Lately, social justice and impact work seems to be at the forefront of everyone’s mind. I believe in order to build a world that is more equitable and just, it’s important that we give everyone permission to see themselves as entrepreneurial. Once someone sees themselves in that light, they feel the agency to make the changes they see necessary for themselves and the world around them. We often mistake entrepreneurism as a character trait that someone is born with and I’d argue it’s a trait that sits within everyone, that must be developed. Some of us are aware that it’s there and put it to use, some exercise it without knowing, and some feel they need permission to tap into it. 

If you asked me when I was 7, 15, 27, if I would ever consider myself an entrepreneur I would have laughed. It wasn’t until I gained the language and understanding of what it takes to build a business that I realized I have been entrepreneurial most of my adult life. Rewind to when I was a sophomore in undergraduate school, which, by this time I couldn’t afford books. With my back against the wall, I had to find a way to make sure I was prepared. My first decision was, I needed to be in every class (even those dreaded 8:00am ones, especially those after spending a night at the local “watering hole”). The second was, it was key that my notes were on point because that’s what I would have to study. When we had book work, I was able to leverage my notes to access other people’s books. I’ll trade you book time for a chapter outline, was the common deal. The feeling of stress and naivete throughout my undergraduate school journey was what launched me into education, with the goal of making sure those after me had the right tools to deal with or sidestep similar obstacles. 

What I’ve come to understand is that it’s not about the money. It’s about the skillset and mindset that revolves around problem-solving and bringing something new into fruition through a lot of trial and error. When working with students, these are my:

Long-haul Learner:

Get students comfortable with not seeking out the “right” answer, but an answer. Then test that answer in a number of settings and contexts to see how it holds up. Oftentimes, the “right” answer is a means to an end, but if you are building curiosity and the idea of experimentation you’ll find students push themselves further. In order to get students on this train, give them BIG and COMPLEX questions that don’t have a “right” answer. You can also give yourself permission to admit when you don’t know something and go on the journey of discovery with them. 

Identify Needs vs Problems:

Problems are inconveniences that typically affect an insignificant amount of people or aren’t impactful enough to demand a widespread solution. Whereas, Needs (aka wicked problems) are problems that affect a larger number of people, are complex, and oftentimes impact people’s quality of life. Typically, people are actively seeking ways to eliminate it or at least minimize it. It’s important for students to understand if they have identified a need or problem because the impact of one drastically outweighs the other. A way to help students understand if they have spotted a need or problem can be by asking them a few questions: How many people find this to be an issue? What does this prevent them from being able to accomplish in their life? What things already exist to address this?

Be a Good Listener:

In order to create any kind of solution that generates impact, you must LISTEN to those who are affected. Helping students understand the difference between listening to respond and listening to understand is key. You should be open-minded (not there to persuade), summarize (rephrase what you have heard so far) in order to check your understanding, and be inquisitive (ask follow up questions based on what was said, not just what you already planned out). You may feel like you’re going off track, but that’s okay if it helps you understand more deeply. 

Skip Perfectionism:

Help students get comfortable with being imperfect. In order to make any progress and learn without depleting resources, you have to be willing to learn along the way. This includes putting half-baked ideas in front of people to make sure you’re on the right track. It’s better to learn if you are missing the mark early on, verus when you’ve invested time and money only to find out it doesn’t work. This would be like you’re driving to a new destination and you aren’t quite sure where you are going. It’s better to stop and ask for directions early on and fairly frequently than to wait and drive 8 hours only to realize you’ve gone the wrong direction! Encourage students to let go of perfection by rewarding them for experimenting, pushing them to look at it from multiple angles, and emphasizes growth versus the end-product. 

What are things you find to be important? Comment below!

Humility and Healing: Weaving the World of Social Impact

Much of what we experience in this modern world of work is without intimacy - personal life and professional life are often divided, joy and happiness are seldom thought of as ways we describe our jobs.  As social impact entrepreneurs and educators, we might be closer to bridging this gap - our work often fills our hearts and spirits with purpose and hope. We get to see change happening at the ground level, taking root in the spaces where injustice had prevailed, growing and blossoming into opportunity and access for those traditionally left out and left behind. 

