Bright Spots Convene in San Francisco

The Social Enterprise Alliance Summit, now being held in San Francisco, hit record-level attendence this year.   More than 700 social entrepreneurs convened to discuss the single aspect that their diverse businesses have in common.  Whether they operate an electronic waste recycling business or a digital media production business or a temping agency business, all attendees have one thing in common: the desire for their venture to do good. 

In his keynote, Stanford professor Chip Heath, author of Switch, described how looking for the bright spots within a problem area can yield powerful the results.  The example he provided was of Jerry Sternin, who discovered a "bright spot" when researching malnourishment.  Certain children were much healthier than others in the same village simply because their mothers prepared the childrens' food differently.  As the healthier childrens' mothers shared their cooking methods, nutrition among all the children improved significantly.

One of the things that always strikes me as I talk with social entrepreneurs is their willingness to share what works in their businesses.  In the for-profit world, this would be called the "secret sauce."  The fact that this years' summit has had record numbers of attendees may be an indication that after all of the business scandals of the past several years, a growing number of entrepreneurs are creating businesses whose primary purpose isn't to make the owner rich, but to discover and share the bright spots.   To me, the promise of social enterprise is that this information sharing will benefit everyone, just as it did in the small village.