Twitter, tweets and chickens

As I hinted in previous blogs, I intend to introduce some life changes. Although I love every bit of my life (well most of it), the tension between giving the rapidly expanding world of social enterprise the dedication it needs and being there for my brood (and I can see the irony there) means that something has to give. The first victims of this rationalisation have been our chickens (Seen above). This weekend we said good bye to our feathered friends. Protests have been vocal, particularly from third born, animal lover extraordinaire. However the dear old chooks needed heaps of care, several times a day and a big clean at the weekend which never quite liberated my garden from the inevitable emblems of good luck. So when we were offered a foster farm in Northamptonshire who collects rare breeds (Our ladies were a class act), we jumped at the chance. Frankly I am relieved, they were lovely and the eggs were great but even jobs that only take a few minutes a day, like calories, add up in a bad way.
Maintaining the feathered theme I want to speak out in support of Twitter. I am no dab hand at technology, as anyone who knows me will confirm, usually with a snort, but I think Twitter it great. It is fresh, uncensored, informative and absolutely genuine dialogue. Through Twitter I have a sense of what is going on in the social enterprise world Globally, and it’s all done without taking itself too seriously. Those who use it well do so with tongue in cheek, you can spot those who do it as duty because it’s all information with no attitude.

I know it’s not for everyone but I think Twitter and social networking is a very important part of the future of our movement. Association and the freedom to form collective opinions and share views has always been our rock bed, but now you don’t need to be part of the in-crowd to get in. All that I find out I share and there are plenty of others like me. Between us all momentum grows very quickly and we can not only generate interest but also distribute information and create actual non virtual interaction. People log on and then turn up. As example would be our Transition’s document that is going to be launched tonight. Through Twitter people have found out about both the launch and the piece itself. They have been able to express their views, unedited and join in a conversation about the opportunities and threats of social enterprises entering the public sector outsourcing debate en mass. Our venue tonight for the launch is the wonderful social enterprise, the London Early Years Foundation in Westminster which, like all venues, has limited space. The event itself is hopelessly oversubscribed which is not surprising as we have Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham and Derek Myers, CEO at Kensington and Chelsea giving us a cross party launch. Social enterprise has the unique ability to operate across party politics. Twitter has the unique ability to allow anyone, be they in Wapping or Waikiki to join in. Needless to say Matt will be Twittering for SEL (SocEntLdn) and Dom (DomPotter) and I (aogdennewton) will be Twittering up a storm on our own accounts, so one way or the other see you all there!

Transition avoiding the North face

On Friday SEL's new publication Transitions became available on line. It has already been downloaded several thousand times, a number that should increase as the document is now listed by the National Audit Office. We are waiting to see which public bodies will distribute it to their staff and what comes from those conversations. For me it is a fascinating process and interestingly one that would have been unthinkable without the imperative for change we're now faced with. I hope to be able to take part in some of those deliberations.

Transitions launches next Tuesday evening at London Early Years Foundation HQ in Westminster. With keynote speeches from Sir Steve Bullock (Mayor of Lewisham), Derek Myers (CEO of Kensington & Chelsea Council) and June O'Sullivan (LEYF CEO), it should be an absorbing evening - book your place here, there are still a couple left.

By producing Transitions, it’s associated training programme and creating the Transition Institute, a forum of experts to provide the strategic thinking behind an ideal social value program, SEL are doing their bit to make sure change means change for the better. My job is to keep my eye on the horizon and make sure that our advice is sensible, articulate and constructive without slipping into group hug rhetoric or alientating the very people upon whom the success of this process depends.

The principles for social enterprise remain the same - it's inspiring but complex, it can deliver so much but only if everyone involved in the process understands what it’s about and someone, somewhere has to be prepared to make an investment, so the idea has to be a good one.

