Bill Drayton, the founder of the global organization Ashoka, said that the next major stage of social entrepreneurship is to improve collaboration according to the book by David Bornstein and Susan Davis called Social Entrepreneurship: What everyone needs to know. This is on page 115.
Why is this and do we really need to work together anyway? This is because we are not doing enough collaboration. We need to collaborate because the social challenges are often complex requiring varied and deep skill sets of individuals.
Sometimes the complexity is simply that some individuals in our society are struggling financially and require many different parts of the solution to be brough together in the right way and the right time. For some, we may need to start with the basics, such as fresh clean hot and cold water. It’s hard to imagine someone excelling at a job without that. This is an example of systems thinking.
Are we really not doing enough collaboration right now? On page 71 of the above-mentioned book, it says: “Today, for example, the bridges that link businesses, social organizations and government remain narrow and under traveled.” Our society and labour force is very specialized. It’s more efficient that way and we’ve been able to make many new things cheaply. One problem with that is sometimes the environment suffers. Another problem is that our creativity suffers. There are solutions to all kinds of small problems out there and only if we combine them can we realistically tackle the larger challenges of society. I’m not saying a few new bridges will fix all of our problems, but a few more collaborations will certainly help matters.
Are the problems really that complex? Sometimes they are. On page 102 of the above-mentioned book it says: “Among the poor, the most pressing needs are not individual sachets of hair conditioner or skin cream, but clean water, nutritious and affordable food, good housing, access to health care, education and information, and tools and transportation services that help them seize the economic opportunities.” Similarly, on page 71 the book says: “health problems among the poor are frequently caused or triggered by social conditions: damp, dirty, or cockroach infected housing, or lack of money to pay for nutritious food, medicine or heating fuel.”
In the book on page xxi it says: “Social entrepreneurship 3.0 is concerned with building platforms that enable more people at every age to think and behave like entrepreneurs and to help them work together powerfully in teams and in teams of teams. It looks to forge stronger linkages across cultural and disciplinary boundaries, particularly with business and government, and facilitate the rapid circulation and sharing of solutions at the global level.”