Human communication is something that touches all of our lives – whether or not we like it, we have to communicate with others. And if we cannot do it well, then we’ll find ourselves having a hard time building trustworthy, substantial, long-lasting relationships with people.

I don’t know if most people will agree with me on this, but I feel like there’s a difference between communication skills you use in business/the workplace versus the communication skills you use in your personal life. With personal relationships, the wall of courteousness required in the workplace comes down – and the truth comes out.

Sometimes, it’s blunt. And what I’ve learned over the years is that blunt does not mean good. “Bluntness = the truth = everyone should face it”, as much as I used to believe in it, is not always the best way to go. The “truth” (which usually means one’s own opinion) isn’t necessarily the truth, and even if it is, most people do not like to hear it nor accept it. So I’m defining “truth” as an opinion about an issue, trait, or decision relating to the other party. Usually the “truth” just becomes a more objective opinion.

A journey I’ve – finally, consciously, perhaps – have embarked on in the past 6-7 years or so of my life is this confusing yet important learning exercise on communication. In a short-list, here’s the trajectory I’ve gone on in these past years, which has affected both my verbal and online communications:

Too blunt and broadcasting everything
V
Learning how and when to bite my tongue
V
Biting my tongue too much

I’ve tried to think about what factors (people, situation, perspective) have contributed to this progression. Here are the realizations (bolded) I’ve made (which led to a change in my own communication style) and the results and conflicts (italicized) I’ve faced –

• Difference in perspective. Just because I think something doesn’t mean the other person does too.
  Sometimes people want your perspective and opinion, they just don’t (know how to) ask for it.
• We’re grown up now. We’ve reached the age where we need to be responsible and accountable for our own decisions and lives.
  We’re not as grown up as we think, sometimes. Even peers our own age can provide guidance.
  
• Sometimes, people just don’t want to hear it. Who wants to be the person to be the blunt-”truth” preacher? Most people don’t like to be with these individuals who remain on their high-horses and tell you “as it is.”
  But sometimes, they just need to hear it – they don’t have to follow it. If your opinions and sentiments matched that of others, they may eventually “get” it, if they hear it enough times.
  
• Decouple opinion with judgment – at least in the way you say it. Listen. Understand. And be supportive. Incorporate these 3 things and respond with an opinion without judgment.
  Taking out the judgment from opinion is not always easy – and is harder than it seems.

A majority of the bolded realizations I’ve made have made me the communicator that I am today. But, in making all of these “realizations” and modifying the way I communicate with others, I’ve started to learn some of the italicized “lessons.” These lessons – some of which I am still processing and internalizing – have affected the relationships with those I found/find closest to me.

In the midst of all of this, I’ve become almost the opposite of who I was – at least it could seem that way from an external point of view. I’m still opinionated the same way I was – in the sense that I’ll speak up on social, environmental, and political issues. But when it comes to communicating my opinions about the people I’m closest to, I’m only able to do that really with two — or three, at best — people in my life.

Somehow, I’ve become a watered-down version of myself. In a way, it’s a good thing – for the realizations listed in this post. But the lessons I’m getting are making me re-evaluate the way I talk to people in my personal life.

And maybe I’m just still learning – maybe this is a life-long learning exercise on “communication”, after all.

Knowing me, if I want to make a change and balance the “realizations” with the “lessons”, talking about this out loud with others is not going to be enough. I need to internalize this in my head…and be able to express them through writing too. Writing is one of the only ways I’ve ever been able to make sense of things in my head, so that I can articulately (or as articulate as I’m capable of at this time) express my thoughts and opinions.

I want to make changes; no, I need to. I must find the medium between what I’ve had to learn the hard way (the realizations) — and the consequential results (the lessons), so that I’m no longer biting my tongue too much. I want to start building better relationships with people in my life.

So this is me, trying to find my voice again.

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Take a second to look at this image. Do each of them represent something your mind?

Last night, I had dinner with a friend and we were discussing thoughts, language, and ways of thinking. Both of us immigrated to the U.S. from Asia when we were 8-9 years old, and I asked her whether or not she could pinpoint when she started “thinking” in English versus her native language. This is a concept that’s always fascinated me – how I used to think in “Chinese” and when exactly it switched to being in English.

