The Art and Practice of Social Enterprise

The Center for Social Value Creation already has interesting events planned for the fall semester.  On September 25th,  2009 the Center will join the Center for International Business Education and Research in hosting a one-day forum, “Leadership for a Better World: Creating Social Value through Innovation”.

Lots of interesting leaders will be there..like Seth Goldman, TeaEO of Honest Tea, Alan Webber, the Founder of Fast Company, Thomas Schelling, who is a Professor at  University of Maryland AND a Nobel laureate…

The event’s taking place at the Ronald Reagan Building in DC, which  also houses Maryland’s part-time MBA classes.

How To Go Green At Work (VIDEO)

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And so it goes.  My first year of the MBA program is officially over. And by officially over, I mean most likely officially over after I get my last three grades in a few weeks.

What a year it was.  The first semester was lessons in the MBA core classes. But it was also Social Venture Consulting projects..it was working with my team at the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship.  It was becoming aware of the need for business skills in a non-profit arena. It was watching the work my team did directly impact an organization. It was seeing how teaching young kids and giving them a feeling of their worth, can make a difference in their lives and in the lives of people in their communities. It was learning how to spell entreprenurship.. Or get kind of close enough. (I let this one ride on spell check..just to keep it real)

There was the North American Net Impact Conference–held at the Wharton School of Business..meeting literally hundreds of  so-very like minded peers involved in this new, changing, exciting, and challenging world of sustainable business. It was connecting with them and sharing ideas and learning ..and growing..and learning some more.

It was working with a clean-battery startup called FlexEl…working with brilliant engineers who are designing next generation batteries that are cleaner and more efficient than anything we have seen before.

Then it was victory.. at last..when my team won our entrepreneur club’s business case challenge–by developing a texting tool for a local small business called Compcierge.

And it was of course being a part of the Dingman Center at the University of Maryland..connecting with not only passionate and driven MBA students..but the many undergrads who have more dedication than you’d ever think a 18-21 year old would have.

So that’s the first year. I remember when I started my journey way (way?) back last August and I was speaking on the phone with Melissa Carrier, my soon to be boss at the Dingman Center. She asked me what I want to do in business school. I said, rather sheepishly, I’d like to maybe, you know, kinda, sorta ..start my own sustainable business ..someday. Which to me,  seemed akin–at the time– to saying I’d really like to win the lottery someday. Melissa said, ‘we’ll here you’ll develop the tools to do it’. And I remember thinking at the time, ‘there are tools?’ This is something I can actually practice and develop?  Yes.  Late nights (its 3am now..who’s counting? it’s noon somewhere in the world)  lots of new coursework. new situations. new concepts (umm..yes, SMART goals..keep them “R”ealistic) And sure, there have been ups and downs, like any development process. You keep speeding ahead until you hit a ceiling and then you break through it and move again.  Its really good that sustainable business works that way. I like stuff I can practice.  

And so it is.  One full year of practice in the art and practice of social enterprise. One more to go.

The best event I have been to at the Smith school… That’s probably a good place to start.

Yesterday, the Smith school, along with our newly launched Initiative for Social Value Creation, hosted our first annual Social Enterprise Symposium.  The event was awesome..First off, Steve Fludder, Vice President from Ecomagination and GE Corporate Officer, gave a really inspiring presentation..GE’s slogan is “imagination at work” and I really got the sense of that with Fludder. When asked by a student how to succeed in sustainable business, he talked about how one’s career is not a straight line, that we as students need to be ready for twists and turns not only in our own careers, but in the world. Stay loose and imaginative and you’ll get ahead of the curve. GE has a number of interesting sustainable goals that it has set for itself, and it has achieved many of them because the very concept of sustainability has been incorporated in company culture. Fludder advised that even if you are not exactly where you plan to be– work hard in whatever role you are in–you never know where you’ll find the next opportunity. GE imagines in the coming years that literally hundreds of thousands of jobs are going to come from places like new energy..particularly energy efficiency. Ecoimagination is growing. Even though in many ways the world economy is struggling,  there was a deep sense of optimism of what our economy could be coming out of that talk, and it reminded me of the importance not only of my education at Smith, but of my role in this wider new economy.

