AikidoformofSocialEnterprise

"Social enterprise" is often used to mean a hybrid mission of finanial (economic profit) + social (stewardship) objectives. Yet, what economic-profit-seeking business would not present itself as satisfying a social objective? If people want to buy the product, isn't there a social objective being satisfied implicitly?

"Social enterprise" is also often used to mean simply a charitable effort. But all non-profits are some type of enterprise (and are obviously social) so aren't they all social enterprises?

We aim for a more specific definition of a specific type of "social enterprise" - that we call "Aikido enterprise" - based on the Aikido Activism vision for where we are as global and local society … versus where we need to be. Comparing the various definitions for "social enterprise" or "social entrepreneur" or related terms - to our definition below for "Aikido enterprise" can lead to a better understanding of each.

We define "AIKIDO ENTERPRISE" as … "an organization that applies principles of Aikido Activism:

• advancing a movement for stewardship in ALL business and in the tradition of business itself - by using the tools of business to oppose the excesses of business
• working to evolve the economic warring tradition to one of reasoned warring, by opposing the consumption-based growth meme, including through (only) winning tradition's current game of economic competition in order to change tradition's current game to one of reasoned competition - principally by advancing the tradition of self-imposed business stewardship (imagined to involve advancing transparency, inclusion and unification, for the diffusion of inspired choosing)."

… fundamentally, Aikido Activism aims to evolve and transition current traditions away from being financial-profit centric and towards being fruition centric. Aikido Activism is a specific, focused form of "social enterprise". Most "social enterprise" has not reached the focus of Aikido Activism, although most "social enterprise" can be evolved in the direction of Aikido Activism.

The following definitions of social enterprise are presented in the context of the vision of Aikido Activism:

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BILL VELTROP Life explorer, and cultivator of infinite games, infinite game developers, and infinite game players (INFINITE GAMES)

• transformational entrepreneurs — Transformational entrepreneurs share all of the characteristics of the social entrepreneur and specialize in accelerating the evolution of our organizing forms. The transformational entrepreneur is focused on transforming organizations and organizational ecosystems in a way that multiplies their effectiveness in contributing to the well being of all affected by those systems. Transformational entrepreneurs are also business entrepreneurs. They are committed to demonstrating that "doing good" through the design and implementation of infinite games, can become a delightfully sustainable way to "do well."

… Veltrop's vision of transformational entrepreneurship is highly resonant with Aikido Enterpreneurship. An Aikido Entrepreneur is a transformational entrepreneur who applies Aikido for the transformation.

JONATHAN BLAND, CEO, SOCIAL ENTERPRISE COALITION (2004).

• Within the next 20 years the social enterprise sector will become "a force to reckon with in its contribution to the economy and its impact on social well-being."

… Bland's vision of "a force to reckon with" matches the Aikido Activism view both that 1) diffusive social empowerment is real empowerment, and 2) Aikido enterprise must shift business tradition's center of gravity. The Social Enterprise Coalition website says "Social enterprise is an alternative business model where organisations are equally committed to generating economic, social and environmental profit - otherwise known as multiple bottom lines – in order to create meaningful and lasting change in the community."

BILL DRAYTON, CEO CHAIR AND FOUNDER OF ASHOKA, a global nonprofit devoted to developing the profession of social entrepreneurship.

• "~~ The job of a social entrepreneur is to recognize when a part of society is stuck and to provide new ways to get it unstuck. He or she finds what is not working and solves the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution and persuading entire societies to take new leaps. Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry." http://www.ashoka.org/fellows/social_entrepreneur.cfm

… Drayton's characterization of perseverence in revolution matches the vision of Aikido Activism that we need a revolution against the globalization of consumption-based growth.

NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR VOLUNATARY ORGANIZATIONS (NCVO)

• "At it's most exciting, social enterprise is a means of creating and allocating wealth and resources on a social basis that steers a steady path between the fallacy of free market trickle down, the limits of 'charity' and the discredited appeal of a centrally controlled economy."