As social innovators, we want to create positive change in the world around us; we want to help people, to bring our creative ideas and heartfelt inspiration to tackle challenges around us, small and large.  We want the world to be a better place, and we dedicate ourselves and our talents towards that future state.  

How often though in our problem-solving, solution-generating, society-changing lives do we pause to consider how we might be (perhaps inadvertently) contributing to that which we wish to fix in the world?  How closely do we peer into the motivations that we have as impact entrepreneurs, as educators, as change agents - what are those driving forces that may remain unspoken beneath the surface of our actions, but shape us and our impact all the same? 

On this journey through efforts in educational innovation and transformation, place-based leadership development, and decolonizing innovation and entrepreneurship, I have had the pleasure of working with and learning from some remarkable people.  And often, the teachings that have helped me to grow exponentially as both a person and as a social impact entrepreneur have been ones that asked me to reflect on myself as both problem-solver and problem-contributor, to examine the intimate and intricate relationship between my life, my context, and the future state of the world I am working towards. 

“We are all healing from something.” 

Although potentially attributable to many sources, I trace my introduction to this truth to my friend, educator and author Adrian Michael Green.  In my work and life circles, I see social impact entrepreneurs and advocates working tirelessly, pushing physical and mental limits, to right the wrongs they see in the world.  Quite often what I also find is that the focus on what is wrong with the world outside does not allow time to focus on what might be wrong inside of ourselves.  We are all in some way contributing to every crisis and challenge we see in the world around us.  And while we turn our efforts to trying to change the systems and circumstances that affect the quality of life for those around us, we should also spend time to examine the wounds inside us - some of them inter-generational, some of them wounds of privilege, some of them so deep as to appear not to exist.  If we start with the assumption that we are all healing from something, perhaps we can turn a little bit of the energy we put out into the world trying to right those wrongs back towards ourselves to work for a better world with an energy and intention of regeneration. 

“In search of peace, we may never find justice; in search of justice, we may never find peace.”

This gently-worded, yet weighty insight was gifted to me by my mentor and guide, Pono Shim, noted Hawaiian healer and storyteller.  In Uncle Pono’s teachings, aloha is a universal truth and pathway towards a healing journey within the self and in connection to the world.  In his profound and deep teachings of what aloha is and what it might cause to be in the world, I often find myself considering the connectivity between action and reaction, the interconnectedness of problem and perspective, the balance between doing good and causing harm -- often the effects of our actions are felt immediately, but even more often and perhaps harder to detect are the effects of actions felt decades or even generations apart.  As we seek justice in righting the wrongs we experience in the world around us, can we be sure that it will lead to peace?  Can peace lead to justice? It may be that one does not lead to the other; if so, which do we lean in to as a pathway to a better world?  

“Helping, fixing, and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. 

When you help, you see life as weak. 

When you fix, you see life as broken. 

When you serve, you see life as whole. 

Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul.”

This teaching by Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen came to me by way of another dear friend and mentor, Pam O.  This I think was one of the most impactful teachings I have come across, in terms of the intimacy of my relationship with the work of social impact.  All too often we see people leap into action to fix other people’s problems before pausing to examine closely what informs their perspective, and perhaps the most important question of all -- who am I to do this work?  What is the gift I give to this community, and what gift am I receiving as part of this reciprocal relationship?  How am I contributing to the wholeness of those I am hoping to serve, and how is this also fulfilling my own wholeness?   And while we may see a lot of wrongs in the world that need righting, perhaps spending the moments to see what is right in the world that needs nurturing and amplifying is of equal importance and impact. 

---

It is my hope that these gifts from my teachers and guides might support you as they did me — in discovering your joy, your purpose, your passion, and your humility while harnessing your creativity, working to shift the equilibrium towards a better world.    I am forever on this learning journey -- and am excited to greet you and grow together wherever our paths may cross. 

Naʻu me ke aloha (with aloha),

Miki