Skip to main content

Week 1: Explain why social innovation is more prevalent today

A new blog again. This one is for a specific class titled B374 Social Innovation. 
I don't need this class for my degree but the description was one such that I just really wanted to take it and learn more about it. I am quite excited to see where it takes me. 

So, this week we begin our class learning about and understanding what it means to be a social entrepreneur. It is more than simply trying to help a difficult social issue and more about seeking a viable solution to the underlying problems that cause the issue. It amazes me how involved it is to strive towards this goal. You are essentially trying to fix a construct that has been in place for quite a long time. I am excited to learn more about this concept as we progress. Reading how the definition of an entrepreneur has evolved over time is also a bit sad. The older definitions are clearly more meaningful and impactful than it referring to someone just opening a business. I feel that this has offered me and others a deeper understanding of the effort and passion that has to go into becoming an entrepreneur. 
Our prompt this week is: Explain why social innovation is more prevalent today.
I think that this is largely in part to the ways we communicate now. We are able to have nearly instant news of the happenings on the other side of the world. We know when disaster has struck, or how people are being treated in places we are unfamiliar with. We are able to share injustices with just the push of a button. I think this has opened the eyes of many people, people who want to help and improve these issues for others. Another factor is that our population is so large that we see more people suffering from these social issues, than we may have recognized before. When towns were smaller, it was easier for others to take care of the few that were struggling, but now the numbers are so large there are too many, and it can feel overwhelming to address. The demand for non-profits has increased as there are more people who need help in one form or another. A third factor is that our view of the world has changed quite a bit from what it once was. Many of us are concerned with the patterns we are seeing and can't deny there are those left out of our current constructs. This is quite disturbing and I believe most are ready for a change in those constructs. Did I mention that I am excited to learn more about this during this semester? 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Week 2: What connections do you see between Jeffrey Thompson’s article, the Gospel, and social innovation?

Moving right along, already in week 2. This week we learned more about how not everyone should be a social entrepreneur but that everyone can have a part in working in and with the solutions that social entrepreneurs create. We can be a help and work to overcome obstacles, help build or volunteer our time/services. I appreciate this because I am starting to see that this may be where I am best suited to be. Which I am ok with. I think that what I am trying to do is to be involved. This week’s prompt is: What connections do you see between Jeffrey Thompson’s article, the Gospel, and social innovation? It is clear that becoming a social innovator is a sort of calling all in itself. However, what I found interesting is that just like in the gospel, we all have a part to play. Heavenly Father will place us in the right place for us to be. For example, I have several times been called to teach in primary. In fact, I have only ever had two callings outside of primary, and both were eith...

Week 10: What is it about hybrids that make them so successful?

This week we learned about how some efforts in social entrepreneurialism can actually become more damaging to the very people they are trying to help than they do help. Evaluating our end game is vitally important so that we can make a plan that will really make a difference and change the course people’s lives are on. It reminds me of the talk from Marion G. Romney, that shared the story of the seagulls and the shrimpers feeding them. They learned that they could just get fish from the shrimpers instead of wasting time fishing for themselves. Later generations were only taught to go the shrimpers for fish and didn’t learn how to fish. So, when the shrimpers left, they began to starve. We certainly don’t want to create this type of environment when we are trying to help improve people’s lives. I feel it does beg to be mentioned that there are those who just need a hand. Perhaps there has been a temporary setback and they need a bit of assistance to get back on their way. In these case...

Week 5 Prompt: “Hurling and Community Service” and how you set goals.

Week 5 is here! Our lessons this week focused on mission statements, measurements and impact. There were a number of readings and a couple of videos, but the one that I found most interesting was the Standfords Social Innovation Reviews article titled Getting Results: Outputs, Outcomes, and Impact . I feel this article explained well the ideas we were focusing on this week including how outputs and outcomes are very different and only a small part of the impact you are seeking to create. We were also asked to watch a video of Kevin Starr titled Lasting Impact where he delved into the topic of impact and why seeking that above all else is the most important. I particularly appreciated his four questions we should ask ourselves about our products: "Is it needed? Does it work? Will it get to those who need it? Will they use it correctly when they get it?"  The last two questions really stood out to me because they address the meat of why a product would fail. Of course, many pr...