For those of you who may not be familiar with The Hub, it’s a global social enterprise “with the ambition to inspire and support imaginative and enterprising initiatives for a better world.” It’s a work space where social entrepreneurs can meet, collaborate, learn and innovate. The Hub has locations all over the world, and their first US space is now launching in the Bay Area. It’s an incredibly exciting resource for the Bay Area community; check out their website to learn more!
Their first event included three amazing entrepreneurs: Matt Flannery of Kiva.org, Steve Newcomb of Virgance, and Ben Rattray of Change.org. The three seemed similar enough at first, but the questions unfolded into a multi-perspective discussion, filled with debate, inspiration and powerful words of advice. Although each speaker’s approach was unique, they all passionately rallied around the common theme: mobilizing action for change.
Some of My Lessons Learned: How do you mobilize people to do good…?
- Build in quick and constant feedback; make it an “addictive experience”.
- Create measurable change, and be honest. Transparency is key.
- People don’t want to start their own community, they want to be part of an existing community with a single and compelling message.
- Make people feel powerful. Get them to come AND come back.
- Do the big things right, the rest will fall into place.
All three panelists were filled with amazing lessons and exciting ideas, but the two most important take-aways for me came towards the end of the evening: “get shit done” and “do what you love”. Get things done aggressively; go for it completely. And enjoy what you do on a daily basis. If you love something, then do it; it will be worth it.
After the event, students, Hub Members, panelists and organizers all shifted to a local bar to continue the discussion. It was truly a night of insight, learning and inspiration. Check out The Hub and get involved.
Posted by emjsmith 
Posted by emjsmith 
Posted by cindy333 
