Saturday, March 1, 2008

Hot Topic

Funding Social Enterprises As part of Entrepreneurship Week at Stanford, CSI Director Kriss Deiglmeier moderated a lively discussion on ways of funding social enterprises. Panelists included: Jenny Shilling Stein of the Draper Richards Foundation, Jessica Jackley Flannery of Kiva.org, Amy Clark of Ashoka, and Suzanne McKechnie Klahr of BUILD. (February 2008) Actress-Activist Natalie Portman Urges Students to Help Alleviate Poverty With a presentation on microfinance, actress-turned-activist Natalie Portman kicked off the Social Innovators Speaker Series launched by the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She also called on students to take social action to alleviate poverty. (October 2007) It’s Often Smart to Make the First Move in a Negotiation Making the first offer in a negotiation can have the power of setting a starting point, Professor Margaret Neale advised a conference of nonprofit managers. She advises being aggressive—“just this side of crazy.” A Brand Is a Promise to a Customer Nonprofits may not compete as fiercely as for-profit businesses, but they must find ways to make their brand stand out and evoke emotions from potential supporters. Socially and Environmentally Responsible Supply Chains Inaugural Conference: Making the Business Case On the day after the Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision allowing the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, more than 200 corporate and academic supply chain management experts gathered at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to exchange ideas and best practices aimed at making the global supply chain more sustainable. (April 3, 2007) Redefining Microfinance in the Internet Era: Jessica Flannery Host Sheela Sethuraman interviews Jessica Jackley Flannery, GSB student and cofounder of Kiva. Based in Silicon Valley, Kiva is an innovative social enterprise that uses the Internet to connect lenders with small businesses around the world. Flannery talks about starting the organization and reflects on some of the reasons for its rapid growth and success. Listen Now Nonprofit Leadership Deficit: Tom Tierny, The Bridgespan Group One of the biggest challenges nonprofits face is hiring and holding on to talented executive leaders. As tough as this challenge is today, it's only going to get worse in the years ahead. Bridgespan Group, a Boston-based consultancy, has spent a good deal of time studying this problem. Your co-host Eric Nee interviews Thomas Tierney, the cofounder and chairman of Bridgespan, about what he has learned about the leadership deficit and what nonprofits can do to solve the problem. From the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford. Listen Now Preparing Environment Conscious Leaders: Bill Barnett If sustainability is to be woven into all human activities, tomorrow's leaders will be required to understand how their organization interacts with its environment. Bill Barnett looks at the new leadership challenges facing executives in business, government, and nonprofit organizations with an environmental purpose. Barnett now offers the first of its kind executive education leadership program designed to advance environmental responsibility across sectors. Listen Now Nonprofit Accountability Practices: Burden or Benefit? Are foundations' grantmaking and reporting processes aligned with their strategies? Funders rely on grantee reporting to measure the impact of their investments, but improving program effectiveness is challenging. New data from a Stanford Business School study details nonprofit accountability practices and the costs of conflicting demands. How can foundations improve their accountability requirements for greater social impact? Denise Gammal, research director at the Stanford Center for Social Innovation; Karen McNeil-Miller, president of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust; and Eric Schwarz, president and CEO of Citizen Schools debate ways in which evaluation requirements may help or hinder mission delivery. Listen Now Sex Traffic, Dechen Tsering, Global Fund For Women Sex trafficking is the third, most lucrative, international criminal activity, behind illegal drugs and the black market gun trade. Millions of women and girls each year are tricked, trapped, bought, sold, and forced into service in sex industries. During a presentation she gave at the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford, Dechen Tsering explored the causes of trafficking and the techniques used by traffickers. She advocates a holistic approach to stop this grave human rights violation against women. Tsering also describes the work Global Fund for Women undertakes to combat sex trafficking in Southeast Asia and around the world. Listen Now Microfinance: Controversies and Promisses – Alex Counts, Grameen Foundation Microfinance is bringing the world's poor the kind of service that used to be reserved for bank customers in developed countries. Drawing on the work and philosophy of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Foundation President and CEO Alex Counts talks about microfinance's social and financial impact with an audience of MBA students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. From the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford. Listen Now From the September 2006 Nonprofit Institute convened by Stanford Social Innovation Review Gain Corporate Support For Your Cause: Nancy Lee, Social Marketing Services Nonprofits should approach corporations as they would clients and offer tailored marketing operations that serve their needs. That's the advice Nancy Lee, president of the consulting firm Social Marketing Services, delivers to the nonprofit executives gathered at the September 2006 Nonprofit Institute. Lee shares the lessons of 20 years of experience building nonprofit-corporate partnerships that both serve corporations' objectives and enhance nonprofits' mission delivery. Listen Now Nonprofit governance: William Ryan, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University In reaction to nonprofit boards' rampant and growing disengagement, William Ryan, a consultant to foundations and nonprofit organizations, suggests a new framework that will enhance efficiency in nonprofit governance. Informed by theories that have transformed the practice of organizational leadership, the Governance as Leadership approach sheds new light on the traditional fiduciary and strategic work of the board and introduces a critical third dimension of effective trusteeship: generative governance. Listen Now Evidence-based Management: Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor of Organizational Behavior For-profit and nonprofit organizations alike should make decisions based on facts as well as the careful evaluation of their specific situation. The idea isn't new or original. Yet surprisingly Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer's research shows that few organizations actually do it, and those that do trump the competition. At the 2006 Nonprofit Institute, Pfeffer demonstrates the benefits of evidence-based management. Listen Now Winners Don’t Take All: Prof. Margaret Neale

