Category Archives: Social & Ethical

social entrepreneurship, community, sociosphere, non-profit, non-governmental, ethics, ecopreneurship, indigenous entrepreneurs, social enterprise, sociosphere

Design Thinking for Suicide Prevention

entreVersity by Prof. Howard Frederick Posted on by  
By Édouard Manet – https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=154447

Howard Frederick writes: If design thinking is so human-centred, why not start with the most important thing:  your life. Most of us have two lives: the life we live, and the unlived life within us that we would like to live. Between the two stands resistance. This is where suicide prevention comes in.  How to get from one to the other? ‘We are all capable of reinvention’, according to Bernard Roth, one of the founders of Stanford’s d.school and author of the book The Achievement Habit.  Here is a fascinating article about using design thinking in the ‘wickedest problem’ of all.  Design thinking (and suicide prevention) start with re-framing how you view yourself in the world.… Read the rest

Entrepreneurial ecocide

entreVersity by Prof. Howard Frederick Posted on by  

For thousands of years, entrepreneurs have raped and pillaged the environment with impunity. Today we might call it entrepreneurial ecocide, namely large-scale environmentally catastrophic business activities by an entrepreneur. Ecocide is also a term for killing a species in an ecosystem to disrupt its structure and function. However, it has only recently been classified as a crime. For centuries people admired the entrepreneurial spirit that launched such ecocidal industries as whaling, the felling of indigenous forests, and the harvesting of coral reefs. In New Zealand, both Europeans and Indigenous Polynesians, the Māori, carried out mass exterminations of species in the name of enterprise.… Read the rest

Criminal entrepreneurs in Australia

entreVersity by Prof. Howard Frederick Posted on by  

Just as social and business entrepreneurs share many personality traits there are many of those traits that they share with criminal entrepreneurs. These people have to be excellent risk managers and information managers. They are future-oriented organisation builders. Like business entrepreneurs, they are continually working the edge or the margin.

In Australia, the word entrepreneur once had a very bad connotation.  Back in the 1980s, it all looked so easy, the way the Aussie business magazines told it. The answer was simple. Australia’s ideal was the high-flying entrepreneur – not in the sense of a risk taker developing a new enterprise, but more as a corporate predator making money from shuffling paper assets.… Read the rest

Jihadist norm entrepreneurship: Ibrahim’s great idea

entreVersity by Prof. Howard Frederick Posted on by  

Warning:  This article may offend sensibilities because it deals with jihadist norm entrepreneurship.  Obviously, this is a fantasy teaching case to make a point.

What is norm entrepreneurship?

A small literature has emerged on norm entrepreneurship.  Norm entrepreneurs seek to change social norms.  If they are successful, they can cause ‘norm bandwagons’ and ‘norm cascades’.  Norm entrepreneurs are the central actors during the first stage in the life cycle of a norm, the norm emergence.  Just think of Princess Diana’s campaign to eliminate landmines.  Or Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s campaigns to overthrow racial oppression in America. [i]

Al-Bagdadi is a gifted orator and ‘norm entrepreneur’

Ibrahim al-Badr was studying religion and education at the University of Baghdad when he had a brilliant idea.  He had been reading about how norm entrepreneurs are necessary precursors to revolutionary change.  He had been particularly impressed with a noted Stanford University psychology professor who said that “human beings are capable of totally abandoning their humanity for a mindless ideology, to follow and then exceed the orders of charismatic authorities to destroy everyone they label as “the enemy”.  Ibrahim wanted to become that charismatic authority. 

Islamic fighters use extreme violence to change social norms.
… Read the rest

Top twenty positioning strategies as a social entrepreneur

entreVersity by Prof. Howard Frederick Posted on by  

Most of us have two lives: the life we live, and the unlived life within us that we would like to live. Between the two stands resistance.{1] How to get from one to the other? We are all capable of reinvention’, according to Bernard Roth, author of the book The Achievement Habit.[2] Can you actually take on the ‘wicked problem’ of designing your own life of positioning strategies as a social entrepreneur? Especially if you want to be a global social entrepreneur.  Yes, you can. Here are the top tips in reframing how you view yourself in the world. 

social entrepreneurs in a team

Make sure you have a mentor who is a few steps ahead of you.

… Read the rest

Village entrepreneurship in Samoa

entreVersity by Prof. Howard Frederick Posted on by  

Women in Business Development Incorporated (WIBDI) introduced fine mat weaving as an income earning strategy for rural village women and their families. At that time the art of weaving very fine mats was almost lost. WIBDI staff ran workshops to teach the skill of weaving the fine mats to rural women. WIBDI seeks ‘sponsors’ (or buyers) for the fine mat, who are generally urban-based or overseas Samoans. The sponsors specify the type and size of mat that they want and pay WIBDI. WIBDI then arrange for a village woman to weave the mat. The fine mat weaving micro-entrepreneurs are paid on a weekly basis and WIBDI retains a small commission to cover some of their costs.… Read the rest

Born global social entrepreneurs

entreVersity by Prof. Howard Frederick Posted on by  

Don’t think for a moment that global entrepreneurship is for the private sector only! Today, no government, company or group, working alone, can solve a major issue. They have to work together.  They are called ‘born global social entrepreneurs’. Ageing population, unemployment, mental illness, cutting carbon emissions: solutions to these and many other world problems are being exported, licensed, franchised and sold around the world. All over the world, social innovators are importing and exporting solutions to the most pressing problems facing society today – from fair trade, distance learning, hospices, urban farming and waste reduction to restorative justice and zero-carbon housing.… Read the rest