Fiefdoms & Freakonomics

So it might as well be the beginning. Starting up what's now known as social business 4 years ago this month in the UK. We'd actually started a lot earlier, with a business plan, before deciding a form of incorporation and were steered toward a guarantee company.

Within weeks, we'd discovered how that cut us off at the ankles. The coop movement told us directly they were only funding projects like ours for full cooperatives, the ethical banking sector wouldn't touch us and a company without shares left us high and dry for private investment.

Then our American founder was denied re-entry to the UK and I sought help. Wrote to my MP, members of the House of Lords and was ignored. Tried to continue our profit for social purpose advocacy contacting several All Party Parliamentary Groups, ignored there too. Except for the APPG on microfinance who too 6 months to decline the offer of a presentation on a successful initiative in Russia. Others just ignored me. My MP responded testily at being asked to help.

As we're working in Eastern Europe, I'd not be exaggerating to say that we made better progress against the Russian Mafia.

Just the other week, I remember a two year old unanswered letter to a local grant funded advocacy, I reminded then of my 2 year wait, they still didn't answer, but they did have a badge of approval scheme which would cost £5000 to be vetted for.

Social enterprise here is a hybrid vehicle, kind of band wagon meets gravy train...

I subscribe to a social enterprise business directory and they keep finding ways to tell me I don't qualify and removing my profile. I endure a smear blog, telling the world we're criminals as we try to raise awareness of neglect in care of disabled children.

Half of my customers find ways to avoid payment and several abandon us.

But we're still here. In spite of the multiple fiefdoms. That's the point. Social return on investment is coming in. Just yesterday we discovered that our activism to raise financial support for in-country adoption had been more than satisfied with an announcement of a doubling of allowances to 300 dollars a month in Ukraine.

That's what counts to us in the end, a social return on investment.

Wow! Jeff, that is a lot to deal with. Would you say that persistence and creativity are necessary to deal with fiefdoms? What were some of the creative steps you took to overcome some of the problems you encountered? At personal level how do you deal with it?

Hi Carlos,

What I've described above is my side of a small organisation and in all honesty, we'd not have lasted as a start-up, if we hadn't had the opportunity to migrate an existing business and customer base to our social enterprise. Where I can, I point out the hypocrisy via my MP. For instance being bumped out a contract with a government department who claims to support social enterprise, by a third party who demanded free service as tribute. Another government customer partners with a major foundation to fund a social enterprise network, but they owe me 2 years maintenance. Our health service promotes social enterprise trusts, but it's very much a one-way street when one becomes a supplier.

Yet what I've experienced pales in to insignificance compared with my colleague overseas who's been harrassed by Russia's FSB, drugged and arrested at gunpoint. Stood up to government minister and made them understand in very plain language that he wasn't going to entertain graft.

One of the fiefdoms he dealt with successfully was the case of someone deciding he was going to have a top job in a local university. The approach, in collusion with local law enforcers, was to throw a group of female students in police cells and threaten them with repeated rape unless they testified to a misdemeanor by the current job incumbent. He went in and made the whole thing public with the protection of a US passport. His philosophy - lift the rock and shine a flashlight, the insects always scatter.

We came across a situation in Ukraine where disabled children were being neglected to the point of starvation in care homes. He wrote up the story, of a visiting NGO entitled "Death Camps for Children". The smear campaign (hosted by Google no less) began almost immediately and at one point a UK barrister began harassing us, for attempting to reveal the anonymous source. They didn't present as a barrister using their professional name of course, but were daft enough to spell it all out on a genealogy website which rapidly vanished, but not before I had a copy.

So yes, we persist. Compared to what we deal with overseas, what we deal with at home isn't really much of an obstacle. We can do what we need to do with or without them.

Jeff

“Fiefdoms lack discipline” and that is how they are formed in community initiatives. Engaging the community requires a sense of openness, which aims to increase participation. In reality without thoughtful participation the loudest voices may lead to fiefdoms forming. To encourage openness and useful interaction a social entrepreneur should have a toolbox full participation and decision-making methods. One facilitator that I know uses play money as form of voting. In other words you have this budget, where would you invest it?

A community investment strategy for a local living economy is one way to engage the community. However, the idea seems so big that is un-manageable, but a good example of keeping it simple is the Seattle’s Foundation Framework for a Healthy Community. A framework provides a means to develop discipline amongst the various fiefdoms. For the social entrepreneur working with a healthy community framework can serve to prioritize their investment and energy.

Once the Federal Government announced its Homeless Initiative a Homeless Foundation faced a dilemma. Nonprofits began to argue about who was serving the homeless and the nature of their housing needs. Nonprofits serving single men and women, the people that most of us see homeless, argued that they should receive the lion’s share of funding.

Fortunately, a private sector board member suggested that agencies group themselves according to the populations they served. He also suggested that each group discuss the needs of their populations, which would be reported to the public and used for funding decision making. By implementing an organizing framework, the various fiefdoms had to learn how to play together.

