Make big bets and make history. Experiment early and often. Make failure matter. Reach beyond your bubble. Let urgency conquer fear. These are the five Be Fearless principles that serve as the common thread for groundbreaking, problem-solving success. Nonprofits, philanthropy, individuals, startups and corporations have leveraged these principles to bring forward world changing inventions, to shift our mindsets of what’s possible and to solve persistent social problems.
Our CEO, Jean Case, explained what the principles mean in our initial Be Fearless episode on Facebook Watch. Storytelling is not only a way to bring to life the historical and contemporary Be Fearless champions who have changed the world, but also a way to lift up those undiscovered fearless changemakers that inspire you. Through our Finding Fearless campaign, we’ve heard from people around the world with examples of a wide variety of people and organizations putting the Be Fearless principles into action. The stories we receive will have a chance of being featured in Jean Case’s upcoming book or uplifted by the Case Foundation in our work and we continue to review stories posted on the site on a daily basis.
But stories don’t always need to be long to be impactful. We have seen a single quote inspire changemakers to move to action, to overcome their fears and take the steps needed to start them on the path of transformational change. To inspire you and to remind you of those inspired by #BeFearless, here are some of these quotes.
On making big bets
On experimenting
On failure
On reaching beyond your bubble
On urgency
We hope these words of wisdom from changemakers of all backgrounds and perspectives inspire you to take a fearless approach to your own work. And we hope they inspire you to share a story, whether it’s your own or a story you love. If you’re looking for even more Be Fearless inspiration, check out our show on Facebook Watch, head to our Be Fearless hub, and tweet at us using #FindingFearless.
Last week, our CEO Jean Case announced the exciting news that she will be writing a book about the Be Fearless principles we have been promoting since 2012. Her book will feature stories of fearless people and organizations—big and small, historical and modern—making big bets, experimenting, building unlikely alliances of changemakers, confronting and living through failure, and letting urgency conquer fear.
We have been so inspired by so many individuals and organizations that have surfaced in our work to date. Remember the 20 fearless changemakers from our 2012 Finding Fearless campaign? They’re still out there disrupting! We’ve also shined a light on innovative organizations that inspire us through our Be Fearless case studies and spotlights. And, if you haven’t yet checked out our latest experiment – a new show on Facebook Watch where we talk to fearless innovators and organizations—we hope you will watch, follow us and give us feedback!
So as we look to find new stories of fearlessness, across industries and around the world, here’s some inspiration to fuel the search—some highlights from the stories we’ve heard, including a fearless narrative that came from our own CEO on the importance of failing forward.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Foundation Director, Karabi Acharya took to our blog to share how she and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are working toward a culture of health in the United States, a feat some think is out of reach. Acharya talks about how the organization is reaching beyond its bubble to look at international approaches to health issues.
Inner City Advisors and Fund Good Jobs We talked to Inner City Advisors CEO, Sean Daniel Murphy about how the organization is boldly betting on small businesses that provide good jobs for local residents. Inner City Advisors and Fund Good Good Jobs are an example of betting on underrepresented entrepreneurs and “riskier” businesses that provide community benefit.
Kapor Center for Social Impact The Kapor Center is working to promote diversity in the tech sector, which is no small challenge. The organization works all the way down the pipeline to close the gap at every step from schooling to long-term career success for women and people of color. We learned how Kapor Center acts with urgency and forms partnerships to promote tech inclusion.
Baltimore Corps Baltimore Corps co-founder and CEO, Fagan Harris talked to us about how he and Baltimore Corps work to foster Baltimore’s potential as a city. Through Baltimore Corps’ fellowships, professionals get to work on a variety of problem solving initiatives in Baltimore. At the time we interviewed Harris, the organization was only two years old, a great case in experimenting early to pursue a vision.
Global Press Institute The Global Press Institute makes big bets and lets urgency conquer fear by employing women reporters of all walks of life to cover a variety of news using their unique perspectives. The women report on overlooked issues and do so while overcoming many barriers facing female journalists around the world. We learned how the Institute makes everything work while navigating all of their unique challenges.
Open Road Alliance
Open Road Alliance is in the business of catastrophes. The organization gives a lifeline to organizations facing sudden crises through recoverable grants. We learned how the organization acts with urgency and redefines traditional philanthropy to support organizations in emergency situations.
Born This Way Foundation Maya Enista, Executive Director of the Born This Way Foundation wrote about how the organization, founded by Lady Gaga and her mother, came together. Enista shared how the organization is working to build a kinder and braver world through national community-oriented programs. And the organization is reaching beyond its bubble, taking risks, being bold and failing forward to work toward a kinder world.
The Painful Acknowledgement of Coming up Short Finally, we wanted to share one of our own pieces, coming from our CEO, where we decided to be transparent about how we were going to fail forward. Jean Case spoke candidly about a high-profile initiative the Case Foundation took on that fell short of its goals. And she talked about how we were going to turn that failure into productive steps forward.
