Week Six: Introduction

171196

Moeno Kiuchi

New Leader: Social Entrepreneurs

                In recent years, the world faced significant unrest − poverty, natural disaster, wars, economic recession and other confusions. The more economic growths, the more disparity occurs between the poor and the rich. The bigger society becomes, the more people hurt the nature. To solve this tough social problems and economic challenges, it is necessary to find a new approach. Social business can be a main stream of finding solution. They seek not only their profits, but also put importance on following their missions: how to give a positive impact on society. Grameen Bank is one of the famous social ventures that lends loans to poor people in developing country to give them opportunities to get themselves out of poverty. In Japan, Daichi wo Mamoru Kai is known as a big social business company that adopts organic agriculture to Japanese farms in order to conserve environment and support Japanese farmers. Social business will be the key to make sustainable society in this difficult day and age.

                If social business can be a solution to this unrest sociaty, how can we develop it? Leaders who start breakthrough business for society are necessary to develop social business, that is, “Social entrepreneurs”. They have clear mission which can change society in positive way. To solve difficult problems which were made by human beings, social entrepreneurs should be recognized as a new leader.

The purpose of this paper will be to identify essential factors to be a social entrepreneur because it helps us to increase the number of social ventures. My research writing paper would evaluate what kind of leadership is required in social business. It will begin with overview of social business and social entrepreneurs – what is definition, when it was started, what kind of background they had. Then, it will compare with other leaders in order to distinguish the differences and identify the character of social entrepreneurs. Finally, it will analyze the cases by using companies from various fields which are giving positive impact to the society, and show how they are making important role in this world.

Social business is new trend in business field, though its impact is huge and involving many people in the society. Even though it seems current trend, however, it has the history and it was born because of necessity. In 1970’s, there was big change in the society in UK. Prime minister Margaret Thatcher cut down the money for social security system such as welfare, water service, gas system, electricity, railways, transmission system and gas system. She brought competition in the economy, so that government could cut down the budget for them. It means, not government, but private sectors have the responsibility more than before. That brought the trend to establish business which seeks profit for public government cannot do. In 1981, “Ashoka: Innovators for the Public” which purpose is to support social capital in private sector was established by William Bill Drayton, and that was thought as the beginning of social business. After that, many social entrepreneurs appeared such as Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Charles Leadbeater. Then, 10 or 20 years later, this new type of leader became more popular.

William Bill Drayton can be said as the father of social entrepreneurs because he was pioneer of social business at that time. If he was social entrepreneur, what is the definition? According to homepage of Ahoka, “social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.” Social entrepreneurs are defined as people who have clear vision about what he/she wants to do to the society. Also, they have astonish idea for innovation which nobody could not come up with ever.

Week Five: Outline

171196

Moeno Kiuchi

LILTDY

20 Jan 2015

Social Entrepreneurs

Thesis statement: Social entrepreneurs should be a new type of leader for solving problems around the world.

Ⅰ. Introduction

 　A. Openin
　　1. Hook
　　　・What happens around the world
　　　・Social business as a new trend
　　2. Topic narrowing
　　　・Social businesses can be main stream 
　　　　of solving issues
　　3. Thesis
　　　・Social entrepreneurs should be a new type of 
　　　　leader for making sustainable society.  
 　B. Writing Plan
　　1. Purpose of paper
　　　・Identifying what skill is needed for 
　　　　social entrepreneurs  
　　2. Plan of development
　　　・First, writing about what is social 　　　
　　　　entrepreneurs.

　　　・Second, comparing with other leaders 

　　　　to identify their characters.

　　　・Third, analyzing people who gave great impact
　　　　on the society in the history.

Ⅱ. Social Entrepreneurs
　A. History and background
　　・It go back to regime of Thatcher.
　　・Not government, but society has to deal with 　
　　　social problems.
　B. Definition of social business and social 
　　 entrepreneur

Ⅲ. Compare with other leadership
　A. Business entrepreneurs vs. Social entrepreneurs
　　1. Differences
　　　・What makes business leaders and 
　　　　social entrepreneurs different?
　　　　a. Vision

　　　　　　・Social entrepreneurs have clear vision

　　　　　　　[“Social entrepreneurs should 　

　　　　　　　be visionary.”]

　 b. Profitability

　　 ・The way of thinking toward profitability is 

　　　 different

　  c. Encountering hardship

　　 ・Social entrepreneurs seem to

　　　 have shocked experiences which changed 

　　　 their life.

　  d. Innovation

　　 ・Social business should be innovative

    　　to change the society

　　　["(Social entrepreneurs) are driven 

　　　by innovation."( Linda Rottenburg)]

Ⅳ. Case analysis
　A. How do social ventures give impact
　　1. Welfare
　　　a. Kaien
　　　　・Company supports development 
　　　　　disorder people(Kaien HP). 
　　2. Supporting women into society
　　　a. Florence
　　　　・Supporting women by caring 
　　　　　their babies(Florence HP).
　　3. Education 
　　　a. Vita Beans
　　4. Environment
　　　a. Damascus Fortune

　・ Innovation driven Eco-responsive company

　　 which produces low-cost carbon

　　 nanomaterials by converting greenhouse

　　 carbon gases emitted by industrial factories.

 b. Daichi wo mamoru kai

Ⅴ. Conclusion

　A. Restatement of main thesis

　　・Social entrepreneurs should be a new type of 

　　　leader for making sustainable society.

