Instant flashes of insight and overnight success are often a product years of exploring and listening. The important bit is having the self-awareness that a search for what you want to do in the world is indeed underway and actively making observations about it.
Jessica Jackley Flannery’s story is an impressive illustration of someone sharp pursuing their own path, even when all the steps were not visible.
In the Stanford Social Innovation Review article “How I Became a Social Entrepreneur”, we learn Jessica co-founded Kiva, the first peer-to-peer microlending Web site, and believes that microfinance, relationships, and stories are powerful tools for change. She’s right.
Because she did a great job of looking back on her path, we can also see some of the moments that led up to her making the leap:
I remember first hearing the term “social entrepreneurship” in a lecture…I was instantly intrigued. I wanted to be a social entrepreneur!..But doing what, exactly? I had no idea. The motivation, values, and energy were all there, but the specific context was missing. This was a problem…I felt like someone who…dreamt of going to the Olympics but hadn’t chosen a sport…So my task became choosing a context, and finding my one, specific mission.
She goes on to provide some really solid advice that’s worth following:
Learn: Read, research, write, etc. Go to lectures. Absorb whatever you can on the topics that interest you. Get an idea of what the issues are. Take a class or just make up your own little reading lists and assignments if you love structure.
Listen: Reach out to a real, specific, human being who could be your “customer” (someone whose problems you want to understand, and who you’d like to serve by addressing those problems). Listen very carefully. Learn as much as you can. Then, reach out to another person, then another, then another. (Read Paul Polak’s amazing book, Out of Poverty, for much more on this concept!)
Ask: As you start to amass questions and can’t find the answers yourself, reach out to people who might. Get their opinions, their insight, their advice. Learn how their organizations work, what problems they face, what challenges and successes they’ve had. A special note: There are many ways to be entrepreneurial and create significant social change without starting your own organization. Sometimes you can be more effective at doing the specific thing you want to do in the world by joining an existing group or project, and revolutionizing from within.
Jump: At a certain point, you just need to start pursuing what resonates with you. Follow it as best you can, wherever it leads. It’s OK if you don’t know what the next five steps are. It’s enough to take one step in the direction of your interest. Sometimes you can only find the second step after you’ve taken the first one.
Keep Dreaming: Kiva represents my wildest dream of what I wanted to do in the world. And it’s happening! I couldn’t be more thankful for this. But something else is happening too: The faster Kiva goes, the more it grows, and the more I’m convinced that other great changes are possible in the world. I hope never to stop dreaming, preparing, and being ready to see what’s next.
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