My partner recently wrote a great post about the start ups he would invest in, but I figured I would blow out his thoughts into where I see all this leading and it’s this. Social entrepreneurs will lead the future of business.

That’s a bold claim. Why do I think this? Because it’s already happening, and has been happening (albeit more slowly than recently) for the past decade.

Like any progressive movement, it takes pioneers to blaze the way for the rest of us. Companies like Ben and Jerry’s, White Dog cafe have been hacking through the red tape, wagging fingers and sideways glances for years. In the process, they’ve proven that social mindedness and business are not mutually exclusive endeavors and a pack of wide eyed entrepreneurs are stampeding down the now highly respected path.

On the backs of these heroes of the social world entrepreneurs can now make their case (not to mention that they have all sorts of advantages our forefathers lacked like social enterprise business programs, networks, incubators and a blessing from the government).

Now there are many arguments that social entrepreneurship is praised more highly than intrapraneurship etc. I agree that both are crucial and, in fact, symbiotic (the work of innovators would never attain access to larger operations if not for enlightened people on the inside and those driving innovation there).

But there are some unique aspects to social entrepreneurs that make them the catalyst. One being that they have the least path to resistance to try new models and methods of doing things (no corporate red tape when you’re working out of coffee shop on your world-changing idea). But maybe the most important part, they are out to save the world, which means they won’t take no for an answer and want to move fast and big. This makes them susceptible to the greatest rule for entrepreneurship, “fail often, fail fast”. Social entrepreneurs are the test bed for what will succeed or fail in a business atmosphere. They also show us where huge market exists, often by going against all odds to prove opportunity where it’s been overlooked for ease of profit.

Can they change the whole business infrastructure themselves? Probably not, but they push the frontiers of what we know as possible which is extremely important and starts a cycle of demand (better business is possible, which leads us to demand better business). This then opens the door for their real potential of proving feasibility and and the integration of their practices into larger scale operations where it makes sense.

There seems to be a general rising of consciousness. Re: the statistics I stated in the last post, but beyond just a purely capitalist perspective, people are beginning to realize more and more about themselves in relation to the state of the world (and perhaps even more importantly, to how and what aspects we’ve created).

The financial crisis may have been the wake up call. It has demanded a reassessment of needs and in doing this, we begin to realize our own humanity. When you’re concerned about what you need to survive, you turn to things like food, community and shelter. How do we get those things? If money’s failing us, what do we do?

I’m a firm believer this is what’s spurred the revival of the food and farming movement (what’s more basic than food and the first natural question is ‘where does it come from?’) The impetus to ask these questions might be the most important turning point for this generation, and hopefully, the world.

Some of the most important of these questions might be ‘why?’ and ‘how do we fix it?’

There are several answers to ‘why’ the problems of the world exist today.

1.) information lag – We’re not totally to blame. There was much that was unknown to much of society. We just didn’t know CO2 was bad for the world until the scientific tools were available to suggest this. Many negative labor practices were unbeknownst to consumers, etc.

2.) exploitation – short term, single bottom line, greed inspired behavior (every individual person has their story of course, but direct action to benefit at the cost of others is obviously a large part of the problem).

3.) apathetic or neglectful perpetuation – the system is in place and each cog that keeps it moving forward perpetuates its faults. This is can both be argued as personal responsibility or be chalked up to human nature and rationalization, either way, I’m a believer it can be overcome.

The question of how we fix these problems is the more influential and, it’s answers, more powerful. Groups and individuals are learning how to solve these problems and, in doing so, becoming more empowered than ever before. Whether it’s fixing their cars or growing their own food, people are learning more about how the systems in place work and their place within (or potentially without) them. This creates a huge shift. As consumers become creators (and they already have) more and more power is transfered to them. We return to community in seeking these answers and in support for executing them.

It also causes a deeper questioning though (perhaps a third question) and that is one of purpose. Aside from the question of existence, humans have an innate desire and remarkable ability to create. And with the questions of existence thrust upon them, they are finally pushed to ask “to what end?” More and more people I come across in the creative fields are coming to ask this. I know, we’ve all heard about those who have been laid off re-evaluating their situations and focusing on their dream careers or taking this time to travel. But very few are focusing on those with the all coveted jobs actually giving up security in exchange for meaning. And I do not throw “coveted” around easily — many of the people I know experiencing this range from product directors at Google (often fought over tooth and nail) to planners at top agencies in New York.

Perhaps it is a phenomenon to the creative class as this particular place and time, but from speaking with various spiritual leaders as well, there is a general consensus that something is shifting.

Of course, this is not the 60s and we are not all going to disengage –I have further thoughts about why this generation is poised to potentially create real and lasting change in a way that’s different (and which would not have been for) the generations that came before it–but that’s for another post.

This morning, Noel. Super cheery blond on the L train going to 49th street. Mentions she hasn’t really seen anyone reading “Flow: The psychology of optimal experience” out in public but that it’s a great book. Too true, and too relevant to the whole train thing. We talk about how no one looks at each other on the train. “Yeah, when it’s really crowded, I just end up staring about something at the Bronx Zoo over and over.”

Me: It would be cool to do a graffiti project and put up some sort of question to ask the person next to you huh? Like “Ask the person next to you what they’re thinking right now.”

She agrees and it sounds like we (or rather I) am going to pursue this.

She says: people would probably just look at the person next to them, but at least it would get them thinking.

So here’s to figuring out what phrases and questions to create… NYC here I come.

Hope to see Noel again some time soon!

