Anyone that knows me, knows that I have problems with focus (after all, when is the last time this blog was updated?) There is just so much out there to learn and explore, I often find myself drowning in the expansiveness of knowledge - I want to understand it all - modern art, popular culture, technology, literature, sociology, and (of course) my one true love: music. And my academic history is a reflection of that irking need to know more about almost anything: 4 majors as an undergraduate, a masters in museum studies (it doesn't get broader than that), and now I'm completing my MBA. Business? Yes.

I've often been questioned about why I'm studying business, and to be honest, until recently I never had an answer. I'm different from most MBA candidates - I'm not a working professional, I'm not looking to merely improve my status in my organization, and (GASP!) I'm not in it to get rich (and yes, I'm generalizing slightly). Certainly an MBA is a marketable degree, and I certainly considered that when I "joined up" (after all, as much fun as museum studies is - there just isn't a huge market for folks that know how to handle Peruvian pottery and 19th Century oil paintings). But I've come to terms with business management and I have also realized that business doesn't automatically equal scrupulous capitalism.

Business encompasses the nonprofit sector, the public sector, and, to my delight(!) a brilliant hybrid = social entrepreneurship.

Huh? Here's the Wikipedia definition:

A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change. Whereas a business entrepreneur typically measures performance in profit and return, a social entrepreneur assesses success in terms of the impact s/he has on society. While social entrepreneurs often work through nonprofits and citizen groups, many work in the private and governmental sectors.

The main aim of a social enterprise is to further its social and environmental goals. This need not be incompatible with making a profit - but social enterprises are often non-profits. Social enterprises are for ‘more-than-profit’ (a term coined by a BBC journalist).

What does this mean, you say? I'm not sure yet... but it's got me thinking.