John McDonald has over twenty-five years of experience as an entrepreneur, most recently as the Managing Entrepreneur of NEXT Studios, Indiana’s first Benefit (B) Corporation Innovation Studio. He was the founder and CEO of ClearObject, the fastest-growing technology company in Indiana for 5 years in a row, which successfully exited to private equity in 2019. Prior to that, John served as CEO of Chicago-based startup CloudOne, and also at IBM, where he led technical sales for their software development tools product line. ***** nextstudios.org LinkedIn

Lauren Edwards is the Executive Director of SEA Change, the Principal/Owner of Next Step Business Consulting, Co-owner of the social enterprise Apex Leadership Co of Central Ohio, and a Lecturer in the City and Regional Planning and Non-Profit Management departments at the Ohio State University. Her passion lies in helping organizations and individuals alleviate poverty through program and business development, vision realization, and facilitated conversation. ********** SEAchng.org nextstepbusinessconsulting.com

In 2014, Jordan stepped away from a corporate job to find a way to change outcomes for people aging out of foster care. That journey lead to co-founding Doing Good Works in 2014. As Doing Good Works has grown over the last 9 years, we built an amazing community of people impacted by foster care that we served through job opportunities, training, resources and mentoring support. This experience has been distilled into Foster Greatness, an app launching nationwide in January. It's more than technology; it's a community and a support network for those taking their first steps into adulthood without a safety net. ********** fostergreatness.co dgwbranded.com

Liv Roskos is a creative, entreprenuer, and events producer with OAD Productions. Her passion is to create artistic environments and experiences where artists feel known, valued, and loved. Her music is birthed out of the everyday human experience. Through an eclectic mix of jazz/soul/pop fusion, Liv shares stories of hope, love, & inspiration. ***** instagram.com/oadproductions/ instagram.com/livroskos/ ***** overflowchicago.com/events livroskos.com 

Driven to serve the often-overlooked people management needs for the social impact sector, Lisa Brown Alexander set out to build a market where one didn’t exist. She founded Nonprofit HR, the leading talent management firm in the country that works exclusively with the nonprofit sector. Today, fueled by the passion of 100-plus employees and consultants nationwide, her thriving company is helping many of the nation’s most prominent nonprofit organizations get ahead through smart people management strategies. In the process, they’re changing the way an entire sector thinks about talent and culture. Lisa has inspired Nonprofit HR to become a force that thousands of nonprofit and talent management leaders look to for consulting services, thought partnership, sector-specific hiring, and executive search needs, professional development and information. ********** nonprofithr.com LinkedIn

Ilyssa Manspeizer, Ph.D. is an Anthropologist with over 30 years of experience creating opportunities for people and planet to thrive together. Throughout her time as a conservationist, Ilyssa had a recurring question about how people and conservation could go hand in hand. Landforce, formed in November 2015, has hired more than 140 people to learn environmental stewardship skills, be employed in transitional jobs to steward our land, and enter family-sustaining jobs from a place of dignity and strength. As the founding Executive Director of Landforce, Ilyssa leads an organization where traditional barriers to employment do not exist, and returning citizens, people with substance use disorders, mental health diagnoses, or those trapped in cycles of generational poverty have the opportunity to grow and thrive while ensuring that our environment can do the same. ****** landforcepgh.org LinkedIn

Dan Adam, founder and owner of Adam & Son Auto Repair a Social Impact business with two locations, Founder of the Stranded Motorist Fund a 501(c)3 non-profit, co-founder of the Automotive Impact Network. Dan is a pioneer in the Social Impact arena for the Automotive industry. He is the recipient of the National Institute for Social Impact’s 2022 Social Impact Business of the year, Synchrony Pillars Project Grant 2022 winner, 2023 Vistage Impact Award for the State of Colorado. Stacey Burns has been a strong advocate for Social Impact Businesses, veterans’ transition programs, as well as healing through the arts. Stacey was one of the creators of the Military Creative Expressions program in conjunction with the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. She does ongoing work to increase the understanding and measurement of Social Return on Investment (SROI), a process she has been developing since 2009. Stacey is currently the Chief Operating Officer for Adam & Son Auto Repair and Service. Prior to that, she spent over 20 years in leadership and consulting to help people realize opportunity through Social Impact business models. Stacey has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and English as well as a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology and Counselor Education. ********** adamandson.com strandedmotoristfund.org LinkedIn - Dan Adam LinkedIn - Stacey Burns

