I admit it. I’ve failed…a lot. I’ve made bad decisions. I’ve tried things that didn’t work out as planned. I’ve watched my efforts result in nothing. If you think I’m crazy to publicly relate this information to you, you’re not alone. A quick Google search of the word “success” yields twice the results (almost a billion) as does the term “failure”. And most of the top hits for failure are concerned with trying to avoid it at all cost. Clearly, we humans are not big fans of this F-word.
Congratulations on a hard-fought race for your second term as President. With your recent victory, I hope you will use your power – as a legislator, but also a bully pulpit – to broaden your agenda and take on some of our society’s most pressing issues. And, you have one thing that no other President has ever had – an army of two generations of social entrepreneurs who are fighting every day to change the landscape of education, health care, and workforce development.
or: How I learned to stop worrying and love summer vacation
Partnership sounds like a good thing, and it is, but when you are also an entrepreneur and the founder of an organization, it can get a bit intense. Picture the army cowboy riding the nuclear bomb into oblivion in Dr. Strangelove.
Could a strict definition of social enterprise do more harm than good? And whose interests does the definition best serve in this era of so many business hybrids?
It’s my job to meet with social entrepreneurs every day. Our conversations typically focus on what they’ve done so far, and what they’ll do next to get their ventures off the ground. Often, those conversations take a turn toward dispelling common conceptions about what it takes to get a business in motion: investing in market research; delivering a business plan; entering into entrepreneurship competitions. Somehow, a focus on execution has escaped.
Could a strict definition of social enterprise do more harm than good? And whose interests does the definition best serve in this era of so many business hybrids?
It’s my job to meet with social entrepreneurs every day. Our conversations typically focus on what they’ve done so far, and what they’ll do next to get their ventures off the ground. Often, those conversations take a turn toward dispelling common conceptions about what it takes to get a business in motion: investing in market research; delivering a business plan; entering into entrepreneurship competitions. Somehow, a focus on execution has escaped.