We were then off to the panel sessions after and I had the chance to check out:

“Opportunities and Challenges in Environmental Sustainability”

Janet Larsen, Director of Research at the Earth Policy Institute, started off the panel with a brief discussion of the current environmental state of our economy.  She said that a quote she liked  was “socialism failed because it failed to face economic reality…capitalism could fail because it fails to face ecological reality” which was an interesting perspective.  She talked about research that showed that if all costs of fossil fuels– economic, social and ecological –were added to a gallon of gas, it would be $9 higher! This includes health costs associated with pollution, global warming effects, etc. That means if we’re paying $3 at the pump, the real cost to our society and planet is $12 at the pump.  We begin to see why it is important to face the ecological reality of our economy.

Another really interesting panel member was David Sklar.  Sklar is an award winning architect and designer, and pioneer in Eco-tecture.  I had the opportunity to speak with Sklar after the panel and his story is pretty amazing.  He has an incredibly cool project that I had actually heard of through ABC news recently..it’s a totally “green” (sustainable and carbon neutral) island in the Bahamas called Star Island.  Star Island uses solar, wind, hydro and biofuels..and is off the grid! ( a ‘normal’ grid uses energy centers and distributes that energy outward to buildings in the grid, Star Island uses a ‘reverse’ grid energy structure.. where buildings actually produce energy that can go back to the energy center of the grid. .) It’s pretty neat stuff.  Sklar mentioned to me that electricity is extremely expensive in the Bahamas, and this ‘reverse grid’ can bring down the cost of electricity immensely. 

Rod Smith at Green Smith was another speaker and his organization focuses on the grid as well. Smith’s story also had a unique element..he worked in the financal industry for many years of his career, while keeping up with the latest on grid and energy efficiency.  He then decided to start Green Smith and started a brand new career. Its worked. And it goes to show that it really never is too late to make a change in your career. As Steve Fludder had said, stay loose. You never know when you’ll have an opportunity.  Smith gave an interesting talk on his technology–which manages ‘peak energy’ (we use a lot of energy at certain times of the day, but then much less at other times..this strains the grid at peak use..).  Smith also talked about some of the ways that we got where we are..how population growth, clean water, food, energy, and the environment all work together. How the “green revolution” (different from our current “green revolution”) in agriculture spurred food availability–and in part, population growth. Without clean water or energy, its hard to grow food..without food..you get the idea. Its good to understand how you got where you are because it helps you understand where you’re going.

There is so much more I could write about our event last night. I was so excited about it last night that I was up to 1AM just deconstructing stuff I had learned, talks I had, and ideas that were sparked..(that’s when you know you’ve had a professional growth experience..)

It was a great night for Smith and I think for all the students that were involved. BIG thanks to the Ashoka team (both undergrads and MBAs), Melissa Carrier, Dean Anand, and for everyone that attended and made this such an interesting night.

The Smith School’s Initiative for Social Value Creation is hosting its first annual Social Enterprise Symposium this Thursday from 5-9pm. Our Ashoka Changemarker Campus team –Terp Changemakers–is leading the efforts on the event (…our Ashoka team is headed up by Melissa Carrier, and it includes very dedicated undergrads and MBA students, so its a great way to met up and work with other classmates interested in social enterprise..)

The event welcomes Steve Fludder, a Vice President from Ecomagination and a GE Corporate Officer, as keynote.

Moreover, students choose from the following panel sessions:

Lots of interesting stuff going on.

The Initiative for Social Value Creation at Smith formally launched today.  Here is a summary of what the initiative  is about:

The Initiative for Social Value Creation innovates at the intersection of public policy, non-governmental organizations and the commercial sector to address social market failures. We offer students an educational core competency for exploring and solving the business model issues that currently limit organizations in their pursuit to do well by doing good.

Characteristics of our strategy include:

• Utilizing market-based methods — exploiting market principles and methods of capitalism to establish commercial viability;
• Creating synergies — partnering across functions and disciplines so that students get many perspectives on social responsibility — from technology to public health to public policy.
• Maximizing public/private partnerships — designing structures that fill the gap in public policy and NGO services;
• Promoting innovation — emphasizing the use of technology and adapting business methods to build sustainable organizations; and
• Focusing on systematic change — analyzing and repairing social market failures.