Social Innovation

The Center for Social Innovation was created to teach future and current executives in all sectors not only to be effective managers and leaders but also to embrace a new paradigm that promotes both financial and social returns. The center sponsors a variety of events to discover new and provocative ideas in nonprofit, foundation and socially responsible business management.

Recent Conferences and Speakers

Criticism May Produce Innovation, Wal-Mart CEO Scott Says

Wal-Mart’s innovative approach to environmental sustainability and its addition of health care services to stores were partly triggered by critics of the company in other areas. CEO Lee Scott spoke with Sloan Fellows. (March 2008)

Negotiation is ubiquitous in our professional as well as personal lives yet very few people are skilled at creating value or expanding the pie in negotiation settings. Too often we focus on getting what we want, aim at only winning, leave resources on the table, or even unknowingly walk away with a bad deal. Margaret Neale, professor of organizations and dispute resolution explores the psychological barriers to successful negotiations and suggests a disciplined process for a rewarding negotiation experience. audio icon Listen Now

audio iconLens of Sustainability:

Andy Ruben and Jib Ellison, Wal-Mart In 2005, Wal-Mart's CEO announced a corporation-wide strategic initiative to go green. The company would take drastic measures to cut down on the waste, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emission, thus saving money, which would be passed on to the customer. This new perspective was named the Lens of Sustainability, and a new chair was appointed to spearhead the effort. Andrew Ruben, VP for corporate strategy and sustainability, and Jib Ellison founder of Blu Skye Sustainability Consulting, Wal-Mart's sustainability partner, explain why Wal-Mart is engaging in sustainability.

audio iconThe Climate of Capital Change part I:

Social Entrepreneurs, Personal Pathways What do these people have in common: a leader of a multi-billion-dollar private equity fund, a dot-com carbon cowboy, and one of the original Schwab social entrepreneurs? They are all harnessing business to build a better world. Paul Fletcher, senior partner of Actis; Dan Whaley, founder and CEO of Climos; and Nic Frances, founder and chairman of Easy Being Green, give us glimpse of what it takes to be a social entrepreneur.

audio iconThe Climate of Capital Change part II:

Funding a Cleaner World What is the single most important change we will see in business and capital markets? Join Paul Fletcher, Nic Frances, Divesh Makan, Robert Rubenstein, Toni E. Symonds, and Bryan L. Martel as they share their perspectives on climate change and the role of entrepreneurs and the private sector in building a better world.

Let My People Go Surfing:

Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia Patagonia Inc. founder and owner, Yvon Chouinard, offered his Stanford audience a slew of counterintuitive business practices that have helped make his apparel company a success. (October 2006)

audio iconGlobal Warming:

Carole Browner If we fail to halt global warming, we'll be the first generation that bequeathed to the next generation a problem that can't be fixed, says Carol Browner, former chief of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In this presentation, she warns that no engineer in the world could reverse the rise in sea levels once it starts to happen. She urges her audience to seek nonpartisan, business-friendly solutions to the looming crisis.

audio iconStarbucks Reinvents International Coffee Trade:

Dennis Macray How is Starbucks, the United States' leading coffee retailer, reshaping its business practices and reinventing the international coffee trade? Dennis Macray, Starbucks' vice president of corporate social responsibility, describes the company's sustainability practices to Stanford MBA students who were preparing for a service-learning trip to Guatemala.

audio iconHow Do You Take Your Coffee?