To be successful in improving your community you may need to engage a variety of fiefdoms. You should be able to speak to them from three perspectives, affinity, social and economic. Your speaking points should be compelling enough to engage their self-interest.

For example; as a housing advocate one could say that providing a diversity of housing options helps individuals thrive, improves the quality of life of a community by reducing crime and contributes to economic growth by stabilizing the local labor force and reducing the societal costs of homelessness.

This was in fact how we approached things from the beginning, in the paper that founded our organisation. By pointing out that leaving people in poverty was a recipe for future acts of terrorism against ourselves. Had our founder been more influential, 9/11 may not have happened 5 years later. Taking the idea of economic 'Smart Bombs" into an Islamic community in crisis was a something of an alien concept back in 2002, now it's the very essence of what an influential think tank now describes as Smart Power. Advocating a business model for the elimination of poverty was really off the wall a decade ago, but only recently one of the wealthiest men in the world came on board with Creative Capitalism.

So, I'll endorse what you say 100%, but there are still fiefdoms who would rather not hear about this kind of achievement, unfortunately.

Jeff, I don’t know that creative capitalism is as necessary as getting away from lazy-economics and entrepreneurship. The fact that corporation or entrepreneur can launch a lousy product or continue business practices that undermine the common good simply because it has influence over public policy is what drives poverty growth.

The sub-crime mortgage crisis is a good example of lazy entrepreneurship. Has the need for sound credit products and housing alternatives disappeared? No! Those needs are still there. However, it is unlikely that lenders will step up to the plate to meet it, as it is easier to influence government to continue business as usual.

Personal fiefdoms are easy to develop in the nonprofit sector. Nonprofits are governed by volunteer board of directors, which influences the level of oversight. If the volunteers are highly committed and skilled then stewardship over the mission and operations of the organization can be effective. However, in community and collation initiatives board members can be individuals with limited oversight expertise.

In such instances it is possible for the executive director to develop a personal fiefdom. Such fiefdom may block creative solutions proposed by staff, cause turf battles (friends of the E.D. versus other staff), and encourage a stifling bureaucracy, as each action needs to be cleared by the executive. The signs that such fiefdom exists are high staff turnover, problems meeting program goals and stagnation in recruiting new board members.

It is difficult to correct such fiefdoms as volunteer boards don't like dealing with conflict. As well, Funding sources give gifts and are not motivated to review a nonprofit for operating effectiveness.

An executive director of a community coalition was credited with saving the organization from its demise. Tight control may have been what the organization needed to survive. However, once the crisis stage was overcome the executive continued to micro-manage staff.

The executive was the only one that knew all the answers, procedures and could give permission to proceed. The executive was unable to allow staff to participate in managing their domain because it could lead to change. Over a period of two years several new staff were hired but later were fired or left on their own accord. Most of the staff that remained had developed personal friendships with the executive.

Rather than hold the director accountable, for the organization’s poor performance coalition members choose to reduce their participation. The coalition’s members form the board of directors.

The leadership in a community initiative can avoid individual fiefdoms by; establishing a clear process and terms for board participation and board succession; recruit board members with complementary skills and business expertise; minimize fragmentation through collaborative decision-making; establishing protocols that avoid bottlenecks; provide training to enhance board members skills in oversight such as fund development, human resources and finance. Board members should participate in fundraising as it helps develop commitment to excellence.

Finally, the contract with the executive director should be directly linked to meeting the organizations outcomes. For example, the type of capital raised should meet the needs of the initiative, which would help avoid developing programs simply to chase dollars.

A community may face a burning issue, such as housing or access to credit. Similar groups may sprout up to tackle the issue. Often this may be reflected by existence of two or more committees or consortiums to address the same issue. These peer fiefdoms can reduce the impact on how effective a community can be in addressing a particular issue.

Peer fiefdoms form to capture specific funding sources without regard to an effective solution for the common good. The Government of Canada Federal Homeless Initiative discouraged fiefdoms by requiring a comprehensive community plan with matching sources of funds from local donors and governments.

The growth of silos, fiefdoms, and new ways to reinvent the wheel, is a problem that has existed for a long time, maybe back to the Biblical days. Lots of money and time are spent on social issues because of this. I've often used the anology that compares solving a social problem to building a building. A building starts with concepts, financing, then a set of blueprints that show step by step what needs to be done from the beginning to the end, so that the building is completed as it was designed. On every page of the blueprint, certain people with specific skills need to do their work, in concert with others. They all need to be paid.

I've not found many blueprints on the internet for helping kids in poverty be starting jobs by age 25, or for ending the water and environmental crisis that persists in many parts of the world. Perhaps because these are complex problems where many different skills are needed, for many years, in every place where the problem persists.

The role I've taken focuses on collecting and sequencing knowledge related to helping inner city youth in Chicago get the adult help they need to assure that more who are born today (first floor of the building) are starting jobs/careers by age 25 (top floor?).

