We recently completed a rather exciting project with the UN trying to work out how they might bring ethically produced honey from Mongolia to eco-hungry consumers in the UK. Not our average job, so the team made the strategic decision to start by searching high and low for anyone who might have the slightest idea what we should do.
Having spent a month on the phone to the exceptionally good natured Great British honey folk I now know the difference between a Scottish heather and a Spanish lavender, what the European Third List of Countries is, what to do with Royal Jelly, and why you can charge a tenner for a jar of Manuka! More importantly the beekeepers of Mongolia now know what it will take to bring their products to western shelves and can make an informed decision as to what that will mean to their businesses – all because of the good will of the UK’s very sweet honey community. Many many thanks! Next week it’s onto ethical fitness so if anyone’s got any ideas…
James Baderman
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
When the host becomes the hosted
Me and some of my ?What If! colleagues have just had the pleasure of leading the Big Boost Summer Academy for the UK’s brightest and best young social entrepreneurs - a week in west Sussex taking them through our thoughts on innovation and leadership and equipping them to better go forth and change the world.
Keeping the ‘gush’ to a minimum – this was a bit of a life changer. The individuals were nothing short of exceptional: hungry, passionate, honest, giving… and together as an entity ten times all that. This came to life wonderfully when we toured London’s social entrepreneurship scene. Walking round Green-Work’s recycling warehouse they stopped en masse to applaud the machinists, in Accenture’s corporate boardroom they banged the tables to thank our speakers, at the Big Lottery Fund they performed a well-mannered but seriously potent ‘pincer’ on the guy who looks after £600m of funding, and in Whitehall(!) they whooped, cheered and generally ‘made some noise’ as Phil Hope, the Minister for the Third Sector, walked into the tradition stooped room – this is the man in government who effectively rules their world. All this commotion was not just them being ‘yoof’, they were operating as a highly effective, sophisticated, collective entity – like some kind of advanced insect colony in a Planet Earth special. They occupied the space where ever they found themselves, and whoever we put in front of them. For our hosts it was disarming, flattering and invigorating all at once, and for the group it was an intensely powerful tool which they wielded well.
They’ve now returned to their projects up and down the UK but I have no doubt they will remain that powerful entity and be flipping tables on anyone who is lucky enough to host them for many years to come. We miss them and their unique energy, but I hear they’re planning to set up youth commission on social enterprise so something tells me it’s not the end!
James Baderman
Keeping the ‘gush’ to a minimum – this was a bit of a life changer. The individuals were nothing short of exceptional: hungry, passionate, honest, giving… and together as an entity ten times all that. This came to life wonderfully when we toured London’s social entrepreneurship scene. Walking round Green-Work’s recycling warehouse they stopped en masse to applaud the machinists, in Accenture’s corporate boardroom they banged the tables to thank our speakers, at the Big Lottery Fund they performed a well-mannered but seriously potent ‘pincer’ on the guy who looks after £600m of funding, and in Whitehall(!) they whooped, cheered and generally ‘made some noise’ as Phil Hope, the Minister for the Third Sector, walked into the tradition stooped room – this is the man in government who effectively rules their world. All this commotion was not just them being ‘yoof’, they were operating as a highly effective, sophisticated, collective entity – like some kind of advanced insect colony in a Planet Earth special. They occupied the space where ever they found themselves, and whoever we put in front of them. For our hosts it was disarming, flattering and invigorating all at once, and for the group it was an intensely powerful tool which they wielded well.
They’ve now returned to their projects up and down the UK but I have no doubt they will remain that powerful entity and be flipping tables on anyone who is lucky enough to host them for many years to come. We miss them and their unique energy, but I hear they’re planning to set up youth commission on social enterprise so something tells me it’s not the end!
James Baderman
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