Oscar Wilde said that success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result. At the Foundation, we are constantly looking for ways to turn this art of entrepreneurial leadership into a science - a challenging, even impossible task. However, one thing we can do is to create the conditions for success as best we can. We believe that to nurture high-impact entrepreneurial leaders, we need to develop our own ability to influence and stretch the Allan Gray Fellows' and Scholars' worldviews by challenging preconceived ideas.

For the Foundation, our definition of success is creating conditions where the Fellows can grow in their leadership capacity and an informed worldview. We strive to develop Fellows who are relevant and able to positively influence any context in which they operate.

Two examples of rich opportunity for growth were the National Jamboree, which was held in Cape Town in July and attended by all Fellows, and the One Young World Summit, which was held in Switzerland and attended by several of our Fellows and Talent. At the National Jamboree, over 200 Fellows gathered to ponder, debate and share ideas that could be translated into implementable projects or businesses using the open space discovery discussion methodology. In this process, the agenda is set by the participants who then also vote with their feet. At this event Fellows were challenged to stretch worldviews, debate and argue constructively. "Be unreasonable!" exhorted our CEO Anthony Farr.

The One Young World Conference, where 1300 delegates from 170 countries gathered, was held in Switzerland in September to connect and bring together the youngest, brightest people and ensure that their concerns, opinions and solutions could be heard. One of our Fellows, Bruce Haynes, did this literally when he took over the stage during a plenary session and challenged the world to sit up and take notice of the current times and the role that youth can play – in the form of a spoken word poem!

As we cannot always physically be with the Fellows to create all the conditions for success, we have used the power of technology to take it further. This year, the iShift entrepreneurial mindset curriculum has been designed by the Foundation team to create 120 self-directed learning opportunities. Using the “cogs” of the Cognician online platform, these 120 entrepreneurial attitudes use 120 real entrepreneurial role models to expand the worldview of the Fellows. Prompted by thought-provoking questions at each stage of the enquiry process, the Fellows practice mind gymnastics in order to learn, grow and stretch their capabilities by becoming flexible in their views of the world. This process includes focusing on an entrepreneurial mindset and creating dialogue with the role model as they are asked - and have to respond to - introduction, motivation, introspection, application, and focus and resolution questions.

Will the Foundation be successful through these “conditions” it has created? Only time will tell – and like our founder, we take a long-term view, confident in the knowledge that anything worth doing takes time.