After owning and operating a retail coffee brand for fourteen years, Janice Townsend recently sold her business and has become fascinated with sustainable living. She is currently studying for a Masters of Sustainability at the Harvard Extension School, with a particular focus on the Circular Economy. Janice lives in the Near Southside of Fort Worth, Texas with her partner. She loves to write, travel, read books on spirituality and ecology, cook food for friends, and do yoga. ***** "Buy healthy products from local sources with minimal packaging, and use them until they wear out." Lomi Kitchen Composter Ellen MacArthur Foundation ***** Instagram LinkedIn

An advocate of the circular economy for the past 15 years, Elaine Birks-Mitchell is the CEO and Founder of The Bra Recyclers, a social enterprise dedicated to recycling and reusing preloved bras, prostheses, and underwear. In partnership with other environmentally and socially conscious individuals and companies, Elaine has donated over four million bras to over 130 nonprofits in 29 States and 8 countries. In alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Elaine continues to be a steward of the social and environmental impacts of recycling on communities. She believes that we all have the power to change the trajectory of the circular economy using our voices and buying power. As a social entrepreneur, it was important to create job opportunities for underserved members of our community. Elaine's mission led her to form partnerships with local nonprofits dedicated to finding meaningful employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. The next chapter on Elaine’s social entrepreneur journey has been the launch of The Undie Chest, the nonprofit arm of The Bra Recyclers. It will focus on addressing the issue of hygiene poverty with the donation of underwear to support the entire family and get the much-needed supply of underwear into our Title 1 schools. ********** thebrarecyclers.com LinkedIn Facebook YouTube

Katherine Berg is the founder of Will & Atlas. Katherine holds a lifelong appreciation for craftsmanship and one-of-a-kind treasures – a love honed over decades of travel and running a French antiques import business with her late husband, William. Together, the Bergs built what is now known as Will & Atlas, a home decor and accessories line partnering directly with fair trade artisans in Bangladesh. The name Will & Atlas is both a reflection of global community and a tribute to Will, who tragically passed away in 2019. Will’s legacy and the heart of Will & Atlas is woven into every design, championing heritage crafts, sustainability, and goods with intention. ******** willandatlas.com

Dr. Eric W. Miller is the founder and CEO of Marsh Creek Social Works, an organizational and management consulting firm for the nonprofit and social sector, offering advising services, bookkeeping and accounting services, and an impact investment fund. Eric’s doctoral and post-doctoral studies examined scaling social impact within social enterprises and non-profit organizations, and in 2022, Eric and his team expanded their company beyond social sector advising services to include back-office bookkeeping and accounting services and an impact investing venture, based on the needs we identified among social enterprises, nonprofits, and small business servicing other social enterprises. In building this community footprint, Marsh Creek Social Works believes that we can achieve partnerships and cooperations between community, business, and social partners to more effectively identify and pursue solutions to community happiness. ********** marshcreeksocialworks.com LinkedIn

Antonio Blazevic is the autistic owner of Neurodiversity Advisors, a certified Disabled-Owned Business Enterprise. Antonio has Master’s degrees in Business and Geography. Neurodiversity Advisors offers consulting services to businesses on how to increase the hiring of persons with disabilities. ********** neurodiversityadvisors.com LinkedIn

Since 1993, Paul Zelizer has worked with and led programs for 30,000+ leaders working for positive change in and through their organizations. He's one of the first business coaches to focus on the needs of social entrepreneurs and impact business leaders. As part of the marketing team for Wisdom 2.0, a renowned conscious business brand, he helped grow the yearly conference from 650 to 1800 attendees in one year. In 2017, he founded Awarepreneurs as a way to amplify the practices successful social enterprise leaders use. Today he is best known as host of the Awarepreneurs Podcast, one of the world’s leading social entrepreneur podcasts. Paul maintains a busy coaching and consulting practice working with impact focused founders & leaders. ********** paulzelizer.com awarepreneurs.com LinkedIn