Rather than say "I know all the answers" I start with a concept map showing all of the groups who I think are trying to address this issue, and build links to those groups on my web site, and use forums like this and others to try to connect people from each group with each other. If a new player starts a new fiefdome, I just add their link to the mix, so even if they don't reach out to others doing similar work, I'm connecting others to them.

I'm beginning to use concept maps to illustrate this. Here are a couple: http://cmapspublic.ihmc.us/servlet/SBReadResourceServlet?rid=1204924874855_1541438276_17785&partName=actualhtmltext

http://cmapspublic.ihmc.us/servlet/SBReadResourceServlet?rid=1180992855988_1452846006_54245&partName=htmltext

As I share my own thinking, I'm hoping to find others who are using maps and blueprints in a similar way, and that we can link our thinking, to create larger networks of understanding, that draw more people from their silos and fiefdoms, to places where the begin to converge on common goals, with a focus on all of the places where the same help is needed.

Can you point to any other examples where these types of maps are being created with a networking and collaboration purpose?

Thanks for the thoughtful post. Nice work! Maps like that can certainly help the social entrepreneur to identify where their energy could be best invested. I would use such map to imagine business models that respond to the needs identified. In some cases it may not be a business model but advocacy for change in public policy.

I also find it useful to use something like the Healthy Community Framework or the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Qualify of Life Reporting System. This approach helps explore areas where it is possible to exercise influence and areas of concern, but we would be unable to influence. As well, as develop arguments to attract investment or promote policy change.

Another example; is Planning for Real a technique developed in the UK to revitalize mining communities. It uses a scale model of the community and open houses to facilitate dialogue and collaboration leading to specific projects. The difficulty to overcome in collaborative planning is moving from the abstract to concrete action while obtaining cooperation from the various fiefdoms.

I wondered about hosting this forum since fiefdoms seem to be a natural human tendency. It would be unfortunate if being an entrepreneur were solely defined as an individual only interested in profit. That is as futile as a hunter saying, “better bag me tiger before they are extinct”. Certainly being entrepreneurial has to have more meaning than profit.

Being an entrepreneur is about finding satisfaction in your creative and productive capacity. So, my hope is that entrepreneurs would consider doing business in a way that improves our communities and contributes towards local living economy. I don’t expect that there is a perfect way to achieve this. I only hope that 20% of entrepreneurs choose to ask themselves, how does my business contribute towards a local living economy? If they can pick one project each year, then perhaps we could create enough change to tip change in the various fiefdoms.

I agree with your observation about finding satisfaction in what you do. We each measure profit in many ways. It's not always money.

I've created an innovation tool box that contains links to web sites that inspire me, and that I feel might be useful to anyone else innovating for change or to do good in the world. The web site is interactive, so you and others can add new links, or rate exisiting links. Thus as we learn to innovate, we can also learn to share our secrets so that we influence how others work as well. Here's the link: http://www.tutormentorconnection.org/TMLearningNetwork/LinksLibrary/tabid/560/rrcid/13/rrepp/20/Default.aspx

I like to think of communities as gardens. The role of the social entrepreneur is then to cultivate the garden towards health and sustainability. The cultivating can take many shapes, for profit, nonprofit, charity, advocacy, community organizing, etc. Just like in a garden, you have to take into account the ecosystem you live in. In this case I would call it the ecology of the community. Fiefdoms are part of this ecology.

Divisional fiefdoms exist in large organizations with multiple product or service lines. In this case each division starts acting as its own entity without synergy or interaction with the rest of the organization. Large nonprofits are likely experience divisional fiefdoms.

For the purpose of our discussion consider divisional fiefdoms in a community context, for example, a city’s planning department, economic development authority or police department. As each of these fiefdoms acts on their own accord they can undermine the quality of life of the community. For example a police department that takes a hard line on immigrants in a city that is loosing population every year. Businesses and farmers may face a labor shortage as result, diminishing the economic prospects of the community.

A top tier fiefdom is cut off from reality to such extent that it no longer recognizes its inability to function for the common good. In the nonprofit sector top tier fiefdoms occur at the board and executive level. Board members or the executive of the organization may have a specific plans but don’t share them with staff or their supporters. In other instances the founder’s continue business as usual, which may be at odds with their ability to raise funds or attract supporters. If you ask questions you are likely to get vague answers or told not to ask questions.

Top tier fiefdoms are difficult to alter. If you work in an organization that has a top tier fiefdom start looking for another job. It is not likely that you can alter their direction or lack of it.

Group fiefdoms are where a relatively small group of people forms around a common task, responsibility or objective. Group fiefdoms are extremely harmful to organizations and the common good. In nonprofits group fiefdoms may exist at the board or staff level. Group fiefdoms are aggressive, secretive and fight against oversight to maintain their independence.

