A Sherpa's Guide to Innovation

E96: Concordia's Matt Swift on Convening for Collaborative Change

July 14, 2021 The Innovation Engine at Atrium Health
A Sherpa's Guide to Innovation
E96: Concordia's Matt Swift on Convening for Collaborative Change
Show Notes

An episode 20 years in the making! For our 96th episode, Ben welcomes long-time friend Matthew Swift, co-founder and CEO of Concordia, to discuss how he innovates in the world of public affairs. 

Concordia is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to actively fostering, elevating, and sustaining cross-sector partnerships for social impact, including hosting the annual Concordia Summit. Matt described Concordia as "A forum discussing the world not as one person sees it but as a broader collective sees it, with no bias towards political party or political movement, and no bias for public sector or private sector."

Learn how the idea for Concordia started at a student auction at Georgetown University, and how the Concordia Annual Summit began as a small event with 100 people (mostly friends and family, Matt admits) to now hosting nearly 4000 attendees with  representatives from 90 countries and 17 sitting heads of state.

Additionally, Matt shares his insights on how to convene leaders to drive change, as well as:

  • Counsel for healthcare innovators about how to approach public/private partnerships
  • The experience design of a Concordia Summit event
  • Why the response to Covid-19 is perhaps the greatest public/private partnership in history

On Twitter:

@MatthewASwift
@ConcordiaSummit
@SherpaPod
@TheBenReport

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