I’m not implying that these are the only things you look for when hiring or even that they correlate to how you or I vote. But, they do provide a focus and help us cultivate an internal culture, mindset and attitude towards our work.
Initiative
People with initiative are rare–and when you come across them, you can develop not only a mentorship relationship, but also a reverse-mentorship relationship. In other words, like iron sharpens iron, working together makes you both better at what you do and what you know. A person with initiative does not always have all the answers–but they know where to get them. They are resourceful, pro-active and self-thinkers. For example, I once was in an interview where the person asked: If I was hired, what could I do before now and then to prepare for the position? Is there anything you’d like me to study or any skills I should refine? This is initiative. Check.
Commitment
From my experience, those with initiative often possess commitment. Commitment comes in many shapes and forms–maybe it’s in the form of certain ethics and values, maybe it’s a deep passion or belief in what one is doing. Maybe it comes from a personal experience that resonates with the individual or a desire to contribute to the team or be a part of something greater than oneself. Often, commitment is the seed for both initiative and accountability. As, people with commitment tend to be life-long learners. People who are willing to “Do, Learn, Improve and Repeat.”
Accountability
They say that few people can admit when they are wrong. What may be more rare, are people who are willing to admit that they don’t know something (but then have the initiative to discover it). To me though, accountability is more than this type of black and white definition. There are shades of accountability, that when you can find hints of it in someone, it is easily recognizable. This is because accountability can also be referred to as servant leadership. I first learned of servant leadership from my dad. In sum, servant leadership is when the leader serves others–rather than others serving the leader. I believe leadership can come at any level in an organization. And one who is a servant leader is the cream of the crop.
Writing Ability
In marketing, we write…a lot. Whether it’s email, marketing plans, research reports, presentations, blog posts, tweets, etc., writing and overall communication is at the core. Writing can be a detailed yet creative process. It gives you insight into how someone thinks and arranges thoughts and ideas and how someone approaches a task. Maybe it’s my own love for writing that gives me this bias, but you can tell a lot from someone’s writing–it can be a canvas for change.
So–What are your non-negotiables? Consider putting together your team or organization’s non-negotiables. Make it a team brainstorm over lunch. Even if just as an exercise, I think you’ll find it telling about the culture you work in and the direction you’re headed. And that holds great importance in achieving your team and organization’s mission and affecting positive social change. If you do this, please share how the experience goes with the rest of us by posting a comment.
flickr credit: Jose Betancur
]]>There are lots of opinions about the word. And, I’ve discovered that the word means different things to different people. The environment folks read it one way, nonprofiteers another and you have a whole other group transforming it into social innovation, social capitalism and/or social entrepreneurship.
What is clear: Is that we’re all pretty social about it. But in all seriousness, I don’t yet have a clear, simple, 140-character answer. But, I have do have some places that I go to help me refine my own thinking around sustainable social change:
B Lab, B Corporations and Social Business
In April 2010, Maryland was the first state to sign Benefit Corporation legislation, followed shortly by Vermont. This legislation was heavily lobbied by B Lab, a non-profit group that rallies businesses to serve more than a bottom line. To improve society and address a number of our problems, my mind had been circling back to influencing and impacting systems, ecosystems and networks. In others words, my interest in creating and growing sustainable business continues to increase. Sometimes for change to happen, there needs to be a change in what’s possible and accessible.
I’m all about nonprofit efforts, volunteering, fundraising, helping others lead healthier lives and improving quality of life–but at some point, for our work to have a lasting impact and a legacy for the next generation, it must be sustainable. Liz Forkin Bohannon, my friend and sustainable business leader at Sseko Designs, asks some poignant questions in one of her latest posts–talking about the impact of free, donated secondhand clothing in Africa and its impact on the local economies. This is just one example of how doing good may be doing more harm. Why do I bring this up? Because sustainability is at the forefront of her argument.
Social Entrepreneurship
A close cousin to the social business discussion is social entrepreneurship. I learned in recent months that Georgetown University and the great Bill Novelli are working on creating Georgetown’s own Center for Social Entrepreneurship. Both Harvard and INSEAD even have their own social entrepreneurship initiatives. This isn’t about coincidence. It’s about the need for sustainability.