For example, a community development organization received 40 million dollars to establish a loan fund to assist small businesses relocate due to a public works project. Board members opposed any protocol that could expedite relocations or provide the best use of funds to the small-business owners.

Instead their goal was to keep as much of the 40 million as possible by waiting until the relocation period expired. Then they would argue for re-allocation of the funds and use them in projects they favored. The majority of small-business to be relocated where owned by minorities or immigrants.

Robert J. Herbold writes, “Protected Fiefdoms occur when a top executive or a board sanctions, harbors, or even creates a fiefdom and provides long-term protection of the fiefdom by sheltering it from financial or strategic scrutiny and, in general, ensuring a hands-off approach to it” A very accurate description.

A recent trend in the nonprofit sector is for boards to sing a “hands-off approach” contract to managing the organization with the executive director. While it is always difficult to determine how to conduct organizational oversight, it is always a good practice and worthy investment. It helps protect the board if a liability due to the executive director’s actions should occur.

Many emphasize financial oversight, yet, just as important is human resources. In particular as there are many more women working in the nonprofit sector, while most executive directors’ are a male. A woman may complain of abusive behavior by the executive director to a board member but see no change in his behavior, which creates a liability. Poor oversight of human resources practices is just as harmful to the organization as a financial scandal.

Navigating organizational & environmental politics is probably one of the most frustrating responsibilities that we have to deal with, but it a reality, and one that we must address to meet our mission.

The chain of political roadblocks sometimes seems endless... other organizations that see your programming as a threat, entrenched community leaders that aren't receptive to new ideas or leadership, partners and colleagues working to advance their own individual agendas, and just general resistance from the status quo.

I think that building effective relationships both inside your organization and outside your organization is critical, and it is based on communicating one key message:

"Both you and I will benefit from our working together... and additionally we'll meet our respective goals."

Unfortunately, for many people we deal with, their past experiences with other colleagues tell them otherwise.

Like most small business, we operate in a competitive environment... the one unique challenge to social entrepreneurs is the fact that we must work cooperatively with groups, people, and institutions that would normally be considered our competition.

I've discovered the following rules of organizational diplomacy...

1. Networking is key. Build relationships agressively as if your future depends on it - it usually does. 2. Create incentives for each of the players in your major projects. 3. Most organizational gatekeepers can be sidestepped. You may have to look outside of the organization or network, but there is always an alternate route to where you want to go. 4. Most power struggles are over control of things that aren't important to your success. Offer creative control to partners and colleagues. You can always use them to springboard your own project.

Thank you! Jonathan, the rules you offer make a lot of sense. In some ways it is about learning to sell your project with integrity. Conceptual Selling by Miller Heiman and Tuleja provides similar advice to what you propose. Learning to talk about your project in a way that it attracts positive interactions is key, in which case diplomacy is essential.

There is always another way to get things done, thinking abundantly, imagination to find your way around and persistence also help.

Hi Carlos,

To break out of fiefdoms that put the "self" at the centre and to "cultivate the garden " I believe prosperity consciousness is needed. My take on social entrepreneurship is that we are in an energy universe so to engage the imaginations of communities, we need to tap into the philosophies that motivate change in an ecosystem of interactions. When we feel abundant we act out of our own inspiration. In this scenario everyone is a winner.

Jo, thank you for your comment. Beliefs and values that motivate change are certainly important. Yet, we need to be careful not to become to dogmatic. Because in a global economy our communities are likely to include a wide variety of beliefs. Perhaps the underlying belief is that we can have a livable planet if we can act together, which requires respect for other beliefs and cultures.

Carlos & Jo, thanks so much for your thoughts on this. I definitely agree that a mindset of prosperity is key to solving one of our biggest obstacles: the concept of ownership, be it ownership of an idea, a resource, a set of talents, etc.

Ownership focus will almost inevitably lead to "protection" of an asset for self-interest, while collaborative creativity will benefit everyone it touches, leading to true positive change. As you said, everyone wins!

The first step is to imagine that you can live in a local living economy. Then explore what a local living economy could mean in your community. Learn as much as you can about your community by talking to as many people as you can. Your goal is to find other people who value the idea. They may not have the same values as you, but that is okay, diversity creates more life and opportunities.

You will know you are getting somewhere when you have a core-group of committed individuals. As core-group then your aim is to develop the necessary community-will to take action.

Developing the necessary community-will for a local living economy means you need to inspire people to consider the possibilities. Use a framework to screen the possibilities for action. Ask yourself, in which issue can my skills and social networks influence change? Distinguish the issues from those you can influence and those that are areas of concern but cannot influence effectively.

For example I am very committed to change in housing for two reasons; one, I believe the structure of the labor market has changed. There are now fewer jobs with livable wages and benefits. Providing housing opportunities that can be afforded by a variety of income types can strengthen the well being local businesses. As affordable housing increases disposable income, which gives individuals to access other opportunities for well-being. Research shows that workers with stable housing are healthier and more reliable, no doubt Sherlock!

