Amazon Summit Highlights Intersection of Business, Philanthropy & Poetry
LONDON - Amazon this week hosted its annual Force for Good Summit, bringing together over 100 leaders from the business, charity, and public sectors to explore collaborative approaches to positive social change.A key moment of the summit was a fireside chat led by an Amazon representative with William Sieghart CBE, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder of National Poetry Day.
Sieghart’s work, especially his “Poetry Pharmacy” series which frames poems as remedies for life’s difficulties, resonated with the summit’s theme of purpose-driven leadership. Attendees discussed how the power of language can foster healing and inspire action.
Sieghart’s commitment to social impact was further exemplified through his founding of StreetSmart, a charity that has raised over £12 million for people experiencing homelessness through a simple donation scheme added to restaurant bills. This initiative, and Sieghart’s broader philosophy, underscored the potential for synergy between creativity, compassion, and commercial enterprise – a principle Amazon stated it actively pursues in its mission to be a customer-centric company and a force for good in UK communities.
The summit concluded with a call for continued collaboration and a question posed to the audience: what poem would you prescribe for leadership challenges?
