Better Business: Can a 500-Year Vision Help Save the World?
Huffington Post
By Julia Moulden

An interview with Joel Solomon, President and CEO of Renewal Partners.

Five hundred years. Such a vast expanse of time. Is it really possible for us to think beyond this quarter - or even next weekend?

When I'm puzzling over life's big questions, I find myself drawn to poetry. Poems remind me of what's important and satisfy my need for brevity (soon 140 characters will seem too long!). To whit, US poet laureate Kay Ryan's lean, keenly-observed work (from The Best Of It, Grove Press, 2010):

The bird
walks down
the beach along
the glazed edge
the last wave
reached. His
each step makes
a perfect stamp -
smallish, but as
sharp as an
emperor's chop.
Stride, stride,
goes the emperor
down his wide
mirrored promenade
the sea bows
to repolish.

This poem was running through my head when I sat down to interview Joel Solomon. Joel has been making his mark on Canada's west coast for decades, quietly, methodically, and not at all emperor-like. His work as President and CEO of Renewal Partners - a Vancouver-based organization that provides investments and grants for social change - is coming together in the most interesting way. This the first part of an edited version of two long conversations.

Check out the text of the full interview online on the Huffington Post.