… this depth-leaning statement points to the life-force bases of forward-thinking (evolutionary) social enterprise: competition (but not unjust exploitation globalizing to suicide), collaboration (but not an industry-debilitating gift economy), structure (but not a life-destroying, diffusion-of-inspired-choosing-destroying, centralization of power).

THE FORBES FUNDS, THE TROPMAN REPORT

• "the combination of social and financial return of a social enterprise opens up access to a broader array of types of capital and, therefore, sources of capital."

… wresting short term financial results w/o stewardship is showing an increasingly tarnished image as the consequences of profit w/o stewardship grow more and more visible. Today, the best investment is investing in large profit-potential new businesses with a strategy for advancing stewardship in their own operations and business culture in general.

THE INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• " Social entrepreneurship: The art of simultaneously pursuing both a financial and a social return on investment (the "double bottom line")."
• " Social entrepreneur: An individual who uses earned income strategies to pursue social objectives, simultaneously seeking both a financial and social return on investment. Said individual may or may not be in the nonprofit sector."
• " Social purpose business venture: An earned income strategy designed to directly address a specific social problem and simultaneously make a profit."

… while less vague than other "all-comers" definitions of social enterprise, without explicitly addressing opposition to the consumption-based growth tradition, the pursuit of social objectives may not be sufficiently focused to eradicate the malignancy of consumption-based growth.

PAMELA HARTIGAN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SCHWAB FOUNDATION FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP Social entrepreneurs share:

• "an unwavering belief in the innate capacity of all people to contribute meaningfully to economic and social development,"
• "a driving passion to make that happen, be it through a new invention, a different approach, a more rigorous application of known technologies or strategies, or a combination of all three."
• "a practical but innovative stance to a social problem, coupled with dogged determination, that allows them to break away from constraints imposed by ideology or field of discipline, and pushes them to take risks that others wouldn't dare."
• "a healthy impatience. They don't do well in bureaucracies because they don't wait for things to happen. They are social change agents that make things happen." more...

… the raw energy that has always fueled entrepreneurs of change. The Aikido entrepreneur has these, but also aligns her/his work with a movement based on a clear, inspired, voicable and detectable vision.

DAVID BORNSTEAIN, through his website ( http://www.howtochangetheworld.org/text/faq.html ) re: his book, "How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas"

• "A social entrepreneur is a person who has both a powerful idea to cause a positive social change and the creativity, skills, determination and drive to transform that idea into reality. Social entrepreneurs combine the savvy, opportunism, optimism and resourcefulness of business entrepreneurs, but they devote themselves to pursuing social change or "social profit," rather than financial profit. Behind all innovative business, there are entrepreneurs-individuals who possess the foresight, belief and boldness to build something new. The same holds for social change. Behind almost all important social innovations are social entrepreneurs-people with new ideas for solving problems, who build new kinds of organizations to implement those ideas, who will not take 'no' for an answer, and who will not give up until they have spread their ideas as far as they possibly can."

… yes, passion, vision and perserverance BUT the Aikido metaphor sees HOW to reach "social profit" via Aikido-activizing "financial profit" - and reveals the folly of lasting social change without engaging the energy of financial profit.

CANADIAN CENTRE FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• "Social entrepreneurship falls into two categories. First, in the for-profit sector it encompasses activities emphasizing the importance of a socially-engaged private sector and the benefits that accrue to those who do well by doing good. Second, it refers to activities encouraging more entrepreneurial approaches in the nonprofit sector in order to increase organizational effectiveness and foster long-term sustainability."

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE UNIT (SEn U) OF THE UNITED KINGDOM'S DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY (DTI)

• "Definition of social enterprise: We see advantages in keeping the definition fairly broad. Most would agree that a social enterprise is a business with social objectives. It combines entrepreneurial skills with strong social purpose. Profits are re-invested in the business or in the community, offering the possibility of effective, sustainable self-help leading to wider benefits. That definition, though, could be applied to many organisations, from struggling businesses run by a couple of people and almost wholly reliant on grants, donations or help in kind, through to large, successful trading companies in employee ownership. While we can learn from both ends of the spectrum, our focus for action should be the middle ground. We should not rule out a business because it has part shareholders, providing its primary purpose is not simply to deliver shareholder value, nor include a business just because it is run as a co-operative. Nor should we exclude those that have been established through grants or donations and use some unpaid help, and continue to rely in part on such funding and assistance, providing that they aim to generate a surplus through trading and to become increasingly self-sufficient while retaining their social purpose."

