and innovation.”
- Check out our in-depth interview with Handley here.
Handley wants to hear from anyone who knows anyone who is exceptionally bright and passionate about making a bigger difference than they already are (nominate someone or apply for the role here).
“I’ve chosen to launch this as a bigger campaign beyond the search for just one individual to ignite a conversation in New Zealand that prompts young people to stop and think about their own career paths. To make them really question how they can use all of their talents to not only be the best in New Zealand, but the best for New Zealand.”
He believes there are very few jobs like this out there today, especially jobs based in New Zealand, and that “the jobs of the future will be the ones designed to challenge people to grow their careers while having a bigger social impact”.
The campaign has been launched to build on the ethos of the B Team, the global leadership group Handley established with Sir Richard Branson.
The website asks applicants 13 questions about themselves and their definition of success, otherwise they can nominate another person for the role.
The successful candidate will assess entrepreneurial and investment opportunities and help build a charitable foundation to accelerate ideas to make New Zealand a better place, the website says.
Whoever gets the job will also be able to design their own reward package and choose from development experiences like a Zero Gravity flight with NASA, swimming with sharks or attending a Third Metric live event in New York with publisher Arianna Huffington.
The website features several successful Kiwis, including actor Antonia Prebble, TV personality Brooke Howard Smith, social entrepreneurs Sam Johnson and Sir Ray Avery, education futurist Frances Valintine, former All Black Mils Muliaina, nanoscientist Dr Michelle Dickinson and architect Nat Cheshire.
