I love this framework! Thank you for spreading awareness about the hypocrisy of social entrepreneurship that still operates within the parameters of an extractive growth business ecosystem. It's why I tell people I've spent the last four years unlearning everything I learned in my social entrepreneurship grad school program.
Thank you for the kind words - glad it resonated with you!
I hear you regarding unlearning what they taught in your grad program. I also was not exposed to this line of thinking during my college years.
Any thoughts on how we can get these ideas into universities / colleges, so they can start to spread through those channels? If institutions are already teaching social entrepreneurship, there’s an opportunity for them to - at a bare minimum - teach something logically sound!
I'm an ideas person, and I used to work at the USC Marshall School of Business as a staff member while I went to school there, so there are lots of professors and staff there I could reach out to. Want to have a brainstorming call?
Kudos for this piece — for its depth, and for how clearly the thinking has been lived and internalised. It resonates with four persistent challenges we encounter in systems transformation work: complexity (change doesn’t happen in isolation – it’s nested within interdependent systems that resist linear solutions); scale (as you illustrate, transformation isn’t about replicating one model, but nurturing distributed change across the system); time horizon (meaningful change often unfolds over decades); and inner/outer change (transformation demands shifts in mindset, values, and relationships, alongside external, structural action). We’re currently in the process of writing something on this theme, so it'd be good to exchange thoughts as and when that happens. It also gives me further context for our conversation around financial ecosystems! Looking forward to reading your further pieces.
Thank you for this thoughtful response, glad it resonated with you! I'm aligned with your outline of systems transformation work. Happy to continue exchanging thoughts, and looking forward to hearing your feedback on the other pieces!
Thank you for this. This is a topic I have been wondering about for a while as well.
Here's my question, is there a need still for a *somewhat* universal definition of good (or social responsibility)? If companies can just set their own internal values, what defines them as good? I love your emphasis on this being a self-interrogative process, but it still seems to me that we need something external to measure against.
At the last place I worked — a design studio that was, at the time, wrestling with the same questions — we were toying with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals as a (perhaps imperfect) standard we could use.
Anyways, I really appreciate this piece. Thank you!
Thank you for reading, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
This essay is describing how the ways we conventionally think about and approach “impact” prevent us from actually optimizing for it, and I believe that many of the current external impact standards (such as B Corp) are rooted in this flawed conventional thinking. In my mind, understanding how to structure and run a company in a way that is genuinely optimizing for impact is a necessary first step before we can start to think about how an external assessment might look. I’d love to hear ideas from others on how / if this values-based approach can eventually be translated into an external assessment.
This…“Companies don’t often say “We gave $1 million to charities” and “We reduced our lowest-tier employees’ hourly pay by 25 cents company-wide” in the same sentence.” And that is how they take from one mouth to “feed” another.
Totally! One of the risks of compartmentalizing "impact" from other aspects of a business is the incentive to win at zero-sum games (or negative sum games - if you take from one mouth to "feed" another, while pocketing some for yourself). This can garner praise from those who can't see (or don't look) under the hood, even though in actuality there is no net positive impact occurring.
Thank you very much for opening the conversation on this topic, and pointing out;
it can be hard to quantify your positive influence on an ecosystem over which you have no direct ownership.
As well as the observation you shared:
It is getting too common for impact measurement to focus on the granularity of individual projects, companies, or initiatives with the expectation that measurement at these levels will somehow add up to overall impact across much broader fields such as sectors, industries and even systems.
I have been working on a impact calculator, it uses a baseline of the problem to be solved by the startup ( problem solving value = cost directly/indirect caused by the problem resolved by the solution) and compare the changes caused by the solution. More on this here(sample):https://new-chat-t5yc.bolt.host/
Would really be great to hear your thoughts on, given your expertise. It is currently i use in two startups ( for context )
Hi Levin, thank you for sharing! I’ll definitely check out the bridgespan link you shared.
Regarding the Economic Impact Calculator you shared - any chance you can make a demo video explaining how it works? (sorry, I know that’s a lot to ask). On first look, it’s difficult for me to understand what’s going on and how it’s valuable. Am curious to learn more!
Thank you very much for your reply and interest on the economic impact calculator idea. I actually wrote sth in short about the concept behind it
Happy to make a demo of the economical impact calculator, let me know whats unclear or left unanswered from the document.
Tried to message you seemed i couldn't send messages (could be sth not working on my end) given the document i want to share is internal and confidential, i'm not sure if I'm allowed to share it publicly.
Would like to send you the link to the document via chat ;)
I love this framework! Thank you for spreading awareness about the hypocrisy of social entrepreneurship that still operates within the parameters of an extractive growth business ecosystem. It's why I tell people I've spent the last four years unlearning everything I learned in my social entrepreneurship grad school program.
Thank you for the kind words - glad it resonated with you!
I hear you regarding unlearning what they taught in your grad program. I also was not exposed to this line of thinking during my college years.
