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 »

“Always Be Closing”
- Glengarry Glen Ross

In the iconic movie, Glengarry Glen Ross, Alec Baldwin famously preaches this line which has become the inspiration for many businessfolk. It speaks more about the mental state you must be in as a salesperson than anything. Of course you know you want to close the deal, but you must be leveraging that thinking in your actions and conversations. It’s more than knowing – its acting on it. Read more »

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 »

On a daily basis, is your goal to stand out from the crowd, or blend right into the wallpaper and avoid any attention?

Often times we may find ourselves at this juncture and more often than not we tend to side with the choices that don’t rock the boat or draw attention. It can mean something as small as not speaking your opinion in a meeting or can have much larger implications by deciding not to share an idea with the team.

Our decision (subconscious or not) signals a lack of confidence – either in the idea itself or in our ability to explain or defend it. We quietly shoot the idea down in our head and never give it the opportunity to see the light of day. This rationalization is selfish and detrimental not just to our development, but to the mission that we aim to support. Read more »

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 »

Most of us have volunteered at some time in our lives. Whether it is building a house via Habitat For Humanity, helping to babysit or lending your time at a soup kitchen – many make the effort to lend their time to a cause that they support.

For startups, especially social enterprise startups, volunteering can mean the world of difference. Entrepreneurs are quickly and often taught that it’s not what you know but who you know. On top of putting on different positional hats every day, entrepreneurs are consistently faced with the trade off of taking the time to research and learn a new skill or to put their effort towards what they already know.

Volunteers, too, tend to wear many hats along the way – but the most important asset they bring to the table is their energy. Rarely do you see volunteers who acting under duress. Volunteers act because they’re passionate. Read more »

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 »