30 Experts In Social Change Share The Biggest Lessons Learned On Their Impact Journey

The 2022 Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) provided a week of Crucial knowledge sharing, in an inclusive environment frequented by leading entrepreneurs and changemakers.

After being immersed in an honest dialogue regarding the role of social enterprise in building a new future, it is now crucial the community remains closely knit and continues to share key learnings from their own experiences to enhance progress made by other leaders in the space.

Strong themes emerged throughout the week, with changemakers enthusiastically and transparently sharing their failures, successes and future recommendations for individuals following in their footsteps.

key themes which emerged from discussion and interviews during the forum included:

Effectively create buy-in. Encourage people to support your enterprise, goals and follow you on your journey.
Inclusivity is key. Actively walk in the shoes of others and welcome them into your social enterprise or organisation.
Listen to others (particularly marginalised communities). Speak less and learn before making crucial decisions.
Collaboration over competition. Work together and connect with like-minded individuals that have strong values.
Keep making progress. Stay true to your values and keep moving even when times get tough.

Entrepreneurs Creating Sustainable Change Answered the question, “What has been the biggest lesson on your social impact journey?” in a podcast recorded live at the 2022 Social Enterprise World Forum.

Highlights from the interviews (listen to the podcast for full details).

Belinda Fairbrother, HATCH Taronga COnservation Society Australia

My biggest learning on my social enterprise journey is you can't change a system at a systems level without being part of the system and working at that community level.

The idea of anyone being able to change the world by themselves is a bit of a fallacy, and we all need to work together to really create that change.

Martin Avila, CEIS Group Scotland

My biggest lesson on my social impact journey has been don't trust anybody who says they know what they're doing. If you're doing something new, pushing the boundaries and going somewhere else, you're not going to know what you're doing! You're going to be taking what you've learned from before and be putting it somewhere else. Don't trust anybody who says they know what they're doing, but equally, don't trust anybody who says they don't know what they have done!

Pat Ryan, Dismantle Inc.

My biggest lesson is as well as being mission obsessed and extremely focused on the beneficiaries and outcomes generated by my efforts, the biggest impact I've ever had is by being lucky enough to recruit an incredible team that are aligned with the mission just as I am. They are far more skilled to deliver on the activities we need in order to achieve our impact. My advice for anyone is focus on recruiting a team.

Siobhan Dongés, Purple Card Project

My biggest lesson so far has been embrace the community. The social enterprise community is beyond anything I expected; (it's) so welcoming, lovely, and everyone's just there to support each other. Just get in there, share your story, and people will be so receptive.

Navdeep Pasricha, Social Funding Now

One of the 'ah-ha's' I've had on my social enterprise journey is from this event. I haven't been to an event like this for four or five years, and I remember when I used to come to them. I used to have all this passion; many founders have passion for their project. But this doesn't always translate into getting the support, funding and the buy-in that they need to actually get it off the ground and scale to the level of impact they want to.

The biggest lesson I've learned is that your ability to sell, to generate buy-in, and garner support is pivotal.

You can have the most passion in your heart, but if it takes three minutes to explain what you do, if you get on stage and are unable to inspire that same passion within the audience, then your passion stays in your heart and the magic does not go mainstream. God has really been talking to me at this conference and saying, "hey Navdeep, you went on this whole journey just being this passionate person to now getting a skill where you invoke that same passion in other people.” Maybe I can share it with others; how to get more support, buy-in funding, and ultimately, impact through their social enterprise.

Marlise Edwards, Kiril Park Wild

I think when times get hard, you can still keep going. The world's not going to stop you, and you can keep on going. Keep swimming everyone.

Alex Toselli, Hotel Etico

Our mission (at Hotel Etico) is to change the world of disabilities. We are change makers because we want to create an environment where people with intellectual disabilities can choose their own path.

Katrina Sneath, Hotel Etico

The biggest lesson I've learned over the past two years as a trainee (at Hotel Etico) include amazing skills in hospitality and housekeeping. There are lots of skills I've learnt there, like being in a bar and serving customers, and then being a waiter and serving customers. It has been great fun cooking meals and learning the way they do those in an Italian way. Then there is the housekeeping part of it, I've learned artistic ways of organising hotel rooms and making them unique for guests so they can have a pleasant stay there. I also love the idea of being connected, and love socialising with guests. I always love meeting new people. It's really awesome to be a part of something really special. Hotel Etico encourages anyone with a disability to work here, they're international. I graduated a couple of months ago, even though I wish I could go back. But now, I'm still working for them and I'm a mentor to help new recruits. That's been a blast as well!

Andrea Comastri, Hotel Etico

The biggest lesson I've learned on my impact journey is you need to be courageous and allow yourself to make mistakes.

Learn from Your mistakes and be brave, manage your risks, but be bold. look forward and be passionate.

Saraya O’Connell, Hotel Etico

The biggest lesson I've learned in social enterprise is we learn more from our trainees than they learn from us because of the passion and resilience they show. They're fearless; they trust what we do and teach us every single day. The biggest difference I’ve experienced is social enterprise is very bold, we can make more of an impact than the not for profit space. There's a lot of red tape with not for profits and social enterprise is bold, it's courageous, fearless and makes a difference in a different way. Not for profits are great and they do what is needed, but there's just a different element when it comes to social enterprise.

Kerstin Paulsen, L2R Dance

The biggest lesson I've learned on my impact journey is the power of listening, especially to young voices. I'd absolutely say young people are our future, have brilliant ideas and there's so much they can offer us. I'm excited to share a bright future with them.

Mike Davis, Infoxchange

One of my biggest lessons to date is to talk to as many people as possible, and when you're doing the talking, make sure you're two-thirds listening and only one-third talking. That is the correct ratio according to Greek philosophy and the wisdom of the sages.

