You are an Innovative Impact Engineer.
I’ve decided to write a book of authority. Yes, it’s true.
All these past years of my life have been spent in reading, passionately consuming the ideas of others and making my mind and soul swell with this knowledge. And maybe it’s about time to try the same, to pass around some of what I’ve learned in the humble hope that someone will find value in it and then decide to build on it and share what they know, too.
So please do allow me the pleasure of introducing you to the topic of Social Impact and Innovation. While I have come at this idea of Impact and Innovation in my own life from a predominantly business perspective- one which incorporates core competencies of developing impact statements or pursuing an innovative idea in a methodical and financially sustainable way, so as to actually run a profit-generating enterprise- I’m going to be exploring more in this book than just Social Entrepreneurship. I plan to openly and loudly integrate the “softer” ideas of social benefit, creative thinking, intersectionality, and dealing with the externalities of our increasingly complex global home, as well as how to take these concepts out of the office, co-working space, market stall, farm, or inventory room and into our minds and hearts.
Think of the contents of this book as a big old seed, and you’re going to take this seed wherever you go and plant it. And then harvest its results and plant them somewhere new. Plant, harvest, repeat.
Social Impact and Innovation is near and dear to me. I grew up as an Empath whose heart was daily broken by witnessing inequity; I’m a passionate, driven person who longs to find the best target at which to lob all of this effort, and an integrator who wants to make the world better. Lofty goal? You bet- and often very nebulous and hard to explain. But it’s possible to create the foundation for making that goal a reality, without attracting the scornful glances of people who will tell you that you can’t change the world, because just who do you think you are?
Here’s the answer to that: we are Innovative Impact Engineers. We’re going to be walking through all of the steps to make this a part of your reality about yourself.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you must also be a high-level Empath who requires spiritual beatings every day as you witness social injustice, but you should be someone who can identify with the people experiencing a particular difficulty and be able to find a solution that suits their needs. This is the hallmark of successful entrepreneurs- after all, the literature supports the idea that the best business people are able to effectively fix their customers’ problems. Impact and Innovation does demand that you be willing to go outside of your comfort zone and get BIG in your answers.
Another thing I want to help you to integrate into your mindset is this: Impact and Innovation do not need to be limited to business, and certainly not to any particular kind of business. We’re not building the perfect unicorn here, we are training a fleet of pack-mules. This is a much less romantic (and less catchy) analogy than prancing mythical horses, but stick with me here: pack-mules can carry a great deal of weight over long and often treacherous distances, because they are robust. Plus, as an added benefit, they’re… you know… real. Impact and Innovation needs to be able to exist in the real world as part of the real solutions leading to social justice; they’ve got to be powerful and potent, and not just another pretty face (or the next, probably not so realistic, “billion-dollar idea”).
Impact and Innovation can apply to many different areas of your life- parenting (I’m a single mother, which requires constant, daily doses of creativity- and talk about impact!), education, governance, community building and design, and more. I’m not going to encourage or require you to frame yourself as the head of a startup, if that’s not your bag, nor am I going to be expounding on the latest development in chasing a Silicon Valley dream. What I am going to do is talk about how to know more about what you can do, today, with the tools you have and the ones I’m going to share with you, to create a world where possibility becomes real.
The kind of world where hearts are not broken, but are swelling with hope and resources.
Plant, harvest, repeat.
To that end, this book is parceled out into sections, beginning with exploring Innovation Theory, developing creative thinking processes for design and development, building Social Enterprises (including for-profits companies, non-profits, NGOs, and a thousand hybrids in between), and measuring impact and outcomes. Within each of these general headers, we’ll be delving into details such as the different ways to approach innovation and how to decide which is best for your needs, the legalities of business structures, telling your unique story and sharing it effectively in order to build your tribe around your goals, and building Impact and Innovation ecosystems that value collaboration and cooperation over individual superstardom.
I’m quite looking forward to this journey with you, and to hearing more about your visions and dreams.
Read Chapter 2 here.
Hillary Strobel is a content single mother, fierce learner and teacher, ardent lover of life, and ass-kickin’ President and CEO of a Social Enterprise, The Flyways, Inc. After a long and varied career in just about every kind of Liberal Arts field imaginable, and in every type of job position- volunteer, employee, entrepreneur, non-profit worker, and freelancer- she has decided to put her money where her mouth is and marry her two deepest passions: stories and social justice. The results have surpassed her wildest expectations.
