Reflections on GSSR Day 2
May 1st, 2008
It’s pretty late on Thursday night as I sit down at my Mac to write this post, so I’m going to keep it (relatively) short. There are three quick observations I want to share on where we are:
+From my vantage point, at least some of the conversation we’re having around social responsibility is still focused on community service, charity and philanthropy. These are all necessary and important efforts, to be sure, but as we grapple with how to clearly define “social responsibility,” I suggest we maintain a strong and explicit link between the moral imperative to solve big global problems and the business imperative to build financially sustainable organizations. In this context, nurturing meaning out of good works is insufficient. It must be married to the process of designing and developing new markets for which our organizations (and our members) can create radical, new (and socially responsible) value. The SR conversation has profound implications for future business models, and we must be willing to engage from that place first.
+In the Summit’s physical and virtual spaces, there is a palpable commitment to the importance of SR. There is little or no argument around the correctness of the cause or the need to take action, a condition that feels just a little bit artificial. After the Summit itself is over, our work will be scrutinized by the sympathetic and skeptical alike, and some initiatives and proposals will face real resistance. We must be well prepared to overcome the immovable object of entrenched opposition by transforming our endeavor into an irresistible force for genuine paradigm shift in our community. At the moment, we are not there, but I hold out hope that we will make progress on this front beginning with tomorrow’s design work.
+Returning to yesterday’s post, I remain concerned about how we will go about revitalizing organizational capabilities that are essential to our long-term success in the S.R. arena. Today, I proposed a specific initiative that I believe can make a positive contribution: design a global network of associations committed to pursuing socially responsible innovation. This is definitely intended to be a game-changing idea, one that will challenge organizations throughout our community to stretch themselves in ways that will have enduring benefit beyond their work on social responsibility. In my view, we should be able to have the inaugural members of this network connected and collaborating before the end of 2008, and perhaps sooner. I won’t go into the details of this idea here, mostly because it is time to go to sleep, but I believe we will have the chance to explore its potential in small group work tomorrow.
There is much work still to do, and it certainly won’t all be done by the time we adjourn tomorrow afternoon, but I am cautiously optimistic that we are headed in a productive direction. Can’t wait to find out what happens next!
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Entry Filed under: Principled Innovation Blog, What's New?, Social Media, Innovation, Associations, Extreme Makeover, The Association Innovator, Simplicity, We Have Always Done It That Way, Garage Memes, Socially Responsible Innovation
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Association exec Ben Martin, CAE is P.I.’s Architect of Participation. Jeff and Ben help clients harness the power of the Web through the strategic application of social tools.
The AST Executive Summary
The executive summary of the groundbreaking Association Social Technologies survey project is now available for download! The full report will be available in October.