We hope this has inspired YOU to help us on our next Finding Fearless project! If you or a person or organization you know of lives out the Be Fearless principles like the ones mentioned in these story highlights, we want to hear the story. Share it at FindingFearless.org.
This fall, I will be tackling a new endeavor: writing a book about the Be Fearless principles that will feature remarkable stories of fearless people and organizations that embody them. The book will be grounded in five principles that together represent keys to creating the “secret sauce” that can bring about transformational change. Being fearless means setting audacious goals, acting urgently and boldly. It means experimenting, taking risks, being willing to strike unlikely alliances and accepting the possibility of failure while still pressing forward.
Since launching our Be Fearless work at the Case Foundation, we’ve highlighted and written about many wonderful stories of fearlessness—those inspiring people and organizations that started with a big bet, took risks, built unlikely partnerships, remained undaunted in the face of failure and used urgency to help conquer fear. These stories run the gamut from those more familiar—from President Kennedy’s moonshot, to two-time Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie’s pioneering work on radioactivity, to modern day Elon Musk—to lesser known contemporary tales of remarkable people and organizations who are doing remarkable things. Many of these are highlighted on the Be Fearless website and featured on social media through events like #FearlessFriday.
We live in a time when the world demands we build innovative, new approaches. And we know there are stories of fearlessness playing out across America and around the world every day. We know that there are many individuals who have lived the principles of Be Fearless through time, but whose stories may not be known. Their stories run the gamut: from business owners to nonprofits leaders, from those trying to make a difference in their communities to those launching a startup. These are the people and organizations who have brought us unique inventions, great discoveries and impacted the lives of others, and they have done so fearlessly.
And that’s where you come in.
We want to learn about these stories so we can highlight their successes, the challenges they overcame and their Be Fearless thinking to both raise the profile of their stories and to provide compelling role models for those who will follow in their footsteps. No matter the focus, no matter the scale, no matter when or where they lived, if you have a compelling story about an individual or an organization that you think embodies the five Be Fearless principles, we want to hear it.
To make it easy to submit the story you want us to know about, we’ve created a simple template that you can find at FindingFearless.org. There, you can post short descriptions of what inspires you—whether it’s from your own journey or that of another individual, nonprofit, corporation or startup—and how they put Be Fearless to work. We have a team of researchers prepared to dig deeper, should we select the story to be highlighted in my book or to lift up through the Case Foundation.
I have no doubt that our Be Fearless work at the Case Foundation and the stories I will highlight in my book will be made better through the contributions of others. I invite you to join us on this exciting Finding Fearless journey.
Every year, MCON—the Millennial Engagement Conference—is a great chance for us to celebrate how Millennials are changing the world, and to talk to conference attendees about how they’re getting involved with the causes that matter most to them. This year, we partnered with Comcast NBCUniversal to bring attendees the #GetInTheArena Peacock lounge presented by Comcast NBCUniversal, where participants had a chance to jump into a chat box and record their answers to the question “How are you using technology and innovation to #GetInTheArena and inspire change in your community?” We captured nearly a hundred stories from attendees about how they are turning their interest into action.
One of those stories that inspired us came from Angela Richardson, Communications and Partnerships Manager at BUILD (Businesses United in Investing Lending and Development) Metro DC. Richardson shared how she works with the organization to help students from under resourced communities pursue entrepreneurship. Angela and BUILD are making a difference by providing communities with the resources and connections their residents need to succeed as students and entrepreneurs. Much like the Case Foundation’s Inclusive Entrepreneurship work, BUILD promotes social, financial and inspiration capital through their four year program for high school students. You can see her inspiring video here:
We wanted to learn more about Richardson’s vision for BUILD, her #GetInTheArena motivation and how she rallies supporters to get involved with the organization, so we caught up with her after MCON. Read on to see what she shared with us and how you can learn more about BUILD Metro DC.
Can you tell us about BUILD Metro DC and your vision for the organization?
BUILD Metro DC is an in-and-out of school incubator that introduces high school students to entrepreneurship. With BUILD’s guidance and support, DC students learn to create and run their own start-ups, learning the fundamentals of what it takes to have a successful business. Although our students are doing amazing work, their stories go untold. As the Communications and Partnerships Manager, my vision for BUILD is for every Washingtonian to know the powerful impact BUILD Metro DC has on each high school student we are serving.
What inspired you to “Get in the Arena” on this cause?
I started my career as a communications professional in the beauty and fashion industry. Although that world may seem glamorous and pretty, I wasn’t fulfilling my life’s work. My journey from a beauty and fashion publicist to a social change communicator has led me to tell the powerful untold stories of young people. Having the opportunity to capture the resilience and great potential of our students is what truly inspires me daily to stay in the arena.