While I’ve pondered this use of English-vs.-Chinese in my mode of thinking, I never quite considered that we don’t JUST think in words. We also think in colors, images, and experiences! Sometimes, I think I get so wrapped up in my thoughts — the stream of consciousness type of thinking, that I forget I don’t just use words to make sense of concepts to myself. It seems like it’d make the most sense, that I use words to make sense of things, because we use language and words as a tool for communication and for articulating ourselves to the world. But words can be so limiting – colors, intertwined with experiences and memories, alongside specific images are just as amazing ways of thinking and processing our thoughts.

From my own conscious thoughts, I know that I do think mainly in words: it’s like I hear my own “voice” in my head (not in the crazy way) when I’m articulating thoughts to myself inside my brain. But what I wonder is whether or not everyone else mainly thinks in words, or if there are others out there who actually think with images, memories, colors, and perhaps other forms of thinking that I’m just leaving out. Can we think with feelings? Or is that an oxymoron?

What I’m also curious to explore is how these forms of thinking can be applied to business solutions. Can we integrate these modes of thinking into the systems thinking and design thinking frameworks? (Or are certain modes already integrated?)

I’ll be attending a Design Thinking Workshop that the Center for Responsible Business, where I work, is offering in two weeks. So, more on that after I learn more about design thinking…

Photo credits: Ang Kor Wat by my sister, Keane concert by me, words photo

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If I’m going to talk about the active nihilist lifestyle I live for myself, if I’m going to live my life supposedly under the philosophy that life has infinite interpretations, if I’m going to have a way of life that allows me to discover new suns and seas as they are opened to me (or rather, as I open them myself), a life colored with my own meanings and interpretations as I make them to be…

then I think it is time to embrace myself as an individual, to trust my gut feeling as I see fit, and to truly and fully live the life I want to live, not one I think others want me to live, nor one I live for other people.

As I work towards becoming the best individual I can be, seeking to reach the potential I have, I think it is important that I realize what it means to be an authentic individual, especially within my own worldview. For me, being an authentic individual means making life decisions and life choices that I want to — so long as it does not interfere with my larger life-goal, whatever that may be. I think that as of right now, my life goal is one that is career-focused. So while what I see from a “big-picture” point of view involves pursuing a career I love and taking steps to get there, it is also taking part in the “smaller-picture” of things: doing what makes me happy, what allows me to live in the moment, and what lets me to enjoy my youth and undergraduate college years while I can. More importantly, it is me feeling comfortable with who I am and what I do, realizing that I should not feel the need to please people around me all the time –that at the end of the day, I need to stop worrying so much about what others think of me. Because they are not me. It is not worth it for me to make life decisions or change the way I live my life to please someone else who is not living the life I live.

I think it’s taken me so long to come to this realization, that now that I have, it is a scary and quite uncertain new world to be in. Regardless, it’s a “new sun” I am eager to explore, a “sea” that I am willing to embark on a journey on, and slowly embrace, in hopes that all of this will make me a better person, one who is authentic to the essence of me, to create a life for myself worth living.

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There are many reasons why I have, for the time being, decided that I may not want to go into consulting straight out of undergrad. While those reasons are all valid and require just as much attention, I want to focus on one in particular: salary-level and financial gains.

It’s not a secret that those working in management consulting get paid a lot more than those who work at either a NGO or social enterprise. And while for the past 3 years of my life, though I had been setting my mind to working within the social enterprise field, I had not really and truly considered what it means to work for  a social enterprise, from a financial standpoint.

For me, part of what it boils down to is my background, upbringing, and financial stability which affects my career choices and how that would affect my lifestyle. I’ve talked about this more than once on this blog, but coming back to it — I’ve had a “fairly comfortable” (if not “overly comfortable”) life growing up… and partially I think this is also what made me realize that I need something more than “wealth” to be happy. And here, too, are multiple things going on: perhaps I think I’d be unhappy with “just wealth” because I lack the same sense of “personal achievement” that comes with wealth. And so who is to say that if I were to make something of myself in my future career and made a good amount of money, I wouldn’t be content enough with this? That’s something I cannot discount, because frankly I don’t know how I’d feel if I got to that point. But the point is that in my present state (or throughout my life) I never felt like pursuing a career that would bring in a lot of money would be enough for me, from a career standpoint.

