Last week I spoke in an undergraduate class on Global Social Entrepreneurship at New York University. The class was filled with engaged, motivated young people with a passion for social change. In the beginning of the class I asked the students to go around the room and tell me what they wanted to learn from me during the next hour. Hands down, the majority of the room wanted to know how I got into the field and how they could build the right career path that would allow them to enter into the field of social entrepreneurship. These students are just one small example of the hundreds of young people I have talked to who have the same questions. Multiply that by the number of people who my colleagues in this field talk to per week and you easily get thousands. But the question remains, how exactly does one build a career in the field of social entrepreneurship?
Before I answer, or at least attempt to share some ideas, I want to clarify one thing about the way that I look at this space. I believe social entrepreneurship is a way of thinking that brings together two seemingly disparate ideas and harnesses the power of the market as a force for social development. I also believe that social enterprise is just one approach, one star in the galaxy that this movement is ultimately going to create. If you think about the field in this way it opens up an entire runway of opportunities. So then the question remains, what is keeping so many from finding their place in this field?
My first thought is that, for as entrepreneurial and capable as this generation is, we are all still waiting for permission. What is so unique about the founders of our field like Jacqueline Novogratz (Founder of Acumen Fund), CK Prahalad (author of Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid), and Bill Drayton (Founder of Ashoka) is that they did not wait for permission, and as a result, they created an entire field. I bet if you ask any one of them about their career path they would all say, they followed their passion. No one gave them permission to do this. No one said to Jacqueline first go into banking, then do microfinance in Rwanda, then go to Stanford Business School, then to Rockefeller Foundation, only then can you create Acumen Fund. She just followed her passion for meaningful impact. Unrelentingly and without permission.
So yes, one trend is that these changemakers fearlessly followed their passions. But there is also something else that appears as a trend across these innovators, at some point in their careers they learned and integrated themselves into the mainstream institutions. Jacqueline spent a few years in banking and went to B-School, Bill Drayton worked for McKinsey and the EPA, and CK Prahalad built his early career at Union Carbide. This allowed them to understand the system, earn credibility, and ultimately, innovate upon it.
So my first piece of advice for those of you trying to get into this field is to follow your passion but at the same time you have to understand the system you are trying to change before you can change it. This necessitates, at some point, learning the foundation to work within that system. Cambridge Leadership Associates, whose work is spun out of the great leadership thinker Ronald Heifetz, discusses a similar concept when talking about adaptive leadership. How can you as a leader innovate at a pace the system can handle?
The second concept is for those who are either building a new organization or who are trying to scale. What is unique about the leaders in this field who have scaled their idea (think Wendy Kopp, Founder of Teach for America or Chris Anderson, Curator of TED) is that they were able to create accessible institutions that allowed thousands or millions of people to have permission to think outside the box.
How were they able to do this? If you look closely at these organizations, they have built a brand that can mesh with the mainstream, while at the same time allow people to think outside the box. Wendy Kopp said, go commit yourself to public education for two years but don’t worry our brand and credibility will allow you to still go work at Goldman Sachs after the program. While they could still go to Goldman, her bet was these two years would change their lives forever. Chris Anderson showed us that one of the most exclusive brands in the world could also be given away to the masses through video streams and TEDx events. His bet was that the power of the ideas was so much greater than the exclusivity of the brand. These leaders figured out ways to identify the levers, work within the system, and then unlock the incredible potential of energetic young people and new ideas.
To come full circle, back to those of you trying to find your career path in the field of social entrepreneurship: first, figure out your star in this emerging galaxy. Second, follow your passion. Third, deeply understand the system you are trying to change. Fourth, identify the levers that can unlock the tremendous potential that exists in our world today.
Blair Miller runs the Acumen Fund Global Fellows Program. Check out her personal blog here.
Tags: fellows, Global Fellows, Talent
Hi Blair,
Some good thoughts about what to do next if you’re an aspiring social entrepreneur. I strongly agree with one major point: don’t wait for permission. However I think that young people struggle to interpret the advice to “follow their passion”. People hear this over and over but there’s no widely accepted process for discovering one’s passion, let alone converting that into a viable social enterprise!
Firstly, I think I would instead offer up a slightly different spin: start paying attention to need. A need, or a problem, is the seed of a solution. And give yourself permission (back to your first point!) to think creatively, even if 95% of the ideas that emerge are mediocre. In my short career as a social entrepreneur, I’ve found that, more than anything, cultivating the habits of observing needs and brainstorming solutions has been far more fruitful than any other approach to finding my so-called passion.