How does BUILD foster entrepreneurship in underserved DC communities?
We believe that entrepreneurship is a mindset and because we believe it is a mindset, there are a number of skills that can be developed that we refer to as Spark Skills (Communication, Grit, Problem-Solving, Collaboration, Innovation, and Self-Management). In addition to the development of those skills, students have the opportunity to develop and grow their own business, generating revenue which ultimately teaches them financial wellness and sustainability. These skills have the potential to eradicate generational poverty, in turn putting resources in communities that would otherwise not have them.
What are some of the goals you and BUILD are working towards?
To fulfill our mission, we are working towards growing our student enrollment, ensuring that are student body is fully engaged in our program over time, and that we collectively drive the students BUILD works with towards postsecondary acceptance and college and career readiness.
How do you encourage your students to turn their interest into action?
We challenge them to identify their interests. We then have to encourage and affirm their interest through celebrating the diversity of them and strength of their ideas. Finally, we share with them resources to turn their interests into action.
How do you rally people to get off the sidelines and support BUILD through donations, volunteering and mentorship?
We highlight the power of our students. Donors, volunteers, and mentors join and support BUILD because they want to have a real impact on each of the students and to give them the tools they need to succeed. When we highlight our students, we are making it clear that everyone has an opportunity to play their part in guiding and supporting this next generation.
How does technology play a role in your and BUILD’s social change work?
As part of a pilot program, we partnered with Friendship Tech Prep Academy, utilizing technology as a tool for students to create tech-driven startup businesses. Through this pilot, we have opened the windows of opportunity for our students to learn coding, web design and graphic design, tools we believe every entrepreneur needs to advance his or her business. One of our student teams even created a pop-up device, Insta-Laptop, that turns any smartphone into a functional laptop. The team generated the idea after realizing that many of their peers did not have access to computers at home, but majority of them owned smartphones. This is the perfect example of how we are teaching our students to solve problems like the digital divide.
How do you and your team view entrepreneurship as a pillar of civic engagement?
To create the world that we want to see, we must be willing to think and act in ways that are naturally entrepreneurial. Civic engagement and entrepreneurship share a process for seeing what is, brainstorming improvements, making a plan, and convincing people that they should support the outcome. Helping BUILD students develop their entrepreneurial skills has a strong side effect of preparing them to be civically engaged. The skills of teamwork, grit, and innovation that make our students successful entrepreneurs are the same skills that make them community leaders today and tomorrow.
How have you had to challenge assumptions and take risks during your time at BUILD?
At BUILD, we work to challenge assumptions everyday about the identities of our students – where they are from and the implications that exist because of that. We work to celebrate their individual identities while coaching them to grow, providing them with support and access to resources in an effort to change the narratives that are created for them.
Are there any student entrepreneur success stories that stand out and inspire you to continue getting in the arena for underserved youth?
Two words: Lorrin Davis. Lorrin’s story has truly inspired not only me but our entire BUILD community. She is the perfect example of how gaining a BUILD Spark Skill like Grit can impact all areas of one’s life. She’s journeyed through the BUILD program, starting as young freshman entrepreneur to now a high school graduate on her way to George Washington University as recipient of the highly coveted Trachtenberg scholarship – a full ride valued at $300,000. Despite the many adversities and personal challenges Lorrin may have faced during her time in BUILD, her resilience and dedication to making her dreams come true drives me to the do the work I do daily. She inspires me to continue to tell stories of the many young people overcoming an enormity of challenges, in hopes of uplifting another young person in the process.
Angela, thank you for sharing how you’re Getting in the Arena with us. To learn more about BUILD Metro DC, visit their website. And to learn more about our 20th anniversary celebration, check out our Get in the Arena page.
At the Case Foundation, we are excited about a new book that’s hitting the stands this week: The Innovation Blind Spot, written by my friend, and long-time Case Foundation partner, Ross Baird. True to its title, the book portrays the current state of entrepreneurship, investment and innovation in the United States today, and does so through a prism of “blind spots” that currently inhibit growth and opportunity. But rather than simply laying out the challenges, Ross lays out a “playbook” of how to overcome these blind spots.
The book kicks off with some pretty worrying statistics. While entrepreneurship is—and always has been—at the core of our DNA in America, and many believe it is what sets us apart as a nation, it turns out that entrepreneurial activity is actually at 40-year low in the US—more businesses are dying each day than starting.
