It's easy to become cynical as a graduate student. Our training
teaches us to be critical of the policies and programs that are meant to
address public and social issues. Even in a professional program, from which we
are all expected to go out into the world and do something after two short
years in academia, we spend a substantial amount of time delving into the weeds
of theory, exposing the fallacies and sad ironies of the policy world and the
social sector. This kind of critical thinking, though it is indispensible, can
easily lead to cynical thinking, and thence to giving up: what's the point?
That's why I'm so glad that I'm taking a Social Entrepreneurship
seminar in my last semester here at the Humphrey Institute. There are plenty of
cynical perspectives on social entrepreneurship, and much controversy about
what exactly the term means. But while our class acknowledges these fuzzy areas
and critiques, they are not our main focus. Rather, we are charged with being
entrepreneurs--with "undertaking" initiatives--and developing our own
ventures. What better way to prepare to go out into the world after graduation?
My own group is puzzling through a strategy for making the
compelling community development credit union sector relevant on a broader
scale. My other classmates are working to start a school, to provide job
training, to increase international connections among youth, to inspire people
with stories. Some of our ideas won't make it out of the classroom and into the
light of day; others, though, will. And we are all catching a bit of the
entrepreneurial spirit along the way.
Whether we pursue our own new, independent ventures or not, we
can all look for missed opportunities, work to change systems, and be more
flexible in thinking about what nonprofit and for-profit organizations are
meant to do as we go about our daily lives and work. What I'm taking from this
class is that neither critical thinking nor the occasional excursion into
cynicism are excuses for failing to take up a challenge--for failing to be an
entrepreneur.
Posted April 19, 2010 2:13 PM
