The Last Word / By Dan Pallotta
H
The New Superhero
ollywood and popular culture are behind the times
and off the mark. When they’re not regurgitating a
1950s vision of the superhero – Batman, Superman,
Aqua-man and their like – they’re worshipping at the
altars of Beckham, Lady Gaga and Barack Obama. But the real
protectors of Gotham City don’t wear capes or 10-inch heels. It’s
not Underdog coming to the rescue of society as we know it. And
redemption isn’t being brought to us by the great white hope, even
if he happens to be black. There’s another breed of differencemakers that have always re-written the rules of the game and have
almost always been ignored by the hero-makers.
They’re called entrepreneurs, and these days there’s a new
subset of them called social entrepreneurs. They draw their power
not from eating their spinach or sucking up accolades, but from
questions like “Why?” and “Why not?” They annoy the status
quo and then destroy it, benevolently. They challenge us to think
smarter, more imaginatively, with a greater
sense of possibility, for the good of humankind.
They are modeling a holistic approach, not just
to agriculture and energy, but to being human.
This model says that it is irrational to ask me
to dream of a better world for everyone while
demanding that I give up my dreams of a better
economic future for myself. It says that sacrifice
as pathology is so 17th century. It says that my
deprivation will never transmute into someone
else’s prosperity. It’s literally re-imagining, at
the most fundamental level, what it means to
be an activist and a social change-maker. For
these modern-day Samaritans, it’s not about the
money, but it’s also not not about the money. It’s about doing well
for oneself and doing good for the world. It’s not new.
Henry Ford did a lot to improve the world with the automobile
and did very well for himself. What’s new is the naming of it. What’s
new is the declaration the social entrepreneur makes – that social
change need not be the exclusive domain of charity, and that charity
need not be an exclusive club for martyrs. These new superheroes
are invading the food industry, waste industry, clothing industry and
inspiration industry, as well as everything in between.
After the race riots that erupted in Los Angeles in 1992, some
students and teachers from the inner city decided to re-purpose a
patch of dirt near their football field to grow vegetables and send
the profits to their neighbors. The result was a brand called Food
from the Hood that sells three different salad dressings to grocers all
over Los Angeles and to people around the world through Amazon.
It’s a for-profit venture, but it has huge social benefits. It’s all run
by student managers, thereby giving them real-world business
experience, and it puts 50% of the profits back into scholarships for
them. They’ve awarded more than US$200,000 to 77 graduates.
Superman never did that.
RecycleBank is in 125,000 households in the United States
in more than 35 municipalities. They’re a for-profit firm that
pays rewards to households that recycle. Now isn’t that a much
smarter idea than moralizing to people about the environment?
They measure the amount of recycled material from each home,
and then issue points that are redeemable for a variety of goods
and services from local and national partners like Coca-Cola and
Target. The investors make a return, the executives are paid well,
the customers get stuff they want and landfill gets reduced. Win,
win, win, win.
Apolis Activism is a for-profit, socially conscious designer of
clothing and fine accessories. The word Apolis translates as a “global
citizen.” They hand-select textiles and artisans from around the
world that share their uncompromising passion for craftsmanship
and people. Apolis believes in advocacy through industry and is
promoting free market principles as the foundation to creating
lasting change. Their website looks as much like
a museum of social activists and entrepreneurs
as it does a clothing site – they’ve achieved a
wonderful integration of business and mission.
KaBoom is a nonprofit organization founded
out of a concern that playgrounds were
becoming an endangered species, and outdoor
play was being cannibalized by computer games.
Their vision is to put “a place to play within
walking distance of every child in America.” To
date they’ve built over 1,800 playgrounds that
service 3.5 million kids. They focus on how well
and how quickly they’re making good on their
mission, not on how little they’re paying their
chief executive. And as far as I can tell, that’s a helluva lot more
playgrounds than we built with the 800 billion dollar “stimulus
package.” For each of these, there are a hundred more examples
of ingenious social entrepreneurs making a positive mark on our
world, while