Jonathan Prosser is Director of Innovation Lab at Compassion UK, Founder of PaxHax, and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Cambridge.
In his article, “Entrepreneur Versus Corporate Explorer: 8 Success Characteristics,” Andrew Binns does an excellent job of comparing the characteristics of entrepreneurs who are creating the new and corporate explorers who are creating new growth in new ways within existing organizations.
In this article, I’d like to borrow Binns’ structure and apply it to an impact setting—from corporate innovation to social innovation. So from entrepreneurs to social entrepreneurs and from corporate explorers to social innovators.
5 Shared Characteristics
I believe there are five characteristics Binns shares that are also true for successful social entrepreneurs and social innovators:
• ‘A restless explorer seeking novelty’: Like startup or corporate leaders, social entrepreneurs and innovators also desire new solutions to deliver impact and progress, plain and simple.
• ‘Curiosity to solve a problem’: The greatest challenges of our time wouldn’t be solved without curiosity. For social innovators, curiosity needs to extend into not just how the world works but how an organization works. Building relationships and social capital internally is critical to get the momentum needed for social change. Find a barrier in one part of the organization that will take considerable time to solve, then pivot and get this new solution tested in a different country or collaborate with someone else. A lack of progress is not an option.
• ‘Open to learning what they do not know’: Social entrepreneurs must be learn-it-alls. In practice, social innovators need to package and communicate their learnings to contribute knowledge capital to their organizations while they are exploring for breakthroughs. This places a greater emphasis on ongoing stakeholder management than their social entrepreneur peers.
• ‘Courage to commit in the face of uncertainty’: Social entrepreneurs do this by default. Interestingly, for social innovators, if too much courage is observed, it may reduce buy-in internally. Social innovators are tasked with that near-impossible balance of being willing to run through walls to ensure ongoing progress for the venture yet able to step back and dispassionately assess. When speaking to colleagues on the operational side of their organizations, social innovators would be wise to check the level of courage they display and back up their vision with evidence.
• ‘Scale of the ambition’: Binns’ observations apply very strongly here. For the social entrepreneur pitching for funding, a “change the world” narrative is well aligned. With social innovators, who must be highly adept at reading internal relationships and priorities, trying to shift an organization’s thinking too far too quickly can lead to no change at all. They must be willing to say, “I love this idea, but we are not ready for that yet as an organization. But if we land this current work and see the desired impact return on investment (IROI), we can build to this more daring endeavor.” It’s about staging for progress.
Now, let’s take a closer look at how social innovators can deliver wins for their organizations.
6 Characteristics Of Successful Social Innovators
• Humility: A key difference highlighted in Binns’ analysis is that, compared to entrepreneurs, greater levels of humility are needed for corporate explorers to be successful. This is more of a given in the impact sector. Without true humility, how would a social entrepreneur or social innovator immerse, listen, learn and gain an understanding of the vastly complex problems they are seeking to address? That said, for social innovators to gain momentum within organizations, even higher levels of humility will be required. It’s a team sport.
• Patience: Systematic change is being sought. Large organizations provide resources, but you can’t enjoy these without putting up with some slow-moving parts, too. Social entrepreneurs can jump-start a new venture and get it running quickly, yet social innovators need the patience to understand the natural pace of their organizations. At its simplest level, a greater number of people will need to be informed, consulted and collaborated with.
• Coachability: I’ve worked with entrepreneurs of the commercial and social variety in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Pacific Islands, Asia and Africa. What sets apart the best? How coachable they are. Top sportspeople and athletes are hungry for feedback, listen, always want to learn and improve and continually seek ways to get the edge. The same is true of social innovators—the highly coachable are on the path to achieving greater impact.
• Scalability: For social innovators, the opportunity needs to work despite their unique skills so it can scale without them. For social entrepreneurs this is different, as all of their unique talents can be poured in; they will be celebrated for doing so and only need to be concerned with this if a quick exit is the goal.
• Savviness: Social entrepreneurs need to be strong on partnership building to enable faster scale and funding opportunities. Social innovators need to bring this ecosystem knowledge but also get swiftly adept at managing internal systems. Where can we play? What are the guardrails? Where can’t we go?
• Be Careful What You Ask For: Social entrepreneurs can get what they need knowing they will have to deliver against that. In some ways, it’s the same for social innovators. Want major internal funding? Be prepared to report on that and be compared to much more advanced pieces of work that have momentum and evidence. Want the time of other teams? Then expect this to be a strategic decision for those teams that must decide how much to give and to whom, then need IROI from you.
Much like their commercial peers, those able to work successfully outside and inside are rare. If you find them, look after them. They bring different ways of leveraging their abilities and networks to get the results you are seeking, faster and with a mindset that frees them to create wherever will be effective, in the right place, with the right people. Similarly, organizations that create the right environment for social innovators can accelerate organizational renewal, increase the pace of learning and enhance impact, bringing us closer to the day that sees the UN’s SDGs achieved. Now that’s worth pursuing.
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