『自分が変われば、世界も変わる』 シアトルで学ぶ社会起業！　（第4回）

前回までのおさらい：六つの要素

Warm greetings from Seattle! Readers will remember that over the past few months  I introduced some principles addressing the seminal question: how does one create social innovation and inspire fundamental social change? As I said in my previous posts, these principles flow out of my years of experience creating, leading and teaching about social innovation and change; however, please keep in mind that these are not ranked and do not need to happen in this particular order. As a reminder, the first six have been:

1.　the importance of collaboration
2.　the power of community
3.　the ability to be dynamic, flexible and to thrive in states of uncertainty or ambiguity.
4.　the importance of laughter and fun
5.　effective communication and the value of plain language
6.　the consistent application of reflective, critical thinking.

粘り強さとチャレンジ精神

The seventh principle is the power of persistence. The very nature of innovation is that you are treading into areas that are not occupied by conventional thinking. For this reason, there are not going to be clearly defined pathways to get you from ‘point A’ to ‘point Z’. Pursuing a life and/or career is social innovation is not like training to be a lawyer or medical doctor where the road is clear and unquestioned; however, I would argue that being a social innovator requires MORE persistence and is MORE challenging because of the fact that the direction to success can often times be murky. What is necessary is to push through and keep you faith in purpose and strong intent.

辛抱強くある事

The eight principle is patience. Patience is closely connected to persistence. If we are to push through into new and creative places, then we must recognize that this often takes MUCH longer than we first anticipate. It is sometimes said that, “the impossible will take a little while” and this is very appropriate when speaking to social innovation. Working on issues like homelessness, climate change, food production, just to name a few are not going to change overnight. Be patient and trust that you are doing the best you can with the resources that you have at your disposal. This is also why it is important to collaborate (#1) and speaks to the power of community (#2)--patience is easier when connected to the support of others.

勇気をもった行動

The ninth principle is courage. While this is the ninth and final principle in this series, I think it may be the most important. Doing something different, innovating around a social purpose, working to improve the living conditions of others--all of these things require a great deal of courage. As the result of your intent and actions you will likely encounter all kinds of resistance and confrontations with power. The status quo, and those who benefit from it, are unlikely to offer their support and encouragement. Fear and doubt will always swirl around any innovation (and well they should), but we need to maintain the courage to not lose sight of what we intend to achieve. Again, courage in community is a powerful thing-for this reason seek out others with whom you can collaborate.

ソーシャルイノベーション：九つの要素

So there you have nine principles for creating social innovation and inspiring fundamental social change. You may have things to add to this and I welcome your input! As a review, here are the nine, as a list:

1.　the importance of collaboration
2.　the power of community
3.　the ability to be dynamic, flexible and to thrive in states of uncertainty or ambiguity.
4.　the importance of laughter and fun
5.　effective communication and the value of plain language
6.　the consistent application of reflective, critical thinking.
7.　the power of persistence
8.　patience
9.　courage

I also want to mention that Rootspring(formerly iLEAP) is welcoming another group of Social Innovation in Seattle participants to Seattle in a few days! Please visit our blog to read about updates from them.

四月の来日が決定！毎日エデュケーションでのミニ・ワークショップ開催

Lastly, I will be visiting Japan from April 1-April 6. During this time, I will be giving two public talks. The first is Friday, April 2nd at 19:00 at Mainichi Education Abroad (RSVP required) and the second on Sunday, April 4th, time and location TBD. The talk on Sunday will also be with Professor Hideyuki Inoue and Mr. Ken Ito, two of the leaders in social innovation thought in Japan. It should be a great event-please keep your eye open for information.

Thank you for reading-and please feel free to email or contact me with any questions.

Until April.