Two, energy costs will continue absorb an increasing share of people’s income. A tax credit for at least $5,000 for landlords and median to low-income homeowners to reduce their housing’s energy costs by 40%, would improve the sustainability of our local economies and our planet. Combine that with supportive capital from philanthropists and market capital to increase the number of households. The improvements would be simple, change the windows, insulate the basement and attic, up-date appliances and bathroom and lighting fixtures. The goal is 40% of residential buildings. I doubt we would be having a recession if such program were to be implemented.

But I can’t create that type of change as I am not a voter in the US. So, instead I think of small business ideas that can have the same effect but are implemented locally

To avoid fiefdom syndrome in your initiative be open, transparent and clear about your purpose. Have a clear strategy and implementation plan. Use it as a road map, not a taskmaster. Be open to change in tactics, so you can learn from others. However, always strive to stay true to your intentions. Find a mentor whom you can trust and be open too. Build a support network that is diverse in skill, believes and social contacts.

To improve effectiveness a core-group needs to practice three activities diligently, thinking together, collaborating and taking risks together. You can practice thinking together by using various facilitation and decision making methods. Learning to collaborate can be as easy as taking turns facilitating meetings or activities. Sharing cultural affinities or raising money for a specific project together is a means to practice taking-risk.

To learn more about opportunities for a local economy, talk about it! With everyone! Practice with your core-group; share your interest in the idea and what your hopes are. Develop a series of questions you can ask others. Tell others your core-group’s hopes and aspirations.

As you talk about it, begin to keep track of people’s interest and reactions. If each core-group member speaks to 8 different people you can view the results as an informal survey. Use the results to identify potential projects the community will support and ways to speak about it.

But could someone take the time to explain fiefdoms and freakonomics to me. I enjoyed the flow of the converstaion and I am interesting in knowing more about subject matter. In the menawhile, I will get on with the suggested reading!

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. Authors Levitt and Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.

For the social entrepreneur it helps to understand where the underlying incentives are in their community's ecosystem. Then they can develop business models that can offer game changing incentives.

Fiefdoms are the way that groups or individuals maintain control over their incentives. Fiefdoms are not concerned with the common good, they focus on preserving self-interest.

Will do some reading on the subject.

The Collaborative Granting Process of the Calgary Homeless Foundation became a game changing idea. The process enables the community to thoughtfully apply its investments to reduce homelessness. http://www.calgaryhomeless.com/main/page.php?page_id=34

The process encourages thinking together, collaboration, and risk taking both at the nonprofit organization and funders level.

The global economy permits capital a high degree of mobility, which has led to work force mobility. In Latin America people migrate from the rural areas to the city. If a worker cannot find an economic opportunity in the city, then they are likely migrate to the US or Canada. In the US able body workers move from state to state to find jobs, hence the rust belt.

If you visited a community where most of its residents are working in another state or country (legally or illegally) you would find mostly older people and children living there. Capital can be mobile but communities are not. To preserve a community’s quality of life local fiefdoms need to be motivated to invest together in reclaim their productivity.

A result of the mobility of capital is lower wages for workers. Countries with low worker rights and protections provide labor cheaper than a country that provides rights to its workforce. Low incomes at a household level then impacts the viability and quality of life of a community.

Improving households’ incomes is necessary to revitalize a local economy. This can be achieved in at least two ways, one, finding local opportunities to create jobs with living wages; two, reducing households’ costs for transportation, housing and food. Both can be achieved using social enterprise business models.

Energy costs will continue to impact the viability of a local economy. Energy prices are only expected to increase, as there is a limited supply of fossil fuels. Energy costs will continue to consume a larger portion of households’ income. Reducing energy costs for households can be done through conservation and alternative energy sources.

There is a wide range of social enterprise opportunities in this area. The escalating price of energy could make many alternative products and services viable. One can easily imagine a district energy approach for small business districts or a service that helps households’ reduce their carbon foot-print.

Demographic changes both driven by workforce mobility and cultural lifestyles can influence your local economy. In my community we face a rapidly ageing population that will need care. Yet, we do not have sufficient in-migration to meet our labor needs or provide care for seniors.

In our case we need to find the means to attract population in order to increase the viability of our local economy. As well, as increase the ability of seniors to remain independent and healthy. What these two issues have in common is housing. If we provide a reliable housing market that could meet the needs of a diversity of households, then we could increase our population density.

It is difficult to imagine that any one type of intervention, philanthropic, government or entrepreneurial can address the profound and rapid change that global trade can bestow on a community. In this context the social entrepreneur operates to cultivate stewardship of community resources and promote ideas for a stronger local economy. The goal is to move fiefdoms to action, so we can produce concrete and measurable results that build our community’s health.

The community initiatives that I participated identified the following issues using a variety of techniques; jobs, housing, community safety, education and health care. As issues they are not the responsibility of any particular government department, agency or enterprise. However, to address them one needs to identify champions that can provide leadership and stewardship among philanthropists, government departments and private sector.

