Syllabus

Enterprising Leadership
Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector
PPS 144S, Fall 2006

Instructor: Tony Brown
Office: Room 149, Sanford Institute
Telephone: (919) 613-7347(O), (919) 419-6141(H)
Email: abrown@duke.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday (2:30-4:30pm), Wednesday (2:30-4:30pm), Thursday (9:00-11:00am), and Friday (10:00am-12:00noon)

Teaching Assistant: Damjan DeNoble
Telephone: (919) 265-3426
Email: dpd2@duke.edu
Office Hours: by appointment

Enterprising Leadership Initiative Program Coordinator: Teddie Brown
Office: Room 103, Sanford Institute
Telephone: (919) 613-7322
Email: tambrown@duke.edu

Course Overview
The central goal of Enterprising Leadership (PPS144s) is to provide students with the knowledge, analytical perspectives, and skills needed to understand and contribute to social entrepreneurism as a major contemporary force addressing problems in our society. Grounded in the social sciences PPS144s integrates theory and practice. The teaching method is interactive and experiential.

An innovative spirit has always been important to progress in our society, and it is even more so today. Social entrepreneurs demonstrate new ways to create sustainable social benefits by fusing a social mission with innovative business practices. These leaders have a clear and compelling moral purpose, they possess effective leadership skills and business savvy, and they are emotionally engaged in their work. Above all, they embrace innovation as a way of life.

The scope of public policy education is expanding to respond to the growing social and economic importance of social innovation and the need to study, to understand, and to teach about the unique challenges that social entrepreneurs face. Students at a formative period in their lives need to be prepared for this new era in market-based social innovation. To realize their potential as social entrepreneurs, students need courses and experiences that help them learn about and develop their own capacities and inspiration for social purpose innovation.

PPS144s Objectives and Outcomes
1. Understand the meaning of social entrepreneurship, and develop clear and strong identities as change agents in public policy issues.
2. Increase the cognitive understanding of innovation and social enterprise theories and models, the ability to evaluate their relevance, and the ability to apply them to specific situations.
3. Strengthen diagnostic, evaluation, and planning skills concerning social entrepreneurs, social enterprises, and students’ roles in addressing important social problems.
4. Improve practical knowledge and competencies important to personal effectiveness in social innovation and enterprising leadership.
5. Contribute value to the Durham and University communities through the enterprising venture projects and other social entrepreneurship activities.
6. Develop vibrant relationships with classmates and have fun in the process.

PPS144s Outputs
Enterprising Projects
Teams of students will define a promising idea and develop a compelling plan that addresses a real problem or opportunity in the Duke or Durham communities, with the objectives of creating meaningful learning experiences for themselves and something of enduring value for the community.

Central PPS144s themes are students’ education and development in building compelling plans and effective teams. Credible data and actual results that validate the opportunity and the projects’ potential are important to compelling plans. A number of students will decide to pilot-test and subsequently launch their projects following the end of the course. Others will decide not to continue with their projects. The PPS144s experience can be very meaningful for both types of students.

Damjan, Teddie, the student affairs staff, and I are all important resources for PPS144s students. In addition, one or more alumni will critique students’ plans and support them in other ways.

The ELI Incubator will assist committed teams who have credible projects after the end of the PPS144s course. Incubator support includes financial grants, fund-raising support, coaching, summer internships, and a network of people who are potential resources. In a less formal way, I will advise teams and projects not yet ready for the ELI Incubator on steps needed to be accepted in the future. Past experience indicates that great teams are as important to successful projects as compelling plans.

Class Project
The whole class will decide and commit to one project intended to contribute to the well-being of the University and Durham communities. Everyone in the class will receive the same grade.

