Thanks to Ms. Dorsey of Echoing Green, I finally have a name for what ails me: a “wonderful obsession” with building Memphis into a City of Choice via talent retention, entrepreneurialism, and creativity.
Although obsession normally implies a need for behavioral therapy, an effective cure in this case is simple support, encouragement, and money. (Yes, I’m not afraid to say it: social entrepreneurialism takes money. We’re might be scrappy, grassroots, and passionate, but we still have to eat.)
Given the relative infancy of social entrepreneurialism as an accepted adjunct to business entrepreneurs, gaining community support for our work is a critical first step. Social entrepreneurs are a different breed, a product of a fast paced, ever-changing, office-cubicle-averse, just-try-and-stop-me world. Like so many who give so much to our city, we are passionate about our causes, but we go about executing our dreams and tackling our goals in a different way. If the old approach of forming disconnected organizations without a clear vision of the ultimate goal, haphazard funding, and political allegiances really worked, then we would long ago have solved the problems we are still battling.
Before I can expect you to trust us, support us, encourage us, and fund us, I want you to first understand us.
How do we see our city and our world?
What is our frame of reference?
What are our strategies?
What new tools and resources do we bring to the table?
I read too much, so please believe me when I say that community support of our newfangled ideas and out-of-the-box thinking will be one of the key determinates of our success or failure as a city.
So, for all those in government, business, nonprofit, and the general powers-that-be who write checks, here’s a bit of a primer on us social entrepreneurs, or at least my take on what I eat, sleep, live, and breathe every day. No one appointed me (or even asked me) to share my thoughts. I was just the first one to submit my blog. Take it with a grain of salt, chew on it a bit, and ask a lot of questions. I love questions.
On the Chopping Block
The last time I checked, Memphis had somewhere around 2,000 registered 501(c)(3)’s not counting churches and the community work they do. As best I can tell, we have about 15 different divisions of city government and Lord knows how many county divisions. Folks, more isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s just more. Ms. Dorsey states that young social entrepreneurs are “agnostic about organizational entities.” I would take that a step further and posit that we are quasi-opposed to them (at least as they are now).
At least once a week, I hear from someone who wants to start a new nonprofit. What do they most often have in common? Someone else is already doing exactly what they are so earnestly trying to start! A new organization is waaaaayyy down on my list of ways to create change. Way down. I can even think of some instances in which it is absolutely not an option.
Before we haul off and spend a lot of time and energy worrying about who gets to be in charge of a new organization and how much they’ll get paid, let’s step back and take a look at the landscape as it stands now. Obviously the currently assortment of players (organizational or individual) isn’t working. You really want to fix things and grow? Don’t be afraid to state unequivocally that everything is on the chopping block.
Yeah, I know. That’s a scary one. Very few are willing to put the greater community good above secure health insurance. And we’re also talking about people, like myself, who are sincerely passionate about what we do and the city we hope to create. It’s tough to ask someone to give up an organization that is a part of their heart and soul. By definition though, we social entrepreneurs are about change. And leading change means we’re asking people to give something up in the belief that we are creating something better.
So what’s the magic word that will help us get to a better place?
It’s “nimble.” And occasionally “scrappy.” According to the all-knowing Webster, nimble is a synonym for “agile.” My goal as a social entrepreneur is to move “quickly and easily” in ways I might not have ever imagined. And when I need to be quick, and I need to be effective, you might just find me being scrappy. It’s what Webster called the “determined spirit” that, when combined with the ability to leap and bend, and put it all on the chopping block, makes us a pretty good bet.
To quote one of the coolest people I know, Christopher Reyes, the social entrepreneur’s model is “for profit with a conscience. Our bottom line is not money. Our bottom line is community.” We might have a home base, even an “office” of sorts. But most days, we’re all over the community building relationships, rarely organizations.
Back to the guy (or girl) who wants to start a new nonprofit. The first thing out of my mouth is usually, “You should talk to XX.” Again, we start with the premise that another organization is rarely the path to effective change. Sometimes coffee, or cocktails, and a conversation can work magic. And if we can make enough money to keep the lights on, then it’s a pretty good day.
BINGO!
I stand corrected again, and I like being corrected when it’s properly done, THIS was the best post so far.
( I should time stamp these “I stand corrected”s)
…….
We don’t need another bunch of 501c3’s, we need coachable, nimble, people with a conscience who are great active listeners, to get the concerns, not to address them, just t get them, then formulate a plan designed to succeed and get it activated if it’s a one man/woman plan or a networked plan.
BRILLIANT post.
Yes, changing the inert landscape of Memphis will take some force.
CONSTANT, and unrelenting force, direction, re-examination, and no confusion about the difference between tactics an the plan.
………………
We should craft a magnetizing, overarching goal that is Memphis specific and make sure it is sufficiently over our heads.
Mayor Wharton grew up thinking he was ONLY going to be a gas station attendant, he’s a city mayor now pinching his own arm.
We need to look at and hear everything through a specific filter, a custom designed lense, appropriate to where we really are without lying to ourselves or trying to talk nice about it, the brutal truth, which will make our actions towards that “crafted on purpose goal” and everything we do through that be right on target every single time.
Expect unprecedented success!
P.S. I would prefer it be called “Social Responsibility Compliance Engineer” instead. That way It’s clearer that “what’s up” is more about others than self-centric.
There are some bodies that actually have the standards for social accountability, there are ISO9001 standards established an SA8000 standards certified by the SAAS.
There are a host of orgs to come up with standards an a few to certify.
Mostly they are for developing nations and ethical global supply source certification. They are no joke and operate as a mandate and are using the UN bill of human rights as a source also.
I wonder how we would fare against that basic document.