tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4742385127651266632.post6321995653434001506..comments2024-01-07T12:13:21.793+00:00Comments on Craig Dearden-Phillips: Black Dogs and Social EntrepreneursUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4742385127651266632.post-1836975465914477902011-01-10T23:28:39.577+00:002011-01-10T23:28:39.577+00:00OK I am following you - hope it made your day.
B...OK I am following you - hope it made your day. <br /><br />But I have a different view on Social Action & the Black Dog. In business, you expect to be messed about by Councils and Agencies and so on. I know - I did it. <br /><br />When you are trying to do stuff for disabled folks, or kids or whatever, and get loads of encouragement from Social Services, and the National Lottery and all the rest of it ... you sort of expect to be given a break by the bureaucrats.<br /><br />Wrong. You get the same sh1t as everybody else, but the effect is WORSE because you are doing something because you believe in it, not just for the money.<br /><br />That is why it is so much harder to bear when planning officers tell you that young or disabled people are not "proper" people for planning purposes, and present you with a million hoops to jump through.<br /><br />If the purpose of your business is money, you can do a cost benefit analysis, and if the hassle outweighs the reward ... you can just give up.<br /><br />If you are doing "Big Society", it doesn't work that way. You are committed. People who have nowhere else to go depend on you. You can't just shut up shop and do something else. You are trapped in a situation that you cannot understand, let alone control.<br /><br />And that is when you really start to feel the weight of the Black Dog.<br /><br />PS - I still love my Labrador, in spite of everything!BigSocOutdoorshttp://www.wilderwoods.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4742385127651266632.post-7778573743910174462011-01-10T23:06:21.369+00:002011-01-10T23:06:21.369+00:00Very human, down to earth reflection Craig. I have...Very human, down to earth reflection Craig. I have been working lately with social entrepreneurs motivated first and foremost by their frustrations. I have also come accross mental health activists and practitioners that speak from their own experience of insanity. No one can possibly be a better advocate.<br /><br />My own background as a social enterprise advisor taught me that in working with entrepreneurs, you can advance as fast as the pace of their moods. Sometimes they are responsive and take feedback enthusiasticly, and sometimes they don't take your calls. <br /><br />The heroic figure of the social entrepreneur promoted in the first years of the boom should be replaced slowly by a more nuanced version of hard working individuals (like your neighbour) that very often feel like throwing the towel in.Maria in Londonhttp://mariashell.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com