I've tried to find the best ways to create lasting, impactful, change throughout my career as a non-profit executive. The right story to the right people is what some have told me. There's a camp that swears by design thinking and another that swears by Behavioral Economics.
My new book explores why certain ideas are right and why others are wrong. It's the best lesson for entrepreneurs.
It's important to see the problem you're trying to solve through more than one lens when you're running a business that wants to change society. There isn't a problem that's one-dimensional.
Entrepreneurs in East Africa funded merry-go-round powered water pumps that they thought would solve the water crisis. They couldn't see their idea through more than one lens. They didn't do the math to figure out how much time the merry-go-round had to stay open. A thousand of these pumps are unused.
Business failures are common. FTX focused on mathematical modeling while ignoring history and psychology. Adam Neumman, founder of WeWork, told a great story without the numbers behind it.
People have been doing good for hundreds of years. This abundance can be embraced by us. Tools are used to create change. This can include design thinking and community organizing.
Multiple perspectives are brought together by the most successful businesses. The App Store was created by Apple with design thinking and market smarts in mind. A new kind of institution was created by combining behavioral insights with a new governance model.
Dhana, Inc., based in California, makes clothing out of customers' worn out clothing. The UN's sustainable development goals were used as a framework for organizing her strategy. A new way of thinking about apparel was created by her. Dhani used stories and behavioral science to get her own customers involved in her sustainable solution.
If you open yourself to more than one approach, you can end up getting lost in the process of progressing from one method to the next. Taking two steps to ground yourself is the best way to avoid this.
You have to make sure you have a clear purpose. People who start an enterprise seem to forget their purpose. Start with something that matters. Go back to it again and again.
Discuss your moral framework before the event. I don't want you to know your moral framework. You have to have it. Don't say it in a whisper. Write it down when you're done. It could be a religious tradition or a favorite movie. It's important that you clearly anchor yourself in your beliefs.
It's possible to zoom out and explore complex issues without losing a connection to what you're trying to achieve. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the crises. The social change you're after can be accomplished with luck and discipline.
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