Social Enterprise Conference at Harvard

Those of you who follow the Social Enterprise movement will be happy to know that there was an interesting-looking SE conference last week sponsored by students at the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.  Two quick observations. 

First, the existence of an SE conference does not fit with my somewaht distant memory of Harvard B-School students.  I remember them in the 1980s preening at the Boat House bar in Cambridge boasting about how wealthy they were going to be.  Things have changed, I guess.

Second, the conference website reports that it included “1,500 Engaged Attendees, 75 Innovative Speakers and Presenters, 40 Vibrant panels and Workshops, and 4 Thought-Provoking Keynotes.”  Having perused the conference brochure, I can confirm that it seems to have been a dynamic gathering; however, such over-reliance on adjectives (and exclamation points!!) leaves the young social entrepreneurs open to additional razzing about the language they use and the charge that the whole movement is marketing rather than evolutionary change.

TAK