Plywood People Presents: Social Innovation

 

 Plywood People Presents – Social Innovation  – Atlanta, Ga., High Museum of Art

I have finally gotten time to dive into the book : WE FIRST, how brands & consumers use social media to build a better world , authored by the keynote speaker: Simon Mainwaring. I  have been impressed by the use of Social Media to create a greater good for ourselves and our world. No, I’m not saying all social media has that as a goal, there are many  great uses and some not so great uses for social media.  My interest in attending this conference is: how can I use social media to have a great life and  a better world.  Simon Waring is a thought leader who is blazing the way for better, ” With each passing day, it became more obvious to me – and to many thought leaders around the world- that the entire system of free market capitalism, as it is practiced in the United States and in many Western nations, is leading us further and further down the wrong path, toward a world dominated by narrow self-interest, greed, corporatism, and insensitivity to the greater good of humanity and to the planet itself.”  The shift that needs to occur is from “me first” to “we first”. “consumers and corporations need to become partners in re-engineering the foundation principles of capitalism to honor not only profits, but also purpose, mutual self-interest, sustainability, human values, collaboration and collective prosperity.”   He talked about our greatest leverage is what we purchase, that we might become ‘curators’ of  expenditures, how we engage in social media, not only by what we purchase but what we endorse. “Social Media is the technological differentiator that makes change possible as never before”.   To read more about We First  & the entire conference, here is Plywood People’: social innovation.  

The level of inspiration coupled with solid information was really awesome. I was impressed that the room was filled with folks mid 40’s and under; movers and shakers for a world with vision that works for all.The drawing in this post was sketched while I was listening to another presenter:  Rashid Nuri, community organizer of  Truly Living Well, right here in my neighborhood, the Old Fourth Ward. “Rashid provides overall executive and operational leadership to the Company. Rashid possess over forty years of experience in both industrial and organic agriculture, where he has managed public, private and community-based food and agriculture businesses in over 30 countries. Through his travels, Rashid has observed and learned about local food economies around the world. His experience has included managing farms in excess of 13,000 acres as well as more than 12 years with agricultural giant Cargill.” Quite a character, storyteller and passionate about eating healthy and neighbors growing our own organic food.

 Among many excellent presentations throughout the entire day,  my favorite was a company founded by 3 young entrepreneurs,  Better World Books.“Better World Books collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide. With more than 8 million new and used titles in stock, we’re a self-sustaining, triple-bottom-line company that creates social, economic and environmental value for all our stakeholders.”  The vision of Better World Books is to end illiteracy, by contributing up to 10% of every used book, training teachers/mentors to teach, giving away books and more.  As of last week, they have raised and given away TEN MILLION DOLLARS to nonprofits engaged in ending illiteracy, promoting reading, empowering communities.I was really blown away by this group, and now I order nearly all my books from them; they are competitive, (actually a bit less) than other outlets, and FREE SHIPPING every day (in USA)

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