From Living the New Story – Series 3

Nipun Mehta is the founder of ServiceSpace, an incubator of projects at the intersection of volunteerism, technology and gift-economy. What started as an experiment with four friends in the Silicon Valley has grown to a global ecosystem of over 500,000 members, delivering millions of dollars in free service. Nipun has received the Jefferson Award for Public Service, Wavy Gravy’s Humanitarian award, Dalai Lama’s Unsung Hero of Compassion award and most recently, Nipun and ServiceSpace received the Goi Peace Award in recognition of their collective efforts to transform the world through generosity. In 2015, President Barack Obama appointed him to a council on poverty and inequality. Nipun’s message of “giftivism” reaches wide-ranging audiences, from inner city youth in Memphis to academics in London to international dignitaries at the UN. He serves on the advisory boards of the Seva Foundation, the Dalai Lama Foundation, and Greater Good Science Center.

Questions for ongoing reflection and dialogue

1. What experience do you have of generosity and service operating in your own life and local community?

2. What would it take to create a culture of giving in your life and community? How might you engage in ‘giftivism’ – the practice of radical acts of generosity (small acts done with great love)?

3. If you were to list some of the untapped capitals that you have access to, what would they be? What value would you assume for each? What is the good that has previously gone undetected?

4. How can you start to think in the many-to-many way? Notice what happens when you engage with life through this lens. With an awareness of all the relationships in your ecosystem, what small nudges can you offer to turn the tide of polarisation and build bridges of meaningful connection?

5. What kind of leader are you? How might you begin to make space for a ‘laddership’ style to emerge, which allows you to surrender to and trust in collective intelligence?

6. Who do you have to be so that you can help facilitate the ripple effect of gift ecology in a non-linear way for the future? The invitation is to sit with this question over the next few weeks to allow a deep response to emerge from a place of inner transformation.