Matt Flannery ’00, M.A. ’01, founder of Kiva, a non-profit organization that allows individuals to make microfinance loans to people in developing countries, admitted to an audience of students Sunday that his last year at Stanford was “discombobulating and fragmenting.”
“There was so much at stake, graduating felt like walking off a plank,” Flannery said.
After graduation, Flannery worked at TiVo, but said he found himself questioning how to integrate service into his life. According to Flannery, service helped him overcome his fears.
“Fear comes from threats against yourself, or your person, or your livelihood,” Flannery said. “But really, when you serve others or some cause, there is no reason to fear anymore, because it’s not about you anymore, but it’s about the issue or some person.”
Flannery was one of four panelists who spoke at “The Engagement Summit,” an event held in Old Union, which was organized by the ASSU and aimed at discussing issues of service and charity. Other speakers included former Senator Mike Gravel (D-Alaska), Change.org’s Sam McAfee and Blissmo founder Sundeep Ahuja ’00.
“We live in a really troublingly unequal world,” Flannery said about the need for service.
McAfee said it was his upbringing in an activist household coupled with his passion for computer science that led him to search for a career that would synthesize the two interests. He first founded Radical Fusion, an Internet consulting company that served non-profits, before shutting it down and moving to Change.org.
“The main theme of my work has been to not fear failure, to learn from it and to constantly iterate over good bad ideas,” McAfee said.
Ahuja emphasized the importance of introspection and having a specific idea of the personal investment of service.
“Service was always about fun and just doing what I love in a way that I feel happy about what I’m doing,” Ahuja said. “Service is most powerful when it is done in a way that aligns your interests with what is beneficial.”
Ahuja asked audience members to question what service means for them.
“While it may lead to embarrassing answers, at least you’ll know why you’re doing something, which means you’re being authentic with yourself,” he said.
Gravel discussed the merits of direct democracy as a solution to the current governance problem. Gravel said that his organization, the National Citizens’ Initiative for Democracy, aims to raise awareness about direct democracy and call for a shift in governance.
“The people will originate, set and vote on policy,” Gravel said of his ideal governing system.
Audience questions ranged from the issue of ASSU representation of the student body to how to effectively measure the impact of service in the social sector.
“I have always been interested in public service, but this event gave me many perspectives of what service means in the real world, and I think that this event actually made me value my Stanford education a bit more highly, for everything that I can go on and do with it,” Yongjian Si ’14 said.