Why Social Change is Hard and How to Think About It

The truth is it's hard to create social change and social impact even if you're an established social enterprise with a clear social impact mission and a well-thought-out strategy on how to create change through business. 

The reason? Humanity has over centuries, whether consciously or unconsciously, built into the fabric of society the systems and structures that today cause social and environmental problems. Problems that require our collective commitment and intelligence to solve.

The good news is that there has never been a time in history when there are so many people and communities that have come together to try to solve these socially and environmentally pressing problems. And there is a plethora of technology and social platforms available to bring together so many people and communities united with the goal of making the world a better place. 

For social entrepreneurs, this is the perfect opportunity to create change. 

But this is also a pivotal time to create the right type of change - effective and meaningful change that will make the world a better place. 

This is why we need to think differently about social impact and social change ... to be creative about how to initiate change at such a fundamental level that we change the trajectory of where we are heading and move towards something better - the eradication of poverty and hunger, provision of clean water and adequate healthcare, or the protection and conservation of our environment.

To do that we need to:

1. embrace diverse ideas

even the ones you're not normally accustomed to - many people have found new ideas to pursue by simply not ruling the idea out when it first hits them - let ideas marinate

2. be resourceful

there are always more solutions to problems than you can think of and knowing where to look for inspiration is as important, if not more, than the solution itself

3. quiet the chatter

a noisy cluttered mind yields ideas that are old and uninspiring ... and even erroneous ... but a calm mind produces creative ideas like a fresh spring

Next week, how do we creatively solve complex social problems?