Any thoughts on how we can get these ideas into universities / colleges, so they can start to spread through those channels? If institutions are already teaching social entrepreneurship, there’s an opportunity for them to - at a bare minimum - teach something logically sound!
I'm an ideas person, and I used to work at the USC Marshall School of Business as a staff member while I went to school there, so there are lots of professors and staff there I could reach out to. Want to have a brainstorming call?
Ok cool! Yes, brainstorming call sounds like a great idea. Can you shoot me an email? vincent@outside.studio
Kudos for this piece — for its depth, and for how clearly the thinking has been lived and internalised. It resonates with four persistent challenges we encounter in systems transformation work: complexity (change doesn’t happen in isolation – it’s nested within interdependent systems that resist linear solutions); scale (as you illustrate, transformation isn’t about replicating one model, but nurturing distributed change across the system); time horizon (meaningful change often unfolds over decades); and inner/outer change (transformation demands shifts in mindset, values, and relationships, alongside external, structural action). We’re currently in the process of writing something on this theme, so it'd be good to exchange thoughts as and when that happens. It also gives me further context for our conversation around financial ecosystems! Looking forward to reading your further pieces.
Thank you for this thoughtful response, glad it resonated with you! I'm aligned with your outline of systems transformation work. Happy to continue exchanging thoughts, and looking forward to hearing your feedback on the other pieces!
Thank you for this. This is a topic I have been wondering about for a while as well.
Here's my question, is there a need still for a *somewhat* universal definition of good (or social responsibility)? If companies can just set their own internal values, what defines them as good? I love your emphasis on this being a self-interrogative process, but it still seems to me that we need something external to measure against.
At the last place I worked — a design studio that was, at the time, wrestling with the same questions — we were toying with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals as a (perhaps imperfect) standard we could use.
Anyways, I really appreciate this piece. Thank you!
Thank you for reading, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
This essay is describing how the ways we conventionally think about and approach “impact” prevent us from actually optimizing for it, and I believe that many of the current external impact standards (such as B Corp) are rooted in this flawed conventional thinking. In my mind, understanding how to structure and run a company in a way that is genuinely optimizing for impact is a necessary first step before we can start to think about how an external assessment might look. I’d love to hear ideas from others on how / if this values-based approach can eventually be translated into an external assessment.
This…“Companies don’t often say “We gave $1 million to charities” and “We reduced our lowest-tier employees’ hourly pay by 25 cents company-wide” in the same sentence.” And that is how they take from one mouth to “feed” another.
Totally! One of the risks of compartmentalizing "impact" from other aspects of a business is the incentive to win at zero-sum games (or negative sum games - if you take from one mouth to "feed" another, while pocketing some for yourself). This can garner praise from those who can't see (or don't look) under the hood, even though in actuality there is no net positive impact occurring.
Thank you very much for opening the conversation on this topic, and pointing out;
it can be hard to quantify your positive influence on an ecosystem over which you have no direct ownership.
As well as the observation you shared:
It is getting too common for impact measurement to focus on the granularity of individual projects, companies, or initiatives with the expectation that measurement at these levels will somehow add up to overall impact across much broader fields such as sectors, industries and even systems.
In regard of impact metrics linked to the ecosystem impact, i really found the workings of Bridgespan very helpful and there writing on framing of Field Catalyst, as a simple leverage point and stakeholder analysis, seem to give one a understanding of what set of activity is of hight ROI on the total systems impact. More from them here:https://www.bridgespan.org/getmedia/29a0c7c4-7328-4f30-8f5f-ee41a6a8689b/field-building-diagnostic-tool-march-2020.pdf
I have been working on a impact calculator, it uses a baseline of the problem to be solved by the startup ( problem solving value = cost directly/indirect caused by the problem resolved by the solution) and compare the changes caused by the solution. More on this here(sample):https://new-chat-t5yc.bolt.host/
Would really be great to hear your thoughts on, given your expertise. It is currently i use in two startups ( for context )
Best Levin
Hi Levin, thank you for sharing! I’ll definitely check out the bridgespan link you shared.
Regarding the Economic Impact Calculator you shared - any chance you can make a demo video explaining how it works? (sorry, I know that’s a lot to ask). On first look, it’s difficult for me to understand what’s going on and how it’s valuable. Am curious to learn more!
Hi Vincent,
Thank you very much for your reply and interest on the economic impact calculator idea. I actually wrote sth in short about the concept behind it
Happy to make a demo of the economical impact calculator, let me know whats unclear or left unanswered from the document.
Tried to message you seemed i couldn't send messages (could be sth not working on my end) given the document i want to share is internal and confidential, i'm not sure if I'm allowed to share it publicly.
Would like to send you the link to the document via chat ;)
Best Levin
Hi Levin, feel free to send it along via email! vincent@outside.studio
Sent you an email, with the demo video