Fellows Friday is a weekly series on the TED Blog that profiles one TED Fellow each week. We have asked the Fellows to answer our question below to share their knowledge and advice with other social entrepreneurs, innovators, and changemakers who are coming up with big ideas that can change the world. Read past Fellows' answers here.
Sean Gourley analyzed real-time data from the Iraq war and discovered a precise mathematical model underlying it. Now he’s expanding on that research at Quid, his startup that maps trends in technology. Having unearthed such powerful information, Sean takes time to help kids understand the importance of math, even while he grapples with the eternal Frankenstein question.
Question: There are many aspiring social entrepreneurs out there who are trying to take their passion and ideas to the next level. What is one piece of advice you would give to them based on your own experiences and successes?
Answer: What’s worked for me is having a sense of, and belief in, who I am and what I’m doing. That’s a foundation I always go back to. My naive impression starting out was that the world will immediately get it and understand it. The reality is, if you’re really trying to do something new, most of the world won’t even care about it. Or, if they do care about it, they won’t really understand it. But over time and with persistence, it comes together.
The other bit of advice is just that if you are putting together a social entrepreneurship team, make sure you have the ability to tell your story and your vision, and the ability to get good people to come work with you on it. It’s so, so much about the team. As you get big enough, you can’t do it by yourself. Getting the right people together and getting them working together on the right problems is going to dictate how successful you are. That is the main learning for me.
Read the rest of Sean's Fellows Friday post here.