So thus begins my pursuit of a career in social enterprise/social entrepreneurship, what I believe is a way for me to achieve that “something else” that I feel like I lack. But pursuing a career in this field means not making a lot of money, perhaps just enough for a “comfortable” lifestyle. And, to be honest, I think this is what scares me the most. The fact that I’ve grown up living a certain lifestyle, being provided for by my parents, and not having to worry about money is what makes me doubt my ability to learn how to want less and how to be content with a less “extravagant” lifestyle.

And while I can say this fear/doubt of mine can be attributed to my upbringing/growing up, it can just as well be attributed to social and peer pressure. Society — American society especially – breeds a culture of excess, consumption, and materialism. We are bombarded daily with new products or new “somethings,” and are constantly reminded of how awesome it must be to be rich and wealthy.

Let’s take my recent weekend trip to Las Vegas, for instance. Vegas is perhaps the epitomes of excess, consumption, and materialism. Table service at clubs costs thousands of dollars; suites or penthouse suites can cost up to $10,000 per night (can you believe that?!); lounging at the VIP section of a pool party can easily cost $3,000 for the afternoon. While it is not that hard to “crash” these VIP places, there is a sense of “coolness” and even “superiority” to be had when we are able to sit in these places or have the “VIP” treatment. We are conditioned to think that being VIP, having bottle service, or staying in a penthouse suite is what it means to be “baller”, “high rollers”, and just plain awesome. The implication behind all of these words is that: you have made it, you are wealthy, and that is something to be looked up to (in a sense). And being surrounded by that, and to see people’s reactions to this excess/consumption/materialism (myself included), only reminds me more of how much our society idolizes what it means to be wealthy and how that is the ultimate achievement.

While I am not discrediting wealth as achievement, I think there are other forms of achievement that are often downplayed. But when we are surrounded 24/7 by this excessive, materialistic, and consumption-focused culture, I think it is difficult to train ourselves — to re-condition ourselves, in a sense — to believe that there are, in fact, different forms of achievement, and that we don’t HAVE to buy into this wealth=achievement type of thinking (even though I am not saying people cannot have this type of thinking).

Peer pressure is another way we are conditioned to believe that achievement and wealth are synonymous. As an undergrad at a business school, I see a good percentage of my peers recruiting for investment banking, consulting, and accounting jobs. While I don’t believe this of all of those recruiting, a good amount of them want jobs in these industries because their end-goal is to make a lot of money. And to be honest, can I blame them? Is it really so wrong for those who: 1) grew up living a comfortable or extravagant lifestyle and want to sustain that for themselves in the future OR 2) did NOT grow up wealthy and thus want that kind of lifestyle — to pursue a career that will bring in a good amount of money? No, it’s really not so wrong.

For me, I think realizing all of these factors and being surrounded by this type of “philosophy” (if I may call that) only makes it harder for me to slowly accept the financial/lifestyle consequences of pursuing what I want to pursue. I need to learn how to be OK with living “modestly”; I need to, despite the fact that my sister is pursuing a career in the fashion industry (an industry that I also am interested in, as a hobby, but also an industry that thrives on excess and wealth), not participate alongside her desire to purchase expensive designer items, because that’s her future line of work, so it would be OK for her to want that, but it’s not mine. Most of all, I need to start thinking realistically what going into this field means financially and lifestyle-wise and start accepting this and being OK with it, despite the constant reminders that “more is better and wealth=achievement.” Otherwise, I am just kidding myself and will remain sitting here, thinking up some great scheme about how I am going to participate in poverty alleviation/changing the world, allthewhile still being supported by my parents and not having any financial burden at all, until I am thrown into it and hit by the reality of what it really means to want to work in the social enterprise space.

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However, Ivan’s positing of his world as the truth is problematic: the “escape” Ivan creates is one of wavering conviction. In the progression of the novel, Ivan’s convictions come back to haunt him via the Devil in his nightmare. Ivan characterizes the Devil as his “illness…, the incarnation of…only one side of [him]…, the nastiest and stupidest of [his own thoughts]” (Dostoevsky 592). In his self-proclaimed belief of absolute nothingness, much like a passive nihilist, Ivan gets into a feeling of despair. Ivan claims everything to be “disorderly, damnable, and perhaps devil-ridden chaos” (207-208). Later on, all the worlds of God and Satan are “not proved, to [his] mind” (597). Ivan clings onto the need for proofs, rationality, and logic in order to justify his true world he has created. However, Ivan’s despair and confusion is the natural result of the “escape” that follows from the first two psychological stages of nihilism.

