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Interview On My Personal Views With Social Enterprise Magazine
Social Enterprise 'Entrepreneur of the Month' questionnaire: July 2002
Name: DAVID GRAYSON
Age: [optional] 47 - born on general election day 1955 - which may explain a life-long passion for improving social conditions and creating more opportunities for people.
Occupation/business: a serial, social entrepreneur.
My current portfolio includes being a director of Business in the Community; the Principal of the new BLU - the world's first, virtual corporate university for small business development professionals; a non-executive director of the Strategic Rail Authority; and co-founder director of Project North East.
Turnover: [optional] N/A
Brief description of what your business does:
MY VISION:
Socially responsible businesses; professional business support organisations able to assist social and commercial entrepreneurs - especially those with the aspiration and the potential to grow; and a society which values diversity - so that as many people as possible can fulfil their potential and their dreams.
All of us need three things in life: something to do; someone to love; and something to look forward to.
MY MISSION:
My mission is to help individuals and organisations to realise their potential - especially in a time of pervasive change.
My experiences, skills and passions have brought me to concentrate on three broad areas:
• Sustainable Business Excellence - because socially responsible business can be the most innovative and powerful force for raising social and economic conditions in a global economy.
• Diversity: Tackling discrimination and prejudice (race / gender / age / religion / sexual orientation / disability) - especially against disabled people, which gets in the way of people realising their potential
• Enterprise: Improving the quality and range of help for small businesses and for community entrepreneurs / non-profit organisations (because small firms and community organisations are major sources of employment and social cohesion)
FULFILLING THE MISSION:
Working on each of these three themes with organisations in each of the public, private and not-for-profit sectors - and especially through public-private-community partnerships at the interface between the three sectors.
Through a mix of:
• Communications (speaking and writing / media)
• Consultancy
• Chairmanships / committee work.
Previous jobs:
Chairman of the National Disability Council; Managing Director of the Prince's Youth Business Trust; director of the Prince of Wales Innovation Trust; marketing management with Procter and Gamble; Chairman of the Business Link Network Company and of the Business Link Accreditation Board.
Greatest success:
On my 11th birthday I was rushed in to hospital - critically ill with a rare bone disease. The surgeons were uncertain whether I would live, or if I lived if I would be mobile again. I think fighting back from that experience has made me determined - in the words of Kipling's "If" - to "fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run!"
Biggest mistake/failure:
Suppressing personal feelings and emotions for too much of my life.
Who are your heroes:
People who make a positive difference; who bring people together; who see the glass as half full rather than half empty and inspire people to dare to dream.
People like Sanghamitra - a wonderful lady called who runs Samraksha - a front-line HIV/AIDS ngo in India. Or Richard Steckel in Colorado who wrote "Filthy Rich and other non-profit fantasies." Or Sue Cheshire who runs the Academy of Chief Executives here in the UK.
Most important lesson you've learned:
Much has been written about entrepreneurship. I think one of the most important things - whether you are a business entrepreneur or a social entrepreneur or a civic entrepreneur is the capacity for trust: to give it and to receive it.
Most inspiring book you've read:
One side of me immediately says: "Built to Last" by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras - based on meticulous research about the common characteristics of long-term sustainably successful organisations - relevant for ngos and those wanting to create an entrepreneurial public service ethos - as well as for business.
The other side of me says "The Dove" - a true story about a teenager's determination to sail alone around the world. There is a wonderful piece in the book about the boy's father explaining to the mother why they must let their son go off and risk his life:
" success or failure he is fulfilling his destiny. We all have only one life, some are short and some are long. He loves life and wants a little more out of it than to follow convention out of fear of what others may think or to be just another face in the crowd that follows the herd…"
And both sides of my brain says - anything by Charles Handy!
Most useful conference/event you've been to:
Leaders Quest - an amazing week with a group of business leaders visiting businesses and ngos in Bombay and Bangalore - the basic idea is to explore excellence in leadership in other parts of the world and by mixing people from different worlds (see www.leadersquest.co.uk)
Best way to relax [ie. hobbies etc]:
Being with friends - and beyond that - I am happiest on, in or best of all, under water - in hot climates.
Favourite enterprise (not your own):
Too hard! I am constantly excited and enthused when I meet people running responsible businesses or are social entrepreneurs - for example, this month at the national finals of the Shell LiveWIRE programme - which PNE has run now for 16 years nationally on behalf of Shell.
Top tips to would-be social entrepreneurs:
- Build win-win partnerships with business
- it's easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission; and the greatest enemy of doing good is waiting for perfection - so, just do it - be a calculated risk-taker!
- Steal good ideas with pride - be a creative swiper!
- Don't repeat the mistakes of others - make original mistakes - but then learn from them!
- So, practice I.D.E.A (identify good practice, disseminate it; experiment and then apply broadscale)
- Be ferocious and eclectic networkers
- People will die for a sentence but never for a paragraph - so always be able to explain clearly how what you are doing fits in to the bigger picture
- Hunt for the unusual and unexpected but practical synergies across sectors
- Recognise the potential for innovation from responsible business practice
What would you like to see happen/change to help social
enterprises thrive?
I would like to see more "social venture capitalists" - who, like the best of commercial venture capitalists don't just provide cash but also expertise, introductions and the constant stimuli of valuable connections.
Recognition of the potential of "social franchises."
And at least one Business Link business adviser in every region trained to help social and community entrepreneurs and social enterprises.
