Blog Archives

POP & Social Media

May 17, 2012
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Have you heard of Pencils of Promise?  Does the name ring a bell?  Maybe, or maybe not but Pencils of Promise is a budding example of the power of social media & the role it can play in the social enterprise world.

Pencils of Promise is an NGO focused on building schools in developing countries.  Though the organization is only a little over three years old, they already have 50 schools up & operating, with 30 more on the way.

According to their annual report, in 2011 Pencils of Promise operated off of $1.2M in contributions, plus in 2010 they received $1.1M.   These are no small sums, especially when you consider that they only received more than $100K from two donors.  This was a grassroots effort.

I’m sure you’ve guessed what their secret is: social media connections.  Adam Braun, the founder of Pencils of Promise, is quite lucky: he has a strong personal connection with Justin Bieber’s manager, but that doesn’t mean other social enterprises can’t learn from the example. Read more »

Sunday Morning Coffee: Matchups

May 13, 2012
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In sports, people often talk about the importance of matchups.  Size matchups, skill matchups, grit matchups.

In fact, any given sports team has a variety of strengths and weaknesses that together form the quality of the team.  Even though wins and losses are tracked to rank order teams, the fact of the matter is that the ‘best’ team is really just the team who matches up well against other teams more often than most.

The ‘best’ team can still easily lose to the worst performing team if the matchup works against them, which speaks to the power of matchups.

Oddly enough, the concept is rarely used outside the context of sports, even though it applies quite well to all relationships. Read more »

Build Off Your Weaknesses

May 10, 2012
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Life is easier when you play to your strengths, but it isn’t necessarily better.

If you watch kids, most of them will get bored and lose interest if something is too challenging.  Pets do the same.   While it may be easy to tell a child ‘don’t give up!’ or ‘try again’, it’s not so simple when it comes to adults.

Are you the type of person who loses interest when the challenge grows, or does the uphill battle energize you?

The secret to developing everlasting motivation is the experience of joy that you feel when you overcome a challenge.   Unfortunately, we’ve learned with time that we are less likely to experience that joy in the areas where we are weak.

At first, developing your strengths is a good thing, but in the end life is about balance. Read more »

Sunday Morning Coffee: The Beauty of Uncertainty

April 29, 2012
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Theres nothing more boring than a sure thing.

Examine the various aspects of your life and our world: believe it or not you are constantly driven and motivated by  uncertainty.

If you enjoy sports, do you prefer to know the score before you watch or no?  If you like literature, do you prefer to know the plot before you read the book?  My guess is no.  Suspense is what makes things intriguing.

Life itself is made that much more precious because there is nothing certain about when it begins or when it will end.
Read more »

A Social Entrepreneurs Guide to Camouflage

April 27, 2012
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On Wednesday, Chris posted a new cover photo on our facebook page; it was a picture of a beautiful parrot blending in with a green tree.  It was a perfect example of camouflage: the bird had evolved to look exactly like a tree.

The very nature of social entrepreneurship involves camouflage.  Social entrepreneurs really aren’t the same as regular entrepreneurs, nor are they the same as non-profit organizations.

Yet, it is important to blend in at times, and stand out like a colorful flying parrot at other times.

For-profit social entrepreneurs, here is a quick guide on when to blend in with the rest of the entrepreneurship world and when to stick out like a sore thumb: Read more »

Sunday Morning Coffee: Persistence

April 22, 2012
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“Energy and persistance conquer all things”

~Benjamin Franklin

 It’s hard to ignore this quote when it comes from someone who was not just a founding father of our nation, but also one of the most well known figures in history.

Benjamin Franklin was a true variety junkie: he was an author, an inventor, a printer, a politician and more.

Franklin is most well known for discovering the conservation of electrical charge. Ironically, this quote could be about hard work or it could be about the importance of his discovery.

One way or another, Franklin’s resume suggests that he loved to try new things, and that he excelled at most of them.  Though I’m sure Ben was an exceptional, one of a kind person; keep in mind that you are too. Read more »

Little Successes

April 19, 2012
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Every entrepreneur hits a point at least once when they suddenly feel that whatever it is they are making won’t make much of a difference at first.  The fact of the matter is that for a huge impact to be realized, scale is required and even then, the impact will rarely solve all related problems.  This is a sobering thought for all of us.

Yet, a few things are often forgotten: first, that your company’s example will inspire others/fuel new innovation and second, that everything builds on each other (including impact).

It takes way more than one person and one skill set to build a skyscraper, but the end result speaks to the power of collaboration.

David Brooks wrote a recent piece in the NY Times that criticized social entrepreneurs for having “little faith in the political process”.  While he is right to suggest that politics warrant attention, we should not discourage those that are building pieces of the skyscrapers. Read more »

Sunday Morning Coffee: Fly a Kite

April 15, 2012
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There are some things that everyone has access to…whether you live at the bottom of the economic pyramid or the top.

As it turns out, those ‘things’ happen to be some of the most cherished by all.

Rich and poor alike play childhood games, learn about their own world, fall in love, grow old and teach the next generation.

Most of life’s big joys are shared.

In the same way, you can’t take away life’s little joys from the poor either.

If there is any difference between the laughter of children in the slums and those in San Francisco’s most sought after pre-schools, it’s the volume of it: slum kids have rich laughs.  Read more »

The Majestic and the Mundane

April 12, 2012
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Yesterday, Chris posted a new cover photo on our Facebook Page, describing the dichotomy of the Taj Mahal with the town of Agra; while both are beautiful, the Taj’s beauty come from majesty and grandueur, while the town’s beauty comes  from a patchwork of color.

Chris pointed out that while looking at the Taj Mahal, you might miss the beauty that is all around you just because it is the type of beauty that is much more mundane and commonplace.

Due to desensitization and over-exposure, often in life we overlook that which we see every day and only notice that which is unique, grand and different.

Sadly, this is what is happening in the world of international development as well.

We are desensitized to the needs of the poor, immune to their cries for help and in some ways only willing to give attention when a grand majestic plea is put together. Read more »

Sunday Morning Coffee: Fountains of Wisdom

April 8, 2012
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Nowadays, fountains typically don’t serve much of a purpose other than to add beauty through sight and sound (and of course the opportunity for kids to put soap in them, or just jump in them).

If you really think about it, most things that are as impractical as a fountain are not so widespread.   What is it about fountains that captures us?

Fountains are symbolic—water represents life, and in a fountain, water takes on a beautiful ephemeral form—as a stream of droplets in the air, before they all crash into the pool below and are recycled again. Read more »

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