I had an inspiring weekend at the Emerge2016 conference at the Saed Business school. Some highlights:
Re-booting business: interesting discussion on profits and purpose and whether they are separate aspects of a business or should be integrated with each other. I also learnt about B Corp businesses (which are certified as being in the latter category).
Impact Gaps Canvas: very useful talk on looking at a social/environmental problem and exploring ways of addressing this. Being a ‘hero’ social entrepreneuer is only one of the possible options.
Broken Food System: a review of the problems with the current global food system and considering which should be prioritised.
Debate on whether government constrains social innovation. The vote was for ‘no’ it does not inherently do so (there being lots of examples where it has constrained and lots where it has not).
Building Great Teams: conversation about teams, dealing with problems as they arise and choosing team members carefully: treat it like dating someone, you need to learn about each other and see if you can forge a common goal and can work together (and so avoid an unpleasant ‘divorce’ later on if it doesn’t work).
Mindfulness Trend: many business schools now teach mindfulness. It teaches you to listen better, to be able to use your brain more effectively – and if you want to help others its good to work on improving yourself so you can do so more effectively.
Also met many inspiring people who have set up suceesful enterprises with a very strong sense of purpose, or who are looking to do so. As usual I am always amazed by the calibre of the people attending and running such an event.
Also made some good contacts, including an exciting cycling project.
