The integration of life and work - of society and business

I haven't blogged for a while - life has gotten in the way and work has been pared down to getting the necessities done. Life has calmed down again and I can begin to attend to other details of work. As I was speaking with a client this week, I was again reminded that life and work cannot be separated. That, to me, is the crux of social enterprise. You cannot pretend like doing business and attending to social and environmental needs are separate activities. They are all intertwined and all affect each other. For example, this particular client is an extension of a program that provides residential and other services to mothers who are in drug and alcohol recovery. This program is a catering company that provides job skills and training to women who have "graduated" from long-term recovery. I'm assisting them with writing their ongoing business plan. On paper, this business could look really good - it has the potential to be profitable, it provides a much needed service to the women they serve and they offer healthy foods catering in a region where there is not a lot of availability of healthy foods. However, the single biggest barrier to the success of this business is NOT something most businesses would consider but is a reality of our society. This business needs a non-client, professional chef to oversee the business - order supplies, create recipes, teach the women how to assemble & prepare the food and generally run the food operations. But, they've found it very difficult to find someone with the right skills and when they do finally hire someone - they've not been able to consistently pass drug tests. In short, finding a "sober" chef has proved to be one of the greatest risks of this business. The reality of this community - and many others across the country - is that drug and alcohol use is rampant and is especially so in the food industry. If we dig deeper, we open up the Pandora's Box of issues systemic to our culture that cause so many people to need to find ways to "numb out". As I write their business plan, I am again reminded that you cannot separate social issues and business. Ignoring the drug issue would be ignoring the biggest barrier to this businesses' success.

My definition of success for the field of social enterprise? When we no longer call it social enterprise, but integrating social and environmental impact is the "norm" for the way all businesses are planned and operated.