Here’s a link that I just had forwarded to me from a friend. In the interview among other things, the author claims that despite their best intentions, non-profits haven’t been up to the task and social entrepreneurs need to step in. She also tells us that more and more business students are interested in careers in social entreprise… I knew my generation wasn’t completely lost.
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5782.html
I just read another fantastic story over at Worldchanging.com (click here for story). If you didn’t click that link to read the story here’s a brief synopsis. “Green” has gone big, but it doesn’t seem to have lived up to expectations. Emissions are still going up and all we’ve really done is to create a “green” fad. Though awareness has certainly been raised and the public is more ready to act than just a decade ago, this “green” movement is failing because it’s mostly been a marketing campaign so far and hasn’t engaged the kind of values that would support a sustained commitment to solving environmental problems. As the authors put it, “What previous campaigns have missed is that the world we hope to build as we progress towards sustainability is not just a world that offers a better quality of life, it’s a world that’s more in alignment with the sort of fundamental values (from concern for our children to connection to nature to a sense of duty) that most define us as human beings.
I think that the message Steffen and Steinberger are getting across is fairly universal. When you act out of a genuine desire for change, with a strong vision of the world you wish to create, progress will come naturally. Acting out of guilt or shame never produces results nearly as effective as acting upon a positive vision of compassion or idealism. One reason that I think Kiva has been so unbelievably successful is because it does take the more positive route. People are motivated because the one to one lending promotes a sense of human connection and compassion. Kiva is an unbelievable model to follow for any business trying to promote positive change because they’re acting from genuine values. Lenders are not scared or coerced into action, they are impelled by their own humanity.