Yesterday I met with yet another local authority CEO to talk about social enterprise and the remodelling of public service delivery and then went on to participate in Lambeth Council’s ongoing dialogue around becoming a cooperative council. I am one of the participating commissioners and have found the process absolutely fascinating. Yesterday we met Barry Quirk CEO at Lewisham Council and author of the landmark Quirk Review, and Ben Page, CEO of Ipsos MORI and pollster extraordinaire. Frankly I could have listened to them both all day, gripping stuff. Fellow commissioner, Richard Bridge of Waterloo Community Coalition, with only a partial tongue in cheek wondered if once our final report has been submitted, whether we would be able to apply for a masters degree at the end of all of this, given the quality of the presentations and discussions, which have been superb and absolutely of the moment.

The debate is on defining the nature of ‘community’, scoping the appetite for engagement and setting the agenda for change. I salute Lambeth’s approach to this issue and I have to say the programme they have outlined for themselves shows real vision. Barry and Ben (there's a joke there somewhere) gave considered, and highly informed views on the issues. The discussions themselves are subject to Chatham House rules but the gist of prioritising function over form and social engagement run throughout. Ben’s stats were really thought provoking as was his deadpan delivery on what separates opinions, attitudes and values. He told the group that people changed their opinions quite frequently, but their attitudes were more entrenched and as for values, those are the foundations upon which people build their lives, and are for the most part fixed. So are we hoping to change people’s opinions, attitudes or values? The latter being an attempt to take the summit by the North face.

But that's the point isn’t it? Those of us that advocate community based business models are trying to engage people’s values and sometimes change their opinions, at least if they think that social value and profit are oil and water. We know that they can work for mutual benefit, and I for one am looking forward to showing people how.

Shifting Sands

We had a great event today focussing on the shifting sands of London's political landscape.  It was delivered by Robert Gordon Clark, ceo at the London Communications Agency, and was thrilling.  I was supposed to follow him and when it was my turn I was disappointed as I could have listened to his pearls all day. If you weren't there we captured the presentation on a web cam and you will be able to catch it on our website in the next few days. Our hosts were London Early Years Foundation on Marsham Street in Westminster, thank you to them.  Its a great venue with a roof terrace looking out over the seat of democracy. Still a little early for me, 8am kick off after a late night with my Mum at the Coliseum watching the stuning Indomeneo.  London is not only the capital of social enterprise it is also the undisputed home of world class theatre and opera, such a stunning production the English National Opera at its best.

After my bit this morning I was ticked off by one leading light of our movement for being too optimistic and by another for being too pessimistic. A point I made in the piece was that it is very diffcult to steer a course at the moment between the stunning potential for social enterprise and the reality of what is happening on the ground, which is sometimes grim. Judging by the conflicted feedback I got, I might be on to something.

I've had some really uplifting emails today on where the opportunities are and how we as a movement can make the most of them, and yet I''ve just taken 2 calls from members in Hammersmith who are distraught.  It seems that to meet their defecit reduction targets, Hammersmith and Fulham Council have put a few of their buildings up for sale, some of which are home to social enterprises.  I am putting out feelers to see what is exactly going on and will report back.  However in the mean time it seems that if you are in Hammersmith and Fulham and you are running a social enterprise you might indeed feel that you are standing on shifting sands.

Schools run as social enterprises? Its not rhubarb you know

My first day back to the office yesterday after Japan and Cornwall, and I was hit by a wall of activity.  The SEL, 'Social enterprise: A brighter future future for schools?' conference on Thursday seems unbelievably well timed.  So much so, that as things stand, I have been lined up on the day for interviews with BBC Breakfast News and Women's Hour.

Following the launch of the Labour manifesto yesterday and the Conservatives today, everyone is talking about communities and social entrepreneurs running public services. The Tory manifesto even includes the following: "Our public service reform programme will enable social enterprises, charities and voluntary groups to play a leading role in delivering public services and tackling deep-rooted social problems." This will be the first time a major conference about that very issue, in the context of education, has been held in public. Those speaking include exemplary educationalists like Sir Michael Wilshaw, Principal of Mossbourne Academy in Hackney, who has shown how schools can excel under the Academy model, and others like Neil McIntosh CEO of fellow social enterprise CfBT Education Trust who are keen to promote the model of social enterprise, to ensure the sustainability of education projects. I can't wait, should be fascinating.