Papers
Effective writing is an important part of PPS144s. Specific writing assignments include:
1. Five short individual assignments.
2. Four short team assignments.
3. A short individual paper that defines and makes the case for a promising project idea (one per student, two pages).
4. An enterprising project proposal (one per team, five pages).
5. Project definition, project work plan, and progress report documents that are updated several times during the semester as project management tools (one per team).
6. An enterprising project business plan, executive summary, and one-page summary (one per team, 25 pages plus appendices).
7. A project assessment paper at the end of the semester that outlines and evaluates the enterprising project outputs, potential outcomes, and learning experience (one per team, five pages).

Expectations and Requirements
As a seminar, Enterprising Leadership is not a course to be "taught.” A learning partnership and the development of a class community are essential to a meaningful experience. This is a course where there is a strong correlation between the level of student engagement and the value of the educational experience.

As PPS144s is an unusual course, it isn’t a great learning experience for everyone. Some students are over-committed in other activities. Others feel that the work in PPS144s is over-whelming. Others think that the students’ accountability for exercising initiative in soliciting clarification and feedback is too difficult. Finally, as a class in social entrepreneurship, the structure of PPS144s is fluid. On the other hand, many students create magnificent educational experiences in PPS144s.

Class Preparation and Discussion
Given the breadth of the subject matter covered in the course, class discussions will necessarily focus on basic principles and will assume knowledge of the assigned reading material. Class Notes for all class topics are posted in Blackboard’s Course Documents section. Students have the responsibility to use the class notes to understand the subject matter in each given topic.

Students will make a number of short, spontaneous oral presentations about their projects, the assignments, and the class topics. Fifteen minutes will be set aside in one class each week for team meetings.

Syllabus and Assignments
The PPS144s syllabus is a guideline for the course. A folder for each class will be posted on Blackboard Course Documents that contain the assignment, assignment comments, and discussion questions, class notes, forms, and external links. The weekly assignments in the Blackboard folder will usually be updated by noon on Sunday, and they will always override the assignment in the PPS144s Syllabus.

Team Selection Process
Following the individual promising idea presentations early in the semester, students will define their project and team member preferences. I will decide on the final team assignments and try to accommodate students’ preferences to the extent possible. Team assignments will be based on the following criteria: student preferences, common or complimentary project interests, class mix, gender mix, and potential team effectiveness. Project assignments will not be made on the basis of established friendships, as many members of the most successful teams met for the first time in PPS144s.

Class Contribution
As a learning community member, each student is responsible for contributing to the educational experience of the whole class. The class contribution grade will reflect the quality (not quantity) of contributions to class discussions and also other voluntary activities that enhance the course experience for everyone. This includes, but is not limited to Blackboard and discussion group participation.

Guest Speakers
We will invite several guest speakers to our classes. It is especially important that students prepare for these sessions and contribute to a vibrant discussion. The schedule of classes in the syllabus may have to be modified to accommodate the schedules of our guest speakers.

Activities Outside the Classroom
We will schedule breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and possibly a ropes course experience or field trip during the semester. I will ask students to take the lead in developing a specific outside-the-classroom program for the semester. I hope that they will use the University’s new CONVERSATIONS program to invite interesting speakers to campus. Participation in these various activities is expected unless there is an important schedule conflict.

Grades
I will distribute a detailed memorandum that defines my grading criteria and processes. The final grades for the course will be based on the following:

25 % Class and team contributions
xx Promising idea proposal
15 Credible enterprising project proposal
5 Mid-term team and project progress
10 Initial business plan, executive summary, and “one page”
10 Revised business plan, executive summary, and “one page”
20 Enterprising project results at end of semester
5 Class project
5 Short individual written assignments
5 Short team written assignments
100 % Total

While the class will not be graded on a curve, the final grades will take into consideration the Sanford Institute’s guidelines for a class of this type. Hopefully, the personal and community benefits from participating in PPS144s will be as important as the final grades.

Initiative, Evaluation, Feedback, and Coaching
An important part of my role is to be a valuable resource to individual students and to the enterprising project teams. This is also important to Damjan and Teddie.