Make sure you listen more than you speak, and you should be on your journey to social enterprise success.

Kelsey Chapman, Dignity Project

My biggest learning is just the importance of user centred design and really getting to know from your end user or client what it is exactly they want, and how you can best work with them in ways that are accessible and inclusive.

Joseph Wallace, Multhana Property Services

My biggest lesson was learnt from recruiting employees from community organisations within Brisbane that have been long term unemployed with social barriers. My advice is to look and sit in their shoes, how do they get to and from work and be able to travel and provide meals for them when working with us.

Tom Allen, Joseph Wallace and Indio Myles

Jacinda Richards, L2R Dance

The biggest lesson I've learned on my social impact journey is be authentic and listen.

My social impact journey was very unplanned. It was about addressing needs and changes that came up and being able to bend and flex towards that, while being authentic.

Anthony Broese van Groenou, The Good Car Company

Surround yourself with people who think they can; people who do and are positive.

Having that inspiration around you helps you to achieve getting through all those obstacles and barriers we encounter in life all the time, every day, especially when we're tackling all the social and environmental injustices in the world. You just need that beautiful, clear path of people who are imagining, dreaming and doing. That's really one of the key things to making lasting change in this world.

Mick Hase, SeventeenX

The biggest lesson I've learned is collaboration over competition and having open door policies to work with people and create partnerships. This is absolutely apparent across all social enterprises in Australia.

Craig Gillam, Little Phil

The biggest lesson I’ve learnt on my social enterprise journey has been don't fly solo to try and solve all the world's problem, but do it through collaboration. There's a lot of amazing people out there; get connected and do good work together.

Ricky Esterquest, Towards Better

My biggest learning learnt from running my own enterprise probably sounds cliche, but it's that you need other people to go forward.

I've really learnt the power of relationships and finding what other people care about and how they want to contribute to the overall journey.

It's been pretty massive in terms of building networks, collaborations and relationships there.

Matthew Townsend, Nature Freedom

My biggest learning as a social entrepreneur is all about inclusion. A lot of people from various backgrounds have the same passion, and that can be shared through social enterprise. It’s a great way for them to learn, by meeting each other.

Luke Anderson, Fair Threads

The biggest lesson I've learnt is you get what you give. When you've got a genuine mission, there's a lot of good people you end up attracting. I didn't have that whole concept nailed earlier in life, and it's been really refreshing to see how many good people there are out there that do want to make a difference. When you put yourself out there to do good things and make genuine change, then you attract other likeminded individuals.

Kat Anderson, Fair Threads

The biggest lesson I’ve learnt through our social enterprise journey has been patience. Just because you have a good idea doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen overnight. You really do need persistence to see it through and know what avenues to go through to find the help you need.

Liz Henderson, Avodah Global

The biggest lesson I've learnt on our social enterprise journey is don't wait for permission to step in and do something, just do it. I guess the other corollary lesson for that is feel the fear and do it anyway.

Isaac Jeffries, The Difference Incubator

My biggest lesson is the value of plodding along. It's counterintuitive, but everyone says progress is more important than perfection. It's a cliche, and it's a cliche because it's true. This week I've met so many people who I worked with 9-10 years ago, and it's so cool to be able to hear them say, "here's what we're doing now. We stuffed these things up, not everything went to plan." Longevity gives credibility, and that's where the best work comes from.

Liz O’Brien, Queensland Trust For Nature

My biggest lesson has been just do it. When you've got passion and belief in the mission you're driving towards, just getting stuff done and giving it a go is crucial. At the end of the day, it will often work out.

Kim Rollason-Nokes, Ethni

The biggest learning on my social enterprise journey has most definitely been to have grit. I think when we start these things, we often think everything's going to happen overnight. But what we really have to understand is things take time. Sometimes it's two steps forward, five steps back.

If you are prepared to stay committed to your values, purpose and ride through the rollercoaster that is social enterprise, you will get there in the end.

Nicholas Marchesi OAM, Orange Sky Australia

The biggest lesson I've learnt over the last eight years of being a part of Orange Sky is give things a crack and deeply understand your problem.

At Orange Sky, when we thought we were solving a hardware issue of washing and drying clothes, we discovered the heart of what Orange Sky does is sit down and connect with people. If you have an idea, give it a go.

Grace Akosua Williams, Citizen Tasmania

The biggest lesson I've learned on my social impact journey is the value of relationships and healthy relational ecosystems when creating positive social change. Much of our outcomes-based work is based on looking at numbers and quantitative data, but seeing my organisation as an ecosystem and a place where everyone can reach their potential is what has been the most powerful lesson in my journey so far.

Jacob Birch

The biggest lesson has been when you have knowledge behind you with something, a lot is possible. Say if you go through a HDR (High Degree By Research), and focus on a subject you’re passionate about something and read deeply about it, you maintain this knowledge behind you through that. Then, if you are super passionate about it and driven by something, it'll maintain it's own momentum without you having to really push it. If it's the right thing for you, you won't have to push it towards the direction it's going to take with very minimal input from you. It'll have its own energy or will be its own entity. The second thing is you need to a hell of a lot of hard work, and that's where determination and passion comes in. The third thing is intuition, but that for me is understanding your gut feeling, following your gut and not trying to push it to your own aspirations but let it develop. The knowledge and dedication will inform your intuition.

Bianca Bartlett, Purple Card Project

My greatest lesson on my social enterprise journey has been to feel confident and brave while talking to those around you.

Share your stories, ask silly questions, and be okay with not knowing what those answers are going to be. It's amazing the conversations and ideas that can come out of people around you when you ask questions or put your ideas out into the universe.

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