　B. Summary

　　・Social business have the potential to solve 　　

　　　 issues around the world.

　　・Therefore, leaders in social business are the 

　　　new type of leader in 21st century.

　C. Closing

Week Five: Chapter 7

　　　For me, reading this chapter was so interesting because I'm always looking for what is the best way of conflict management. As I mentioned many times, my club focuses on issue of Israel-Palestine. This is the conflict between two nations, two religions, political parties and other countries like America and Arabic countries. We have to consider various factors which bring this conflict.  Therefore, I know it's not the kind of conflict which the author said in Leading at he Edge. But I think the main way of thinking is similar and I can learn from this chapter. Conflict is caused by people, so I hope it can be resolved by people.

　　　The author said "The challenge is not how to eliminate conflicts, but rather how to manage them in productive ways that strengthen bonds among team members". I like this phrase. When conflict between people happens, they tend to avoid it unconsciously, especially in Japan. However, avoiding is meaningless and it doesn't solve anything. By escaping from conflict, they may think they can keep the good relationship, but rather it breaks it, I think. We have to argue if we want to make good relationship. 

　　　How to manage their argument is the job of leaders. It's difficult to settle down people who fight each other. First of all, I think leaders have to make it clear this arguing is not bad thing, rather it is necessary to establish good relationship. People who get angry and fight tend to be blind and cannot see the point clearly. So leaders have to calm down them so that they can reach the agreement without getting too emotional. Second, leaders hove to admire diversities and make members admire it, too. When my student organization(JIPSC) held the conference, there were various kinds of people from three side: Israel, Palestine and Japan. There were left sided people, former member of Israel army, Christian, Muslim, Jews, half Jewish and half Arabic etc... Members were consist from diversity. It's easy to imagine that conflict happens many times. I don't want to remember because it's so hard to manage and  was too wasted, but yes... many conflicts happened EVERY DAY. Sometimes, Muslim girl got angry because she hates the noisy people. Sometimes conflict happened between two Israelis about occupation policy which Israel government doing. Sometimes, conflict happened within Japanese organizers about how to manage discussion. 

During conference, we held the discussion days 6 times about Israel-Palestine issues.

　　　Even though we argued many times, our relationship didn't break up, rather, these experiences made our relationship much more strong. We faced difficulties between different people, but we overcame it and could accept diversity. I believe, the most important thing in the conflict is having imagination towards others. It can be said about conflict between Israel and Palestine. When people can have imagination towards enemies, enemies will closer. I want to keep it in my mind and tell others if conflict happens. 

Week Four: Chapter 4

Hi there! Reading Leading at Edge gives my insight about leadership. Today, I'd like to write my thought towards chapter 4.


Chapter 4 talks about stamina. It says great leaders often have great stamina and keep working even hard situation. However, Shakleton was not such a kind of person. It was quite chock for me because I expected he had full of stamina.

The author insisted even though  we have stamina or not, we should take care of ourselves as well as another members. I agree with this idea. If leader doesn't take care of himself/herself, their members also doesn't take care of themselves. As the author says in Chapter 3, leader must take action if he/she expects others to do the same thing. Leader must be the example of others. Therefore, if leader doesn't take into considerate himself/herself, who will follow?  Health is important for achieving goals, especially in The Edge.

Shakleton was not good at taking care of himself even though he had great ability to observe his crew and could take care of them well. As Ken and author said, it must be some correlation between Shakleton's early death and his lack of ability to take care of himself.




Chapter 4 also talks about importance having outlets. It's difficult to control mental health for us without outputting our feelings. Therefore, we have to have outlets for our feelings. The author listed three things to share feelings: Talk to friends, Keep a journal and Write letters home.
I think Japanese are not good at doing this. They put importance on having patience. So I'm afraid they avoid showing their feelings, but they endure.
For me, I couldn't share my feelings until a few years ago, but I noticed I can feel secure after telling and showing my feelings to others. So, I try to do it recently. Even though one seems to have tough mind, he/she cannot live alone. They needs other's help. I'm thinking of majoring psychology, and from the perspective of it, there is no one who has "tough mind". So, I want to say don't think you have patience! Standing will connect to stress, and that will depress you. If it's difficult to tell your feeling, you can start from keeping diary. You can share your feeling with yourself. You can start from that, then telling what you are feeling to others.

