“The Responsible Entrepreneur is an inspiring book that tells us how to be the kind of entrepreneur that the world needs today. Carol Sanford tells vivid, compelling stories of what it means to be a successful businessperson and at the same time fundamentally change the world for the better. If every entrepreneur, aspiring entrepreneur, and entrepreneurship educator read this book, the world couldn’t help but be a better place!”
—Pamela Hinds, associate professor, Department of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University
“Several decades ago, Peter Drucker declared that we were entering the Entrepreneurial Society. Carol Sanford’s book The Responsible Entrepreneur spells out in concrete terms what it will take to make that a life-enhancing reality with responsible entrepreneurs who, instead of working within the system or even despite the system, transform industries and society itself.”
—Stephen Denning, author, The Leader’s Guide to Radical Management, and contributor, Forbes
“Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking about opportunities. Carol Sanford offers frameworks to improve this thinking process based on different situations, making it possible for you, the entrepreneur, to be more creative and focused and do what you know in your gut to be right. The Responsible Entrepreneur makes clear that you’re in charge of the vision for your venture.”
—Connie Bourassa-Shaw, director, Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, Michael G. Foster Business School, University of Washington
“Businesses are arising all over the world that are designed as solutions to the biggest problems we face as human beings. The Responsible Entrepreneur looks deeply at these game-changing entrepreneurs and finds a pattern. Carol Sanford provides a systemic approach to intervention based on the concept of regeneration. It is worth spending time with The Responsible Entrepreneur and reflecting on it again and again.”
—Kevin Jones, cofounder, SoCap
“Being an entrepreneur is a challenge in any field. Trying to change the world through your business is an even more demanding one. Carol Sanford has given us an instruction manual that is clear and documented with case studies of people who have taken on the impossible and succeeded. You will be inspired to action and raise the level of contribution you see possible for you and your business.”
—Elliot Hoffman, founder and CEO, Just Desserts, and founder and CEO, True Market Solutions
“The Responsible Entrepreneur is one of those books that shifts the conversation. Carol Sanford provides entrepreneurs with a clearly articulated, eminently applicable framework for thought and action that will help them create businesses that—in the words of Steve Jobs—‘put a dent in the universe.’ If you want to build a business that will make the world a better place, The Responsible Entrepreneur should be your guidebook.”
—Erika Anderson, founder and partner, Proteus, and author, Leading So People Will Follow
“Entrepreneurs seeking meaningful impact need tools to be successful in their quest. The Responsible Entrepreneur is a necessary handbook for changemakers on the journey to use their businesses to shape a future that is healthier and more satisfying for everyone.”
—KoAnn Skrzyniarz, founder and CEO, Sustainable Brands
“By viewing leaders through archetypal lenses, Carol provides helpful tools for categorization without limiting the unique strengths of any individual entrepreneur. The Responsible Entrepreneur is not for the well intentioned but for those who believe the problems we face demand better, more thoughtful, more scalable, and ultimately more human companies that create remarkable value for every stakeholder.”
—Brian Howe, founder and CEO, Impact Hub Seattle; founder, Vox Legal; and entrepreneur-in-residence, University of Washington
“While each of us aspires to make a dent, most of us work where dreams and innovations are crushed. With The Responsible Entrepreneur, you can change all that and not just build a better widget or a better company, but a better world.”
—Nilofer Merchant, author, 11 Rules for Creating Value in the Social Era
“Carol Sanford introduced us to regenerative business design three decades ago—building a business based on living systems thinking that gives us systemic health. Now she tells entrepreneurs how to be big game-changers in the world of responsible entrepreneurship with disruptive transformation of industries that all businesses can achieve—making the world a better place in the process.”
—Hunter Lovins, president, Natural Capitalism Solutions, and professor, sustainable management, Bainbridge Graduate Institute
“Responsible entrepreneurs are a rare but growing breed. The difficult challenge is staying true to our values and having the tenacity to stick with it. Thank you, Carol Sanford! Your book provides me with a great roadmap to continue moving forward with others who share our passion and vision.”