David Grayson is co-author of "Everybody's Business: managing risks and opportunities in to-day's global society" published by Dorling Kindersley and The Financial Times.
www.davidgrayson.net
Name: DAVID GRAYSON
Age: [optional] 47 - born on general election day 1955 - which may explain a life-long passion for improving social conditions and creating more opportunities for people.
Occupation/business: a serial, social entrepreneur.
My current portfolio includes being a director of Business in the Community; the Principal of the new BLU - the world's first, virtual corporate university for small business development professionals; a non-executive director of the Strategic Rail Authority; and co-founder director of Project North East.
Turnover: [optional] N/A
Brief description of what your business does:
MY VISION:
Socially responsible businesses; professional business support organisations able to assist social and commercial entrepreneurs - especially those with the aspiration and the potential to grow; and a society which values diversity - so that as many people as possible can fulfil their potential and their dreams.
All of us need three things in life: something to do; someone to love; and something to look forward to.
MY MISSION:
My mission is to help individuals and organisations to realise their potential - especially in a time of pervasive change.
My experiences, skills and passions have brought me to concentrate on three broad areas:
• Sustainable Business Excellence - because socially responsible business can be the most innovative and powerful force for raising social and economic conditions in a global economy.
• Diversity: Tackling discrimination and prejudice (race / gender / age / religion / sexual orientation / disability) - especially against disabled people, which gets in the way of people realising their potential
• Enterprise: Improving the quality and range of help for small businesses and for community entrepreneurs / non-profit organisations (because small firms and community organisations are major sources of employment and social cohesion)
FULFILLING THE MISSION:
Working on each of these three themes with organisations in each of the public, private and not-for-profit sectors - and especially through public-private-community partnerships at the interface between the three sectors.
Through a mix of:
• Communications (speaking and writing / media)
• Consultancy
• Chairmanships / committee work.
Previous jobs:
Chairman of the National Disability Council; Managing Director of the Prince's Youth Business Trust; director of the Prince of Wales Innovation Trust; marketing management with Procter and Gamble; Chairman of the Business Link Network Company and of the Business Link Accreditation Board.
Greatest success:
On my 11th birthday I was rushed in to hospital - critically ill with a rare bone disease. The surgeons were uncertain whether I would live, or if I lived if I would be mobile again. I think fighting back from that experience has made me determined - in the words of Kipling's "If" - to "fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run!"
Biggest mistake/failure:
Suppressing personal feelings and emotions for too much of my life.
Who are your heroes:
People who make a positive difference; who bring people together; who see the glass as half full rather than half empty and inspire people to dare to dream.
People like Sanghamitra - a wonderful lady called who runs Samraksha - a front-line HIV/AIDS ngo in India. Or Richard Steckel in Colorado who wrote "Filthy Rich and other non-profit fantasies." Or Sue Cheshire who runs the Academy of Chief Executives here in the UK.
Most important lesson you've learned:
Much has been written about entrepreneurship. I think one of the most important things - whether you are a business entrepreneur or a social entrepreneur or a civic entrepreneur is the capacity for trust: to give it and to receive it.
Most inspiring book you've read:
One side of me immediately says: "Built to Last" by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras - based on meticulous research about the common characteristics of long-term sustainably successful organisations - relevant for ngos and those wanting to create an entrepreneurial public service ethos - as well as for business.
The other side of me says "The Dove" - a true story about a teenager's determination to sail alone around the world. There is a wonderful piece in the book about the boy's father explaining to the mother why they must let their son go off and risk his life:
" success or failure he is fulfilling his destiny. We all have only one life, some are short and some are long. He loves life and wants a little more out of it than to follow convention out of fear of what others may think or to be just another face in the crowd that follows the herd…"
And both sides of my brain says - anything by Charles Handy!
Most useful conference/event you've been to:
Leaders Quest - an amazing week with a group of business leaders visiting businesses and ngos in Bombay and Bangalore - the basic idea is to explore excellence in leadership in other parts of the world and by mixing people from different worlds (see www.leadersquest.co.uk)
Best way to relax [ie. hobbies etc]:
Being with friends - and beyond that - I am happiest on, in or best of all, under water - in hot climates.
Favourite enterprise (not your own):
Too hard! I am constantly excited and enthused when I meet people running responsible businesses or are social entrepreneurs - for example, this month at the national finals of the Shell LiveWIRE programme - which PNE has run now for 16 years nationally on behalf of Shell.
Top tips to would-be social entrepreneurs:
- Build win-win partnerships with business
- it's easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission; and the greatest enemy of doing good is waiting for perfection - so, just do it - be a calculated risk-taker!
- Steal good ideas with pride - be a creative swiper!
- Don't repeat the mistakes of others - make original mistakes - but then learn from them!
- So, practice I.D.E.A (identify good practice, disseminate it; experiment and then apply broadscale)
- Be ferocious and eclectic networkers
- People will die for a sentence but never for a paragraph - so always be able to explain clearly how what you are doing fits in to the bigger picture
- Hunt for the unusual and unexpected but practical synergies across sectors
- Recognise the potential for innovation from responsible business practice
What would you like to see happen/change to help social
enterprises thrive?
I would like to see more "social venture capitalists" - who, like the best of commercial venture capitalists don't just provide cash but also expertise, introductions and the constant stimuli of valuable connections.
Recognition of the potential of "social franchises."
And at least one Business Link business adviser in every region trained to help social and community entrepreneurs and social enterprises.
David Grayson is co-author of "Everybody's Business: managing risks and opportunities in to-day's global society" published by Dorling Kindersley and The Financial Times.
www.davidgrayson.net