I have spent the past several years counseling a number of startups and emerging social entrepreneurs. As I have gone over numerous business plans, ideas strategies, I have been trying to distill some of the learnings from the growing pains of these various nascent enterprises. I hope very soon to write about this on this blog.
Since most of my recent efforts have been with social entrepreneurs, I have also been trying to find some relevant texts that I could point people to that would help them crystallize their early strategy and thinking. I have just read a couple and thought I would add a page to my blog, under resources with suggested books/readings. Will do that real soon. Let me know if you have come across any books that were particularly helpful.
While you wait for me to undertake these tasks, I thought I would write a quick note about one of the books – “Entrepreneur’s Notebook – Practical Advice for Starting a New Business Venture” by Steven K. Gold. It is a short, quick read and a good introduction to someone just starting, trying to flesh out a business idea. Some of the concepts are equally relevant to social businesses as well as for-profits.
Dr. Gold provides pithy check lists/summaries in most of the chapters. For example, one that caught my eye was (I am paraphrasing and summarizing from his chapter)
Management made (Overly) Simple
- Know – The big picture and what you need to do to accomplish your objectives
- Flow – keep the information flowing between your team members
- Grow – Grow your organization and your team by constantly learning and fine tuning
The Social Ecosystem 