Bill Drayton - Ashoka - Social Entrepreneurship

In this fourth (and last) interview with Global X, Bill Drayton addresses a key question: How can one be an effective social entrepreneur?

"First, you have to give yourself permission to be one!" And that may be the biggest barrier. Many people will tell you that this is too hard and that you will fail. "You have to very politely ignore them," recommends the founder of Ashoka.

Then pick a social problem that you really want to solve. It shouldn't be that difficult, as there are so many that remains to be solved.

Think of it as an iterative building process: "It is not rocket science. It's patient, careful problem solving." But you need persistence in looking at the problem so that you understand the field very well.

Finally, make sure that what you are doing is really important, even historic, for the field. "It has to be a big win for all decision makers in the field!"

And don't forget, as Bill Drayton showed about Rodrigo Baggio, that you need deep integrity and ethical fiber to succeed. The founder of Ashoka, who is now spending a lot of time on the new generation of change makers, also describes in a previous interview the magical instant when a social entrepreneur discovers that the moment to change social structure has arrived.