Conversations on Social Innovation

Yesterday I joined about 100 of my fellow classmates at a ‘Conversations on Social Innovation’ session at SBS. This was to introduce interested students to concepts, research and opportunities around social enterprise and innovation. The result was a series of talks, panels and networking opportunities. A long, but worthwhile day. Some takeaways:

- I noticed a slight tension between those who define social entrepreneurship precisely, and those who do not. Personally, I’m firmly in the ‘not’ camp. I think SE is not something you can ‘get a career in’ or do for a period of time. I think it is part of who you are and how you approach things, and throughout one’s career, they may have roles and take actions that are more or less entrepreneurial. Similarly, initiatives may be more entrepreneurial or more social in nature, but there is no defined boundary between what is and isn’t a social enterprise.

- This had a huge turnout. And far beyond the 5 Skoll Scholars, my class seems to have a good number of people with social or environmental backgrounds. It’s clear that there are people I can learn from and exchange ideas with here.

- Faculty representatives were often from outside traditional business backgrounds. There is self-selection for such an event, but if this sample is at all indicative, then we should get a challenging range of views, not just the stock B-school catalogue. Although the repeated tagline that Oxford is a different MBA is part marketing, I am sensing there may be a grain of truth. Time will tell.

- A highlight was a session hosted by Skoll Centre Director Pamela Hartigan, talking about passion. It seems that nobody, especially the faculty, gets to answer this question very often. The result? Genuine, inspiring drive from the faculty and some of my classmates. Many people seem to have joined SBS to help them drive social or environmental change in some way. This was a bit of a surprise. And close access to people like Pamela is a massive benefit. The Oxford SBS network should be beneficial.

I’ll leave it at that for now. This is a subject that I’m sure will continue to evolve on Cashewman over the year. I’ll leave with a video from Kresse Wesling, who led a smaller Master Class during the day. The themes were similar to the video, but expanded upon, creating engaging discussion. 10/10.

Her area of focus is just about the perfect example of how to combine my study on sustainability at Cambridge and the MBA. And I bought a wallet too. They were just too sexy not to.

A big reason I chose Oxford was a predicted ecosystem of people driven by social and environmental themes. If this continues at any level, I will have been bang on.

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