Monday Raj and I slipped over to Berkeley for a panel on “Money, Mobs, & Media” with Change.org, Kiva, and Virgance. Great panel–truly deep discussion on how social entrepreneurship is changing the rules of the game globally and virtually.
Especially liked the closing comments by the speakers when they provided advice to their peers (Ben Rattray: “Dont Do Domestic” (lending) to Kiva, and “Focus on one business” to Virgance).
The advice was good all around, particularly when I asked Steve Newcomb how he handles poor performance in his socially-minded business: “I fire them.”
At a time when business is becoming more like the third sector, it’s nice to hear that social entrepreneurs are also sticking to the rules of the corporate game: ” ‘get shit done’ no matter what” was the surprising mantra from all three panelists.
The crass catchphrase was the key takeaway for many social entrepreneurs in the audience (~200), and if I was any indication, it inspired me to act by first remembering that if we are to change the world, we must act decisively.
Tags: business, entrepreneur, ethics, hiring