In their hit track, Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars passionately let the world know how much they want to make enough money to solve all their friend’s cash flow issues and to play basketball with the President.

Released in 2010, the song is a classic expression of a common sentiment in the US these days: I’m working so hard, I just want to rise to the top. It’s the age old American dream—lets make it big…bigger than ever before.

For a social entrepreneur the lyrics may initially come off as jarring and primarily money focused, but in light of recent events one line in particular stands out: “I want to be on the cover of Forbes magazine”.

This is interesting considering the fact that Forbes’ latest issue cover features Jacqueline Novogratz, a personal hero/mentor who both leads and founded the Acumen Fund.
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Much of aid is focused on providing basic social services to the poor: health, education, sanitation, etc.  These are areas of great need and are by no means a bad place to focus.   Social services of this type provide the benefactors with dignity that they all humans deserve.

It is easy to get donors to support social services.  It’s emotionally compelling to see someone struggle because they lack basic services.

The problem with this is not that these services are unnecessary (on the contrary they are critical) but that the emphasis on providing them has distracted many do-gooders from building the foundation for economic growth. Read more »

I always thought it was a funny tradition that Black Friday fell the day after Thanksgiving.  One day we’re so thankful for everything we have, the next day we’re eagerly shopping for whatever is new, as if ‘everything’ wasn’t enough.

It’s a curious hypocrisy, but I can’t fault the populace: we’ve all been raised in a society that is about achieving higher goals, setting new
limits and discovering the frontier.  While we may genuinely be thankful for what we have, we cannot settle; we must seek more.

This sort of attitude leads to tremendous benefits for us in a capitalistic society.  Seeking better, faster, cheaper leads to competition, and ultimately to rapid technical advancement, which we all ultimately enjoy.

Unfortunately, as population growth reaches new levels, our consumption is endangering not just our environmental well-being, but also our social fabric.  Flip on the global news for five minutes and you know that we are on the brink of a major shift in the world as we know it.

It’s hard not to think of such a global problem without despair. After all, what can one man or woman do?

Clearly we need to work together to solve this problem; one step at a time.  But, we’re already starting to do it; you just might not have noticed it yet.  Everyone is now buying energy efficient light bulbs.  Hybrid cars are becoming the norm.

Consumer choices are driving inventors to build more sustainable, efficient products.

It’s not hard to imagine a world in which the consumer voice demands that everything be produced in a sustainable manner.

Perhaps Black Friday actually could make sense after Thanksgiving.  I believe that after reflecting on how thankful we are for what we have, it’s possible for us to make responsible shopping decisions.  I’m not hoping we will buy less; but rather that we buy more sustainably.

Whether you’re the 99% or the 1%, a lot is about to shift in this world.  Look for unprecedented trends to arise and change everything. Again.

Please, enjoy Black Friday, with thanks.

-    Bryan

A year ago today I left America for Pakistan.  Once there, I discovered a peaceful, passionate people living in a country in turmoil.  Pakistan’s plight is in many ways wrapped up in the same plot that people around the world face.  It is a David & Goliath story of the common man versus the system.

Though I never made it to the heart of Kashmir, I did have a chance to enjoy the incredible beauty of part of Neelum Valley, just as you come down the lush forested hills from Murree.  Despite being ravaged by earthquakes and military presence, you still feel a sense of peace and order as you enter Kashmir.

Peace built upon fault lines is quite common in the developing world.  Social entrepreneurs must be aware of this on a very intrinsic basis.  It’s critical to understand when the resistance will bubble up to the fore.  Or, to understand when the system will come cracking down.  Read more »

Last week on Socialearth.org, guest blogger Brian Reich called for an end to new social organizations.

Brian does have a point—there are a LOT of socially minded organizations that often replicate one another.  Some succeed, and many others fail or just muddle along.  Brian argues that the cause would benefit from less noise and more joint efforts.

Carbon-copying is bad
The noise factor is important.  Because doing something altruistic feels so rewarding, do-gooders are more inclined to start their own organization than join forces with an existing group.  As Brian points out, this results in “tens of thousands of new nonprofits created every year”.   Too much noise.

While I agree with Brian about the problem, I disagree with his solution.

Long term Rising Pyramid readers may recall back to back posts I wrote in 2009 titled “Should Social Businesses Copy Each Other?” and “Replicate but Don’t Clone”.  Two years later, I still maintain that building upon existing organizations and approaches is the best way to see progress.

Competition is, after all, what leads to improvement.  Social enterprises should copy each other and replicate each other, but only so long as they are improving on each other’s ideas or expanding to new markets. Read more »