Sure, there are sectors that are thriving in our “innovation nation”—particularly big companies, elites on the coasts and those who have historically had access to capital and networks. At the same time, others across the country are literally being left behind in the innovation economy—particularly women, people of color, those in the middle of the country, and those who come from less familiar places and backgrounds. Indeed, the data makes this clear: Less than 10 percent of venture capital goes to women; less than 1 percent to African American founders. An overwhelmingly disproportionate share goes to a limited few: last year a whopping 75 percent of all venture capital went to just three states—California, New York and Massachusetts and 10 percent of all startup financing went to graduates from just six universities. Ross, who has joined every one of my husband Steve Case’s Rise of the Rest road trips, intimately understands the hurdles this poses for innovators who come from diverse backgrounds. Indeed, the Innovation Blind Spot in many respects seems almost like a companion to books like Adam Grant’s Originals or The Third Wave, authored by Steve in 2015.
As all of these books make clear, great innovations come from unexpected people and places, and we need to go the extra mile to identify and support them. “The simple truth,” Ross says, “is that the current model for venture capital—for backing new ideas—is bad for all founders who don’t fit the pattern. It’s bad for investors, too, because the biggest venture capital firms, concentrated in the biggest cities, aren’t necessarily set up to invest in the most innovative ideas.”
The first step in overcoming this blind spot? Understand that every investment decision has bias: embrace and mitigate it, Ross says. People invest in and support people they know and understand. The Innovation Blind Spot goes into enlightening detail on how cognitive bias, not the quality of idea, affects whether someone gets funding.
Add to this, the blind spot that Ross calls “two pocket thinking”: how we artificially separate our jobs and our careers from our values. Walking through the modern history of business, philanthropy and investing, Ross challenges the traditional idea that business and investing need to be separate from the interest of building a better world. “If we live in a two-pocket world, where business has no responsibility for what happens in society, we’re fighting a losing battle,” says Ross. While we’ve had 100 years of “make your money, then give it away” as the way things have been done, Ross provides a compelling mix of data and storytelling that challenges this approach, and lays out ideas for how best to spotlight cities and companies on the rise and to blend business, social good and investing, much as he has done through his own venture capital firm, Village Capital.
I encourage you to pick up a copy of The Innovation Blind Spot today, and more importantly, I encourage you to be fearless with the ideas you look for, support, and invest in.
*Disclosure: Jean and Steve Case are investors in Village Capital.
This article is contributed by Rehana Nathoo, VP of Social Innovation at the Case Foundation; Will Jacobson, Director of Business Development at Microvest; and Ben Thornley, Managing Partner atTideline. The following was created based off of a panel discussion the three of them presented at Institutional Investor’s Senior Delegates Roundtable during the Fixed Income Forum.
Attend an investment conference these days and Impact Investing is part of every agenda. Sometimes it’s a panel of industry experts debating the necessary conditions for institutional-quality product development. Other times it’s the wildcard, pre-cocktail discussion of what impact means and how to measure it.
At a recent convening in Los Angeles last month, the three of us embraced the opportunity to lead a conversation on Impact Investing.
Impact Investing continues to grow rapidly, propelled by a range of actors interested in making a positive contribution. All the while still generating profit. Some Institutional Investors are doing their part to bolster the creation of solutions to urgent social and environmental challenges. But all of these efforts are happening in a fragmented fashion, and in small pockets of activity. This leads us to believe that with the trailblazing efforts of these early innovators, it’s time for traditional investors to jump in.
As with many nascent markets, the first Impact Investing products faced significant roadblocks. This style of investing was different, the breadth of managers who were well versed in the space was sparse, and benchmarks were non-existent or unrecognizable. But in the same way the sum total of carbon emitted in the production of the first Tesla Roadster hardly answered the call for environmental stewardship, there was immeasurable value in laying the groundwork for a paradigm shift. One that would see half of all cars in 2040 be electric.
Impact Investing can be at the helm of a similar global systemic change in the way we think and the way we invest. As the space has evolved, so too has the caliber of managers. DBL Partners has delighted many investors. TPG, Bain Capital, Morgan Stanley, and Blackrock have developed and established impact-oriented products and platforms away from the cocoonery of their CSR departments. And last we checked, none of these firms, funds, or managers are in the concessionary returns business.
Recent controversies, not least in Silicon Valley, show that the days of separating action from consequence are coming to an end. Historically, investors haven’t necessarily had to think about the specific, non-financial outcomes of their investment decisions. But getting educated on Impact Investing, and formulating a response, will provide an important on-ramp for what may ultimately become the future of all investing.
In the spirit or getting educated and moving to action, here are some core principles to keep in mind:
Be clear on your intention
It’s almost always possible to turn impact into action. Contrary to the scarcity myth, most impact “themes” are in fact investable. A general commitment to measurable economic development in the US, for example, may yield a range of products that support small business development in underserved parts of the country. A passion for changing the gender gap in business ownership, or course-correcting the global water scarcity are all focused, specific, and actionable. The more clarity investors have on their intentions, the easier it will be to find or develop investment opportunities for the problems they hope to solve.
