Social Enterprise and Sustainability

Today I took a survey sent out by a national bank to company owners regarding the degree to which they addressed social enterprise and/or environmental sustainability in their operations. As a sole-proprietor of a management consulting firm, I do not address these matters in the same way that a medium or large firm might, or even a small company with employees. But the survey provides insights into how we think about these matters. For me, the words social enterprise and environmental sustainability are not necessarily addressable in the same contexts. Bottom line, paying for carbon offsets--instead of seeking innovative internal solutions for environmental improvements, for example, is not always a good thing nor is it really related to social enterprise. These offsets become simply another financial product and instrument of financial institutions to pass forward as forms of debt. Social enterprise, as Muhammad Yunus would concur, should never be seen first and foremost as a means to increase revenues--even if revenues increase when customers are impressed by the goodness or generosity of a company. Innovation should be understood with these caveats in mind. When Guy Kawasaki talks about "making meaning", he is reminding innovators and entrepreneurs to think about humanity first. In this way, the innovation will be fit-for-purpose and all the rest will fall nicely into place.