I had dinner a couple of years ago with David Bornstein, a terrific writer and evangelist for Social Entrepreneurs. Bornstein wrote a fantastic book called, How To Change The World. Over a five-year period, he visited with 60 Social Entrepreneurs and interviewed another 40. The book concentrates on 9 powerful, uplifting and inspirational stories.
Here is Bornstein’s summarized message:
“Social Entrepreneurs are transformative forces … people with new ideas to address major problems … who are relentless in pursuit of their visions … who simply will not take ‘no’ for an answer … who will not give up until they have spread their ideas as far as they possibly can.”
I love this definition! Both of us also love and use Peter Drucker’s ‘THINK BIG’ mantra:
“The SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR CHANGES the PERFORMANCE CAPACITY of SOCIETY.”
Bornstein also reinforces one of my favorite books and mantras: The Power Of One.
In his own words,
“(The book) shows that important SOCIAL CHANGE frequently begins with a single entrepreneurial author … ONE obsessive individual who sees a problem and envisions a new solution …ONE that takes the initiative to act on that vision … ONE who gathers resources and builds organizations to protect and market that vision … ONE who provides the energy and sustained focus overcoming the inevitable resistance … and, ONE who, decade after decade, keeps improving, strengthening that vision until what was once a marginal idea has become a new norm.”
WOW!
