Little Did I Know

In my last post I talked about new processes for bringing about social change. An August 14 article in The Economist put a name to this phenomenon: “social entrepreneurship.”  Googling “social entrepreneurship” led me to a breadth and depth of information on this new phenom.  The Future of Capitalism includes the pope’s thoughts on how the Catholic Church can improve capitalism (now that’s an organization that knows a thing or two about money, or at least it used to.)  The ability to bring social change “to scale” will determine whether social entrepreneurship will be a major shaper of society, or simply another flash in the pan.

The point is that something new is afoot in terms both of how we address social problems, how business activity will be directed, and in the nature of capitalism itself. Our society and culture are evolving and redirecting the course of history.

Just as the Founding Fathers led us to a higher plane when they devised a form of government that sanctified individual freedom, Abraham Lincoln and the Union Army brought freedom to the slaves, and activists in the 60s brought new rights to blacks, women, and gays….so today social entrepreneurs and other change leaders are leading us to new, more enlightened forms of economic and social activity.