Be specific with your objectives
Because Impact Investing is defined by the pursuit of “intentional” social and environmental outcomes, it would pay to develop a better understanding of what motivates the investment. Intentions of the actor are important, but so is the intended outcome of the investments. Is supporting a particular place important, as Newark is to Prudential? Or is it a particular theme or objective that motivates you, like investing in new products working to solve climate change across the globe? Being specific with a fund’s impact objective can help new investors see their place in that investment.
Be action-oriented
Perfect is no longer the enemy of the good. The field is increasingly embracing a broader definition of Impact Investing and lauding efforts to make important improvements in the totality of a portfolio’s impact. Relatedly, while Impact Investing also requires that hoped-for outcomes are measured, perfect rigor is less important than a commitment to putting in place a responsible, transparent process. The ethos of transparency is one of the reasons we’re seeing consistent thought leadership in onboarding new investors, the development of the Beta version of the Impact Investing Network Map and a multitude of other efforts.
We know that Impact Investing still has ample room to grow. We need stronger and longer track records, an increased culture of transparency and disclosure, responsible market segmentation, and greater clarity on what it means to create impact at different parts of the investment value chain—for asset owners, asset managers, and their investees. But it’s not too soon for traditional investors to take a closer look, and keeping the above principles in mind will help activate your impact investing journey today.
This Spotlight is a part of a special blog series curated by the Case Foundation featuring Be Fearless stories from the field. Follow along with us as we meet people and learn about organizations that are taking risks, being bold and failing forward in their efforts to create transformative change in the social sector. In this most recent spotlight, we had the chance to sit down with Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat, President and CEO of the Washington Area Women’s Foundation for a Q&A about how the Women’s Foundation is living the Be Fearless principles in their work.
Q: What does your organization think it means to Be Fearless?
A: For Washington Area Women’s Foundation, to “Be Fearless” means to stand when others are sitting, raise our voices when others choose to be quiet and push harder when others choose to give up. Being fearless means believing that all girls in our community can grow up with a clear vision of a future beyond poverty. The mission of The Women’s Foundation is to mobilize our community to ensure that economically vulnerable women and girls have the resources they need to thrive. Our overall goal is to move all women and girls currently living in poverty to a place of consistent economic stability—and to get there, we must Be Fearless.
Economic security has been central to our mission since our founding, but it’s not enough to simply say that we are working with low-income or economically vulnerable women and girls—we are being intentional and explicit in our language and our actions. We are letting urgency conquer fear and are no longer leaving unsaid the realities facing women and girls, and the ways that race and ethnicity further contribute to that reality. It’s for that reason, and many more that on January 21st, we launched #our100days, a way for everyone in our community to Get In The Arena and take action. Every day we provide a single task that can make our communities better for the women and girls who live in them.
We believe that every woman should have an equal opportunity to achieve economic security and with our fearless and bold vision, we are continuously forging ahead towards that goal.
In an effort to further address the disparities facing women and girls at the intersection of race and gender, we officially launch the Young Women’s Initiative (YWI) this spring, centered around the voices and lived experiences of women and girls of color, coupled with reaching beyond our bubble and building partnerships across multiple sectors to increase opportunities for more equitable outcomes for young women and girls of color in the Washington region.
Q: What goals are you working towards at your organization and how do the Be Fearless principles help you achieve them?
A: With the Be Fearless principles, we can affect real change and we’re not asking for permission to do it. With #our100days, we’ve managed to connect with the community through social media and our email database, and we’ve received real feedback on our action items and work, and have made collective strides to help our Grantee Partners and other community organizations. With #our100days, people can Get In The Arena by doing anything from donating baby clothes to a mother in need, to highlighting women in our communities who have made an impact on our lives.
Moreover, through our YWI, we will initiate policy changes and increase programmatic investments to alleviate the racial and gender disparities placed on women and girls of color in the District. We are in the midst of several convenings with local policymakers, community activists and low-income women and girls of color. Innovation happens at intersections, so making space for these partnerships will help to uncover barriers and identify potential policy solutions as a part of our racial equity and policy initiatives.
Q: What “big bets” have you and the Women’s Foundation made, and how have those goals paid off?
A: At The Women’s Foundation we are firm believers in the saying, “Don’t talk, act. Don’t say, show. And don’t promise, prove.” Our big bet is our public commitment to advance equity for women and girls of color and tackle systemic and structural racism head on so that we can truly advance our mission and ensure that all women and girls in our community have the opportunity to thrive.
Our advocacy agenda is informed by the insights and lived experiences of those who are most impacted. Through our work with #our100days and the development of YWI, we have been engaging our community and seeking their feedback regarding potential solutions that address their most pressing concerns. These solutions serve as the foundation of a larger community action plan, inclusive of a set of recommendations which will inform our advocacy and grantmaking agendas, in addition to identifying potential improvements for current direct service provision and service alignment.
We are solidifying an advocacy agenda, and a list of recommendations that are community-driven and reflect the lives of those most impacted. Through the parallel development of YWI and our advocacy agenda, we intend to create a positive ripple effect across society and ultimately improve the quality of life for women and girls in our community.