—Barbara Kimmel, executive director, Trust Across America, Trust Around the World
“Carol Sanford’s totally original, powerful framework will push entrepreneurs to ask questions that matter—and in turn, inspire them to unleash their full potential.”
—P. J. Simmons, cofounder and chair, Corporate Eco Forum
“Carol Sanford has produced a profound but simple framework for understanding and unleashing entrepreneurial talent. Offering unique insight into four types of entrepreneurship and the domains in which they provide the most leverage, The Responsible Entrepreneur will feed the entrepreneurial spirit and catalyze it toward more meaningful impact in the world.”
—Lara Lee, SVP, customer experience design, Lowe’s Home Improvement, and former VP, Harley-Davidson
“In this era of growing disparity between the very rich and the rest of us, Carol Sanford provides a visionary yet practical path for how four iconic kinds of responsible entrepreneurs can be the creators of opportunity and a rising tide to lift more boats. Her explicit call for a transformation framework inspires me to play a role in this needed change. You, too, will be moved to participate and make your life’s work more meaningful.”
—Kare Anderson, columnist, Forbes, and author, Moving From Me to We
“Carol Sanford is as much a systems changer as the entrepreneurs she illustrates. The Responsible Entrepreneur offers a rational and highly accessible framework to cultivate self-awareness, entrepreneurial spirit, and the agency needed to bring about a systemic shift. By grounding her theories in story and practical application, this book is not only valuable but enjoyable.”
—Matthew Abrams, vision keeper, Mycelium
“Carol Sanford understands the importance and the urgency of embedding a social compass into your business from the first napkin sketch. More important, she shows you how to do it. If you want to look back at your business five to ten years from now and say ‘we did this the right way,’ The Responsible Entrepreneur is your bible.”
—John Bradberry, author, 6 Secrets to Startup Success
“The Responsible Entrepreneur is packed with insight. Like Jane Jacobs, Carol Sanford offers observations from real life about how successful businesses and organizations actually work, without gloss, hype, or baloney. She brings a much bigger picture to enterprise.”
—Spencer B. Beebe, chairman, Ecotrust
Foreword by John Fullerton
Copyright © 2014 by Carol Sanford. All rights reserved.
Published by Jossey-Bass
A Wiley Brand
One Montgomery Street, Suite 1200, San Francisco, CA 94104-4594—www.josseybass.com
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.
Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax 317-572-4002.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sanford, Carol, 1942-
The responsible entrepreneur : four game-changing archetypes for founders, leaders, and impact investors / Carol Sanford. -- First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-91075-7 (hardback); ISBN 978-1-118-91072-6 (pdf); ISBN 978-1-118-91071-9 (epub)
1. Social entrepreneurship. 2. Social responsibility of business. I. Title.
HD60.S2493 2014
658.4'21—dc23
2014011874
I dedicate this book to:
Noble Murray, my grandfather and keeper of our Mohawk heritage
Lois Murray Faith, my mother, who carried forward and recorded our Mohawk ancestors’ stories
Maxwell Noble Packer, my grandson, a storyteller and author even at age fourteen
Sylvia Packer, my adopted granddaughter, with her own Native American and Maya heritage
The book in your hands is a gift.
It is a gift to those who wake up in the morning and want to change the world. It is a gift to entrepreneurs seeking to pursue their highest calling. It is a gift to a new breed of investors, “impact investors,” who are looking to back entrepreneurs with a social and or environmental mission, and to align their capital with their values in the process. Mostly, it is a gift to civilization, for I believe that the innovative and creative potential of entrepreneurialism, empowered by our innate goodness and unique human agency to impact the world, holds the promise of a prosperous future for our grandchildren.