The bottom line for me is that we know there is an appetite for social enterprises like the Parent Promoted Foundation to take over running their local schools where existing management has failed to get a grip. I will not be distracted by the old slurs, that its only pushy middleclass parents wanting to take over everything, or its business trying to come in through the back door. Rubbish.

We have worked closely with some of the leading innovators in this field like Carmel McConnell from Magic Breakfast, June O'Sullivan at London Early Years Foundation and Paul Mason at PPF and we know there are highly qualified people in the wings, desperate to role up their sleeves and get stuck in to sort the intractable problems faced by families in London trying to make their way through the system. They just need an opportunity.

I hope you are enjoying the sun as much as I am. As I love being outside I was in the garden on Saturday and allotment on Sunday. The garden is looking quite good, my roses seem to be bouncing back from the hard winter well, although green fly is aready in evidence! But I also appear to have lost a couple of clematis.  At the allotment my forced rhubarb is nothing short of spectacular.  The colours of the stalks when they emerged from their dark hidding place is almost unearthly, and the taste is a delight. Subtle and not at all tart as my allotment neighbour Ben said in his text to me on Sunday having enjoyed the stalks I gave him.

                                                    Sam with this years stunning rhubarb

I promised an update on the decorating. I managed, with the help of my friend Sarah to finish the hall stairs and landings before setting off to Japan. 2 coats, 3 ceilings, 4lbs of body weight (who needs the gym?), 9 doors, 30 litres of paint and 72 stair spindles later it looks like this......

               The before shot, darker despite
                       the lighter walls I think

Happy Social Enterprise Day!

Celebrations kicked off last night for SEL when I opened our event with the Philosophy Shop and left a packed room poised to answer the big question, “What is a social enterprise?”. I then went off to the official launch of the Women’s Enterprise Taskforce report “Greater Return on Women’s Enterprise” where we heard from the wonderful Alyson Warhurst, Co- Founder and CEO of Maplecroft, a company first into the market with global risk analysis. She went from working from her bedroom to employing 42 employees and working for leading companies like Nokia, Microsoft, M & S and TNT. She told us about the plight of adolescent girls worldwide, how their lack of education and access to finance means a loss to GDP. How they are more likely to get HIV the closer to roads they lived and how in turn the prevalence of HIV affects corporate supply. All of these factors are part of the risk planning large corporates undertake when looking at expanding their operations worldwide. Alyson lives in a very interesting world, although the vagaries of running a business are similar no matter where you are. She told us how slow corporates are to pay their bills, and how important it is to productise data when everyone wants something for nothing. I found her presentation gripping.

The Taskforce was thanked by Lord Davies, the Business Minister, who committed to making sure the recommendations were enacted by Government, something we are confident of because not only is the UK economy crying out for more women in business but also it was Gordon Brown himself who established the Taskforce in 2006 and gave it the job of advising how to increase the quantity, scalability and success of women’s enterprise. Our co-chairs, Pam Alexander and Glenda Stone, thanked all of us and the colleagues who worked tirelessly with us to produce the work, and then we all exited stage left for a celebratory drink.

I left that reception to have a delightful supper with my friend Baroness Glenys Thorton, Minister in the Whips Office. We talked of all things social enterprise and family and had a good catch up. Sadly on the way home my hybrid car fizzled out and I had to fall back on the services of the AA to get me home, but I didn’t let that diminish my sense of having had a good day. However, I’d still like to know what the answer to the big question was?

Today I am off to No 10 for the Prime Minister’s Reception for Social Entrepreneurs, then to Birmingham to speak at the Guardian’s conference on social enterprise, and finally I hope to swing by this evening to the London Early Years Foundation annual Social Enterprise Day Lecture which is always really thought provoking. Whatever you’re doing today have a great day and spare a thought for all of those working against the rising tide of cynicism to make a better, fairer and greener world.