Q: Tell us about a time when your organization let urgency conquer fear.
A: A sense of urgency drives us. Washington, D.C. is one of the most powerful cities in the world, yet 1 in 4 women and girls in the region are experiencing economic instability and this number has remained stagnant for a decade. We know that despite the best efforts of many initiatives, generations of our region’s women and girls have grown up in poverty, with little hope of a brighter future—and we can’t let this continue.
The time is now for bold and ambitious changes that will eliminate opportunity gaps and structural barriers, directly increasing economic security for women and girls in our region. We are committed to both pilot new methods of philanthropy and community engagement to drive greater philanthropic change, and to advocate for improved policies on behalf of women and girls.
We will fearlessly tackle racial equity head on to close the economic gap experienced by women and girls of color in the region. With #our100days and the Young Women’s Initiative, we will get in the arena and use our voice, our resources and the community we have created to remove the barriers women and girls of color face.
Feeling inspired? If you’re ready to begin your own Be Fearless journey start by downloading our free Be Fearless Action Guide and Case Studies.
As we announced in January, the Case Foundation is committing its 20th Anniversary year to calling on all to “Get In The Arena.” And, while most of our efforts focus on how each and every one of us can take action on the issues and challenges that matter the most to us in 2017, we also are highlighting lessons we have learned from Getting in the Arena over the past two decades. Our hope is future endeavors of others are informed by the sharing of past learnings.
It should come as no surprise that among the most important lessons we’ve learned is the power of the entrepreneurial spirit in driving innovation and impact across the social sector.
Of course, the entrepreneurial spirit has been central to the American Experience since our earliest days as a young nation. In his book Empire on the Edge, Nick Bunker writes the following on the founding of America: “It was always eccentric, the British Empire on the mainland of America. From the time of Jamestown and the Mayflower, almost every colony came into being by means of private enterprise. They were small, experimental ventures in search of profit, in search of God. Each one was a painful exercise in trial and error, with seldom a firm guiding hand from London.” In other words, America was born of the entrepreneurial spirit. And it is a common belief even today, that this has been the secret sauce that has powered our economy, built innovations to improve lives and forged new political and cultural systems and frameworks that have enabled the American people to thrive in what has become the longest-established democracy in the history of the world.
Too often, the entrepreneurial spirit is perceived to be of relevance exclusively in the business sector. And yet, as my own career has taken me from the public sector, to a career in technology in the private sector, to my current roles in the philanthropic/nonprofit sector as CEO of the Case Foundation and Chairman of the National Geographic Society, I have come to recognize the critical importance of entrepreneurial approaches across all sectors. Indeed, given that these sectors outside of business are usually focused on the human condition or more broadly on the needs of our planet, the challenges they face can be daunting. Perhaps there is no greater need for fresh approaches, risk taking and an eye toward innovation than in those sectors.
And, over the past 20 years, we have seen the entrepreneurial spirit thrive in non-traditional settings — across sectors, across our nation and around the globe. For example:
Launching Challenge.gov: Working with the White House as our partner, we co-hosted the White House Summit on Innovation that brought together 35 U.S. government agencies using contests and grand challenges to tap “the wisdom of the crowds” across the nation in finding solutions to major challenges faced by government agencies. We partnered with experts in prizes and challenges, such as the X-Prize, and used the Summit as training ground to encourage agencies to put forth challenges to drive innovation. Some of our favorite outcomes of this work include:
An enduring outcome of this work is Challenge.gov, a site that anyone can access to find out what contests and challenges are active. Since its launch in 2010, 740 challenges have been run on Challenge.gov, eliciting entries from 250,000+ citizens from all 50 states and a number of foreign countries. By challenging the status quo, leveraging the creativity and innovation of new audiences and tapping the entrepreneurial spirit of the American people, the U.S. government’s work was improved at a much lower than expected cost and more citizens than ever have been engaged.
Connecting frontier communities in Africa: Internet connectivity remains a major challenge throughout Africa. Yet companies like Facebook, Google and startups like BRCK* have developed non-traditional solutions to connect schools and villages that are on the edge, and past, the traditional internet and electric infrastructure. Overcoming the traditional mindset that pipes must be built and that wires must be strung to deliver access, and working around many of the government procurement barriers that have stunted growth in the past, BRCK has developed a connectivity device that can jump from Ethernet, to WiFi, to 3G seamlessly with an 8-hour battery life when the power is out. This is why, a recent article in Forbes referred to BRCK’s innovation as a “clever confluence of technology and entrepreneurial spirit.”To overcome the connectivity problems, Facebook announced plans to lay over 500 miles of fiber cable in Uganda this year and has even experimented with drones to provide internet access to remote locations. And Google is stringing over 1,000 kilometers of fiber cable in two of Ghana’s largest cities to serve the growing number of internet provider companies in these cities. Thanks to private sector actors like Facebook, BRCK and Google, internet access can be found in hospitals, community centers, libraries, barbershops, even on buses, where it was never available before. These entrepreneurs have solved a long-standing problem by embracing the entrepreneurial spirit.