It is increasingly clear to most thinking people that the first half of the twenty-first century is and will continue to be a time of great transition. Many interconnected crises—social, cultural, economic, financial, political, and ecological—are all converging at the same time, making this time one of great uncertainty fraught with profound risks. The leading institutions of the world—established in a different time, in a context no longer relevant, and for different challenges—seem hopelessly inadequate to the task at hand. While it has become a cliché among forward-thinking business leaders, it is nevertheless true that “business as usual”—returning to what worked prior to the turn of the century—is not an option. What kind of world will emerge is yet to be determined.
Yet many of our leaders from the political sphere as well as the business sphere seem largely stuck debating old twentieth-century narratives. Free markets versus regulation. Capitalism versus socialism. Conservatives versus liberals. In its more extreme form in the United States, the Tea Party versus Occupy Wall Street. If we listen to only the mainstream media and cable channels preoccupied with the fight du jour, which sells ads, we can seem hopelessly stuck.
Don’t be fooled. Below the surface, profound change is afoot. Our global economy is proving its dynamism despite the extreme and destabilizing volatility resulting from these interconnected crises. That dynamism, further enabled by accelerating technological change, has bolstered the power of human agency like never before. Our human successes and failings are amplified in the process. Long-established industries, from media and entertainment to energy and manufacturing, and the nature of work itself are undergoing profound transition. So too is geopolitics, driven by the power of individual human agency—and not all of it for the better. Our mainstream “leaders” are left reacting to events they can’t anticipate and don’t control.
The human agency explored in this book, manifesting in what we call “entrepreneurship,” is exemplified as much by Mother Teresa as it is by Steve Jobs. Individuals, acting on deeply held beliefs and passion, are boldly imagining and bringing into existence a different world. This book is about their story and our story. Drawing on archetypes from Carol’s own Native American wisdom traditions, which we can all relate to, it helps us understand how this agency works, across different spheres of society, and at different levels of our economic and social systems. It helps us identify ourselves in this unfolding collective story, empowering our unique genius for greater impact. In the process, we will find greater personal fulfillment, meaning, and joy.
Carol’s book is a gift, coming at this critical time, because it embodies much-needed wisdom. I have found Carol’s wisdom profoundly important in my own work and feel privileged to have a direct and ongoing channel into it. Such wisdom is seldom heard in our loud and often shallow public discourse. She has a genius for framing and illuminating accessible wisdom, crystallizing for us some of the most hopeful and empowering transformations happening as a result of human agency. Suddenly, clarity and hope displace confusion and helplessness.
Several years ago, a young man named Zilong Wang wandered into my life. He had grown up in Inner Mongolia, found his way to the United States, and graduated from Hampshire College in 2013. His senior thesis was “Entrepreneurship through Time: Genealogy and Dialectics.” In his research, he found that the word “entrepreneur” is derived from the thirteenth century French verb entreprendre, “to undertake,” and is generally associated with the world of business. Zilong also found that at least one line of thinking traces the root of the French entreprendre all the way back to the Sanskrit antha prema, sounding similar, which translates as “self-motivated.”
If the Sanskrit is indeed the original root, it suggests that entrepreneurship is an innate human quality in all of us, applying to all domains of human activity. Thus our modern use of the term “social entrepreneur” carries an unnecessary modifier. The Sanskrit definition is certainly in alignment with Carol’s belief in the human agency in all of us to be self-motivated—to make a contribution to something important, something meaningful. It is my hope and my conviction that, with the help and guidance of Carol’s wisdom, our innate entrepreneurialism and looming events will conspire to foster the transcendence of our seemingly intractable problems. Like the end of apartheid or the demolition of the Berlin Wall—both so hard-fought for so long, yet seeming so precipitous and cathartic when they came about—such emergence has always defined the evolutionary process in nature. Why not human social and economic systems, for are we not part of nature?
Whether you’re a business entrepreneur, a social entrepreneur, an investment entrepreneur, or an academic, artistic, or civil servant entrepreneur, devour this important and wise book. Harness the untapped potential of your human agency to tackle the urgent, at times daunting, yet exciting challenges we face. This is our collective twenty-first-century calling, and for me, a source of hope and great inspiration.
Thank you, Carol, for this gift.
Founder and president, Capital Institute