Author Archives: sse

Monday round-up: Wilcox, web 2.0, Wal-Mart, whisky

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Barackmonster
Back in the swing of things on the blog front: two meetings cancelled / postponed today, and time therefore for a brief post rounding up some recent links and news of interest. Hope you like the recession/Obama cartoon (from gapingvoid, as ever). Roll on the inauguration. And kudos to intern Hannah, who has been blogging so proficiently that I got complimented for it….

– On that subject, interesting-ish article about whether non-profits should use volunteers / interns on their social media; comments are as interesting as the piece.

– Third Sector Minister Kevin Brennan in the Times on the opportunities for social enterprise in the current economic climate: Chance for social enterprise to be more enterprising

– Arch genius of social media / non-profits (or the godfather of social reporting, as I read recently) David Wilcox twittered (yes, I know..) today about this categorisation of conversations and dialogues and tools. If you facilitate or run workshops, this is interesting.

– Nat over at Change.org is bang on the money again: Investing in People Not Ideas

–The Paradox of Choice, also via David Wilcox; why more is, ultimately, less; to apply this policy in the world of web 2.0, read Beth Kanter's tips on How Non-Profits Can Use Social Media Efficiently

– Top 10 Green Books of 2008: another list for the list

– Two new posts from social enterprise ambassador Peter Holbrook: Losses and Life in 2009, and Enterprising Solutions; both worth reading.

– Are you going to Voice 09? SSE will be there. Word on the street is that there were some bursaries available…..though these may have gone by now

– Turkish Social Entrepreneur of the Year list

– The top 5 articles in Stanford Social Innovation Review from last year are pretty interesting; on performance, impact, social innovation…and Wal-Mart amongst others.

– And from the same magazine, what better way to start the year than with 10 Ways to Become a Better NonProfit Leader in 2009

– I've just reviewed Forces for Good for Social Enterprise Magazine; I'm lining up the Charismatic Organization next (subtitle: eight ways to grow a nonprofit that builds buzz, delights donors, and energizes employees; oh yes)

– Social Silicon Valleys: in Spain article from the Guardian. I've met

– Finally, and fairly randomly, enjoyed this article about how whisky is having to be rationed because the Chinese are drinking so much. On an overland train from Xian to Shanghai a year ago, I had a conversation with a Chinese guy where he recommended 'baijio' ("Chinese whisky"; aka hugely strong alcohol schnapps-y type thing, best mixed with snake's gall-bladder apparently) and asked what I'd recommend. My recommendation was Bruichladdich, which my new friend faithfully wrote down on his newspaper. I'd like to think, therefore, that I'm at least partly responsible for this Chinese whisky frenzy…..

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Action-Learning

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This week I had the opportunity to sit in
on one of the workshops with the SSE students. It was a great way to gain some
insight into how SSE’s model works in action. As children we are generally
encouraged to answer our own questions by experiencing something for ourselves.
The SSE workshops encourage students to answer their own questions by
experiencing something for themselves. By taking the time to question and
reflect we can intentionally change our behavior and recreate our reality.

 

Similar to the approach taken at the Center
for Experiential Learning at St. Olaf, action learning is not just about
learning by doing: you must reflect on that experience in order to identify
exactly what it is you have learned, internalize the lessons and devise action
plans so you can take effective action in the future in a new situation,
however similar or different. Through practice, SSE students learn the ability
to ask the right questions at the right time and take action when necessary.

 

One of the interesting consequences of
action learning is that learning starts with not knowing. We only become open
to learning when we admit what we don’t know. There are no experts in these
situations, and therefore there may also not be any right answers. What is
important to note is that in situations where there are no right answers, it is
important to act in order to learn. This ability to act (or be prone to action)
is a fundamental quality of an entrepreneur. In an action-learning setting,
learning takes place by posing useful and discriminating questions in
conditions of uncertainty. Learning is about trying out unfamiliar ideas, and
involves risk and taking actions which might not work out.

 

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Economic downturn: diamond in the rough? New opportunities for change

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It has been a busy first two weeks for me here at SSE. The staff members here at the school are all very dynamic individuals, each with much to add to the conversation surrounding social entrepreneurs. One of the interesting conversations I’ve picked up on here, is one about the challenge of finding funding for small to mid-size non-profit organizations. With the recent credit crunch, there will inevitably be cut backs in government spending, and the endowments of various foundations and investment trusts have already begun to subside. Many people suggest that the private sector should pick up the slack, but corporation’s are experiencing their own economic hardships, and are not likely to increase their financial support to the sector anytime soon. Meanwhile the competition among various non-profits for the available funding is ever increasing. There is constant pressure to reinvent ideas so that they appear fresh and new. This proposes a demanding, however potentially extraordinarily stimulating environment for the avid social entrepreneur.

Nearly everyone is looking to make ends meet, and non-profits are no exception. In the past decade, the solution to lack of funding resources in the non-profit sector has seen a move towards being socially enterprising. Social enterprises aim to construct alternative methods for generating revenue to support mission-based programs. A regressing economy ushers in increasing social tension and disparities. Higher unemployment rates cause individuals to seek self-employment or reinvent their careers in order to regain control of remaining resources.