Democratizing access to information: In the past, access to complex data was often restricted to those in government or at major research universities. These restrictions were not based on national security needs, but by historical tendencies and entrenched interests. Today, across many platforms, we are seeing visionaries, using open source and crowd sourcing models to leverage wider communities to advance science, innovation and exploration. For example, Sarah Parcak, an associate professor of Anthropology and director of the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has broken down the wall between academia and citizens, by sharing infra-red satellite imaging from commercial and NASA satellites with citizens so they can help identify potential archeological sites for further exploration. Her work in places like Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula has been groundbreaking, but her commitment to locating and protecting hundreds of thousands — even millions — of still undiscovered ancient sites that remain buried all over the world pushes the impact of her work to the next level.
Sarah’s launch of GlobalXplorer.org on January 30 embodies the entrepreneurial spirit in non-traditional areas that is so inspiring to us. This unique platform enlists a global community and enables anyone with an internet connection to discover the next hidden burial site or community using satellite technology. The platform uses satellite imagery provided by DigitalGlobe, and highlights content from National Geographic and taps the public’s time, brainpower and inquisitive nature, to map Peru in search of archeological sites hidden due to modern human activity.
And Sarah is not the only explorer and innovator working this way. We see numerous examples in the open source world where entrepreneurs and innovators are creating new and innovative platforms that are improved and updated by the wider community.
This isn’t a new idea. Every major advancement or breakthrough across society came from someone trying something that seemed a little crazy. Long before President Kennedy ushered in an era of entrepreneurial efforts to get us first to the moon and then beyond, major leaps benefiting mankind had been the result of someone, somewhere making a commitment to #GetInTheArena with new ideas for solving old, daunting problems. In fact, the Challenge.gov website proudly notes that similar challenges aided Charles Lindbergh’s famous transatlantic flight and the design for the U.S. Capitol building. Risk taking, a sense of urgency, a willingness to fail and a dogged perseverance are part of the formula that has defined the entrepreneurial spirit and brought us breakthroughs. From where we sit, we are encouraged by the growing recognition and application of these tenets across the social sector, and around the world, and believe it bodes well for the future of innovation.
*Disclosure: Jean and Steve Case are investors in BRCK.
He (and I use that pronoun intentionally) who tells the story owns the narrative. And the fact is, history has largely been written by men, for men. White men. It’s a truth we, at the Case Foundation, confronted directly and are trying to change through our #FacesofFounders campaign, as it pertains to entrepreneurs. The power of storytelling to document history, make lasting impressions and, in fact, set our default images is profound. And therefore, we need to disrupt the status quo of who tells the stories, about whom the stories are told, the images we assign to entire categories of people and, in doing so, directly confront our biases and work hard—with intention—to change them.
As we researched and designed our inclusive entrepreneurship movement, seeking to democratize entrepreneurship to people and places being left behind or out of business startup opportunities in America, we landed on three important roadblocks: access to social capital (mentorships, networks, accelerators); access to financial capital; and access to something we called “inspirational capital”—their inclusion in media stories, popular images of entrepreneurs or stories of entrepreneurship. Our #FacesofFounders campaign was a direct response to aggressively bust the myth that there weren’t already successful entrepreneurs of color and women entrepreneurs, as well as to inspire the next generation of talent required to drive America forward.
Key to driving that campaign forward was to confront the biases that exist in America, to understand that storytelling and images have played a huge role in reinforcing those biases and to use the power of storytelling, and a set of modernized images, to change that dynamic. We put that power to work in our CEO Jean Case’s TED talk last fall.
As we close out February and our celebration of Black History Month, and in celebration of what I hope is a revolution to level the playing field for all individuals—regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation or birthplace—to participate equally in our society and economy, I’d like to share three other TED Talks that continue to inspire me to #GetinTheArena and both deploy the power of storytelling and extend the privilege of the storyteller.
This stunning talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie walks us through a long history of literature, news stories and images that have built a singular story around events and people, particularly people of color. She reminds us that the problem is that, beginning as children, these are the stories and images that set our default positions. Worse, they rob people of dignity, reduce opportunities for equality and accentuate our differences more than our similarities. Her parting words? Stories matter; let’s use them to empower, humanize and repair broken dignity.
