Wow! Fresh from the w1sd0m inaugural love-in its apparent that shared values can move the world in the right direction - social justice and sustainable ethic basis of for-profit organizations. Two things stick out: first that social innovators are collaborative beyond all other career types I've known; and second that we can extend this openess and shared objective practice to the sustainable minded entrepreneurs [LOHAS and cleantech] as they seek to change the world in their own way. We even coined a term this winter -NON- new operational norm. Where doing good gets as much attention in the board room as doing well (good = helping others; well = making money).
I should clarify that w1sd0m is a network for social and sustainable ventures to find the resources they need during the evolution of their venture, what we like to think of as 'capital', in all forms - social; intellectual; human; and of course financial. The base belief is that business has the scale and momentum to create meaningful change. And that the wisdom of your crowd makes better decisions than the wisdom of one. So if you can connect all that wisdom, and flow capital where and when needed, then you can accelerate the doing good in the world with for-profit businesses. Of course its not so simple, but that is the intent.
Of course as it is with any startup, you have to find your niche build a solid offering around that, and then branch out from there on a strong core. Judging by the intellect in the room w1sd0m will have no trouble finding a solid core, but that is a whole lot easier said than done.
