social enterprises
David Robinson, OBE, Founder of Community Links
David is a community worker, the co-founder of Community Links and now Senior Adviser. Community Links works with more than 16,000 people a year in East London and shares the local experience with policy makers and practitioners nationally through publications, training and consultancy.
David currently leads the Early Action Task Force tackling the question "How do we build a society that prevents problems from occurring rather than one that deals with the consequences?" The Task Force are now driving forward the recommendations outlined in their 2011 report The Triple Dividend and will be publishing the sequel in November. David's policy work has been recognised with an honorary doctorate from the Open University and he was named as a Morgan Stanley Great Briton for his contribution to public life.
He also founded We Are What We Do and the Children's Discovery Centre. He is a trustee of the holding company for the Big Society Bank and, as one of the architects of the Social Impact Bond, chairs the Social Impact Bond advisory group.
He led the PMs Council on Social Action for Gordon Brown and previously worked with the then Chancellor on the book - "Britain's Everyday Heroes". Other publications include "Unconditional Leadership", “Out of the Ordinary” and the million selling "Change the World for a Fiver".
To coincide with the launch of his last book David was featured in the Guardian with an in-depth look at how Early Action can help create a fairer and more socially just society; a theme developed in his speech at the Civil Exchange think tank event hosted by the Guardian in July 2012. David spoke at Business in the Community Responsible Business Convention (see video). In March 2012. In November 2102 David was a keynote speaker at the Locality Convention, the UK's largest network of community organisations.
The video below shows David talking about his view of leadership: