Larry Page stated he would rather donate his estate to Elon Musk than a charity, triggering a compelling conversation. Just ‘doing good’ is not sufficient to be a beneficiary of other people’s treasure. Our work in the social sector is being measured against the progress of innovators and impact of entrepreneurs. We can claim to inspire but do our aspirations result in transformation?
If you we are asked to present our work in a show-case showdown against other enterprises in our community and region would we be able to articulate our niche. Would the investors on Shark Tank fund our project?
I do not suggest that we turn to business metric in mass. Permission to pause and preserve the landscape that serves as our backdrop is critical, even when its existence is hard to quantify. We select arduous journeys and attempt to scale peaks that are compelling because it alters something inside of us. As extreme athlete and runner Kilian Jornet said, ‘A summit is a memory. It is an emotion stored within us.’ The summits I have occupied in my life continue to echo. The more challenging the climb, the closer the memory (even if I laid on my stomach to look over the precipice).