Author Robert J. Herbold writes that to keep fiefdom syndrome out of an organization you need a “high level enforcer”. In a community context I would say you need a high-level convener that can speak softly and carry a big stick. Openness and ability to converse fluently about your community’s needs from a variety of perspectives, including economic, is key to finding such help.

In the case of the Calgary Homeless Initiative, private sector executives from both real estate and oil industries provided sound advice that helped put in place a framework for equitable investment.

Please pardon my previous description of the convener. The convener is someone who can influence others to participate and inspire them to act with integrity for a greater purpose. Anyone can be convener, from children to top 500 CEO’s.

“Do not offer the kind of fertile soil that allows fiefdoms to grow,” writes Robert J. Herbold. He suggests that top management focus on balancing discipline and innovation. To achieve that balance he proposes that you need to have the right leadership.

In a community context such fertile soil can be avoided by diligently working towards open communication and developing trust and respect through mutual accountability. The leadership of the community initiative needs to demonstrate their commitment to mutual accountability by example. Community leaders also need to demonstrate respect for everyone’s contribution, while being able to ask or answer accountability questions.

Mr. Herbold lists the advantages of a “fiefdomless” company as follows: Develops better long-term strategy Executes for the short term Enjoys significant cost advantages Adapts to change with speed and agility Works creatively

The motivations for a company to become “ fiefdomless” are profit driven by the self-interest of investors, shareholders or the owner. Community initiatives or collations don’t share that same motivation. Typically they develop in response to an emerging issue, so one can say they are reactive. It could be said that for community initiatives profit would be too successfully address the issue.

What the nonprofit sector and for profit sector share in common, is that to become “fiefdomless” you need leadership committed to excellence and helping others. An essential element to being “fiefdomless” in your community initiative or coalition is having a clear vision of what you wish to create. Imagination, thinking abundantly, and communicating openly with everyone can enable clarity of vision. A clear vision then helps develop the community-will necessary for action.

Leadership committed to being life-giving is essential to local living economies and creating a livable planet.

To develop a fiefdomless organization invest in the following: Recruit leadership that is committed excellence and helping others; Ensure that your leadership represents diversity of thoughts, skills and social networks; Provide them training in oversight; Establish a board of director’s protocol and strategy for recruitment, tenure and oversight;

Don’t be against something, if your initiative, organization or project was born in reaction too an issue, then identify a solution and focus your energy on that solution. A clear long-term strategy helps avoid fiefdoms.

If you are working towards establishing a healthy community or local living economies understand your community’s ecosystem, use a framework to establish priorities. Map the problem, for example Daniel Bassill's map, link provided above. Pick actions you can execute in the short-term, with the long-term goal in mind. Don’t assume that charitable or nonprofit is the only way to achieve your goal. Be open to all alternatives that can leverage your community’s capacity for a local living economy.

If you are working collaboratively establish decision-making protocols that enable you adapt quickly, work creatively and are inclusive. Finally, develop your own money sources. Having your own money gives you greater freedom to stay true to your goal. If your first thought is, “we need a grant to accomplish this project”, then think about it again, are there other ways to fund the project?

Be passionate about your community’s health. At the end of the day what keeps us healthy is having a sense of belonging, knowing that we are part of village, so take care of your community. Learn to talk about a local living economy in a way that people will listen. Learn to sell the benefits. Talk about the value such and idea offers; how it can improve your quality of life and why it makes dollars and sense. Although capital can do as it pleases, it does not take away our own capacity to be productive or manage our resources. We are the market, if we make life-giving choices, capital will have to follow.

Jonathan offered a good list of networking rules. Conceptual Selling (mentioned above) is a good read. It sounds corporate, but it is good to learn from everyone as Jo suggested.

I have believed that thinking; collaborating and taking risks together could lead to a more livable local economy. However, I have been puzzled by coalitions that have resources and support but could or would not deliver results. Mr. Herbold’s book Fiefdom Syndrome helped me understand why and how it happens.

As result of these experiences I thought I would try a different approach, cultivating entrepreneurs to become social entrepreneurs. Both in the type of businesses they start and how they operate their business. As these entrepreneurs grow my hope is that they will also become advocates for a local living economy.

For example, I am working with a property owner that has building that he does not know what to do with. We thought it might be possible to set up a fossil fuel free vegetable store. We will grow vegetables hydroponically for the local market. We will power the building using solar and co-generation technologies. He wins and the community wins.

Why shift from community coalitions to working with entrepreneurs? Viable business models propagate quickly and spawn competition, which can increase the market share of living economy products and services. In comparison, the struggle with fiefdom’s in community coalitions slows progress towards a living economy. Increasing the market share of living economy products and services promotes change, which could lead to more sustainable trade policies and a livable planet.

