Great to learn how social impact education can become more social, by including a broader group, and more innovative, through collective wisdom. Long-term, this will lead to more impact.
This is top of mind for me as an alumna of postgraduate social impact education through the Centre for Social Impact at University of Western Australia and a lecturer/tutor for undergraduates. Just yesterday I was having a discussion about what we need in classrooms (i.e. Move away from lectures) and what kind of skills we should be focusing on. Balancing systems level thinking with some practical/employable skill development is difficult! Looking forward to the rest of the series.
We’re seeing this in public health education too, not just business schools. Everyone needs to be trained in social entrepreneurship, there are too many roles to play beyond the founder. A social entrepreneur is not necessarily someone who starts a new social venture. As Bill Drayton says, each person inside the venture must be a social entrepreneur.
Jon - Thank you! I am glad you agree that we need to widen the pool of people receiving these trainings, and hopefully thereby better cross-pollinate ideas and experience.
Claire, I agree that “Balancing systems level thinking with some practical/employable skill development is difficult!” - indeed! But we need to find a way to address this balance. I feel, on average, we are currently all too focused on the skills for entrepreneurship, and not enough on the solutions ecosystem and the wider skills needed to influence system-wide change.
Teresa - Indeed, you can fuel social entrepreneurship from any role. Ashoka often talks about “changemakers” as their catch-all term. In my personal definition of what makes someone a social entrepreneur, I look to people who are using a range of means to influence change across an entire system. Often times these people start a business or use business principals in their work, but they also often create coalitions of changemakers across a sector, train others in their methodologies, or support collective action in some way. Those skills aren’t focused on enough in our education programs, in my opinion.
Chris - Yes, my Tackling Heropreneurship report was indeed fuelled and funded by the fantastic Clore Social Leadership Programme as noted here http://tacklingheropreneurship.com/ - thanks for pointing that out!
I hope you all enjoy and benefit from the rest of the series!
As a brand marketer and evangelist for social entrepreneurship, this article is timely and top of mind for me. I have lectured west coast graduate level business students on using social benefit as a lens for innovation for the last 7 years. Long term change will require long term thinking on systems and infrastructure modifications. A large scale network for sharing ideas and experiences would be an invaluable resource for students and educators. Opening the door to a larger conversation is the first step. I too look forward to the series.
COMMENTS
BY Jon Huggett
ON November 10, 2016 06:38 AM
Great to learn how social impact education can become more social, by including a broader group, and more innovative, through collective wisdom. Long-term, this will lead to more impact.
BY Claire Stokes
ON November 10, 2016 03:05 PM
This is top of mind for me as an alumna of postgraduate social impact education through the Centre for Social Impact at University of Western Australia and a lecturer/tutor for undergraduates. Just yesterday I was having a discussion about what we need in classrooms (i.e. Move away from lectures) and what kind of skills we should be focusing on. Balancing systems level thinking with some practical/employable skill development is difficult! Looking forward to the rest of the series.
BY Teresa Chahine
ON November 11, 2016 09:57 AM
We’re seeing this in public health education too, not just business schools. Everyone needs to be trained in social entrepreneurship, there are too many roles to play beyond the founder. A social entrepreneur is not necessarily someone who starts a new social venture. As Bill Drayton says, each person inside the venture must be a social entrepreneur.
BY Chris Kyle
ON November 14, 2016 05:22 PM
This work is the result of Daniela Papi-Thornton’s Clore Social Fellowshipand was funded by the Clore Social Leadership Programme.
BY Daniela Papi-Thornton
ON November 21, 2016 08:48 AM
Thank you for your comments!
Jon - Thank you! I am glad you agree that we need to widen the pool of people receiving these trainings, and hopefully thereby better cross-pollinate ideas and experience.
Claire, I agree that “Balancing systems level thinking with some practical/employable skill development is difficult!” - indeed! But we need to find a way to address this balance. I feel, on average, we are currently all too focused on the skills for entrepreneurship, and not enough on the solutions ecosystem and the wider skills needed to influence system-wide change.
Teresa - Indeed, you can fuel social entrepreneurship from any role. Ashoka often talks about “changemakers” as their catch-all term. In my personal definition of what makes someone a social entrepreneur, I look to people who are using a range of means to influence change across an entire system. Often times these people start a business or use business principals in their work, but they also often create coalitions of changemakers across a sector, train others in their methodologies, or support collective action in some way. Those skills aren’t focused on enough in our education programs, in my opinion.
Chris - Yes, my Tackling Heropreneurship report was indeed fuelled and funded by the fantastic Clore Social Leadership Programme as noted here http://tacklingheropreneurship.com/ - thanks for pointing that out!
I hope you all enjoy and benefit from the rest of the series!
BY kelli peterson
ON April 26, 2017 12:58 PM
As a brand marketer and evangelist for social entrepreneurship, this article is timely and top of mind for me. I have lectured west coast graduate level business students on using social benefit as a lens for innovation for the last 7 years. Long term change will require long term thinking on systems and infrastructure modifications. A large scale network for sharing ideas and experiences would be an invaluable resource for students and educators. Opening the door to a larger conversation is the first step. I too look forward to the series.