Vernā Myers delivers a hard-hitting punch: get out of denial, “color blindness” is a false ideal…a distraction from doing the real work required to reboot our biases. She walks us through the world of brain auto-association with research showing that people—all people—associated white images more often with positive and black images more often with negative. Seventy percent of white people preferred images of white people; 50 percent of black people did too. Whoa! Beyond just the sheer power of her talk, she deploys a tactic that is intentionally intended to change that auto-association—throughout her entire talk, images of beautiful, bold, everyday black men are displayed behind her. Myers challenges us to do three things: (1) accept that bias exists—it’s not that it exists, it’s what we do with it; (2) move toward young black men, not away from them; move toward your discomfort and expand your bubble—just try!; and (3) when you see something, say something—good people can say wrong things, and if not confronted, biases will continue and be passed onto future generations. A must-watch!
Mellody Hobson tells us in this captivating talk that embracing and deploying diversity—of race, gender, intellect, experience—is the smart thing to do, not just the right thing to do. Like Myers, Hobson encourages us to deal with color head on…to deal with its discomfort and relax into it…to be “color brave” if we believe in equal opportunity. Her three calls to action are things most of us can do today: (1) be intentional in hiring decisions—every opportunity you get; (2) observe your environment with intention, and invite people into your life that don’t look like you, live like you, think like you—they will challenge your assumptions and beliefs; and (3) be brave.
…
Let’s not forget that Black History Month itself was created to rewrite a history that seemed to exclude black people’s role in advancing American innovation, entrepreneurship, society and economy. Each of us, in our own way—big or small—can be part of a movement to drive a more inclusive nation. Be fearless. It’s worth it.
This Spotlight is a part of a special blog series curated by the Case Foundation featuring Be Fearless stories from the field. Follow along with us as we meet people and learn about organizations that are taking risks, being bold and failing forward in their efforts to create transformative change in the social sector. This Spotlight is authored by Jay Newton-Small (@JNSmall), Cofounder of MemoryWell, TIME magazine contributor and author of Broad Influence.
A few years ago, I put my father into a home for those living with Alzheimer’s and dementia. It was the hardest decision of my life, but he was a wanderer and I couldn’t care for him on my own following the death of my mother. I didn’t know it at the time, but that decision would be the start of a long journey that would change both of our lives.
The home asked me to fill out a 20-page questionnaire about his life. This made no sense to me: who would remember 20 pages of hand-written data points for the 150+ residents there? Instead, I offered to write down his story. I’m a journalist after all, story telling comes naturally to me. They loved the story I wrote, it transformed his care; MemoryWell was born.
Over the next 2.5 years, I worked with a partner, Ilan Brat formerly of the Wall Street Journal, to write more life stories of people like my dad. We knew that this tool could help change the lives of the more than 44 million around the world currently living with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia and the many who care for them. And so, we developed a website called MemoryWell to host the stories and allow family members to add their loved ones’ favorite photos, videos and music—so that when caregivers or family members sit with them they have a whole toolbox of things with which to engage them.
My firsthand experience with my father and Alzheimer’s helped me to identify a critical solution and develop MemoryWell in response. The leap from daughter to entrepreneur was a big one, but a necessary one as I realized what this tool could do for families like mine.
We got our first clients earlier this year and, less than two months later, I let urgency conquer fear and left TIME Magazine to work on MemoryWell full time. Our CTO Andrew Fribush joined our team this fall and we got accepted into Halcyon incubator in Washington, DC, in November.
While all this sounds easy: let me assure you it was not! We are journalists, not entrepreneurs. In our newsrooms, taking a stand is always discouraged: we are impartial observers of the events around us. Most journalists are given assignments instead of making them. We are naturally skeptical of salesmanship and marketing/PR puffery; we work well with structure and want steady jobs (although the upheaval in the industry is changing that). But, in short, journalism isn’t an industry predisposed to innovation and that’s why you see so few journalism startups. But as I saw the impact that storytelling could have in the lives of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, I knew that I had to take a risk in the face of these obstacles.
Certainly, our road hasn’t always been smooth and surely there will be many more bumps ahead. However, we have learned from every experience and failed forward to get to where we are today. We lost our first pitch contest to NewU, a group that gives grants to minority journalists, in September 2014, and then we lost three more Aging 2.0 pitch contests after than until Ilan finally won the Chicago Aging 2.0 contest in 2016—and still we didn’t make it to the national convention. The White House Summit on Aging loved our idea and approached us to participate in their 2015 summit only to cut us weeks later because we were too unproven. We’ve been blown off by investors and our bosses took extremely dim views of our extracurricular activities.
I’m taking a huge risk and it may well fail—indeed more startups do than succeed. But we feel passionately that stories can be used not just to inform the masses in a newspaper or magazine, but to affect change on a personal level, to build community where none exists. So instead of writing about the president-elect, I might be writing about your grandma, or your friend’s grandma, and nothing would make me happier.
Feeling inspired? If you’re ready to begin your own Be Fearless journey start by downloading the Case Foundation’s free Be Fearless Action Guide and Case Studies.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