An entrepreneur once told me, “It takes forty one ideas to find one good business idea”. Let’s assume that to develop local living economies we need 41 good business ideas. That would be a total of 1,681 entrepreneurs that would have to try the social enterprise approach. Let’s also say it takes 12 cold calls to make one sale. We would have to call on 20,172 entrepreneurs and ask them to consider a social enterprise approach to reach our goal.

How could we reach that many entrepreneurs with social enterprise in each country? Well, I thought start a social enterprise and culture guild. The guild would use an apprenticeship approach, so it would be hands on learning in a supportive environment. The culture part is to promote communication between cultures to better understand how we can work together towards a livable planet. The guild would provide non-academic and non-accredited learning opportunities it is an apprenticeship.

Do you also have an idea? Why not share it?

It is difficult to imagine a day when we will not be driven by self-interest. Self-interest is what eliminates fiefdoms in the private sector. Fiefdom Syndrome raises questions for those of us who work towards the common good. They are; what drives us towards excellence and helping others? What motivates me to operate a “fiefdomless” organization that serves the common good? How do I benefit? And in which ways do I contribute to creating a livable planet? How do I contribute to improving my community’s health and quality of life?

Leadership that inspires us towards excellence and helping others is needed in the nonprofit sector. That is if we want to play a part in creating a livable planet.

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It could follow then; that if would like a livable planet then we need to work differently and change our incentives. Fortunately, the world changes faster than a fiefdom’s ability too. As result there is no lack of incentives to work towards the common good. See the Big Steel story in Fiefdom Syndrome.

In their book Made To Stick Chip Heath & Dan Heath write about why dome ideas survive and others die. What sticks? Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories.

New trade and business models that lead to a livable planet need stories that make them stick.

It may sound like a far-fetched idea. However, consider your cup of coffee, cultivated by Arabs in the fifteen century, brought to the world by Muslim monks, and to America by Gabriel Matheiw De Cilieu, in 1723, he was a young officer in the French Army. He brought the first plant to Martinique. By the time the American Revolution arrived that one plant had yielded over eighteen million trees, establishing coffee in the New World.

The vision of one turned into a great benefit for many, for a very long time.

Coffee is now one of the most traded commodities and critical to the economy of many tropical countries. Innovations that have contributed to changing the economic dynamic of coffee towards a local living economy have been the Fair Trade trademark, organic farming and cooperative ownership and financing programs. The gains of these farmers have also been a direct result of a change in US consumers purchasing preferences, which are value driven. Coffee farmers using organic practices have reduced their use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, which contributes to improving the health of the planet.

I have been living my new community two years now. Initially I tried to find a way to contribute too improving our community’s health by working for two coalitions. Unfortunately I discovered that my community has more fiefdom’s than the Middle Ages. As a result many would be social entrepreneurs are left out.

So, I thought I would fan the flames of those that have a burning desire to contribute to improving their community independently by establishing the Social Enterprise & Culture Guild. The Social Enterprise & Culture Guild would help entrepreneurs discover how to operate a business that contributes to creating a local living economy. My goal is to provide open access to those who want to learn and those who have expertise to share, which is why I am planning on the guild being non-academic, non-accredited (fiefdomless).

If I use a garden analogy, let’s say that I am going to work with the Peas. Peas deliver nitrogen to the soil in high quantities, which help other more desirable plants grow, such as tomatoes.

So, how does the Social Enterprise & Culture Guild fit into a community investment strategy? Let’s assume that the mobility of capital and labor can undermine the fabric and quality of life of a community. It can be due to a major employer that relocates in or out of your community.

In Southern Alberta Cargill Inc. opened a slaughterhouse, which drew labor from all over the world. The community nearest to the plant had a very small population. The demand for housing and services was so exponential that the town had a hard time figuring out how to respond to such a rapid increase in residents.

A similar thing has happened in Fort McMurray, which is near the oil-tar sands facilities. Housing prices skyrocketed and small businesses had to increase wages; McDonalds in Fort McMurray was paying more $13 dollars per hour to attract employees. In Pittsburgh the reverse happened, when big steel relocated the city lost half of its population. Now half of the population has to support the entire infrastructure. Very simply we do not have sufficient population density, which means our tax base isn’t sufficient to operate the city or county.

Social entrepreneurs can respond to these extreme changes in the fabric of our local economies.

Social entrepreneurs could respond to these extreme changes in the fabric of a local economy. In one case it could be to provide a series of products and services that serve to help residents re-settle and become part of the community. In Pittsburgh’s case it could be green-home developers that rehabilitate properties to attract new residents.

In fact promoting green-home re-development combined with a variety of forms of tenure, rental, coop, ownership, etc, could help boost population density. Green-homes near major employment centers could help rehabilitate city neighborhoods and save their occupants $$$$. As well as contribute to reducing the city’s carbon footprint.

