I’ve spent a lot of time in Afghanistan and the mountains of northern Pakistan, so family and friends have been asking me what I think of the Three Cups of Tea dust-up.

As it happens, I went to see Greg Mortenson’s work in 2000. I was en route to Kabul when I got word that the friend with whom I was to work had been unexpectedly jailed by the Taliban for overstaying his visa. He got along with his captors pretty well, and they said they’d let him out soon, but I was left with couple of weeks on my hands. I had heard of Greg’s work and knew the region, so I thought I’d go up and have a look. I got in touch with Greg, who was in China, and we agreed to meet up in Hunza.

This year’s Skoll World Forum’s theme was large-scale change—and the event, if anything, was larger than life with more than 800 attendees and set in historic Oxford, England.  I was a Skoll newbie—it was my first year attending, and it was daunting.  I did, however, make the strategic decision to attend sessions that had less [...]