Secondly, I think ‘passion’ is an intimidating concept to consume; ‘project’ is bite-sized. What if I don’t have the passion of a Mother Teresa or a Mahatma Gandhi or a Bill Drayton? If all those eager students are waiting to be possessed by that kind of passion, they will be waiting a long time. As much as we need saints like these people, we need the everyday Joe’s of social enterprise who have a great project and who are ready to implement it and make it sustainable. It’s fine, and probably healthy, to set a precedent for these ‘only human’ change-makers. That should remove some of the egotism from the social sector, too.
Warmly,
Taylor
Blair,
Good advice, and encouraging for those in transition as well as those coming out of school – maybe more so.
As to Taylor’s point that some people may be intimidated by the idea of “passion”, I guess I disagree. While you could revise the wording, it’s not necessary. “Passion” is just another word for doing something that brings you enough joy to be worth doing with dedication. Some folks come to that understanding only with time, and that’s OK. We each follow our own paths, and that seems to be one of the points you’re trying to make.
Hi Blair,
nice post. I would like to add to the dialogue that beyond passion we cannot ignore the influence other another P–privilege- that is excluded from discussions on many of the heroes of the social entrepreneurship (SE) world that are hailed as examples for young people coming out of school wishing to engage in SE. I have read The Blue Sweater and am familiar with Jacqueline’s story but when you state: “No one gave them permission to do this. No one said to Jacqueline first go into banking, then do microfinance in Rwanda, then go to Stanford Business School, then to Rockefeller Foundation, only then can you create Acumen Fund. She just followed her passion for meaningful impact. Unrelentingly and without permission.” I offer a different perspective, I might say that she did in some way have permission by nature of being a Caucasian woman in a country (US) where that in and of itself provides permission. Many people with a similar passion would have needed permission to be able to partake in many of these opportunities, perhaps not obvious permission, but permission to feel welcomed and comfortable entering those institutions which provided her the access to capital and a network who would support her development of Acumen Fund. We live in a world where prejudice, racism and normative exclusivity remains dominant (just look at how our first bi-racial president has had to prove he is a citizen) unlike any President’s prior just because he is black. I think passion is important, I really, really do, and license to follow your passion is a mantra we must keep instilling in our youth but in doing so must recognize that for those individuals not of the dominate normative culture that is pervasive in the US and in the institutions cited above, permission is still very much an issues many struggle with and we need to make sure we don’t forget this when speaking to our young people.
I wanted to thank everyone for this thoughtful discussion, I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your thoughtful perspectives on this issue. I truly think we have just scratched the surface.
Taylor, I hear you on the fact that it is hard to find your passion, but agree with Liz that perhaps it is the word that is intimidating. It is about understanding who you are, what makes you tick, and what motivates you to be more, do more. I do think it is hard to discover but what I was saying is that it is worth taking that time to figure it out. Don’t go through the world not knowing. Solitude, reflection, listening, “observing needs, brainstorming solutions” are all a part of this search (there is a great speech by William Deresiewicz on “Leadership and Solitude” that discusses some of this).
Sometimes I worry our generation forgets to take this time to truly understand themselves and their role in the world, because it does seems so big. We get intimidated because there is so much to do but we are at a moment in time when we have the tools and knowledge, so I think it is absolutely our responsibility to ask ourselves the question, “what is our role” no matter how big or small.
Also, this does not necessarily have to translate into becoming a social entrepreneur. I believe creating change can happen in all sectors and at all levels; managers at companies, financiers at a bank, associates at nonprofits, officials in the government. As I mentioned social entrepreneurship is a way of thinking that brings together two seemingly disparate ideas and harnesses the power of the market as a force for social development. That does not have to translate into social entrepreneurship.
Nicole, thank you, thank you for this point. I could not agree more and think this may perhaps be the most important issue of our generation. We have been thinking a lot about this at Acumen Fund. The vision of our work in leadership is to “create a more inclusive economy and social system”. This is exactly what we are trying to do with our Global and Regional Fellows Program. These programs are aimed at reaching out to the agents of change across all sectors, religions, and socioeconomic backgrounds that have not had the opportunity, privilege, or as Amartya Sen would say the “freedom” to unlock their tremendous human potential. We have to keep checking each other, pushing our boundaries and creating space for real authentic connection, conversation, and inclusivity. I would love to continue this conversation with you. Just email me bmiller@acumenfund.org.