Imagine that you wanted your city to consider green home redevelopment near major employment centers? How would you go about it? You could form an advocacy group. Certainly, that is a possible approach. But if you wanted a quicker response time, what would you do?

It could be possible to help existing contractors learn how green home redevelopment can improve their business. Imagine that you can successfully get 5 contractors to adopt green home redevelopment as a business line. At very minimum you could increase green home redevelopment by fifteen units a year. Over the long run if enough contractors adopt this approach supportive policy and funding would develop. Would an advocacy group be more efficient?

I believe that advocacy has its role, in this case I am suggesting that there also other means to improve our local economies.

It is not likely that one approach over another be it government, private sector or nonprofit will lead to a livable planet. In fact we do not know what combination of policy; enterprise and philanthropy will lead to a livable planet. We do know that fiefdoms will stand in the way of such change and that they believe they are the answer.

The global economy provides plenty of opportunity for us to discover ways of doing business that strengthen our local economies and contribute to a livable planet. What trade practices and business models will lead to a livable planet is a discovery process. Engaging entrepreneurs with the idea of a local living economy through social enterprise could contribute to discovering those business models.

It’s been decades since the demise of big steel in Pennsylvania. The mess left behind is so big and so wide that it is difficult to figure out a solution. Every four years a new round of presidential hopefuls shows up with bag full of promises to help revitalize the community. Yet, every year we loose more population and job growth is mostly in the hourly wage occupations. Hourly wage occupations are not able to keep up with the cost of living, which impacts viability of local businesses.

Despite the problems the communities are resilient and keeping looking for ways to change their future. Unfortunately, the lack of resources has led to a fiefdom epidemic as each fiefdom fights for their share of the pie. The struggles between fiefdoms create bottlenecks and resources do not get to where they can be most useful.

How can we transform our community’s situation?

Exhausted by trying to work within the fiefdoms, I started thinking of different means to approach the problem. Initially I thought if I could consult for entrepreneurs, then I can help create new jobs and introduce entrepreneurs to social enterprise concepts. So, I sought out my first client who happens to own a convent, rectory and parish school. The purpose of my services was to help figure out how to get these buildings back on the market and utilized.

As it happens, the most cost effective way to get the buildings on the market was to re-utilize them for their original purpose, which would require few modifications and keep construction costs low. What kind of school would these buildings fit? I asked myself. That is how the idea of a social enterprise & culture guild came about. Rather then consult one on one, why not organize learning opportunities that can help people transform their future. The convent can be used to host visiting instructors, the rectory as offices and the school as such.

My father believed that individuals must change in order to improve the community. I would say to him, it is the community that provides the individuals the opportunity to change. I think both answers have truth.

To see the buildings and street, travel east on 9th, you will see the parish then the rectory and convent. http://maps.google.com/maps?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hl=en&tab=wl

I hope you found this discussion interesting. If the idea of a social enterprise and culture guild appealed to you and you would like know more, or to start one in your community, be in touch. Register in social edge and send me an email.

You don’t need buildings. The idea came to me trying to figure out how to utilize the buildings. However, I recognize that I may need to start in a smaller scale and perhaps be mobile.

I will think abundantly and have faith that there is the community-will for this initiative. If there is then I am on the right path. If there isn’t I am sure a new path to participate in improving the common good will open up! Cheers!

The Social Enterprise & Culture Guild

Vision Statement We are creating a community that celebrates the potential of entrepreneurship and cooperation, with the hope of developing trade practices and business models that contribute to a livable planet and strong local living economies.

Goal The Social Enterprise & Culture Guild helps entrepreneurs discover how to operate or develop business models that contribute to creating a local living economy.

Purpose To encourage entrepreneurship that strengthens our community's quality of life and contributes to a livable planet.

Principles Creating and maintaining local living economy is a discovery process filled with challenges, celebrations, and growth.

The following principles guide our actions and interactions on this path:

Community - We believe that the strength of a community is measured not by its buildings or location, but by the networks of relationship and trust that exist between its members.

Respect - We honor each other's gifts and differences, and value each other’s potential to contribute towards a livable planet. We are striving to create an opportunity where everyone can participate, thrive, and learn from one another.

Sustainability - We intend to demonstrate our respect for our planet and the greater community by making responsible trade and business choices. We believe that encouraging a culture of generosity and sharing will increase our community’s quality of life and contribute towards a livable planet.

Values The following values guide our process of discovering trade practices and business models that contribute to a livable planet and a local living economy:

Thinking together Purpose: bringing knowledge and resources to develop business models and trade practices that lead to a strong local living economy and livable planet;

Collaboration Purpose: working together across sectors and cultures to establish mutually beneficial local living economy initiatives;

Risk taking Purpose: exploring community needs and creating social innovations or enterprises that improve our community’s and planet’s health;

Learning Environment The guild is a non-academic, non-accredited learning environment. Our goal is not provide accreditation. Instead we offer individuals an environment to discover new business opportunities and ways of doing business that contribute towards a livable planet.