John Sage, Pura Vida You will never think about your cup of coffee the same way again after hearing John Sage speak. Combining his idealism with a genuine love of business, Sage co-founded Pura Vida, one of the largest distributors of Fair Trade organic coffee in the world, to improve the lives of people in coffee-growing regions. Pura Vida works at the intersection of the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, showing how the two can be blended to generate both revenues and social good. Invited by the Center for Social Innovation, Sage tells his story to an audience of MBA students.

audio iconRedefining Microfinance in the Internet Era:

Jessica Flannery Host Sheela Sethuraman interviews Jessica Jackley Flannery, GSB '07, cofounder of Kiva. Based in Silicon Valley, Kiva is an innovative social enterprise that uses the internet to connect lenders with small businesses around the world. Flannery talks about starting the organization and reflects on some of the reasons for its rapid growth and success.

audio iconNonprofit Leadership Deficit:

Tom Tierny, The Bridgespan Group One of the biggest challenges nonprofits face is hiring and holding on to talented executive leaders. As tough as this challenge is today, it's only going to get worse in the years ahead. Bridgespan Group, a Boston-based consultancy, has spent a good deal of time studying this problem. Your co-host Eric Nee interviews Thomas Tierney, the cofounder and chairman of Bridgespan, about what he has learned about the leadership deficit and what nonprofits can do to solve the problem.

audio iconMicrofinance: Controversies and Promises:

Muhammad Yunus, Alex Counts, Grameen Foundation Microfinance is bringing the world's poor the kind of service that used to be reserved for bank customers in developed countries. Drawing on the work and philosophy of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Foundation President and CEO Alex Counts talks about microfinance's social and financial impact with an audience of MBA students.

audio icon Nonprofit Accountability Practices: Burden or Benefit?

Are foundations' grantmaking and reporting processes aligned with their strategies? Funders rely on grantee reporting to measure the impact of their investments, but improving program effectiveness is challenging. New data from a Stanford Business School study details nonprofit accountability practices and the costs of conflicting demands. How can foundations improve their accountability requirements for greater social impact? Denise Gammal, research director at the Stanford Center for Social Innovation; Karen McNeil-Miller, president of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust; and Eric Schwarz, president and CEO of Citizen Schools debate ways in which evaluation requirements may help or hinder mission delivery.

audio icon Sex Traffic

Dechen Tsering, Global Fund for Women Sex trafficking is the third, most lucrative, international criminal activity, behind illegal drugs and the black market gun trade. Millions of women and girls each year are tricked, trapped, bought, sold, and forced into service in sex industries. Dechen Tsering of the Global Fund for Women, explored the causes of trafficking and the techniques used by traffickers. She advocates a holistic approach to stop this grave human rights violation against women. Tsering also describes the work Global Fund for Women undertakes to combat sex trafficking in Southeast Asia and around the world.

From the September 2006 Nonprofit Institute convened by Stanford Social Innovation Review

audio iconGain Corporate Support For Your Cause:

Nancy Lee, Social Marketing Services Nonprofits should approach corporations as they would clients and offer tailored marketing operations that serve their needs. That's the advice Nancy Lee, president of the consulting firm Social Marketing Services, delivers to the nonprofit executives. Lee shares the lessons of 20 years of experience building nonprofit-corporate partnerships that both serve corporations' objectives and enhance nonprofits' mission delivery.

audio iconNonprofit governance:

William Ryan, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University In reaction to nonprofit boards' rampant and growing disengagement, William Ryan, a consultant to foundations and nonprofit organizations, suggests a new framework that will enhance efficiency in nonprofit governance. Informed by theories that have transformed the practice of organizational leadership, the governance as leadership approach sheds new light on the traditional fiduciary and strategic work of the board and introduces a critical third dimension of effective trusteeship: generative governance.

audio iconEvidence-based Management:

Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor of Organizational Behavior Stanford Graduate School of Business For-profit and nonprofit organizations alike should make decisions based on facts as well as the careful evaluation of their specific situation. The idea isn't new or original. Yet surprisingly Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer's research shows that few organizations actually do it, and those that do trump the competition. Pfeffer demonstrates the benefits of evidence-based management.

audio iconWinners Don’t Take All:

Margaret Neale, Professor of Organizations and Dispute Resolution Stanford Graduate School of Business Negotiation is ubiquitous in our professional as well as personal lives yet very few people are skilled at creating value or expanding the pie in negotiation settings. Too often we focus on getting what we want, aim at only winning, leave resources on the table, or even unknowingly walk away with a bad deal. Margaret Neale explores the psychological barriers to successful negotiations and suggests a disciplined process for a rewarding negotiation experience.