As this is a social entrepreneurship class, it is important that students take the initiative to solicit feedback from Damjan and me about personal development, PPS144s performance, and ways to increase contributions to classmates’ education.

I will give students structured feedback regarding progress and status at mid semester. I also will encourage students to meet with me after fall break to discuss their progress in the class.

As feedback is a two-way street, I will solicit evaluations and suggestions from students about ways to enhance the course several times during the semester. Also, students will have feedback discussions with their enterprising project teammates several times during the semester.

Reading Assignments and Course Materials
Kopp, Wendy. One Day, All Children…The Unlikely Triumph of Teach for America, and What I Learned Along the Way
Collins, Jim. Good to Great and the Social Sector

Regarding class notes and articles…
o I will post a summary notes on important topics for each class.
o Each team will create and discuss a project-related reading list intended to enhance project knowledge and competence.
o I will assign a number of articles about important social entrepreneurship issues. Reading each article is highly recommended, but optional. I will make a five minute presentation and distribute a summary of each article when it is assigned.
o The students will be responsible for reading a list of short articles about important social entrepreneurs during the semester.

There will be a course materials charge for the MBTI report, books, and cases used in the course.

PPS144s Course Outline

Introduction: Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector
1) Introduction to PPS144s: creating your own education
2) Meaning of entrepreneurship, innovation, and social entrepreneurship
3) Opportunity identification and idea creation
4) Duke University and Durham: landscape and priorities #1
5) Promising idea presentations

Exploration: From Promising Ideas to Credible Proposals
6) Good to Great
7) Asset inventory, value recognition, and risk management
8) Duke University and Durham: landscape and priorities #2
9) Market Research 101: opportunity analysis methods and validation tools
10) Effective social entrepreneurship behavior and team play
11) Class lab: credible proposals
12) Credible enterprising project proposals

Validation: From Credible Proposals to Compelling Plans
13) Social change models, value propositions, and business plans
14) Marketing 101: understanding markets and managing brands
15) Personal selling 101: engaging “customers”, understanding and satisfying their needs, and making the “ask”
16) “Sweet spot” strategies for sustainability and growth
17) Leadership sustainability, organizational plans, and budgets
18) Program evaluation and social return on investment (SROI)

Resources
19) Social enterprises: funding from commercial revenues
20) Venture philanthropy, and cause-related marketing
21) Fund-raising: gifts and grants
22) Social entrepreneurship graduate and fellowship programs

Social Entrepreneurs and Social Capitalists
23) Social entrepreneurs and social ventures
24) Social capitalists and socially responsible businesses

Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector: Reflection and Action
25) Social entrepreneurship principles and practices that work: learning from experience and from the social sciences literature
26) Social entrepreneurship action plans and research projects
27) Final class: PPS144s outcomes and course evaluation
28) Enterprising project presentations

Specific Schedule and Assignments

Aug. 30 Introduction to PPS144s: creating your own education

Assignment
Read the spring 2006 student assessments of PPS144s (Zoomerang)
Complete the PPS144s Personal Questionnaire (Blackboard) and post it in the digital drop box
Register for the ELI web site (www.enterprisingleadership.org) and review the success story projects, extracurricular projects, and Fall 2005 PPS144s projects
Read the draft of the PPS144s syllabus

Sept. 1 Meaning of entrepreneurship, innovation, and social entrepreneurship

Assignments
Short paper: Draft of Duke education mission and objectives (optional)
PPS144s Syllabus Survey (Zoomerang)
Dees, “The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship” (Blackboard)
Guclu, Dees, and Anderson. “The Process of Social Entrepreneurship: Creating Opportunities Worthy of Serious Pursuit.” (Blackboard)
Blackboard class notes
Work on promising ideas

Sept. 6 Opportunity identification and idea creation

Assignment
Draft #1 of promising idea proposal (one per student) - digital drop box
Read and think about Zoomerang PPS144s Syllabus Survey Results.
Read the PPS144s syllabus
Review the two articles and notes assigned for last Friday
Schedule a meeting with Teddie, Damjan, and/or me this week to discuss your promising idea
Schedule work or social sessions with several new PPS144s classmates