Ivan develops his philosophy by relying on reasoning, logic, and rationality. However, he does not realize that “the strength of knowledge does not depend on its degree of truth but… on the degree to which it has been incorporated” (The Gay Science; 169). Ivan has not incorporated his knowledge and philosophy into his character and his being. He created his beliefs through logic, on the notion that there exists nothingness and that faith in a higher being cannot and does not provide value for him. Logic and reason, however, prove faulty for the basis of “truth.”

…

What Ivan would have needed was to reach the third psychological state of nihilism. This last state begins with the realization that the reason one must invent and create a new true world is derived from one’s psychological needs (The Will to Power), just as “achieving,” “becoming,” and “aims” are psychological needs. Thus, one then concludes that one has “absolutely no right” to the truth one has created, by which one can then realize that “the reality of becoming…[is] the only reality” and there remains no reason to convince oneself that there exists a “true” world. When aim, unity, and being – the highest values – devaluate themselves, Nietzsche argues that one should become an active nihilist in order to truly grasp and take advantage of life…[Ivan] did not want to discover another world because he became obsessed with trying to find meaning and make sense of the one sun, the one world he was in.

Ivan should have embraced the realization that there is no truth by becoming a free spirit and living life dangerously. When Ivan’s god began to die – began to lose its meaning –  Ivan slipped into further despair and confusion; an active nihilist, in hearing that the old god is dead, would feel “as if a new dawn shone on [him]” and his heart would overflow with “gratitude, amazement, premonitions, expectation” (The Gay Science; 280). The active nihilist would view the old god’s death as a wonderful opportunity to venture out into the unknown, into the “open sea,” and embrace “what is beautiful, strange, questionable, terrible, and divine” (346).

Herein lies where, in the past 6 months (however long ago it was that I wrote this paper/took this class…) I think I’ve come to my own understanding of “life” and reconciling the seemingly “meaningless” world with an amazing, “beautiful..terrible..divine” life I am living. So this is my new sun, and while I am relishing in this “new sun” I am going to embrace the meaning I derive from it, until one day — if ever — my god/sun/meaning begins to die or devaluate itself…by which point it will be time to venture onto a new sea.

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While I give myself credit for the overloaded class + extracurricular schedule I always have for myself, relative to my own time management and time-spent-on-other-things, I could totally be reading “for myself”…it’s just that I choose not to.  One “excuse”/reason is that many books I do want to read tend to be nonfiction (thus usually more ‘dense’/educational)…which makes this type of reading similar to the types of readings I have to do for my classes (so then it’s as if I never get a break), but it honestly is NOT an excuse.

I started to think about how much I used to read through middle school and the first half of high school… And I realized that partially, it was because I really did not watch TV. Nowadays, I’m following TOO many shows for my own good and perhaps spending too much time socializing on weekends… And that’s when I realized/decided that this type of hedonistic lifestyle I’ve adopted for myself during my free time isn’t really what I want for myself. Or is it?

I watch so many TV shows and indulge in mindless activities…all of this only makes me  a victim fallen prey to our escapist-, entertainment-obsessed society that I too criticize. I mean, while I am not watching TV shows/indulging in mindless activities, I know it’s not like I’m “wasting my life away” and being unproductive, but when I do have the “free time,” I AM being “unproductive.” Perhaps we all need the “mindlessness” of such activities and the escapism into worlds that are not our own — but when done in excess it becomes a dangerous lifestyle, at least for myself.

I always used to justify my love for mindless things, such as watching chick flicks, watching trashy TV shows, watching non-trashy-but-purely-entertainment-based TV shows, etc. by saying it is one of the few times my poor, over-analytical and over-evaluative brain gets to rest… Maybe it’s true. But it does not serve as an excuse!!!

Anyway…this has been probably one of my more pointless rambles… Just documenting my “journey” of attempts for self-improvement, don’t mind me…

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Of course, I am open to learning and discovering what I may have missed out on when I was at home and not allowed to watch TV because I had to do homework. Don’t get me wrong — I’m not blaming all of my “confusedness” in certain aspects of American culture on my immigration, but it plays a pretty major role in why I may not know what people are talking about when they refer to characters of TV shows that were popular in the 1990′s. Most of the time, I respond to people’s glances and remarks with the “I wasn’t even in the States until 1997″ answer.

