Blair Glencorse is the Founder and Executive Director of Accountability Lab, a global NGO focussing on empowering citizens to make changes they know are necessary in their communities. A global expert in citizen engagement and anti-corruption, Blair has a unique approach to improving governance and accountability across the world. Whether it’s ‘naming and faming’ honest and trustworthy government officials through X Factor style ‘Integrity Icon’, or publishing the annual strategy in a rap song. He discusses:
- ‘Positive deviance’ – what it is and why it’s been important to him since childhood
- The problem with the way we set up incentives in our society
- The ‘Integrity Icon’ project and how it made honest government officials famous – starting in Nepal
- His experience at the World Bank and how the idea for Accountability Lab came from his work with people in Nepal
- How most frontline issues, be it lack of education or clean water, stem from a lack of accountability in leadership
- The mission of Accountability Lab today and his role
- Why they chose to publish their strategy in hip-hop form (listen to a clip!) and the problem with most corporate strategy documents
- Their engagement with musicians, artists and technologists to amplify their ideas through culture
- How accountability will be good for business in the future
- His approach to ‘radical transparency’
- The balance between collaboration and competition across multiple sectors, especially when it comes to anti-corruption and climate issues
- The emergence of ‘Chief Integrity Officers’ and the importance of balancing ethics with compliance to avoid corporate scandals
- His advice for a new Chief Integrity Officer and how to embed ethics throughout a culture
- The organisations whose example we should try and follow
- A success story from ‘Integrity Icon’, increasing female representation in regional government in Pakistan
- His approach to leadership as a collective effort within a flat structure
- Defining organisational values and how to embed values-led decision making
Want to appear? Email podcast@standingongiants.com
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