United Nations Headquarters. Source: CNN

“If the United Nations was fully funded why would we need the Arc or social enterprise?”

The United Nations was formed in 1945 to refrain countries to break out into World War II. Many years later, it now stands as a peacekeeping organization,  holds standards in which countries are to keep. Despite being fully funded, the United Nations will still need social entrepreneurship to invent new ways to solve problems that may not exist yet. With social entrepreneurship, they can still look for more efficient ways to operate, or having new technologies developed to create a better quality of service.

The Arc initiative is still beneficial and needed, as companies with newfound business tools and knowledge may help solve problems before they arise. If companies across Africa learn about such tools, they can solve problems within their own communities, and then go on and teach the knowledge they learned from Sauder to kids in school. Like they say, “knowledge is power” and by having such knowledge, the United Nations will benefit in the long run when there are problem solvers in Africa working with them, as simply aiding them will help, but provides no permanent solution.

“Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime”

Source: http://blogs.concernusa.org

Leonardo Di Caprio in The Wolf of Wall Street. Source: www.wolfofwallstreet.com

“With great power, comes great responsibility”

This quote defines what a great and inspiring leader in today’s corporate dogma, in which according to a Harvard Business Review article, “Power is the Great Motivator“. In the article, David McClelland and David Burnham explains the differences between the aspirations of managers, and is divided into three distinct categories: 1. getting things done, 2. goal achievement, 3. attaining power. The authors explains that the most effective managers in the work place are ones who put attaining power above the rest. They state that those people who sees attaining power responsibly are the most important, are also more team-oriented, and are great motivators to their respective teams, as they know that they can only maintain power through the companies’ successes. These are the people that know who can get the job done, as they know they are not the most capable person to accomplish each task.

Become influencial in the workplace. Source: www.higheredmorning.com

After reading this article, it makes me re-evaluate my motives as a leader in my own community. It changed my perspective on my mentality after learning about the ones of what makes great leaders effective. I agree with this article, as attaining power will allow you to be in a position of to motivate others, and to become the best leader that I can be, as I am thriving to become a positive influence in the future. One can do a lot with power.

Sources:

https://hbr.org/2003/01/power-is-the-great-motivator/ar/1

Marketing through Twitter. Source: www.smackdesign.com

New business start-ups are quite inflexible in terms of financial freedom, as they lack capital as their business is in the maturation process. Marketing for new businesses are tricky, as they cannot afford to pay high prices to promote themselves on high consumer based media outlets. The solution? Twitter. Twitter currently owns the 3rd highest market share for social media, and is a great way to create buzz and keeps possible customers interested in your product or service. Best of all IT IS FREE. Following the simple yet effective flowchart shown above, marketing on Twitter is a low-risk, high reward marketing strategy that can only generate more revenue for your business. Numerous large firms also use Twitter to market, showing the flexibility Twitter has in marketing.

Thinking about becoming a future entrepreneur myself, learning about effective efficient ways to market a growing company will be immensely beneficial to my start up company.  Learning from Jennifer Lonoff Schiff’s blog, “14 Ways to Use Twitter to Market Your Business“, the tips will teach myself and companies to maximize Twitter as a tool for marketing their firm. Having a new-aged marketing strategy is not only refreshing, but it attracts a younger demographic to your good.

Book from Mark W. Schaefer, The Tao of Twitter. Source: www.socialmediaexaminer.com

Sources :

http://www.cio.com/article/2380667/twitter/14-ways-to-use-twitter-to-market-your-business.html

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/twitter-marketing-with-mark-schaefer/

Jordan Belfort from “The Wolf of Wall Street” motivating his workforce. Source: Business Insider

After reading Nathaniel Koloc’s blog, “Let Employees Choose When, Where, and How to Work” from Harvard Business Review, I immediately related the topic of human resource management and work culture discussed back in class. In Koloc’s blog, he discussed the correlation between a workforce with more freedoms to increasing a workforce’s productivity. There was research done by the Wall Street Journal that indicates that firms that allowed employees to work remotely at least three times a month, saw revenue growth of 10% or more. This shows that having a flexible work culture, and knowing how to treat your employees will in fact, generate more revenue for your firm.

The concept of creating a positive work culture relates back to the firm discussed in class – Zappos. Watching the video displaying the work environment in Zappos reminds me of the scene in the movie, “The Wolf of Wall Street” where Jordan Belfort was rallying his workforce and motivating them in an aggressive manner, and showing his employee’s freedoms. With numbers conclusively showing that having the correct work culture for your firm, and knowing how to manage your employees’ freedoms will lead to revenue growth, I am inspired to learn ways to become a better motivator myself, and to learn different techniques to manage a team. This also shows the effectiveness of Zappos’ business model of working as a team, and like they always say: “teamwork makes the dreamwork”.

Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh’s and his theories. Source: University of Houston

Sources:

https://hbr.org/2014/11/let-employees-choose-when-where-and-how-to-work

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/09/14/happy-feet

Famous sign marking East Van Source: Vancouver Sun

Downtown Eastside Vancouver is a place of poverty and addiction. Being a resident of the East Vancouver myself, I have had a first-hand experience in witnessing the struggles of poverty, alcoholism, addiction, and violence. There are too many people stuck in the poverty cycle down in the Eastside, and there seems like their lives are ruined with no hope, due to poor choices they have made in their lives.

As if there seems like nothing can be done for these people, I read a recent blog post by fellow classmate Bowie Ko, named “Old Skool Cafe“, which talks about a restaurant that specifically employs people who are struggling with addictions and poverty. After learning about these restaurants which provide opportunity and hope towards people in need such as Old Skool Cafe and Save On Meats, I have the utmost respect for establishments witch are trying to provide a positive change in their communities through creating social enterprise with their business models.

Save On Meats has inspired myself to become a social entrepreneur and start an organization starting in my own community to help those in need and to create a business which provides jobs to those on the streets while remaining profitable. I realize the importance of the growth of distraught communities, and it is important to give back to the community which helped raise you.

Save On Meats. Source: Kai Jacobson, The Ubyssey

Sources:

http://ubyssey.ca/culture/dtes-eats-975/

https://blogs.ubc.ca/bowieko/2014/11/04/old-skool-cafe/