Pop culture references aside, I think there’s more at work here than the mere “wow, you don’t know that?” comments. It becomes a question of assimilation and just how much “assimilating” is “enough.” In one of my classes last semester, I learned about the assimilationist policies adopted by the Bureau of Indian affairs in dealing with the American Indians, and the assimilationist attitudes of the Mexican American movement, before it gradually became the Chicano movement. These policies attempted to erase the cultural traditions and ways of life of each respective racial group and called for them to be distinctly “American.” We often covered the topic of cultural authenticity: just what exactly is “American,” anyway? The rest of the world, when they think “American,” they think of what we term “WASPs” — White Anglo Saxon Protestants. But that’s not always the case, obviously. The US as a country prides itself on racial and ethnic diversity, cultural diversity, etc. etc.; at the same time, there seems to exist certain societal expectations of immigrants assimilating to “American society.”

Take the Asian population, for example. Here, I will refer to the “Asians” as one large population, but obviously the different ethnic groups apply here as well. For one, if an Asian is “too Asian” (of which we will define as those who may speak their Asian language to their Asian friends, focus mostly if not solely on Asian pop culture), we refer to them as “fobs” and with that, the expectation for them to assimilate into “American society” seems to be lowered. On the other hand, for the Asians who may have “completely” assimilated into American society (of which we can say those who know nothing of their Asian culture, may not have learned or have forgotten their Asian language, focus solely on American pop culture), we call them “white washed.” And then there are others in the middle — which is where I view myself — who have, for the most part, assimilated to the American society but nonetheless would like to retain (or do retain, because it’s partially ingrained in us) aspects of our Asian culture. Along this middle-part of the spectrum, we are neither “too white” nor “completely fob,” where people would expect you to know enough about American ‘traditions’ and ‘pop culture.’

There is a fine line between not being exposed to certain aspects of American society/pop culture references and plain ignorance, but from my experience these two areas have become mixed. I don’t think people have in mind per se that I am an ignorant person for not knowing X and Y about some aspect of American culture, but yet I don’t think people take into account that different cultural knowledge and traditions are emphasized during one’s childhood.

This goes back to the question of cultural authenticity: just how “authentic” can one be? Especially in a country of such a diverse background and population, there exists misconceptions and judgmental expectations for just what exactly every “American citizen” should know about “America.” But I see this, on a less major but still significant level, as the American assimilationist policy at work here, perpetuated by the American people. What does it actually mean to be American, anyway? We boast of our “melting pot” or perhaps the “salad bowl” population, but this assimilationist attitude is really calling for all of us to be “melted” into the pot instead of accepting the “salad bowl” that exists instead. There is no “the distinct American identity”; there are only versions of it. Until we as a population decide to acknowledge the indistinct American identity, I think that we will continue to hold the assimilationist attitudes instead of adopting an accepting attitude towards individuals residing in America.

And, at the end of the day, we will all still grapple with the question of “cultural authenticity.” What a marvelous world it is!

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So I just wrote a 7-page paper on why Dostoevsky believes Ivan does not know how to deal with suffering and why Alyosha does…but I didn’t get a chance to try and figure out how this applies to my life. That’s the whole reason I’m taking this class on existentialism, isn’t it? To attempt to figure out why my so-called existentialist philosophy on the world may or may not work for me… So, I’m going to try and flesh out my thoughts here.

While I argue in my paper that Ivan does not know how to deal with suffering, and that his view on the world is problematic, I find myself identifying with the majority of Ivan’s beliefs. Here are some examples:

“the absurd is only too necessary to earth. The world stands on absurdities, and perhaps nothing would have come to pass in it without them. We know what we know! …I made up my mind long ago not to understand. If i try to understand anything, I shall be false to the fact, and I have determined to stick to the fact” (Dostoevsky 220).

“What do I care for a hell for oppressors? What good can hell do, since those children have already been tortured?” (221)

However, a discrepancy between Ivan’s and my views is that he oscillates between claiming God exists and God does not exist; for me, God does not exist. Perhaps I don’t have a clear understanding of Ivan’s belief about God’s existence. But the fact of the matter is, he did not existentialize God the way Alyosha seemed to have been able to.

