A Professor’s Advice to Student Leaders

This is part 2 of an 11-part series on undergraduate social entrepreneurship coordinated by the Social Innovation Initiative at Brown University. The author of this post is Barrett Hazeltine, Associate Dean Emeritus of the College and Professor Emeritus of Engineering at Brown University.

Conventional wisdom in the "real world" is that Brown produces a great many social entrepreneurs. Runa and the Mali Health Organizing Project, for example, are two well-known instances of their efforts. There are others, too: the Steel Yard, an artists' center that Clay Rockefeller built on an abandoned industrial site in the Olneyville section of Providence. Or the organization started by Emily Spivack, which assists women cancer survivors with shopping. Then there's David Flink, who led Project Eye-to-Eye, empowering students with learning disabilities. Or Katherine Chon and Derek Ellerman, who founded the Polaris Project -- probably the leading organization in the U.S. fighting human trafficking. All of these projects were started when the founders were undergraduates at Brown.

My advice to someone thinking about getting something started in the social enterprise area is...just do it. I know that sounds like Nike, but it's true. Start with the service part first, though, rather than starting an enterprise immediately. If setting up a soccer camp for inner-city children is your passion, then play soccer with some inner city children for a month or so to see what the real difficulties and joys are. An advantage of doing it now is that you do not have a spouse, or a mortgage, or most of the responsibilities that will make you prudent, or risk-averse. And every year you wait will give you time to think up reasons why doing social entrepreneurship is unwise for the moment.

The next piece of advice I'd give is to forget about worrying that you lack experience. Most social entrepreneurs are learning as they go. A common set of principles that all social entrepreneurs must know doesn't exist -- if you need lots of rules and codified experience, find a different field.  Times, they have changed, and experience does not offer much advantage.

Another advice item is don't be shy. Ask. Network. Seek advice from as many people as possible. Nearly all of your school's alumnae/alumni will take your call, and be pleased to offer their guidance. There are lots of smart people with plenty of relevant experience on any campus, and thinking about a novel idea will be stimulating for most of them.

Finally, stay flexible. Make as careful and thorough a plan as you can, but if it's not working out, explore other options. After you've been involved for awhile, you'll know much more than when you crafted that original plan. Make use of that knowledge.

Photo Credit: tom.ride-earth.org.uk