When talking about social entrepreneurship, the immediate go-to resource in my head is Social Edge. Social Edge is an amazing resource that isn’t afraid to dive into the nitty gritty, as well as the large scale and impact of social entrepreneurship. Written by social entrepreneurs and for social entrepreneurs, it seems that sustainability is at the heart of many of the topics discussed there. Just this week, Social Edge tackled the definition of a “social business” leaving more questions than answers. For me, that’s my kind of resource. It shows thinking, it shows engagement and it also tells me that we have our work cut out for us.
Sustainable Behavior
In the social marketing arena, renowned social marketer Doug McKenzie-Mohr recently announced the development of a new peer-reviewed resource: The Journal of Sustainable Behavior. According to the journal’s first call for papers, the “transition to sustainability requires programs to encourage a diverse array of behaviors.” The take away–we social marketers better start to understand sustainability and how it relates to our efforts and our audience.
Social Innovation
Social Edge covers a variety of topics–which together, you could say the theme is social innovation. But what does this phrase mean and how does it relate to all the other players on the field? According to the Hub, social innovation “refers to new ideas that resolve existing social, cultural, economic and environmental challenges for the benefit of people and planet. Even more simply, a social innovation is an idea that works for the public good.” Well, non-profits work for social good. So do some government agencies. So, who is responsible for social innovation and what will its outcomes look like? Even Stanford has its own Center for Social Innovation. According to its website, its purpose is to “build and strengthen the capacity of individuals and organizations to develop innovative solutions to social problems.”
To me, sustainability is seen here again. Perhaps—sustainability is what connects the dots between these movements. Perhaps, our answers lies in the spaces between the words and in the thoughts between our actions.
Social Capital Markets
Ever heard of SOCAP? Well, SOCAP stands for the social capital markets conference and SOCAP ’10 represents the third year of the conference and will be held Oct. 4-6 in San Francisco. According to the website, SOCAP ’10 is the “largest interdisciplinary gathering of individuals and institutions at the intersection of money and meaning.” SOCAP ’10 will seek to answer the question: What next? (See–there’s something about asking questions…) What’s next for the social capital markets–the social entrepreneurs, the social business wanna-bes, the social innovators, impact investors and social marketers?
Might I dare suggest that sustainability–and figuring out how to develop it, fund it, seed it, and maintain it–might be part of the answer?
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What about you? What good info have you read lately? Please provide the link in the comments so we can all check it out. Also–if you’re in love with your Google Reader like me, here’s my public profile. Let’s connect.
flickr credit: Benimoto
]]>This is not a wimpy philosophical post. We are talking dollars and sense. (Not a typo). A new business model experiment is in the works, relating to social entrepreneurship called: The Life Investment. Basically, it comes down to this question according to the Social Edge blog:
If an investor offered you a large infusion of unrestricted capital, say $300,000, with the only condition being that you would give them 3% of your income for the rest of your life, would you take the deal?
Apparently, it was fueled by this guy as the concept of personal investment contracts. Then, thanks to Nathaniel Whittemore, Change.org’s Social Entrepreneurship blogger, the conversation grew bigger until three innovative bloggers at SocialEdge, the blog hosted by the Skoll Foundation, took the leap and announced the Thrust Fund. Each has their own start-up social entrepreneurship, and here is their offer:
Kjerstin: Offers 6% of her annual income for a $600,000 up front investment.
Saul and Jon: Each offering 3% for $300,000 up front.
Now this gets interesting and I have to say ballsy. If this idea and conversation gets you off your chair and gets your mind thinking, Kjerstin, Saul and Jon are hosting a conversation about their offer saying: “Invest in us; we’ll give you some of our equity for life.” I’m still marinating on this whole concept myself, but I love the innovation here. The details is where it may get tricky–but man, bravo for putting themselves out there and believing in something that strong. What do you think–if you were made the offer, what would you say: Deal? or No Deal?
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