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html

2 encounters on this groggy cloudy morning. One person on (the wrong) bus heading down from Greenpoint, Marisol. I had never met anyone named Marisol before, but it’s apparently a very common Puerto Rican name. We talked shoes and clothing swaps (I started the convo by asking if her platforms were the kind that help your posture and make you excersice while you walk.. they weren’t but she had GREAT posture). We joked about trying to get more friends in fashion, all the better to swap clothes with. Apparently she lives out near the Grand stop-go right and you’ll find the puerto rican and hispanic community, go left and you have all the artist lofts. The communities don’t really mix (I asked if they talk to each other.. not so much).

After a long walk from realizing I was on the wrong bus, I got on the subway. What a ripe place for conversations that weren’t happening! I ask a girl next to me:

Jerri: “I wonder what would happen if everyone on the train just started talking to each other?”

Girl: “it would be very loud”

Jerri: “But wouldn’t it be interesting? What do you think is keeping everyone?”

Girl: “I think it’s just crowded”.

Crowded?! That doesn’t make any sense.. bars are crowded and we have fun in them and meet people! And the “self selecting crowd” arguement for bars doesn’t work when you’re on the L train (everyone’s pretty much of the same persuasion). I’m still more convinced by the tiredness factor and that everyone hates their jobs…or maybe we just need dimmer lights on the subway.

NEXT

TJ, who aparently works right down the street at Manga house Viz Media! He’s the creative director there and said he’ll actually smile at people throughout the day to try to elicit SOME sort of reaction from people (not too successful but at least he’s trying!) Super nice guy who’s over a foot taller than me. Hope to stay in touch with him. He’s actually planning to go see the anime exhibit KRAZY at the Japan Society that I went to the opening of thanks to the wonderful people at the Japan Society. The exhibit was actually created by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, of the architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow. As long as we’re talking about people, Yoshiharu is an amazing man with lots of great ideas about architecture, nature, and inate human connectedness and interaction. Again.. small world.. love!!

Today I met a registered nurse who teaches others how to be nurses. Added flare? The bestest fedora and yellow sweater vest. I hope he emails me back so I can get him the name of this great hat store in Brooklyn! (I forget both his and the hat store’s name.. sigh)

“The Subway is my church”

The thought being that there’s no modern day church for many of us young urban dwellers–some place where you’re forced to interact with (and be kind to) those who may not be of the same age/race/persuasion as you. It’s very easy to connect with “likeminded people”, but the idea of a diverse community is not as easy to come by. This kind of exposure can occur if you work at a large company or institution, but more often than not (especially in the creative and digital fields), I think we’re a bit self-segregated.

In reading Deep Economy, I’m learning and yearning more and more for the values of community. I’ve always loved and longed for them, but I’m curious what it would take to better develop those communities in a city as large as New York. McKibben also talks about the average size at which communities are optimal (about 40,000) for breeding the kind of interaction and dialogue that sparked the enlightened thinking of Michelangelo’s Rome and John Adams’ New York. No doubt, NYC is much larger now, but with a place so diverse, I think we may have the opportunity to learn a lot more than we do from “cross-disciplinary and cross-life experience than through just our industry events.

After all, if good ideas live in the bridge between disciplines, as Ronald S. Burt suggest, maybe great ideas live in the bridge between life experiences and understandings.

A memory from the first day of my 26th year. This was maybe the best birthday yet. Here’s to a great history and year to come.

Do with it what you will.. there are options

http://cca-actions.org/actions-list

A great exhibit that makes me want to take a trip to Canada (yes.. even in the winter.)

I try my best to live by the principal of Judo.

What’s generally seen as solely, a combat sport, the definition actually means “gentle way”.

According to Wikipedia, the soft method is characterized by the indirect application of force to defeat an opponent– redirecting the opponent’s force, off-balancing the opponent, or making use of superior leverage– as opposed to direct force. More specifically, it is the principle of using one’s opponent’s strength against him and adapting well to changing circumstances.

The founder, Jigoro Kano unified the art according to a principle, which he found in the notion of “maximum efficiency”

Seems pretty similar to the principles of social innovation. In battling social issues, we often see the enemy in the symptoms of the problem, or in people themselves. If only we could get homeless people off the street, or if people would just give more, or be more green. The old nonprofit route consisted of direct applications of force to fight these problems — donating food to homeless people, asking for donations, etc.

The new social entrepreneurs and innovators are the ones who are really refining the use of judo in solving these problems. Whether utilizing systems thinking to address the root problem, and more often using “symptoms” or even “bad” aspects of human nature to “maximum efficiency”.

This can be seen in products like Tom’s Shoes, which acknowledge and leverage valid consumerist needs (in this case shoes), for social good. It is in innitiatives like Slow Food, which encourages a love of food as the solution, instead of solely looking at the problems with our relationship to food and food production (something PETA struggled in the use of grotesque ad campaigns). It’s in companies like Terracycle and Betterworld books which turn waste into profit.

There are powerful inate human traits and inclinations that have developed through our evolution as a species and which have generally done well for us. Our desire to consume comes from a need for resources to stay alive. Much of our relationship to brands comes from the necessity to filter information and make decisions in a world that is loaded with information (light, sound, shape being processed  nearly instantaneously and, now, even more abstract information like origin, production methods and company value). Our selfishness and selflessness are complex mechanisms that allow us to create systems for self preservation. The question is not, how do you fight to change these aspects of humanity, but how do you use these characteristics to do what they were meant to do…save us.

I don’t even think this is the ultimate answer, I think it is part of the path to the answer, but more on that later.