Grameen and the Revolutionary Ideas it Represents

Ever since reading about the Grameen Bank's foundation in Banker for the Poor, I have been fascinated by Muhammed Yunus' last recommendation to us all to explore the the "Social Conscious Driven Business Sector". This sector works like a private business in that it sells a service, but instead of increasing salaries, it intentionally allocates its profit back into the community and self-eliminates excess.

Yunus argues that social good can be just as big of a motivator and catalyst for competition as profit. The key is to design a system that so perfectly encapsulates both a demand and desired social impact.

The beauty of Grameen, is that people in poverty create their own wealth by their "survival skills". The poor aren't poor because they don't have the right knowledge, "the poor are poor because they cannot retain the returns of their labor. They have no control over capital which gives people the power to rise out of poverty."  Grameen created the system of micro-lending we know today that gives people the chance they need to build their own business and reap the full rewards of their labor. In return, the bank receives interest on the loan and enough profit to continue as a business.

The Work Ahead

Grameen Bank was founded in roughly 1976 and the world has simmered on its work and the ideas it represents for a few decades already. Yunus leaves it to us to pick up where Grameen has left off. Instead of waiting for businesses to shape up, let us create businesses to shape the world ourselves.

Illustration Friday: Silent

The Little Mermaid was, by far, my favorite Disney film of all time. I am often reminded that I would watch the movie all the way through and then promptly rewind it to watch it again. It's fitting to know, then, that this scene promptly jumped into my mind when brainstorming for this week's Illustration Friday topic, "silent". 

How the World Works, Institutionally

1. The Public Sector (The Government)

Accountable to: Taxpaying Voters
Gets funding from: Taxation, fees for service (transportation)
Motivation for excellence: Good will, reelection

2. Private Sector

Accountable to: Shareholders
Gets funding from: Consumers purchase product
Motivation for excellence: Profit

3. Nonprofit Sector

Accountable to: Grantors
Gets funding from: Grants, donations, fees for service
Motivation for excellence: Good will, continued grant support

 

4. Social-Conscious-Driven Private Sector

Accountable to: Shareholders
Gets funding from: Consumers purchase product
Motivation for excellence: Good will and profit

So what?

So looking at the world in this way reveals the motivations behind institutions as well as the foundations for the challenges they face.

• How can the public sector stay accountable to its citizens on a regular, large scale basis if the vote is the only institutionalized system of accountability? 
• How do we create sustainable funding streams for nonprofit organizations relying solely on foundation and individual support for projects that "do good"? 
• And lastly, how can the field of the social-conscious-driven private sector change it all?

Three Lessons from Seth Godin

An Introduction

First off, as an introduction, Seth Godin's bibliography:

(1993). The Smiley Dictionary
(1995). eMarketing: Reaping Profits on the Information Highway
(1999). Permission marketing: turning strangers into friends, and friends into customers
(2001). Unleashing the Ideavirus
(2002). The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Better
(2002). Survival is not enough: zooming, evolution, and the future of your company
(2003). Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
(2004). Free Prize Inside!: The Next Big Marketing Idea
(2005). All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World
(2005). The Big Moo: Stop Trying to be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable
(2006). Small Is the New Big: and 193 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas
(2007). The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
(2008). Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?
(2008). Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. Portfolio Hardcover
(2010). Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
(2011). Poke the Box

What I'm learning from Seth Godin:

1. Don't be perfect, be "good enough" to ship.

2. You don't need everyone, just enough people to get you the next round and the next.

3. We can start now, because the world is changing and there's no reason to wait.

What do you mean by community?

I've been shaking the etch-a-sketch of my soul lately and I know I want to pursue opportunities to build "community" -  that feeling of comfort felt when one knows there are supports in place that you can turn to when you need it or want it.  Community to me is what prevents people from living in desperate isolation, afraid of stepping out the front door because your legs have become weak with disuse. 

The real world has a habit of socking you a good one if you're not looking closely, so I've been asking folks and reading papers to figure out what making community has looked like on the ground level.  Here's what I've got so far:

Community as Social Fabric
If you start talking wistfully of days when we borrowed sugar from each other, you might be getting into changing the social fabric of social life.  It is true that I live in an apartment building with strangers for neighbors, and if the programs I want to create are to encourage us to have inner-apartment parties and get togethers - I've begun to look at community as social fabric.

Community Development
This field works closely with economic development departments to provide and build infrastructure to sustain neighborhoods.  For example, projects can include affordable housing, supporting local merchants, local hiring, and neighborhood events like festivals.  Community development involves making sure the private, public and nonprofit sector are being good neighbors and are responsibly looking at their impact on the people living in the areas they do their work.  

Community Liason
This sounds like code word for companies who want to be able to market effectively to different populations of people.  

Community Organizing
This is Saul Alinsky, grassroots-and-clipboard, door-knocking community creation.  The bread and butter of getting people on the block to come to the meeting and share their opinions.  This is a lot of work and sounds direly necessary.

I am learning.

On Writing this Blog

I'll admit, I've probably thought about this blog once a day, written something halfway, and then put it down.  Part of it is I'm afraid of setting down thoughts that I will disagree with in the future.  It's as if my experience of going through high school and cringing at the memory, has convinced me I should never do anything potentially embarrassing again.

But as John Gardner says in "On Leadership": leaders change, just as people change.  The patient Lincoln became the activist Lincoln.  We would like to freeze our leaders in time at the point where we most believed in them, or liked what they were doing, but try as we might they evolve.  This doesn't make them bad or good, simply human.