Episode 20 - Change
Change is afoot on this episode of Teaching Change as Jerrid and Courtney tackle the effect of social entrepreneurship on society. By their very nature, social entrepreneurs are disruptors of the status quo as they work to solve the issues that plague the world. Thus, change is a colossal horizon that looms in the minds of social entrepreneurs and provides plenty of fodder for conversations on how to make it happen.
Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. – George Bernard Shaw
One of the underlying missions of most social enterprises is to create positive social change which will assist in the overall advancement of society. Therefore, burgeoning social entrepreneurs are observant and inquisitive as they assess their surrounding environments. As a result, these innovators can firmly grasp perennial issues such as income equality or harmful environmental practices and chip away at these problems.
Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end. – Robin Sharma
As we may be all too aware, change does not happen overnight nor may it be well received. For this reason, change may be difficult to measure and its value challenging to quantify. The seeds of change that are being planted today through social enterprises such as Clean the World and Downtown Credo may not bloom until many years from now. While the incremental change in their respective fields has most certainly been achieved, eradication of the issues being addressed may not happen within our lifetimes. The evolutional change of our culture and attitudes typically takes a long time.
Added to the challenge of change taking a long time is that people, at some level, are resistant to change. Sure there are always those few who are early adopters that may enjoy the chaos of rapid change, but for the most part, we tend to be comfortable in our routines and beliefs as human beings. To overcome this innate resistance, change-makers should move slowly and deliberately towards their goals. For if they move too fast, they run the risk of the change not being permanent and the situation boomeranging back to where it was at the start.
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. – Lao Tzu
Ultimately, social entrepreneurs are held to a higher standard—ethically and morally. Sound change is a result of growth. As long as social entrepreneurs plan purposefully, reflect on their progress and adjust accordingly, the journey towards change will be a steady one.