Jenny Brown is the CEO and Co-Founder of Dutton Farm, a non-profit in the Behavioral Health system that provides community access, adult education, and employment support for adults with developmental disabilities. She is also the founder and owner of Everybody Inc., a bath and body social enterprise that works to remove barriers to community access and inclusion in the workforce for people with developmental disabilities. Her work is inspired by her sister who was born with Down Syndrome and struggled as an adult to find a place to put her many talents to use. She has spent the last twelve years advocating for the rights and equal opportunity for adults with developmental disabilities. She has supported individuals in entering the workforce, volunteerism, community engagement and higher education. ********** duttonfarm.org Instagram Facebook

Discovering the path of social enterprise through the hospitality industry, Adam Zembruski founded Hospiamo, a social enterprise working to forge a path to engage and empower over 250,000 hospitality workers by 2030, elevating them into positions of influence and decision-making, and sharing profits and ownership. Today, Adam is leveraging his expertise and the strength of his network to mentor the next generation. He dedicates himself to dismantling barriers and forging a more accessible route for those who will follow in his footsteps, aiming to create a more equitable and inclusive hospitality industry. ******** hospiamo.com/why hospiamo.com/join LinkedIn

Dr. Rasheda L. Weaver is a social entrepreneurship author, researcher and coach. She has conducted large-scale empirical studies on the social, economic, and legal activities of social enterprises in the U.S. and is the Founder of Weaver's Social Enterprise Directory. In 2023, she joined the Global African Descent Social Entrepreneurship Network sponsored by the Biden-Harris Administration and she recently published "Social Entrepreneurship: A Practical Introduction, “ a book based on her Social Enterprise Bootcamp and a 5-Step Roadmap to Developing a Sustainable Social Enterprise.

Last week, we invited in Trace Bell and Tina Olsen of Open Aware consulting to talk through a social concept called Spiral Dynamics. We learned about the framework and how it relates to different moments in human history. Today, we continue that conversation and go a bit further into how an understanding of the concept can help us in our social enterprises. ********** Spiral Dynamics is a model of human development that maps the growth and evolution of individuals, groups, and humanity over time. Whether we are looking through the lens of history, philosophy, psychology, or biology, it has been shown that evolution happens in sudden leaps. Spiral Dynamics gives each leap a new stage name and color, clearly distinguishing it from the beliefs and way of being that preceded it. Each new stage provides a completely new perspective which naturally shifts the way humans organize themselves and interact with one another. We have reason to believe that humanity is currently making a new leap. The outdated ways that we are handling today’s global challenges are causing an increasing amount of pain and dysfunction. When this happens, some people double-down on the old way of being, desperately trying to stop complexity, while others make the leap into the new way of being. Here’s an overview of the model: The first six stages in Spiral Dynamics are collectively called “Tier 1.” The Tier 1 stages are vitally important because they comprise the essential parts of being human. Stage Beige - Survival: Instinctive and solely focused on the survival of the individual. This is where humanity started, a couple hundred thousand years ago. Stage Purple - Magical: Humans formed tribes and began to conceptualize of the vast interconnected nature of the world around them. Stage Red - Power: This is the birth of independence, autonomy, and leadership. This stage also brought wars over resources and mass de-humanization in the name of power as a means to control. Stage Blue - Order: Humans gained the ability to create organized communities that function on a large scale. Stage blue was the introduction of nations, organized religions, and agriculture. Stage Orange - Logic: Critical thinking, rationality, and analytics enter the picture. This is the beginning of using the scientific method to come to conclusions and find truths in the world. This stage brought the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. Stage Green - Equality: A new level of understanding about what it means to care for others and the planet. Green is a collective sinking into the heart that brings increased awareness about the injustices and inequalities of the world. Next comes Tier 2, also known as Integral. This is the perspective where the seeming mutual-exclusivity of the Tier 1 stages is replaced by the idea that we can “transcend and include” by integrating the health of each Tier 1 stage. Some of the key hallmarks of Tier 2 are: systems thinking; the ability to hold paradox; and realizing our inherent oneness. ********** Open Aware Open Aware's Spiral Dynamics Link LinkedIn: Trace Bell Tina Olsen