People tend to take fewer risks and become less creative when the commercial sector undergoes rampant downsizing and reorganizing. Creativity requires trial and error, and no one knows what happens to those who experiment with a new approach and then fail. It takes a real leap of faith to become a test case. The irony here is that this tendency to avoid risk comes just at a time when creativity is most needed in the workplace. However, fortunately, challenging and dodgy conditions are often the type of circumstances in which entrepreneurs thrive. When times are tough, people are more willing to find deals, strike partnerships, or work towards new negotiations.

It seems as though in the current climate, attitude is everything. An optimistic outlook will likely open more doors and sustain enterprises much longer than a negative narrative. Defining oneself as an entrepreneur can take time and involves gradual building of confidence. However once someone begins to see the positive outcomes of their actions or innovative solutions, they begin to feel more passionate about identifying themselves as a social entrepreneur. Perhaps the changing economic environment will create entrepreneurs out of some individuals who may have never considered dreaming up and testing out their own solutions to persistent problems. In his 2007 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Al Gore pointed out that in Chinese and Japanese, the word “crisis” is written with two symbols. The first symbol stands for “danger,” and the second stands for “opportunity.”  A new premium has been placed on vision and strategic planning instead of short-term financial risk taking. Ultimately this type of constructive thinking will benefit everyone, even as some will suffer now.

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Top 10 things that inspired SSE in 2008

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So, Todd Hannula had a pretty well-aimed rant towards the end of last year at inward-looking research-y type posts on the blog, so this blog's New Year resolution is to focus more on what matters: the people who are doing it; why they are doing it; and how they are going about it.

To that end, my final top 10 over this start of the New Year period is the top 10 things in this social entrepreneurship world that inspired me in 2008, rather than the 10 things that got my goat.

1) SSE students (and Fellows): an obvious place to start, maybe, but this is why we do what we do…and both the programmes that completed in 2008, and those that started, have been full of inspirational people creating positive change, motivating communities, taking personal responsibility, inspiring others and….inspiring us through the tougher moments as well.

2) Obama: OK, he's not our president, but it was a great event, and one that's given genuine hope (and unrealistic expectation) to America and the world. I certainly wouldn't have stayed up till 5 in the morning to hear many other presidential candidates speak….

3) Work well received by new audiences: Sometimes being bogged down, head down, in the UK scene, and the machinations of advocacy and delivery…it's easy to lose sight of what we're doing, and how well we're doing it. So giving speeches in Toronto and Beijing, and doing workshops withnew audiences like the Teach First ambassadors, reminded me of that, and provided a new slug of inspiration.

4) Social entrepreneurs are….the same the world over: While I'm on the international subject, another thing that inspired me, especially given SSE's potential international work, was how similar social entrepreneurs (and their needs, barriers, opinions, and debates) are, no matter the country they are in.

5) Estates: the most interesting, informative and influential book I've read this year (work-wise), though I have heard that a rogue 'social entrepreneur' features in the Booker-prize winning White Tiger which I got for Christmas…..other top books here

6) Shine + other unconferences: Shine 08 was a great success, IMHO (check out the live social reporting site as well), with a good vibe, dynamism and pragmatism to it; we'll be looking to build on it at Shine 09, along with our partners UnLtd, Ashoka and the Hub (+ the real workers behind it, Germination). Of other unconference-type events, Social Innovation Camp is definitely beginning to roll, and 2gether was a lot of fun.

7) Storytelling session at Skoll: The best session at the Skoll World Forum ever (and I've been at them all), and probably at any event this year. And introduced me to James Orbinski, and his book An Imperfect Offering, both of which are amazing.

8) This day: Charlie Leadbeater and Peter Holbrook: One of my favourite days of the year, giving my head and heart a good work out, and satisfying my yin and yang of conceptual and practical work. Both great and inspiring people to learn from.

9) GreenPrint: A little thing, perhaps, but a great example of a product that works and advocates and fundraises all in one; so far, I've "not printed" 183 pages I would have normally (which has also saved SSE $20.80 apparently; which was £10 ish but is now more like about £14). Genius little widget from PrintGreener.com

10) SSE's 10 year reunion dinner: And back to SSE for number 10, appropriately, for our 10 year anniversary reunion dinner. It was great to meet people from the first cohort or two, great to learn more about the initiation of the organisation, and great to get a sense from people how far the organisation has come…and how much further it can go.

Here's to 100s and 100s more inspiring people and moments in 2009.


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SSE news in January 2009: recruitment…..

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Just a quick post to say that SSE is recruiting on two fronts:

a) Staff: we're looking for a super-keen, wonderful, dynamic, confident development person to become our Network Sustainability Officer: supporting and developing the growing UK franchise network.
See here for more details

b) Students: we're recruiting students for our two London programmes and for an amazing programme for Jewish / Muslim social entrepreneurs in New York. For more info on these opportunities, see:

Also, while I'm doing an internal bit of info-spreading, a big welcome to Hannah, our new intern over from the US. Currently beavering away on analysing a survey, responding to queries from the website, and generally getting up to speed on what the devil we do, I'm hopeful that Hannah will be putting up a few posts over the next few weeks while she's with us….

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