At the MLK Day vigil on Monday, Tim King, a pioneer of education reform and the founder of Urban Prep Academies, spoke about his organization’s commitment to develop its students’ intellect and character. Urban Prep runs a network of public charter schools in Chicago for young, underserved, black men to counter the huge disparities they face in academic success and job opportunity. Tim King drew on this principle of balance, of providing knowledge and building the ethic to use it, ...

GES. Global Engagement Summit. It’s a term that I had often heard thrown around campus but not something that I had ever really understood. I knew that a bunch of my friends were always busy for a week during spring quarter when students from all over the world came to Northwestern for some sort of conference. I knew that it had something to do with discussing projects. And I knew that the people in it worked really hard and seemed ...

By Shanika Gunaratna Let me start this post by saying that, as a soon-to-be-graduate and journalism student enamored with social innovation, I sat in the audience of David Bornstein's lecture with my ears open and my mind cluttered with questions and curiosities. How do you forge a career in covering social innovation? How do you help re-frame media coverage away from disaster porn to a healthy conversation about global initiatives that work, inspire and truly enact change? What is the future ...

This panel tackled a difficult question: Can you do good and be profitable at the same time? How can an organization effectively harness resources to implement a healthy balance between profit and not-for-profit models? How do you cope with the inherent tensions of social entrepreneurship, a sector driven by the tricky double or triple line of profitability, social impact and effectiveness? First, some perspective. Today’s business landscape looks fundamentally different than it did only two decades age. These days, practically all ...

At this point in the summit, not to mention in the school year, a workshop called “Beyond Burnout” strikes a little too close to home. As facilitator Dawn Haney outlined the symptoms of burnout, ranging from a feeling of worthlessness to a constant lack of sleep, there were plenty of nods and knowing smiles from delegates and staff alike. Haney went on to describe burnout as a feedback system, a way of knowing that whatever you’re doing, whether ...

"Its not about what you do, its why you do it." This one of the many powerful messages that Stacy Monk, the founder of Epic Change, stated in the workshop, Telling Your Story. Stacy Monk started the workshop by telling a deep and profound story about the passing of her brother. While on a flight home to her brother's funeral, she looked over at the Rocky Mountains while in the plane and realized that her brother was never able to ...

Teju Ravilochan led the workshop on Maximizing Your Online Presence. In his presentation, he revealed 3 secrets: Be human, build (on) relationships, and attempt the impossible. Be human Human beings don’t connect with robots, emotionless things. So, have a personality and multiply it by 10. Think of Dogs! Dogs do this. They're good at showing their expressions. If they’re excited, they’re so excited.  Be Unreasonable. Reach out to crazy people like Bill Gates. Be transparent. Be willing to communicate the deppest, darkest ...

Didn't get a chance to attend a workshop? Check out notes from this session. Brooke, who works for Keeva, a company that provides loans for good causes, gave a useful practical workshop along with inspiring facts and videos on social media as a tool to promote a social cause. The audience, engaged and satisfied and frequently threw comments such as “wow” and “that is so true” Through personal stories and other stories of success Brooke stressed the necessities for success in ...

Didn't get a chance to attend a workshop? Check out notes from this session. Thoughts about building partnerships and challenges of partnerships: -Finding other organizations that working in the same way you are and doing it in an way that isn’t competitive -Have to build trust and work with each other finding the right balance of mutual benefit between the two organizations -Mutual understanding about the issue -Developing a chain of command when you combine two organizations -Understanding which side of each organization is ...

Didn't get a chance to attend a workshop? Check out notes from this workshop. 3 things that made me go Woah! - According to research, the most important aspect of managing and leading others is being a good coach. This means that helping people succeed has more value than empowering your team, being a good communicator, or having a clear vision for your team. Having technical skills and proving oneself as an expert is actually the least important according to research. - Professor Goodman recommended that we ...