Sept. 8 Duke University and Durham: landscape and priorities #1

Assignments
Objectives and Outcomes for my College Experience – Digital Drop Box
Web site: Student Organization Advising Services (SOAR)
Work on your promising ideas

Guest
Larry Moneta, Vice President
Student Affairs

Sept. 9 Pancakes at Teddie and Tony’s house from 10:00am - noon
(Saturday)

Sept. 12 Promising idea memos due at 9:00pm
(Tuesday)

Sept. 13 Promising idea presentations

Assignments
Read the promising idea proposals posted on Blackboard
Prepare four-minute promising idea presentations

Sept. 15 Good to Great

Assignment
Project and team preferences
Promising idea proposal self-evaluations
Collins. Good to Great and the Social Sector
Social entrepreneurship article: Drucker, Peter. “What Business Can Learn From Nonprofits.” Harvard Business Review. July 1989

Sept. 17 Enterprising project teams announced
(Sunday)

Sept. 20 Asset inventory, value recognition, and risk management

Assignment
MBTI bubble sheet (optional)
Asset inventory form (one per team) - optional
Risk management form (one per team) - optional
Social entrepreneurship article: Prahalad and Hammond. “Serving the World’s Poor, Profitably.” Harvard Business Review. September 2002
Blackboard class notes

Sept. 21 C.K. Prahalad, author of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits - Fuqua classroom A at 6:30pm (optional)

Sept. 22 Duke University and Durham: landscape and priorities #2

Assignments
Web site: Community Service Center
Web site: Duke-Durham Partnership

Guests
Elaine Madison, Director
Community Service Center

Sam Miglarese, Director of Community Engagement
Office for Community Affairs

Sept. 27 Market research 101

Assignments
Rasiel and Friga. The McKinsey Mind. Chapters 1-4
Social entrepreneurship article: “The Past, Present, and Future of Social Entrepreneurship: A Conversation with Greg Dees.” http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/centers/case/articles/0506/casecorner.htm
Blackboard class notes

Sept. 29 Effective social entrepreneurial behavior and team play

Assignment
Short paper: Market research plan (one per team)
Interim team member assessment forms (one per student)
First draft of “one page” project definition (one per team)
Review MBTI report
Social entrepreneurship article: Gladwell, Malcolm. “Personality Plus.” www.gladwell.com
Blackboard class notes

Oct. 4 Class lab: credible project proposals

Assignments
September critical reflection paper
Enterprising project proposal memos due (one per team)
“One page” enterprising project definitions (one per team)

Oct. 5 Credible project proposals at evening (time to be announced)
(Thursday)

Oct. 6 No class today

Oct. 7 – 10 Fall break

Oct. 11 Social change models, value propositions, and business plans

Assignment
Mid-semester Zoomerang survey and results
Look at sample PPS144s business plans (Blackboard)
Social entrepreneurship article: “Business Planning for Nonprofits – What It Is and Why It’s Important.” The Bridgespan Group
Blackboard class notes

Oct. 13 Marketing 101: understanding markets and managing brands

Assignments
Project-related bibliography (one per team)
Case: “Habitat for Humanity International – Brand Valuation. Harvard Business School Publishing. 2003
Social entrepreneurship article: “Zeroing In On Impact.” The Bridgespan Group
Blackboard class notes

Oct. 18 Personal selling 101: engaging ”customers,” understanding and satisfying their needs, and making the “ask”

Assignment
Additional assignment to be announced
Social entrepreneurship article: Bursk, Edward. “Low Pressure Selling.” Harvard Business Review. July-August 2006
Blackboard class notes