… this political prose describes an "all-comers" social enterprise. Where is the vision on the real problem - the malignancy of consumption-based growth?

NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS, London, UK ( http://tinyurl.com/4bher )

• " Quite simply social enterprise means trading for a social purpose."

… another "all-comers" definition of social enterprise.

NOTTINGHAM UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

• " Social Enterprise is a rapidly growing sector of the economy, and represents an innovative approach to the delivery of social value locally, regionally and nationally. What once was the domain of the charitable sector is now increasingly that of Social Enterprise, as individual organisations strive to replace external funding streams with revenue generated from within."

… seems to imagine merely achieving sustainability within the charitable sector, rather than eradicating the malignancy of consumption-based growth in the for profit sector - which would likely continue to marginalize stewardship efforts as such social enterprises would struggle to compete with profit-centric enterprises in an increasingly profit-centric global culture. While this definition has greater specificity than the "all-comers" definitions of social enterprise, focusing the vision on replacing philanthropy with revenue places leadership in the hands of the unempowered, when what is needed is leadership via the empowered advancing stewardship, which is far more than merely "replacing external funding streams with revenue generated from within." Capitalist tools must be employed to empower evolution to stewardship.

THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ALLIANCE (on home page, http://www.se-alliance.org/ - as of Nov 8, 2004)

• " so·cial en·ter·prise (n.): Any earned-income business or strategy undertaken by a nonprofit to generate revenue in support of its charitable mission. "Earned income" consists of payments received in direct exchange for a product, service or privilege."

… similar comment to one above for Nottingham University Business School.

ROBERTS ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT FUND (REDF)

• "social enterprises: businesses owned and operated by nonprofit organizations. These social enterprises (of the type that REDF prefers for investment) employ people who face barriers to employment because of various life circumstances such as homelessness, a criminal history or coming from low-income communities that offer few opportunities. The enterprises aspire to return profit to programs that help people. Offering both employment and life-skills training, our portfolio of social enterprises operates simultaneously in both the business and social service sectors." (more: http://www.redf.org/about-faq.htm#se )

… in James Carse's language of "finite games" and "infinite games", this approach aims to make the "finite game" of "adolescent" capitalism a little less finite, but the game remains finite - and globalizing a finite game whose end is determined at global scale is risky. The need is to change the "finite game" of "adolescent" capitalism to the "infinite game" of Aikido capitalism.

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE MAGAZINE ONLINE

• "(Social enterprises are) mission oriented revenue or job creating projects undertaken by individual social entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, or nonprofits in association with for profits.~~"

JENNIFER FOWLER

• "Social entrepreneurship is the creation of viable (socio-) economic structures, relations, institutions, organizations, and practices that yield and sustain social benefits."

MORE DEFINITIONS OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

QUALITATIVE STATEMENTS ABOUT SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

"… Australian social entrepreneurs face the social entrepreneur-as-charity misrepresentation continuously. The false dichotomy between those who work in the social arena and those who work in the financial arena will continue as long as the legal structures and mentality exist dividing what is "profitable" and "what is not"… what type of work gets a tax break and what does not." Pamela Hartigan

"… problem is that different people want social enterprise to mean quite different things. … shows how confused this social enterprise fad has become. We are speaking different languages all at once. … Our game is the politics of co-operation, not accommodating re-branded voluntary sector ideas." Bob Cannell

"… however you might like to define social enterprise, co-operation has got nothing to do with those public relations activities that give money to charities, or support outside good causes, or sponsor undefined social goals - or any such ends or objectives (called values) whether engaged in (as normally) for quite ulterior motives, disingenuous sponsorship purposes and self-interest, or whether (hardly ever) altruistically otherwise." Len Burch

"… for reasons best known to the government, they don't want to talk about co-ops, but are quite relaxed about social enterprise." Phil Gaskin

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