Week Four: My Research Proposal

Leadership in Social Business

                In recent years, the world faced significant unrest − poverty, natural disaster, wars, economic recession and other confusions. The more economic growths, the more disparity occurs between the poor and the rich. The bigger society becomes, the more people hurt the nature. To solve this tough social problems and economic challenges, it is necessary to find a new approach. Social business can be a main stream of finding solution. They seek not only their profits, but also put importance on following their missions: how to give a positive impact on society. Grameen Bank is one of the famous social ventures that lends loans to poor people in developing country to give them opportunities to get themselves out of poverty. In Japan, Daichi wo Mamoru Kai is known as a big social business company that adopts organic agriculture to Japanese farms in order to conserve environment and support Japanese farmers. Social business will be the key to make sustainable society in this difficult day and age. Therefore, identifying essential factors to be a social entrepreneur will help us to increase the number of social ventures. My research writing paper would evaluate what kind of leadership is required in social business. So far, research has been done by Lynn Barendsen and Howard Gardner. They argue whether social entrepreneur is the new type of leader. Also, another article was found which describes the history of social business and evaluate the features of social business leader(Andrew Mawson, 2008).

The reason why I choose this topic is that, I am working as an internship in social business company. The name is Kaien, which main mission is helping development disorder people. They have difficulties in communicating with people, studying and finding jobs. So we have program for training them in order to develop their skills, and they can have experience what kinds of jobs they can do before going to society.

Through working in social venture, I became interested in social entrepreneur. I think my internship experience here will help writing my Research Writing.

Week Three: Chapter 2

Hi. First of all, I’m so sorry that I am too late for posting it. I saved on draft, but I forgot to press “publish” button…:(

I’d like to write about summary of chapter two in Leading at the Edge and my. Reading this chapter gave me great awareness about leadership. It gave me opportunity to think about my leadership. I will summarize this chapter with my reaction. 

[Summary and Reaction]

“Symbolism and Personal Example”

You, as a leader, have a unique role and a special power. Chart your course and - with presence, symbolism, and personal example - use that power to lend your organization to The Edge(p. 38).

Great leader is required to be “visual” to attract members to led one’s organization success. This chapter has three parts to support author’s statement: Give the Right Speech, Use Vivid Symbols and Be Visible.

Give the Right Speech

Summary: First time when I read this title, I though “what is ‘right’ speech?” Dennis emphasized the importance of giving speech because the power of right words is striking. Especially, it gives great influence when organizations face hard challenge. The right speech needs to be authentic, and delivered with sincerely. Danish explained what is right speech with showing example of Feance Bernie, who was CEO of Eni, Italy’s large energy-focused industrial group. 

Reaction: I totally agree with this idea. I haven’t experienced The Edge like go missing in Antractica, but I had the time of challenging when I was the member of student organization. As I explained about my organizations in last post, we have the conference which invites Israelis and Palestinians in summer. This conference is held on August. 

Last year, I think most of you know there was horrible fight between Israel and Gaza, Palestine. It is said that over 700 Palestinians were dead by Isral's invasion. This fight started from July, a month before the conference. Because of this war, most of flight was cancelled and it seemed impossible to have the conference. However, as a leader, I though it’s important tp keep saying our mission to other members in such a situation. The mission is, giving opportunity to talk between two sides to establish trust relationship. Since it is a hard situation, I believed Israelis and Palestinians should talk. Peace won’t come without talking to enemy. I gave speech many times in order to gave hopes to others. We discovered the way to find  only one  company which didn’t cancel the fright(this was Israeli company) even though the other did. We decided to reserve it if booked flight was cancelled in participants’ departure day.

I was succeed to give right speech in this severe situation. But I think I can gave speech with more clear words after learning about “right speech” in this chapter.

Use Vivid Symbols

Summary: The author insisted on seeking goals with symbolic behavior. Dramatizing the challenge with visible, memorable symbols and behaviors are essential to manage organizations in The Edge. Again, Dennis explained it with showing Shackleton’s example of cutting down unnecessary goods. He struggled to find a balance between weight and speed because some personal goods which important for each other were not necessary for goals: succeeding expedition. But he assumed that these goods were essential in the case of harsh situation, so he didn’t throw it, Instead, he had no hesitate to throw away seemingly precious like gold lighter. He followed team’s mission with using visible symbols.

Reaction: I think visible images are more important than invisible things like words, especially in hand situation. Shackleton understood and used it effectively. I read the article which says human being depend on information inputted form eye, rather than ear. It is verified in the experiment. Therefore, appealing to visual is important than we think.

Be Visible: Let People See You Leading

Summary: Not only giving right words, but also great leader must demonstrate action. Dennis showed instances of Shackleton and Phil Caputo, Marine lieutenant in Vietnam.   Shackleton sacrificed himself in the hardest situation during expedition. His action moved members and created the way to success. 

Reaction: Again, when I was an executive director of organization, so many troubles were happened. One of the toughest one was that one of our members who had responsible for finance, missed the deadline to report to foundation which supported us with giving subsidy. We had responsibility to submit report, and if we missed it, it should be difficult to get subsidy again in the next conference. So, when I knew that she forgot to submit, I got so angry. However, I know it is the nature of thing for human to make mistake. So, I asked why she make mistake in order not to do that again. After that, I never said about her failure. Then, I called foundation by myself and apologized as a leader because I thought I have to take responsibility and show as behavior.