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By Katrina Blowers
November 7, 2008
The social sector will soon have a new way of speaking if a recent gathering of 25 up-and-coming social entrepreneurs have their way.
In a fast-flowing and impassioned exchange of ideas at a Sydney dinner hosted by the Centre for Social Impact in November, the group drafted a to-do list for tackling obstacles to success.
Top of the list was a desire to throw out the current business lexicon and craft a new one: containing a fresh and consistent language for advocating social impact.
The ideas-fest was attended by CEOs from 17 organisations, including the Inspire Foundation, United Way Sydney, YWCA, CanTeen, Best Buddies and Get Up! And though these leaders may be 20 and 30-somethings, don't dream about calling them ‘young'. A proposal to name a future meeting of social CEOs a ‘Young Not for Profit Leader's Forum' was quickly scotched because of perception concerns.
"Too often we are dismissed or discounted as just a ‘young leader' or ‘just the young non-profit-ey person'," one participant observed. "Instead of focusing on age alone, we need to look at fostering new styles of leadership and breaking down some of the old corporate hierarchies that stifle creative thinking."
As wine glasses were topped up and reams of butcher's paper were brainstormed upon, other terms of reference relating to the way social businesses are construed and the yardsticks used for measuring social impact were given the thumbs down.
"We need to redefine who we are and what we do," said another participant. "And we need to make that definition for ourselves so the government doesn't do it for us. A contradiction still exists where there's a desire for social ventures to be based on the principles of the corporate sector. But success in our sector isn't only about applying a dollar value. We need to come up with KPI's that work for us."
The group agreed future think-tanks would be invaluable to helping their business aims, sharing new ideas and taking a leaf from other's successes and failures. "It's much more fun to learn from someone else's mistake than from your own," laughed one CEO.
One thing everyone agreed upon was the need for a regular get-together. "But it's important we get the balance of any future forum right," said Peter Shergold, CEO of The Centre for Social Impact. "We need the right mix of emerging leaders from the traditional not-for-profits
The evening ended with a commitment to continue the conversation in the new year, with a view to discussing a series of topics in an environment which fosters a collegial network. Because, in the words of another guest: "at the end of the day, we are all passionate about something more than just our individual organisations." And that's a sentiment which spells success in anyone's language.