At yesterday’s ReVisioning Value 2010 Conference, Amy Pearl of Springboard Innovation challenged us as participants to be disturbed and compelled to action by the ideas to which we were exposed.
At the time, I thought, “What is she talking about? This is fantastic stuff, I’m totally pumped and motivated by all these ideas! What’s there to be disturbed about?” Yeah…that “disturbed” part sunk in on the way home.
So I’m personally disturbed – disturbed that I’m personally not doing more, not networked enough, not making a big enough impact, not educated enough. And motivated. Fresh from the conference, I’m still in that “frustrated” place because I don’t quite have the clear direction I need to move to the next step but I also know from experience that sometimes you need to stew in that world of frustration to be bothered enough to take the next step.
That being said, I also learned a great deal of mind-bending, paradigm-shifting new concepts and vernacular that perhaps I’d heard bantered about previously, but never really internalized.
1) The concept from Dan Pallotta expressed in his book Uncharitable that we’ve trained the general public and non-profit community to demonize overhead (as in “What percentage of my donation goes to overhead?”) as useless, needless, wasteful spending by non-profit organizations, when in reality, non-profit organizations should be privy to the same “tools of capitalism” as the for-profit sector. And the concept that *gasp* – it’s OK to do well by doing good.
2) The question about whether and how social innovation can scale and what is potentially lost in scaling such ventures.
3) The anecdotal evidence that being an idealist may actually stand in our way of being a smart business person (ouch!).
4) How we, as a country, would rather see capitalism holding hands with patriotism than with social endeavors. This, from Arjan Schutte from Center for Financial Services Innovation who has been a part of the rebranding of their low-income financial products from “making a social impact” to “rebuilding a stronger middle class”.
5) That new Benefit Corporations or “B Corps” must, by law, create a material positive impact on society; consider how decisions affect employees, community and the environment; and publicly report their social and environmental performance using established third-party standards (Just a few weeks ago, Maryland became the first state in the union to legally recognize B Corps). The vision of “creating space” for this third party entity that morphs business and non-profit is now becoming reality.
It strikes me that I’m not the only one who needs a bit of a paradigm shift (pardon the cliché) when it comes to our views on innovation, capitalism, investment and the personal filters and misinformation we allow to cloud our daily judgments.
So what about you? If you attended the ReVisioning Value conference, what did you take away from it? If you didn’t attend, what have been your recent world-rocking paradigm shifts? What have you done or implemented as a result of your paradigm shifts?
Kudos to Nitya Wakhlu for her creative conference visual interpretations!
Nicely summarized Megan. The conference was a terrific collision between the drive to “do work that matters” and the limitations of financial instruments and business models established for profit and profit alone. But now that behavioral economics is making a comeback (as if economics has not always been about peoples’ behavior), and we are declaring ourselves “people” again (and not just workers), all kinds of brave souls are forging hybrids – connecting the best of business discipline and market capital with the infinite and unstoppable power of social innovation. B-Corps, L3C, Public Benefit Corporation, etc. The more, the merrier until we figure out a way to create the expectation that good business is all about doing well by doing good.
Agreed, Kristin – well stated points. Your point about economics “returning” to being about people is very Linchpin-esque – have you read it? Seth Godin’s self-proclaimed “life work”.
Thanks so much for a thoughtful comment!
I appreciate your summary of key points of REVV2010. It was a mind-bending event and I look forward to next year. Both B-Corp and L3C are new concepts to me and mixing that with Dan Palotta’s provocations has made me think differently. I wonder if diminished charitable giving in these hard times is actually an opportunity for new models, new mindsets to emerge.
Hey Jane! Thanks for the comment – I think economic hard times forces us all to become more resourceful and more creative. While it may not be the most comfortable of times, hopefully it will continue to breed new innovation and focus on ways to help us all work together more effectively for good.
Megan, Very nice summary indeed of the feelings many of us had at revv2010. In many ways the conference felt like a validation of the bipolar disorder I’ve been feeling on a personal level for a while now…oh cool, I’m not the only one struggling with breaking away from traditional financial means and instruments while trying to balance the fiscal and social aspects of our mission. Totally agree with Kristin on “the more the merrier” as it seems that the community that believes that the financial/social balance can be achieved with a greater effective output (in both realms) needs to self-support while creating opportunity for others to jump in and join. Cultivate more creativity coming into this “hybrid” space! For 2 weeks in a row I was confronted with the momentum of B Corp, so I find myself wanting to devote some time soon in considering the impact of going thru the process for our company.
I think revv2010 was a great 1st year conference. Next year I look forward to more organic conversation and less “talking head” stuff.
As if you need another book to read, but one that my team is really liking and I’m mid-stream on is “The Power of Pull”. So far a great read! One sentence from the front cover: “Drawing on pioneering research, The Power of Pull shows how to apply its principles to unlock the hidden potential of individuals and organizations, and how to use it as a force for social change and the development of creative talent.” Think that’s a pretty accurate description.
Looking forward to staying in touch!
Best,
Darren
Darren, thanks for your thoughtful comments and recommendation on “The Power of Pull” – will definitely check it out!
I love it when something you’ve heard very little about (e.g. B Corps) suddenly present itself with increasing frequency and urgency and ultimately pull you in a different direction.
And I agree – great 1st year conference and will look forward to even more awesomeness next year! Take care…
Thanks for the summary, Megan.
As at any educational event, some sessions were better than others, but my main takeaway was this: Market capitalism continues to be the worst economic system except for all others that have been tried from time to time.
As one participant summed it up (I was on the media team): “I find it inspiring and radical that people are subverting the dominant paradigm through action that looks mainstream.” Meaning, it’s amazing to see the traditional tools of capital markets being used for good. Indeed, Dave Chen of Equilibrium Capital pointed out that over the past 10 years or so there has been a transition from philanthropic to capital markets in various sectors, such as clean energy, land conservation, etc. The conference demonstrated this will continue, and we’ll all be better for it.
I’m with Darren on the event’s form. Conferences with keynotes and panels miss out on dialog, which, I believe, is a superior way of connecting and learning. I did miss the 2nd day workshops, which may have remedied some of that.
All in all, this was a great inaugural ReVV and I was happy to hear the next one has already been tentatively scheduled.
Thanks so much for your comments, Peter, and for being the eyes and ears of the media team in terms of getting unique perspectives on the event – I’ve really enjoyed reading about your conversations.
And I agree that we’ll all be the better for tools of capitalism being increasingly used for good. Seems like our social conscious is definitely evolving. Now if we could just figure out how to measure that….
Just thought I would share a model that I am working on. The Portland Community Investment Fund’s Invest in Portland Campaign
http://www.sassafrasgreenbuilding.com/special-projects/community-investment/
I am trying to determine whether to use the L3C structure or the REI Coop Model. The main issue is the SEC because in Oregon you must be an accredited investor in order to “invest” in businesses. I missed both Jennifer Jackley and ReVV. Insights and ideas are welcome.
Thanks!
Kelley
Thanks for the comment, Kelley!
It strikes me that Gene Takagi and his NonProfit Law Blog might be a good resource for you – he was very obviously well-versed on the subjects of L3C, B-Corps, etc. It was all I could do to just understand the very surface of what he was saying at ReVV…tons of knowledge there.
His website is: http://www.nonprofitlawblog.com/
Good luck!