For Alyosha, the existentialization of God was the ability for him to get in touch with agape love – the Christian love of brothers, an “interestedness” in people. Through such, he is able to escape suffering and despair. I like to believe that I have “existentialized God” in the sense that the meaning others attribute to God, I’ve attributed to other things in my life. Vague, perhaps. But at the same time, how could I have ever existentialized God if I were never really exposed to it in the first place? That’s the issue with my trying to understand the philosophies of philosophical thinkers Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, and the like: that they come from a background of Christian religion (or even Western religion, at that), and that it was after they were exposed and taught it, that they attempted to reconcile such with their own existential beliefs. What am I reconciling?

I’ve had friends who wanted me to go to church and try and be exposed to Christian teachings. It’s one thing to be exposed to it — which I have, mildly, through most of my classes involving philosophy and/or English — but it’s another to attempt to learn it for your own life and own philosophy. I honestly just don’t see the need to do that, because why would I need to learn about Christian teachings only to have to reconcile those teachings and “beliefs” that I may obtain with my current views?

Anyhow, that wasn’t the point – the point is that I need to figure out what it is I’m missing – the steps between Ivan and Alyosha… Because in the novel, Ivan goes into despair and becomes crazy. I argue that it’s his logical nature and his need to rationalize everything with reason that becomes his downfall. For me, I reason things – to an extent. But then it’s like Ivan’s own quote about the absurdities. There are things on earth (and even beyond, if you’d like to believe) that we can never understand – that I can never understand. I’m trying to, which is why I even take these classes to begin with, but I know that there are always going to be aspects of our existence that are just incomprehensible and inexplicable. But I’m okay with that.

…And I think that’s what may be “bad.” Ivan was okay with it – or so he thought. His doubts and so-called “convictions” come back to haunt him and, in my reading, attribute to his downfall/craziness. I can see my similarity to Ivan: we are both so convicted in our convictions. What if that’s all we have? I always like to think that it’s enough, that it is all we have and that’s the beauty of it…Because what I believe, I so strongly believe it’s true for me, that there can be nothing else of a fundamental truth in my mind. Is it bad, to have this strong of a conviction, through reasoning?

Alyosha, on the other hand, gets in tune with this interconnectedness and “agape” love that Dostoevsky supposed believes we need to do. How do I do this, via a non-Christian context? Alyosha does it by existentializing the religious sacraments and being incarnation of God (or, rather, Dostoevsky existentalizes them..), but what would be the need for me to existentialize these sacraments if I never had them in my life to begin with?

So, somehow, I need to figure out how to get “in touch” with this interconnectedness amongst people. I don’t think it’s really socially or anything in that sense. A disconnect I can pinpoint would begin with basically the content of this post. In my lifetime, I’ve come across very few people who share similar sentiments or are even willing to discuss these types of issues with me. I think it’s difficult for me to feel “interconnected” with others in this sense when I don’t feel like I can connect with others philosophically(?). But I don’t think it’s so much that they need to have the same philosophy as I do, for what would be interesting to discuss then?, but as that few people think about these issues and question their beliefs. Again, this is probably an issue I’ve struggled with for who knows how long now, but I think the fact that I still feel this disconnect is something that should be figured out… But how??? Practically, it’s not really possible. Who has time to think about fundamental beliefs such as these. Some people don’t want to, because then it shakes the very foundations of their existence…etc.etc.

…so what is it?? I’m confusedddddddd. Obviously I’m not going to evaluate my life and philosophy exactly as how Dostoevsky pictured it, for how do we even know 100% that that was really even his philosophy? But it’s an everyday struggle (yes, I am being overly dramatic) in figuring out how we (myself include, and perhaps the human race too…and no, I am not trying to be patronizing nor all-knowing) get out of despair and find meaning in our lives, or else everything is rendered ‘pointless’ and what would be the point of that?

Note: My reading of Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov is via my professor’s (Professor Hubert Dreyfus) interpretation of the novel. The class it’s for is “Existentialism in Literature and Film.”

Also, I have written a follow-up entry to this: “Creating and discovering new suns..” as of May 8, 2010.

