social entrepreneurs

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.

Lars Jan creates stunning multimedia performances that probe the ubiquity of screens and propaganda in our culture. 

Question:  There are many aspiring social entrepreneurs out there who are trying to take their passion and ideas to the next level. What one piece of advice would you give them, based on your own experience and successes?

Answer:  Anybody focused on increasing the quality of face-to-face human interaction is going to be riding a growing wave in the next couple of decades. Do everything you can to increase true face-to-face encounters and the quality of those interactions-whether it’s investing in community programs or international exchanges, in rethinking public space or public transportation. People are going to be hungry for that social contact, in order to counterbalance our increasingly mediated lives. Leverage that trend. I believe it’s going to be a very profound one, and will apply to a lot of different businesses.

Read the rest of Lars' answers here.

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.

Kaustuv De Biswas knows that diverse perspectives create better designs, so he passionately creates collaborative platforms for all.

Question: There are many aspiring social entrepreneurs out there who are trying to take their passion and ideas to the next level. What one piece of advice would you give them, based on your own experience and successes?

Answer: First, you have to follow your passion. Very often we run after ideas that are socially validated. I would urge everyone to reflect on what they are really concerned about, and what they’re really passionate about, because at the end it’s all about persistence.

Second, you’ve got to take small steps. At times we have these grand visions of changing the world. It’s fine to be ambitious and have these large visions, but the step forward is usually with whatever resources you have at any moment that you can start. Small steps allow you to start off quickly. That’s always been the case for me, anyway.

The last piece of advice is that you shouldn’t reason too much. It sounds strange, but what I feel is that most of our significant decisions are emotional and not really rational. Looking back at my life, some of the things I’ve done … I couldn’t have reasoned it out. I would say too much reasoning is short-sighted, because you can only reason with things that you can understand and see. But in the long run there is something more to it -- I don’t know what it is, but I would not create barriers by reasoning too much.

I would just finish it off with a quote from Kierkegaard: “Life must be lived forward, but can only be understood backwards.”

Read the rest of Kaustuv's answers here.

It’s hard to believe that 10 years have come and gone since the day my generation was thrust into a new world – a world where politics at the local, national, and international level suddenly took on new meaning. A world that forced us to grow up a little quicker. A world that helped us develop a civic awareness that many say could only be the result of a national tragedy on a scale like September 11.

Yesterday we marked the 10-year anniversary of that fateful day, and today is 9/12/2011. It is the start of a new decade for us as Millennials in a post 9/11 era. For those on the older end of the Millennial spectrum like myself, we have now spent the past decade in the workforce,and many of us have settled down and are starting families of our own. We are armed with new technology and an awareness and appreciation for global issues, and we have been building organizations and reinventing ourselves and our institutions with an entrepreneurial flair. The events of 9/11 suddenly gave us a larger purpose – a reality check of sorts that reminded us we weren’t invincible and that we had an obligation to give back to our neighborhoods, our community, and our country. 

Today as we enter the next decade of life after 9/11, we take with us vivid reminders not only of that day, but of the way in which it changed our individual narratives. We wonder what will come in the next 10 years. We lift up examples of new social innovations and technologies that have brought us closer together as neighbors, friends, and family, from Friendster to Facebook. We lift up examples of organizations that have grown and come into their own to help us find a voice and purpose.  

If you look at the nonprofit landscape over the past decade, there has been a surge of young idealistic change-makers who have started their own organizations to address real problems, be it in their local or global community. They have little concern about whether their venture is a .com or .org – and more concern about whether or not their work is having an impact. While the entrepreneurial spirit that is so engrained in my generation is inspiring, there’s also a reality. The reality is that many of these new organizations are competing for limited dollars and our limited attention spans. There are simply not enough resources to support and fully fund all of the great ideas that are being generated – or the capacity  to ensure they are all able to thrive.

Even so, there are also many success stories. The events of September 11 prompted people like Scott Heiferman, founder of Meetup, who said “the only time I thought about my neighbors [pre 9/11] was when I hoped they wouldn't bother me,”  to suddenly launch a national platform that would bring together millions through meetups across the country and eventually around the world. Or David Smith, founder of Mobilize.org, whocreated an organization that would exist today as a way to empower and invest in Millennials to create and implement solutions to social problems. In the years since 9/11, Mobilize has merged with a half dozen smaller nonprofits with similar missions to work collaboratively to leverage the unique skills of Millennials and create solutions to social challenges.

In this next decade, my hope is that we build upon this momentum and spirit of service andfind greater opportunities to invite these emerging social entrepreneurs into our existing institutions – some of which are in desperate need of an infusion of new life and ideas. And, that we create space for greater cross-generational learning, dialogue, and debate so our institutions are strengthened rather than struggling for new ideas and opportunities.

The world my daughter will inherit is one my generation will help shape. I have full confidence that the idealism and energy that has emanated in the years since 9/11 will help create a solid foundation for continued innovation.

What new ways of thinking do you believe will come as a result of the Millennial Generation coming of age in the next 10years?  How will this influence continue to reshape our institutions?

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.

LA Philharmonic violinist Robert Gupta performs for the homeless and mentally ill. In this interview, he explains how music and the creative process heals.

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: Focus on helping others before helping yourself. That’s what’s rewarding in the long run.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?

Something that I learned from Derek Sivers, who has spoken at TED very often: “Just do it.” 

Another thing I’ve learned from amazing social entrepreneurs at TED is that you don’t have to ask for money first. You don’t have to build up this base of funding and then go and start. It doesn’t work that way. If you have an idea, whether it’s an idea the world thinks is nuts, or it’s one the world embraces, go and do it. Ask for money when you establish that base of what you’re doing.

Ideas evolve. Tim Harford’s TEDtalk talks about “The God Complex,” where people have an idea and think it’s the one and only way things should be done. But it doesn’t work that way. You have to find a way, do it, be wrong, then find a way that it evolves and works.

Read the rest of Gupta's interview here.