The Two Way Street: Creating Mindset Change is the Way to Fight
In the third installment of the “What if Instead?” podcast, cohosts Alejandro Juárez Crawford and Mim Plavin-Masterman are joined by Nico de Klerk, founder and CEO of the StreetBiz Foundation and its “Be a Nelson” movement. Now, in a conversation we feel everyone around the world should hear, de Klerk shows us what it means to venture into places and engage with people we might believe are dangerous, because they are unknown – and the power of seeing them become our neighbors and collaborators. He delves into the profound impact of embracing the unknown, fostering a mindset of leadership, and building a growth network that supports and inspires individuals to reach their highest potential. De Klerk’s experiences, from his journey on the Camino de Santiago to his transformative collaborations in South Africa, offer invaluable lessons on resilience, inclusivity, and the power of community. “Number one, you really have to open yourself for the unknown,” de Klerk emphasizes. He draws a parallel to his walk on the Camino de Santiago, where simplicity and openness led to unexpected and enriching encounters. Similarly, in South Africa, de Klerk ventured into the Thabo Mbeki informal settlement, an area often stereotyped as chaotic and dangerous. Instead, he discovered a tightly-knit community that welcomed strangers
where you literally have a structure built with anything that you can think of…three by three meters or 10 feet by 10 feet or something like that, small… Then you learn about the structure, the organization within communities that will usually be seen as chaotic and just scenes of crime. It’s actually the opposite.
He advises getting into the mindset of a leader you admire and thinking about how they would handle situations. For him, Mandela’s principles of inclusivity and unity are guiding lights. He shares:
Whenever I get confronted with a situation, I don’t understand… I will just go into the mindset of Nelson Mandela… it’s like hearing his voice.
Building on this mindset, De Klerk describes the “Be a Nelson” movement as a catalyst for human resilience, enabling individuals to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.
It’s human resilience at its best… why will you only stay focused on the negative or the obstacles? The only reason to focus on that is how to remove it.
Tune in to hear the full interview with Nico de Klerk and gain insights into embracing the unknown and building supportive networks that foster growth and innovation. Dr. de Klerk has brought a recurring cohort of social innovators in the South African townships to the global Certificate in Sustainability and Social Enterprise that runs on RebelBase, as he described in an article we posted last year. The Two Way Street: Creating Mindset Change is the Way to Fight | A Conversation with Nico De Klerk | What If Instead? Podcast with Alejandro Juárez Crawford and Miriam Plavin-Masterman What if Instead? is produced by Srijan Banik and the team at Social Impact Lab at BRAC University, which Banik founded. Cohosts Mim and Alejandro’s One Size Fits None: Time for an Entrepreneurial Revolution, is forthcoming from Emerald Publishing in summer, 2025.