Today’s interview is with Trace Bell and Tina Olsen of Open Aware consulting, who serve as integration guides for individuals and visionaries within conscious organizations. They themselves are visionaries who are intent on creating a life of purpose by following their curiosities in philosophy, non-duality systems thinking, and raising consciousness. They started Open Aware with the vision of inspiring and supporting others in their own questioning, exploring, and creating new ways of living and being in this world. This interview is a little different from others that we’ve published up to this point. We are going to be talking with Trace and Tina about a human development concept called Spiral Dynamics. We talk through this framework and touch on a lot of philosophy and human history, including an important moment we find ourselves in today. What does this have to do with Social Enterprise? Well, I think the concept of social enterprise itself mirrors the current transition moment Spiral Dynamics is referring to. And understanding the framework will help us to not only be better leaders in our organizations, but also help us to better serve the people within our social impact missions. ********** Spiral Dynamics is a model of human development that maps the growth and evolution of individuals, groups, and humanity over time. Whether we are looking through the lens of history, philosophy, psychology, or biology, it has been shown that evolution happens in sudden leaps. Spiral Dynamics gives each leap a new stage name and color, clearly distinguishing it from the beliefs and way of being that preceded it. Each new stage provides a completely new perspective which naturally shifts the way humans organize themselves and interact with one another. We have reason to believe that humanity is currently making a new leap. The outdated ways that we are handling today’s global challenges are causing an increasing amount of pain and dysfunction. When this happens, some people double-down on the old way of being, desperately trying to stop complexity, while others make the leap into the new way of being. Here’s an overview of the model: The first six stages in Spiral Dynamics are collectively called “Tier 1.” The Tier 1 stages are vitally important because they comprise the essential parts of being human. Stage Beige - Survival: Instinctive and solely focused on the survival of the individual. This is where humanity started, a couple hundred thousand years ago. Stage Purple - Magical: Humans formed tribes and began to conceptualize of the vast interconnected nature of the world around them. Stage Red - Power: This is the birth of independence, autonomy, and leadership. This stage also brought wars over resources and mass de-humanization in the name of power as a means to control. Stage Blue - Order: Humans gained the ability to create organized communities that function on a large scale. Stage blue was the introduction of nations, organized religions, and agriculture. Stage Orange - Logic: Critical thinking, rationality, and analytics enter the picture. This is the beginning of using the scientific method to come to conclusions and find truths in the world. This stage brought the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. Stage Green - Equality: A new level of understanding about what it means to care for others and the planet. Green is a collective sinking into the heart that brings increased awareness about the injustices and inequalities of the world. Next comes Tier 2, also known as Integral. This is the perspective where the seeming mutual-exclusivity of the Tier 1 stages is replaced by the idea that we can “transcend and include” by integrating the health of each Tier 1 stage. Some of the key hallmarks of Tier 2 are: systems thinking; the ability to hold paradox; and realizing our inherent oneness. ********** Open Aware Open Aware's Spiral Dynamics Link LinkedIn: Trace Bell Tina Olsen

As the Founder and CEO of Fundraising for the Future (FFTF), Stephanie Sample supports organizations in leaning into the expansive nature of grant proposal writing, business plan development and grant-making. Fundraising for the Future is a consulting firm based in New Mexico that has raised over $15 million writing federal, state, and corporate grants for the last 7 years. FFTF provides philanthropic consultation to a variety of local and regional funders. Our belief is that both traditional best practices and multidisciplinary tools such as futures thinking will be needed to usher organizations and funders into this new era of philanthropy. ************ fundraisingforthefuture.com LinkedIn

David Gaines is the Chief Visionary for La Terza Coffee, and author of the new book Radical Business: The Root of Your Work and How it Can Change the World. As David discovered the business model of social enterprise, he saw how all businesses could make the world a better place, and that realization changed everything. ********** With his work at La Terza, David felt pulled toward social enterprise—a business model that builds profits while simultaneously benefiting society and the environment. He realized that the possibility of social impact was accessible to everyone and that well-functioning businesses could better the lives of not only their employees and customers, but also the people involved in its supply chains and even with its competitors. David dreams of a world where all businesses are social enterprises, where people are equally valued, served, and uplifted. ********** davidgaines.co LinkedIn Radical Business Book: Amazon Barnes and Nobles