“I believe young passionate people are the greatest untapped resource.” – how passion is necessary but not enough and why a successful business woman cares.

Victoria Wilding, CEO, Shift Foundation, Melbourne, Australia

Victoria came directly from the plane from the USA to see us in her foundation’s office in Melbourne. She was a bit tired but, through the inspiration of the last days excited to share her experiences. The foundation she founded aims to support outstanding young leaders and she has just attended an inspiring conference in Washington - “Democracy in enterprise”? -, organized by one of the po-tential participants of the leadership program that Victoria and her team are setting up.
This conference, Victoria said, was a good example of what great things young outstanding people can achieve, but also an example of a young talent that could have even greater impact if provided with senior guidance and a network. And that’s exactly what Shift Foundation is providing.
A successful entrepreneur herself, Victoria experienced quite intensively how difficult it sometimes can be to take the right decisions without enough experience and no one to ask. Therefore, she wants to provide a space for young, talented social entrepreneurs where they can ac-quire the necessary skills and know-how, but also receive ongoing mentoring and a network.
Enjoy reading selected thoughts and statements of our discussion with Victoria Wilding in the quotations below. You may be able to read more about her diverse ideas how to create a perfect space for young social entre-preneurs in our book “MyImpact”.

Victoria Wilding’s selected quotations:
"Our organization is called "Shiftfoundation" because of the shift in the way of looking at the world in a global and expanded perspective."

"I have always wanted to make global, positive impact. I just didn't know a way and place to express it."

"I had the idea of the foundation four years ago and it evolved ever since. If you have something to contribute to the world, you need to create the right vehicle."

"There is a big difference between just doing a job and living your passion. I want to serve something bigger than me and I now have the opportunity to do that."

"I have always been aware of the fact that we limit our-selves in the way how we view the world."

"When I think of some young people that I met it is some-times just about blind passion or blind inspiration. They need some kind of support to make their visions actually work."

"My vision is to create this space where young people with great ideas would be guided through a transfor-mation process and enabled to change things through a network of professional that we provide."

"My corporate career is definitely helpful in terms of knowledge of how to build and run an organization."

"I want the people we work with to live their dreams. That's what inspires me."

Some background on Victoria Wilding:
Victoria Wilding has held roles as Managing Director, Country Manager and National Sales Manager for Hayes, Epson and Me-morex where she played an instrumental role in significantly increasing their revenue targets and market share.
In the 1990s she established a highly suc-cessful management consulting firm offering training and advisory services to CEOs, Boards of Directors and senior executives of global firms and the State and Federal Government including Shell, Kodak, Telstra, Cadbury Schweppes, Department of Education, Department of Health and Community Service and the Department of Defence.
Most recently she has brought her insight and renowned leadership capabilities to cutting edge initiatives which seek to nurture the growth and development of some of the planet's top young talent. As co-founder and CEO of the Shift Foundation, she is widely regarded as a highly innovative social entrepreneur and a key spokesperson for young global leaders. Her book, “Global Stewardship: A Paradigm Shift in our Understanding of Global Leadership” is due to be released in 2007.

Some background on the SHIFTFOUNDATION:
The Shift Foundation is an international foundation that engages outstanding young leaders aged 16-35 to progress thinking and action on some of the planet's most critical global challenges.
The Foundation brings together a team of some of the world's most provocative thinkers, practitioners, philanthropists, institutions and indi-viduals who share the vision to cultivate a new generation of leaders.
The Shift Foundation catalyses and develops strategic initiatives and programs that nurture the integral growth and development of young leaders from around the world. From its beginnings, the Foundation's commitment has been to provide an “end to end” approach that is both considered and responsive to the specific needs of an emerging generation of leaders.
The Foundation has catalysed and developed the following strategic initiatives:
- World Institute for Leadership Development: An centre of learning for the world's next generation of leaders
- World Venture Fund: A venture philanthropic fund estab-lished to strategically invest in the ideas, models and solu-tions generated by emerging leaders from around the world
- The Incubator: A hothouse for the generation of fresh thinking and action on world issues
- International Awards: A prestigious awards program for emerging young leaders in the fields of human and social development.

If you would like to engage with the work of Victoria Wilding or get to know more about the SHIFTFOUNDATION please visit www.shiftfoundation.org,
or, for more specific opportunities, contact joanna.stefanska@myimpact.ch or wolfgang.hafenmayer@myimpact.ch directly.