All the Things…

Passion Mapping

Posted on by Marianne Eppig

Hi there. So, I recently attended a conference for social innovators where the following exercise for goal prioritization was introduced. I found it truly helpful for sorting out my passions and priorities, so I thought I’d create a couple charts to illustrate the exercise and share them here with you all.

THE PASSION MAP

passionmap-toolsforsocialinnovators

This chart helps you break down your life goals into shorter time scales so that you can see how to start tackling them. This exercise works best if you have an accountability partner! Let someone close to you know your goals for the next three months and schedule a call or meeting with them after three months to check in on your progress.

THE PASSION PLAN

passionplan-toolsforsocialinnovators

Once you have some goals identified from the passion mapping exercise, you can use the Passion Plan to chart out what you think you’ll need to go after those goals. I’ve divided the chart into People, Mind, Health, and Groundwork, but you may want to add other sections. If you bring over the deadline from the passion map for the specific goal you’re investigating, in addition to writing it in your calendar, it works all the better.

Feel free to use and share these charts. Please leave a comment below if you have other methods that you find helpful for sorting out your priorities and tackling big goals.

Start Here.

Posted on by Marianne Eppig

Okay, so you’re ready to get started. You’re excited about the prospect of catalyzing a uniquely awesome career of tackling big effing problems (re: saving the world) like the hero you always secretly (or not so secretly ) knew you were. There’s just one issue: where do you start?

The Stanford Center for Social Innovation made the video above on this very topic (this is a marketing video for their program, but there are plenty of ways to get started without a fancy degree).

The world is chock-full of issues worth addressing. To start thinking about issues you could address, consider the issues that have popped up in your own life. What problems have gotten you really riled up? Also, step out into your community. Is there someone, or maybe a group of people, who have a problem you think you could help solve?

So we started at the personal level, then moved up to the community level. But what about the global scale?

Luckily for us, the United Nations has come up with a list of priority issues that it calls Sustainable Development Goals. Here they are:

unsdgs

These goals come from the internationally agreed upon 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by Heads of State and Governments in September 2015. The 2030 Agenda is a new plan of action for people, planet and prosperity, with 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 associated targets at its core. I highly recommend you look into each of these goals on their website.

Okay, so now you’ve thought about the world of concerns that you could potentially delve into if you so desired. Now let’s take a moment to consider how you could start problem-solving.

Here’s a great resource from the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society about problem-solving that I highly recommend: “Problem Solving, Human-Centered Design, and Strategic Processes” by Paul Brest, Nadia Roumani, and Jason Bade. This essay sets out a framework for integrating conventional problem solving and strategic planning techniques with Human-Centered Design (HCD) to help organizations improve their understanding of the problems they are trying to solve and increase their creativity in developing solutions.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments regarding your process for getting started on social innovation, for problem identification and selection!

 

Mind Tools for Creating a Business & Life that You Love.

Posted on by Marianne Eppig

There are so many ideas floating around about how to become the best you can be. Ideas about what makes a good entrepreneur, a good leader, a good person, etc. Well, I hope I’m not the first to tell you that entrepreneurs, leaders, and people (surprise!) come in all shapes and sizes. This should come as a relief – I mean, how terrible would it be if we all had to shove ourselves in the same small box?

So, when thinking about where to start with regard to resources for strengthening your mind, I decided to share some of my personal favorite go-tos. I’ll come back to meditation (work in progress) and “being in the moment” later.

Right now, I’d like to share one of my absolute favorite YouTube channels:

Marie TV

Marie is like that best friend/sister who always has quality advice and a keen sense of humor no matter what kind of pickle you find yourself in. She also interviews some of the world’s great innovators, bringing them right to your screen, for free! While I find all of her episodes entertaining and useful, here are some more videos of hers that I highly recommend:

I’d love to hear from you about your favorite resources for getting your mind right! Go ahead and leave a comment below!

 

Free Online Courses & Videos on Entrepreneurship

Posted on by Marianne Eppig

I, for one, love free learning opportunities. Especially when conventional arenas for learning about entrepreneurship, such as MBA programs, can be prohibitively expensive. Here are some free online courses and content on entrepreneurship that I found especially helpful:

Philanthropy University

UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and Novo Ed education, an education technology company, have come together to build Philanthropy University, which provides a free online education on social entrepreneurship and innovation to anyone in the world.

The program offers participants the opportunity to earn a certificate in social sector leadership from Berkeley-Haas. So far, over 100,000 students from all over the world have signed up for the courses. You can find more information and sign up for Philanthropy University online classes here. Continue reading Free Online Courses & Videos on Entrepreneurship