Limpin, Abram John A.

               Last March 29, 2009, a seminar was held in our IT-ETHIC class entitled, "Will You Be The Social Entrepreneurship". Sir Ben Quiñones, Chairman of CSRSME Asia and a UP graduate shared his ideas on how social entrepreneurs work in today's industry.

                First, he discussed on different definitions of  a "entrepreneur". According to the author of the book "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" by Peter Drucker, an entrepreneur creates something new or something different. Also, entrepreneurs changes or tranmutes values drasitcally. Sir Quiñones was able to bring up a statement to class which allowed us to think critically - "A person cannot be an entrepreneur unless he is engaged in a profit-taking business." Everybody has their own opinions about that statement. I understand the fact that the speaker wanted to make us realize something. That's how he was able to brought up two distinctions of an entrepreneur.

               According to the speaker, there are two kinds of entrepreneurs: profit-centered entrepreneurs and socially responsible entrepreneurs. Profit-centered entrepreneurs can be seen to the majority. Most people who wanted to start a business think profit-earning. On the other hand, socially responsible or social entrepreneurs are different from the first. By quickly illustrating to us the difference between the two, we were starting to understand what entrepreneurs should be: become a social entrepreneur. What I like to the topic discussed was when the speaker shared some concepts about mental models that profit-centered entrepreneurs have. Once imprisoned with this kind of model, they become unaware of their own mental models. That is how the speaker brought of the concept of "learning disabilities".

               Learning disability creates incompetence to profit-centered entrepreneurs. Sir Ben was able to illustrate different ideas about learning disabilities.

• Learning Disability #1 - "I am my position." - This illustrates how people become "limited" to their responsibilities. They are only aware on what they are doing and what thre are going to benefit.
• Learning Disabilty #2 - "The enemy is out there." - People should be aware and understand the extent boundary of their position. What entrepreneurs must do is to learn to adapt with different positions and learning to be "outside the box".
• Learning Disability #3 - The Illusion of Taking Charge - "PUSH HARDER" - This misconception has been affecting the mental model of most people. Entrepreneurs are getting "pressured" to do things after a failure or so.
• Learning Disability #4 - The Fixation of Events - Most entrepreneurs think of short-term goals. They should learn how to consider long term goals and responsibilties as well.
• Learning Disability #5 - The Parable of the Boiled Frog - Entrepreneurs must be willing to adapt changes and the environment they are dealing. Flexilibilty is a major concern.
• Learning Disability #6 - The Delusion of Learning From Experience - We may learn from experiences,  but people often never experience the consequences of many of their most important decisions directly.
• Learning Disability #7 - The Myth of the Management Team - Teamwork is missing.

          Sir Ben was able to make us realize the importance of teamwork. I agree with his statement that Filipinos are good at specialization of skills, however "individuality" is likely to be seen. Team effort is one concern that entrepreneurs should look at. No matter how good a person can be or can do, the sense of unity and collaboration among people can make good results.

          Another idea that the speaker mentioned was the difference between the "old economy" and the "socially-responsible economy". He was able to explain the paradigm shift in mental models. In old economy, profit is supreme. On the other hand, "triple bottom line" can be seen in a "social economy". Stakeholders are being organized in a sense taht they get a handle of the market - they are now participating in market systems design and application.

          What strike the most was when the speaker said the statement "Contribute to strengthening civil society and social entrepreneurs as third pillar of economy". As we all know, government and corporations are only the ones who "do the profit". Entrepreneurs should be the "integrator" between the investors, buyers, and consumers. I have learned that being a social entrepreneur, I should understand and apply system thinking - seeing the interaction of all positions building shared visions.