Inspiring greater social change in the world.
Welcome to our next method profile! Our previous entry focused on using audience awareness in social enterprise. In operating any venture, everything flows from your approach, and identifying a proper method helps you effectively fulfill
Welcome to our next method profile! Our previous entry focused on using ✦avid listening✦ in social enterprise. In operating any venture, everything flows from your approach, and identifying a proper method helps you effectively fulfill
Welcome to our next method profile! Our previous entry focused on using ✦collaboration✦ in social enterprise. In operating any venture, everything flows from your approach, and identifying a proper method helps you effectively fulfill your
I’ve tried writing this a few times, only to realize that race is difficult to write about because of my own limitations in understanding what others experience. Racial inequality affects so many of the social
Welcome to our next method profile! Our previous entry focused on using transparency in social enterprise. In operating any venture, everything flows from your approach, and identifying a proper method helps you effectively fulfill your
Funding for social entrepreneurship varies from traditional entrepreneurship funding. There are many models for traditional funding, all of which depend on your goals and what you’re trying to achieve. In traditional entrepreneurship, there are two
Within social enterprise, methods you choose in establishing core values are the base of your operations. Everything flows from your approach, and identifying a proper method helps you effectively fulfill your team’s initiative. Together, we’ll
Most companies struggle to find a vision that fits their business. Social enterprises often face a flipped version of the same challenge – they need a business model which fits their vision. In this article, I outline some practical steps you can take to get yourself on track to running a successful business that will put flesh on your vision for making an impact in the world.
Social Entrepreneurship is not well defined. It is not a certification, like the B-Corp status. Anybody can call themselves a social enterprise. You can be non-profit, for-profit, or a for-profit whose profits go into a
Humans are very productive when they know what they want to do. As Srikumar Rao, creator of the “Creativity and Personal Mastery” course, once said, “Everything you see in the world started as a thought
Once in a while, someone will come up with a great business idea in their bedroom. But often, bedroom inspirations run into the same problems as armchair philosophies – they don’t work when they hit
Change for the better is happening in the business world, with more and more companies becoming more aware of their social responsibilities. But you can’t turn big ships around in a hurry – it takes
In life, when you focus on what you get, you’re going to lose eventually. It’s an easy game to get sucked into because there is a belief we carry around, that we control what happens.
No one argues with the fact that society has problems. The question is what to do about them. While those on the left side of politics focused on government-funded programs, and those on the right
It’s easier today than at any other time to start something and make a social impact. But there’s a catch. Most of us can’t afford, at least at the start, to quit our day jobs
2019 Aspire Social Entrepreneur Awards On Wednesday, September 18th, I attended Aspire – the 7th annual social entrepreneurship awards for central Ohio. We were honored that Wild Tiger Tees was nominated and picked as a
TBEX Huntsville was this year’s North America travel blogger conference. I had no idea what to expect… to be honest, I was skeptical of going to a small town in Alabama that I had never
Columbus, Ohio has one of the best zoo’s in the country. When Jack Hannah inherited the zoo as director in 1978, it was a mess. But he built it up with his charisma, vision and
Columbus is a unique place. First impressions: it’s small & there isn’t much happening. But living here, I’m starting to develop a deeper appreciation for the city. It has these hidden possibilities: they’re not obvious
Disclaimer: I am not a farmer… this is my green thumb attempt to understand farming. Technically, I didn’t even to travel to a farm (I do have one almost in my back yard if that counts).
I have heard wonderful things about Brussels: it’s a nice modern city, easy to get around in and beautiful in the summer. From London, you arrive in just a few hours on the Eurostar. No
London is the premier international city. You can walk down Oxford Street and easily hear 10 languages in 10 steps, because people come from everywhere and anywhere. (I used to think New York was the
I love photography – and have been snapping shots since my first digital SLR in 2004. (Well, before that I shot some 20,000 photos on whatever digital camera I could find.) There are 15 minutes,
If you consider your average day – be it at work, school, or home – you most likely wake up each day and go through a pattern you’ve been through many times before. When you
Kindness is one of the rarest gifts we have to give: it doesn’t exist until we give it, and only in giving kindness does it exist. It even has a secret of it’s own: when
I volunteered with the Samaritans for 5 years during my time as an expat in London at the Central London branch. They are a wonderful organization that exists to reduce suicide by offering emotional support
Staying at the Thatch Caye resort in Belize was my first experience with communal eating. The meals are fun — with such a small group (there were about 12 of us), and no menu choice
Thatch Caye is a cozy resort off the coast of Belize — a small island, with 10 – 20 guests, where you may walk from one end to the other in 25 minutes. (And if
I’ve earned my badge for traveling – spending a year abroad in high school as an exchange student; followed by 9 years as an expat in London, where I discovered my now wife from India;
One of the first observations when traveling through the Moroccan countryside is the lack of billboards and advertisements. A US highway has so many signs, billboards and noise constantly grabbing for your attention that you
Our trip had a false start: my wife’s visa was incorrectly stamped to begin only on the second day of our trip, so the airport sent us home for a day, instantly squeezing our 5
My year in high school as an exchange student in Bremen was challenging, even though the experience was invaluable. One of the most difficult parts was my host mother. I stayed with a large host
Bremen is not a boring city. It may be small, but it has a huge soul, complete with a gothic town hall in a pedestrian zone buzzing with life and delicious German bakeries. They’ve been
The year was 1993 – I was 16, and I flew to Germany. My sister’s friend was an exchange student, who spent a year in my small town of Avon, Connecticut. At the end of
There are certain turning points in your life. My first trip to Jaipur, India, and the 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat was one such point. In 2004, my company had essentially gone bankrupt (they didn’t call
I am slowly learning how to write. It’s not that I can’t — I have some 3,000 odd journal entries (they’re all odd, believe me), of which, 650 of them were since I started my Morning
After my first night in India and meeting up with colleagues, we made our way to the Vipassana meditation retreat center. Still adjusting to the sights and smells, we pulled into the center, which felt
My first two hours in India were the most terrifying in my life. It was January 2005, and I had just landed in Delhi. A colleague at business school was organizing this trip for a Vipassana
Part of the reason I started this blog was because I got tired of the news (especially with this current election cycle), and I wanted to discover inspiring projects from around the world. In scouring the Welsh
The UNA Exchange started as an international volunteering movement after the First World War. This transpired when the Swiss pacifist, Pierre Ceresole, sought to bring young people together from France and Germany to volunteer in the
Vipassana meditation is something that I practice in my daily life. It is the meditation to cultivate self-awareness, and the capability to observe the sensations in the body without reacting to them – with the understanding that it
I love to travel. Part of the reason why I chose to showcase Paris first is that it was one of the first cities I visited abroad. When I lived in London, hopping around Europe
The Seva Café in Grasse, France serves a cuisine based on love and sharing. But this French cuisine has its roots in Berkeley, where it started as the Karma Kitchen. Karma Kitchen first opened in
Where you live makes such a difference. The environment where you live feeds your vitality hence, a worn down cramped and dirty place drains you energy almost as quickly as you can find it. And
2015 was a year of Syrian refugees. There was so much news about whether to let people in, or to keep them out, but little word came about from the organizations that actually supported them.
No one says Bon Appétit better than the French. I love this story about the French comedian Coluche having a little idea of finding sponsors to open a free soup kitchen in Paris in 1985.