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This blog post is part of Akhila’s “Be the change” series and is also posted on her website here. Much thanks to Akhila for hosting this awesome series – I suggest you check out all the other entries! All have great insight
——————————

I’ve been attempting to find time and contribute to this awesome blog series “Be the change” thanks to Akhila, and of course, I am writing this instead of working on a paper that’s due in a few days.

Prior to attending school at UC Berkeley, all I knew was that I was interested in “business” and “changing the world” (or more specifically, I used to say “starting a revolution”). Little did I know that individuals such as Muhammad Yunus were already doing so! My friend introduced me to the concept of “social business” and “social entrepreneurship” around second semester of my freshman year, and that was when it all began.

I embarked on a Google-ing, internet-searching quest to learn more about this concept, and ended up first reading Yunus’ book, Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. From then on, I’d continue to read articles, books, and scour the Internet for more about social entrepreneurship and social business.

I often stop and reflect on why it is I seem to have this insatiable need and want to help others and improve the lives of the less fortunate. For the most part, I think it’s because I have grown up with so much opportunity laid in front of me, the privilege of living in a nice community and have the comfort and support of my parents. Maybe I was too comfortable that I became uncomfortable with my comfort. Does that make sense?

Perhaps it’s why I want to pursue a career in poverty alleviation through the power of social business and entrepreneurship. I happened to be born into a family that gave me the opportunity to obtain a good education. It was chance that I was born in Taiwan to parents who wanted to pursue a better life in the United States and brought my sister and I here. What about others who live in poverty and are not presented with the opportunity of obtaining an education, of living a privileged life? How is it their fault?

It’s not, and it’s a thought that resounds in me and propels me forward. I joined a student grassroots organization CalPIRG my freshman year, and by the second semester my friend and I started the Hunger and Homelessness Campaign, where we tried to tackle food insecurity in West Oakland. I then proceeded to help plan, in collaboration with two other student groups on campus, a conference on hunger and homelessness in the Bay Area. On the side, I worked with a local homeless shelter to establish and implement recycling and composting programs through another student organization BEACN. These experiences have helped me improve my skills and have provided me more insight in ways of addressing poverty. However, the models and methods of social business and social entrepreneurship are what really motivate me.

I’ve found it difficult to advance much in attempting to be more “in” the field (I am so inspired by social businesses such as the one I interned with this past summer World of Good, and projects such as the Allyu Initiative), because I often find myself constrained in my schoolwork and the fact that I am still in school. I’m often impatient in my demands, and too much of the time I’d rather be out there and immerse myself in a community and area to learn about the issues and critically evaluate ways to tackle them. I have to stop and remind myself that my getting an education is an important aspect: I need to focus on learning as much as I can in school so that I can apply it later on.

In the meantime, I have found the Twitterverse and the blogosphere to be of great company. It’s been absolutely inspiring and just plain awesome to be connected to other Gen Y-ers such as Akhila, Dwight, and Leslie and know that there are so many who are interested in similar topics and care about issues other than the best way to maximize profits and how to make the most money. So, I’d like to conclude by thanking Akhila once again for encouraging others to engage in social change and bringing together awesome individuals in this blog series!

Related posts:

• “Book studying” versus “Real world application”
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Research Paper on Social Business

Anyway, the main focus on my paper is –

While social entrepreneurship historically has been in practice, it has recently become an emerging field. In this paper, I am going to examine social entrepreneurship and the model and application of social business. More specifically, I will investigate the potential for poverty alleviation through social businesses serving the “bottom of the pyramid” (BOP) as a market.

In my paper, I evaluate the nonprofit vs. for-profit model, including discussion on the fundamental core values of what it means to be “nonprofit” vs. “for-profit.” I also discuss whether or not investors that invest in social businesses should get a return on their investment. Additionally, my paper examines the potential for partnerships between BOP communities and multinational corporations.

Anyway, the point of me posting it online is to get feedback on points made in my paper. Seeing as I am not a social entrepreneur, and I have no experience in social business, I’d really like some feedback on the different issues I discuss. I’m positive that there are many points I made that may have no basis in my argument, and can be refuted. I’d love to hear it — it will definitely be a learning experience for me. Furthermore, it’d be great to have some discussion about social business as a model and the potential for poverty alleviation.

View my paper here (PDF): Social Entrepreneurship and Social Business

Related posts:

• Social Entrepreneurship
• Starting a revolution, in my own way
• Excess, wealth, and materialism and how that fits into a career in social enterprise