Beyond the idea that it’s just good business practice, people are starting to realize that social good has an objective. It’s leading to more innovative practices that are generating solutions to long held social problems. The more I see social good taking place, the more it ignites my own passion for innovation and helping others.
Social Innovation Drives Social Solutions
This passion has led to what’s being called “social innovation,†in which creativity helps create solutions. One example includes Teach for America, founded by Wendy Kopp, which puts recent university graduates into teaching positions at the country’s worst schools to help turn them around. Another example includes Indiegogo, which provides a way to start fundraising campaigns in order to take creative ideas to the next level.
The idea here is that there is powerful, positive energy at work when people think of ways to address critical social demands. The result is an environment where more ideas are shared and where everyone can view things differently.
It’s About The Human Dimension, Not the Balance Sheet
Many of the social problems being addressed today have been present for decades. It’s an example of how we can learn to think differently and look at long standing problems differently. This, in turn, can be applied to other issues that aren’t necessarily social ills.
For example, service innovation and design innovation focus on social good while also addressing larger business issues. By discovering ways to change service delivery in a way that acknowledges the human aspect, service innovation provides services designed for the betterment of those receiving them rather than the bottom line on a balance sheet.
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Murray Newlands is an entrepreneur, investor, business advisor and a contributor at Forbes.com and Entrepreneur.com. He is co-founder of Influence People.
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