Lessons Learned from Pam and Pierre Omidyar  

    Pam and Pierre Omidyar are quoted in the Chronicle of Philanthropy as two of the youngest and most generous philanthropists in the world.  Their unique perspective coupled with a deep understanding of the dynamics of the Internet and society provide valuable guidance in the design of a global platform for humanitarian uplift.  Here are some quotes from their presentations.  (emphasis added)

"Almost every industry analyst and business reporter I talk to observes that eBay's strength is that its system is self-sustaining -- able to adapt to user needs, without any heavy intervention from a central authority of some sort.    So people often say to me - "when you built the system, you must have known that making it self-sustainable was the only way eBay could grow to serve 40 million users a day." Well… nope. I made the system self-sustaining for one reason: Back when I launched eBay on Labor Day 1995, eBay wasn't my business - it was my hobby. I had to build a system that was self-sustaining…

By building a simple system, with just a few guiding principles, eBay was open to organic growth - it could achieve a certain degree of self-organization. So I guess what I'm trying to tell you is: Whatever future you're building… Don't try to program everything. 5 Year Plans never worked for the Soviet Union - in fact, if anything, central planning contributed to its fall. Chances are, central planning won't work any better for any of us.

Build a platform - prepare for the unexpected... …And you'll know you're successful when the platform you've built serves you in unexpected ways. That's certainly true of the lessons I've learned in the process of building eBay. Because in the deepest sense, eBay wasn't a hobby. And it wasn't a business. It was - and is - a community: An organic, evolving, self-organizing web of individual relationships, formed around shared interests.

These were the five values I saw as essential:

May 2002 Commencement Speech at Tufts University

"We wanted to remind people that the best ideas came from the community. They're the ones that are out there actually using the product and, in some cases, making their living off it. They know what it needs more than we do, generally...From a customer-loyalty point of view, I learned later, it's wonderful when you write into a company, and somebody who's responsible responds to your e-mail and says, "You know what? That's a really good idea. Let me work on that." And then in a couple of days, you actually see the changes on the site. That gives you, as a user, a sense of ownership of the site. And it makes you a very loyal customer... I didn't necessarily think that was really going to work, but to my surprise, it did. Most of what I saw was positive ratings, not negative ratings. That's when it hit me: You know what, people really get a good feeling themselves when they can give praise to people who deserve. That is more powerful than the need to complain about somebody. It was a wonderful revelation. The values are communicated because that's how they're treated when they first arrive. Each member is passing those values on to the next member. It's little things, like you receive a note that says, "Thanks for your business."

If you want to think about it technologically, it's like peer-to-peer and distributed networks, where there's no centralized control. Those tend to be more robust than ones that are centrally controlled. Same here: The values are distributed throughout the community. They're not centrally controlled by eBay."

 Business Week Online, 2001

"What we say here every day is that our success is really based on our members' success, our community's success. We've created an infrastructure and laid some basic ground rules to create this marketplace. But at eBay, all the buyers and all the sellers are just ordinary people. They're the ones that create the community that's successful. They're the ones that created the environment that is inviting to other people, to new people, and they're the ones that are really responsible for the success and continued growth of the service."

 Government Technology, Feb 1999

"Increased communication and transparency shifts the balance of power away from the back rooms and boardrooms and towards the individual. Once tasted, this kind of liberation and empowerment cannot be reversed. An increase in individual power and influence means more group power to positively impact the lives of the individuals in the group, if that energy is properly channeled.

The negative consequences of this trend, taken to the extreme, can already be seen in the context of non-state entities inflicting disproportional damage to established institutions. To a lesser degree, a higher level of power in the hands of individuals also leads to higher expectations. In particular, this could create expectations that one's personal situation and beliefs are more important than another's. These are negative trends we have to continue to work against.

I believe the understanding and acceptance of a single realization could help bring the world together: Despite the enormous variety of human experience and beliefs, we are all fundamentally interested in the pursuit of a better quality of life for ourselves, our children, and our families. That pursuit takes many different forms, and "quality of life" means many different things to different people, but it is a fundamental aspect of what makes us human. It is this pursuit that binds us all together. Furthermore, a key part of our humanity is our social interaction. Working together to make our lives better, and the lives of those around us better."

 Fortune Magazine, 2002

"Be an enzyme - a catalyst for change. Act on the environment around you. Make it your mission to make some small difference in the great scheme of life. Pierre and I are making that the mission of our lives - every day.  That's what we're working toward at HopeLab - and in our philanthropy in general: The kind of catalytic impact that can bring change to bear on all manner of scientific challenges and social problems. And that really is the effort that must animate all of us: The effort to build a sense of community, citizenship and service into all aspects of life… Not only in the classroom but in the community, too… And not only later in life - when your learning years and earning years are over - but early on, and at every stage of life, so that the commitment to service has every opportunity to cascade out, and create a world of change.

 Pam Omidyar, Tufts University Commencement Speech, May, 2002

"We [eBay] really have to encourage our customers to treat each other well," Omidyar says. "You can't tell people to do that. You have to encourage them to adopt a certain set of values...[ the Omidyar Foundation seeks to] advance the same values as eBay: Empowering people and helping them be the best they can be."

Time Magazine 1999 Man of the Year Issue