Henry De Sio: What if every leader would see themself as a changemaker?

In the first episode of the Impact Series by Katapult X, we sit down with Henry De Sio, a leader who has spent his career transforming bold ideas into real-world change. From shaping the Obama campaign to his current role at the United Nations Foundation, Henry shares profound insights from his Changemaker Playbook on leading with purpose and empowering everyone to become a changemaker. This episode dives deep into the challenges and triumphs of driving meaningful impact, reminding us that true progress requires persistence, innovation, and reflection.

Transcript

The Honorable Henry De Sio

You're known as the Global Ambassador for Changemakers. You’re a highly experienced leadership advisor, campaign and organizational strategist, and social sector executive, having led both startups and large organizations.

You were also the Chief Operating Officer for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and later served as Deputy Assistant to the President in the Obama White House.

Today, you’re speaking and headlining at some of the world’s most renowned venues, such as the Skoll World Forum in Oxford, the Asia Leadership Conference in Seoul, and the Global Child Forum at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, by invitation of the King and Queen.

You also authored *The Changemaker Playbook*, where you share insights on how individuals and organizations can navigate the new strategic landscape defined by disruptive change.

That’s quite an impressive list!

Thank you for the kind introduction. And thank you—it’s an honor to be here on your podcast at Katapult Future Fest.

Each of our episodes starts with a “what if” question to get things rolling and throw our guests into the deep end.

The “what if” question is one that’s really close to my heart. It has to do with the idea of changemakers, a label I’m happy to use for myself, many of my friends, and actually most people here at Katapult Future Fest.

So, the “what if” question is this:

What if every leader saw themselves as a changemaker?

Well, that’s a big question.

One of the things I discovered after my time in the Obama campaign—so I was in that bubble for about two and a half years, starting in 2007—and then in the White House bubble beginning in 2009, was that the world I had been part of, where leadership was often seen as a one-person-at-a-time job, was shifting dramatically. 

For five years, I was fully absorbed in electing and then assisting Barack Obama in governing the country. But when I stepped outside of that bubble, I realized there was a new DNA running through society. It wasn’t partisan or tied to any specific place or country. It was about innovative minds, service hearts, entrepreneurial spirits, and a collaborative outlook. This wasn’t the world I grew up knowing.

It hit me when I reflected on the fact that, when we launched the Obama campaign in early 2007, the iPhone didn’t even exist. Yet, by the end of 2007, it had fundamentally transformed the way we engage with the world. Suddenly, we had the tools of change at our fingertips, and the world had transformed from a one-leader-at-a-time dynamic to one where everyone leads, every moment.

Now, to answer your question: What if everyone saw themselves as a changemaker?

While we now have these tools of change, I think empathy has become the foundational skill everyone needs today. It wasn’t as essential in the previous world of following orders and executing skills, but now, as we all engage in the game of change, I need to understand how my actions affect you, and you need to know how yours affect me. 

So what is a changemaker, then?

A changemaker stems from this new societal DNA—empathy, collaboration, and innovation. It’s about breaking down walls, bringing people together around problems or opportunities. In fact, when I came out of the White House and started working with Ashoka, Innovators for the Public, we were pushing the idea that everyone can be a changemaker. It wasn’t just hope and change anymore; it was about everyone stepping into leadership roles. To be a changemaker today, you must master empathy and have the ability to bring people together to solve problems.

I completely agree. And Ashoka is an amazing organization—it's actually what brought me to Katapult Future Fest last year. Through the Ambitious Africa project, I became an Ashoka Young Changemaker, connecting Nordic and African youth to collaborate on impactful projects. Suddenly, I found myself on stage here at Katapult, and now I’m running a podcast. It’s all about opportunities, right?

Absolutely! And I love hearing that, because young changemakers are where the power lies. What if we equipped a whole generation to be changemaker-ready? We’re passing down an outdated playbook that says “get a skill, find a job, execute that skill.” But when I was at Ashoka, a statistic came out that said 65% of the jobs our kids will have in the future don’t even exist yet. That was a wake-up call for me as a father. The old assembly line approach no longer fits the world of everyone a changemaker.

I think you’re absolutely right. Young people today are the future. The Nordic countries, where young people are treated as equal contributors from an early age, have a unique model. You don’t need to have a degree or reach a certain status to be trusted to lead, which is often the case in hierarchical systems around the world. Have you noticed this difference in your work?

Definitely. You’re at the forefront of something. The hierarchical systems many of us were raised in don’t apply in today’s world. When I worked with the world’s leading social entrepreneurs at Ashoka, I observed that they shared some key principles, which I call the New Startup of Youth framework. 

First, empathy—it’s modeled early, before age seven. Second, between seven and twelve, kids develop their interests and passions through self-directed learning. Third, in their teens, young people learn to build a team around their ideas. Finally, the leave to learn principle: they gain experiences outside their comfort zone. These elements are essential for equipping young changemakers.

That’s incredible. I think we need more of this in our world today. Is this part of what you cover in your Changemaker Playbook?

Yes. I wrote Changemaker Playbook to equip this generation for a world where change is the only constant. The book explores three things: first, how the nature of change has evolved; second, the skills needed to navigate this environment; and third, how to prepare young people for this new world. It’s all about giving them a new playbook for the challenges they’ll face.

That’s powerful. We see the same issues in our work at New Nordic Way, where we’re constantly reminded that problems are becoming more complex and widespread. It’s clear that technology alone isn’t enough—we need human creativity, grit, and empathy to solve the world’s biggest challenges.

Exactly. The Obama campaign was known for being tech-savvy, but the real game-changer wasn’t technology. It was the ability to break down silos and bring people together. Sometimes technology helped facilitate that, but the innovation was, and still is, a human thing.

If we can adopt these principles and empower everyone to lead, we’ll accelerate our ability to solve global challenges. That’s why investing in young changemakers is crucial—they are the future, and we need to prepare them to lead in this new world.