It’s really good to see the level of investment Smith is willing to make toward developing this initiative and its focus on social value.  Check out the first annual Social Enterprise Symposium also.  Looks like a great event with lots of interesting speakers, companies, and nonprofits.  More good stuff to come….

Seth Goldman, TeaEO, Honest Tea

Seth Goldman,  President and “TeaEO” of Honest Tea came to speak to students at Smith today.  It was an interesting discussion ranging from topics like distribution of product, building a brand, financing a start up and perhaps most importantly for Sustainable Enterprises–how to stay true to your value system.

There was also a good amount of  Honest Tea product to try out, and I must say, I liked the Honest Kid’s Goodness Grapeness a LOT.

Its only 40 calories and has only 10 grams of sugar. If you like grape juice but find that most grape drinks are way, way to sweet…this is the perfect drink for you.

In fact, this was part of Seth’s thinking in making the brand Honest Tea.  It all started in B-school when he was taking part in the  epic battle  popular HBS case of Coke v. Pepsi.  He realized there was a product in the sugary space and there was a product in the water space..but nothing in between.  Hence, Honest Tea was born. There was a lot in between of course. But this was part of it.

There were a lot of interesting take aways from the discussion. Sell product being the first, obvious, but still important. Dealing with investors.  Knowing your businesses value.  Getting the right people on board. All that good stuff.

Seth also mentioned an interesting company called TerraCycle, which recycles the packs for Honest Kids drinks (among other things they do). Tom Szaky founded TerraCycle after taking a leave of absence from Princeton. He’s sort of all the buzz in the under 30 success story scene. I dug up this quote from him in an article with Fast Company on Eco-Capitalism:

 It’s sustainable business 2.0. In the first generation of sustainable business, you have companies like Stonyfield Yogurt, Honest Tea, and Seventh Generation that took the existing paradigm of a yogurt, iced tea or cleaner and made it more eco-friendly and worked within the existing paradigm. Eco-capitalism is sort of reinventing the paradigm. The most important innovation is looking at things people don’t value as a fundamental building block. It’s not just physical garbage — it could be people, ideas or objects. The first generation of sustainable business created very eco-friendly products but at a premium price. The inputs had a greater cost because they were better, eco-friendly, organic, and all that. With eco-capitalism, you’re able to do the best thing for the environment, the best thing for society — all at a great price. And garbage is the essence of that.

Honest Tea is actually teamed up with Terracycle to employ these concepts of sustainable business 2.0, so I think they are well positioned to take part in this next generation of sustainable business.  Szaky is nonetheless making an interesting point about a possible direction of sustainable enterprise.

In closing, I think Seth Goldman is one of the best business speakers I’ve heard in a long time. And I think a very good choice to have at Smith as a lot of us Bschoolers are thinking about ways to make our careers in business more sustainable and reflective of what we believe is important.

The Social Venture Consulting program wrapped up a semester’s worth of consulting projects as eight teams presented their consulting work to an audience of students and faculty. Projects ranged from product development work, to outreach and social networking strategy. Each team presented a background on their client, their project findings, as well as the lessons they learned going forward.

One such client was Aumazo, a nonprofit organization that is planning to build a girl’s school in Bankondji, Cameroon. The client wanted to increase outreach, and the student team built a web strategy, including social networking and multimedia. Another team worked with a small nonprofit organization called The Woman’s Heart, a women’s center that is based out of Casper, Wyoming. The team worked on strategic marketing, enhancing resource utilization and sustaining revenues. 

Other clients were closer to home.  A student team worked with the University of Maryland’s Office of Sustainability’s Climate Action Plan, building a plan to decrease energy usage.

Each team was tasked with communicating lessons learned. Many teams noted a lack of knowledge in a specific background, for example, a marketing background for a marketing case. This prompted a steeper learning curve. To move quickly along the curve, team-members drew knowledge from first-year core courses, for example, the “4 P’s of marketing” in the first year marketing course, as well as other data analysis techniques learned in core courses. Coaching provided by second years who had previously completed the consulting program also helped navigate student teams through their projects.

With a solid foundation of core courses and coaching, client projects were successful. Many teams were able to point to new skills and perspectives developed, a greater sense of teamwork, and perhaps most importantly, a deeper appreciation for the role that business skills can play in solving the problems and challenges facing non-profit and community organizations.