Pioneers of the Future

There is no guidebook for leading change. No compass, treasure map, or well-trodden path to follow. During each trek, change agents must act as their own guides on the challenging terrain ahead. Pitfalls arise in communicating project visions to colleagues. Dead ends appear when upper management resists. And paths inevitably cross between people who are skeptical of the project's broader mission.

But for one group of young visionaries, choosing the road less traveled must make all the difference. They are members of a diverse network called Pioneers of Change -- the unofficial training ground for international change agents-to-be. As the next generation of business people, entrepreneurs, and professionals, these future leaders are educating one another about redefining the culture of work globally in the 21st Century, and exploring ways to maintain those conversations for generations to come.

Formed in January of 1999, Pioneers of Change comprises more than 500 members in 30 countries from South Africa to Brazil, and the Philippines to Australia. The committed participants come from all disciplines: They are free agents in Mexico City, non-profit leaders in Copenhagen, technology consultants in Johannesburg, and even freelance artists in New York. By meeting regularly in localized groups to share and strategize their change routes of choice, these grassroots innovators are able to maintain a strong sense of idealism and community. Members of Pioneers of Change believe that by using work as a vehicle for creative expression and by applying themselves to what really matters, they can and will produce significant social impact by following their true passions. Yet many of the organization's pioneers also realize that creating change in their respective fields is sometimes not enough. In order to leave a lasting imprint on business and the world, each member accepts the challenge to train and inspire future generations when they join Pioneers of Change. And the adventure begins with a critical first step: the integration of work and life values.

"We're separating what a job is and what a life is," says Colleen Bowker, a native of South Africa who has been involved with youth development work on a global level for more than 10 years. "Pioneers of Change conveys that work can be something different. It can be an expression of who you really are, what your passions are, what you want to be creative about, and what you want to contribute. It's ambitious, but we are trying to re-invent the way people view work. These are big philosophical issues."

This was the challenge that Bowker, Marianne "Mille" Bojer and Marianne Knuth, all co-founders of Pioneers of Change, were grappling with after meeting in their early twenties as members of AIESEC (L'Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economics et Commercial), the world's largest international student group committed to cultural understanding. The well-known organization, which boasts a membership of more than 50,000 students from 800 colleges in 87 countries, has been a hotbed for young people working to alter the status quo in both business and politics. Bowker served as national president of AIESEC South Africa and went on to spend a term as director of AIESEC International in Brussels, where she facilitated the group's Corporate Social Responsibility program. But because AIESEC's active chapters exist only at the academic level, the group offers few opportunities for post-graduate involvement. Thus, many of AIESEC's members have migrated to Pioneers of Change.

"What's really exciting is that we started global from the beginning," says Bojer, who co-founded the organization after studying international development and political science at Cornell University and Copenhagen University. "We had this global network of friends, many of whom knew one another from international schools of business. Since the first meeting, we've had people from Zimbabwe, Indonesia, and Brazil. That cultural diversity has always been there."

Like AIESEC, Pioneers of Change is founded upon the principle of looking beyond tradition -- questioning existing, established business practices and models in order to promote increased creativity and innovation on the job. By initiating a global dialogue about risk-taking and the importance of following gut instincts, Pioneers of Change aims to develop its young members' vision of work and also provide a network of moral support.

"We focus on the obstacles people face within organizations but, more importantly, we focus on young peoples' view of work," Bowker says. "We recently had a meeting with a big multi-national company here in Brazil, and the first point brought up was that people think they cannot apply their personal beliefs in the workplace setting. If somebody has an organization they want to support, a cause they're involved in, or discussions they want to bring up, they feel they can't integrate those things into their working life. Our challenge is to be quite articulate and convincing in the examples of work-life integration that we highlight."