Storytelling… The Clinton Way
by Michael HoffmanTuesday, September 4th, 2007
Bill Clinton is busy these days trying to get back into the White House. But when I saw him speak early this summer at an evening in support of the American Jewish World Service, it was not politics on his mind. Bill Clinton — whatever you think of him — is doing great things for Africa, against HIV/AIDS, on obesity and nutrition, and helping poor communities generally.
He is doing this work in the context of the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. The Foundation is what it sounds like. The Clinton Global Initiative is a way to get business, NGO and government leaders together and get them to make some promises. For example, Richard Branson’s Virgin Group committed $3 billion to renewable energy projects over the next 10 years.
Clinton knows very well the impact of stories. He knows that to really move people to action, you have to take big scary issues, like HIV/AIDS or health care or malaria, and make it personal. He has always done this well and this is a big part of why he was so persuasive in public office and is so persuasive now with business and government officials around the world.
So I wasn’t surprised to see that Clinton is coming out with a new book. It is called Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World.
Here’s an excerpt:
I’ve included one picture that says it all. It captures the beautiful face and bright eyes of a Cambodian orphan born with HIV. Basil was ten months old when this photo was taken. His mother died when he was only one month old, and her doctor arranged for him to be taken in by New Hope for Cambodian Children, an organization that cares for HIV-positive orphans and other vulnerable children. When Basil arrived at the home, he was six weeks of age and had both HIV and tuberculosis. His doctor, a Clinton Foundation fellow, treated him for both conditions, giving Basil lifesaving pediatric AIDS medication through my foundation’s partnership with UNITAID, which funds our efforts to treat children across the globe. Basil responded well to the treatment, gained weight, and, as you can see, is now healthy. He has a chance. That’s often all one person can give another. But it can make all the difference.