Oct. 20 Sweet spot” strategies for sustainability and growth

Assignment
Strategy form (one per team) - optional
Scaling form (one per team) - optional
Case: “Larkin Street Youth Services.” The Bridgespan Group
Social entrepreneurship article: Drayton, Bill. “Everyone a Changemaker: Social Entrepreneurship’s Ultimate Goal.”
http://www.ashoka.org/home/innovations.pdf
Blackboard class notes

Oct. 25 Leadership sustainability, organizational plans, and budgets

Assignment
Short paper: Team analysis
Project progress report (one per team)
Project budget form (one per team) - optional
Leadership, organization, and governance form (one per team) - optional
Social entrepreneurship article: Barendsen and Gardner. “Is the Social Entrepreneur a New Type of Leader?”
http://leadertoleader.org/leaderbooks/L2L/fall2004/gardner.html
Blackboard class notes

Oct. 27 Program evaluation and social return on investment (SROI)

Assignment
Program evaluation form (one per team) - optional
Case: “Great Valley Center – Measuring for Mission.” The Bridgespan Group
Social entrepreneurship article: to be announced
Blackboard class notes

Nov. 1 Social enterprises: funding from commercial revenues

Assignment
Case: “Balancing Mission and Margin.” The Bridgespan Group
Web sites: TROSA, Ten Thousand Villages, Self Help Credit Union
Social entrepreneurship article: Bradach and Foster. “Should Nonprofits Seek Profits?” Harvard Business Review. February 2005
Blackboard class notes

Nov. 3 Venture philanthropy and cause-related marketing

Assignment
Business plan, executive summary, and “one page” due (one per team)
Dees. “Sources of Financing for New Nonprofit Ventures.”
Harvard Business School Publishing. 1991
Web sites: New Profit, Inc and Acumen Fund
Social entrepreneurship article: Articles in the current Stanford Social Innovation Review. http://www.ssireview.org/
Blackboard class notes

Nov. 8 Fund-raising: gifts and grants

Assignment
Donor strategy form (one per team)
Funding strategy form (one per team) - optional
Grant strategy form (one per team) - optional
Web sites: W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
Grant Funding Sources at Duke memorandum (distributed in class)
Blackboard class notes

Nov. 10 Social entrepreneurship graduate and fellowship programs

Assignment
Articles on social entrepreneurs
Excerpts from Bornstein. How to Change the World.
Web sites: Ashoka, Echoing Green, CASE, Harvard Social Enterprise Initiative, ELI
Blackboard class notes

Nov. 15 Social entrepreneurs and social ventures

Assignment
Kopp, Wendy. One Day, All Children…The Unlikely Triumph of Teach for America, and What I Learned Along the Way
Additional articles on Wendy Kopp and Teach for America articles to be assigned

Nov. 17 Social capitalists and socially responsible businesses

Assignment
Project-related reading list discussions completed
Friedman, Milton. “The Responsibility of Business is to Maximize its Profits.”
Web sites: The Redwoods Group, Timberland Company

Nov. 22 - 26 Thanksgiving break

Nov. 29 Social entrepreneurship principles and practices that work: learning from experience and from the social sciences literature

Assignment
Revised Business plans, executive summary, and one page due (one per team)
“What works” form (one per team) - optional
Web site: CASE
Blackboard class notes

Dec. 1 Social entrepreneurship action plans and research projects

Assignment
Last day for November reflection paper
Short paper: Research service learning project proposal (one per student)
Project implementation plan (one per team)
Review your MBTI report
Blackboard class notes

Dec. 6 Final class: PPS144s outcomes and course evaluation outcomes

Assignment
Short paper: Social entrepreneurship action plan (one per student)
Class contribution form
Personal development suggestion form
Year end Zoomerang survey (and review results)

Dec. 8 Enterprising project presentations

Dec. 11 Enterprising project outputs
(Monday) Enterprising project assessment paper (one per team)

Dec. 12 Team member assessment form (one per student)
(Tuesday)

Dec. 13 Stakeholder project evaluation forms (optional)
(Wednesday)