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Knowledge and Inspiration Shared at Social Entrepreneurship Forum

Last week, Commongood Careers was fortunate to attend the Social Entrepreneurship: Lessons and Strategies Forum, sponsored by BCCJ – Lead Boston and Ashoka and held at Brandeis University. The day included presentations from a number of speakers, including Lisa Nitz, Vice President, Global Engagement Team at Ashoka who gave a compelling talk outlining the role social entrepreneurs play in the social sector, the importance of investing in social entrepreneurs and providing a wealth of knowledge to those thinking about starting their own social enterprise. Lisa left the audience feeling more informed, engaged, and confident with its abilities to accelerate social change with innovative and sustainable ideas!

Eric Dawson, President and Co-Founder of Peace Games followed with an inspiring story about what led to the creation of Peace games, his challenges and achievements. One interesting concept that often social entrepreneurs struggle with is measurement and how you know whether or not your program is effective. Brilliantly, Dawson raised the point that impact is more than about traditional forms of evaluation and measurement, distinguishing W and w - BIG work and LITTLE work. BIG work is about never losing sight of the overall mission, the bigger picture and not getting discouraged when trying to see impact because social change is hard to measure and often isn’t apparent right away. LITTLE work is the quantitative measurement, which most organizations need for funding. He also said that social entrepreneurship is more than just building programs – building programs isn’t enough; it’s about building movements, cultivating relationships and connecting people. Dawson was very thoughtful and sincere in his reflections about Peace Games and Social Entrepreneurship – we were all very grateful for his openness.

It was an inspiring day to say the least, and it was great to be surrounded by such progressive individuals looking to take what they learned back to their communities. Thank you BCCJ, ASHOKA and Brandeis Heller School of Social Policy and Management for a powerful event.

Events & Career Fairs, Social Innovation

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