Want to Make a Difference? Don't Work For Non-Profits

Last year I gave a talk on the importance of building a culture of stewardship within our communities, and the imperative in maximizing the effective use of community resources before looking elsewhere.  I received positive feedback from what I would consider a largely, although not entirely, accepting crowd.  Many attendees approached me after to discuses their ideas for improving community, and other raised concerns about how a focus on community would distract from other, more needed changes that only corporations or large state and federal governments could accomplish.  Among all of those with whom I met, one individual sticks out in my mind.  A bright, eager mechanical engineering undergraduate, primed for graduation, approached me and said,

"I loved your talk, and I already recycle, operate my apartment in a way to minimize energy use, and buy local whenever I can.  What else can I do?"

I learned long ago that people who approach me in this way want one of two things: to hear that something really cool is coming down the road so that they can be one of the first to get it, or to hear that they are doing everything they can.

I asked him what he planned to do after graduation, to which he responded,

"I am going to work for a gas drilling company in the upper Plains."

"Do you really want to make a difference?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Then don't do that."

After letting the expected silence linger for an extra couple of moments, I continued.

"Engineers are charged to protect public health.  You obviously already know the dangers to public health from the way that we extract energy sources, burn them, then release all the stored energy into the atmosphere in the form of heat and particulate matter.  Because of that, you have an obligation to use your skills and knowledge to make life better for everyone, not better for some and worse for others.  The goal is not just to be a little better in how we live our life, but to keep taking strides forward in what we do with our lives."

After receiving the resigned, polite "Thank you" of a person who did not get the answer they sought, I realized something:

The deck is stacked against change for the better.

For the better part of the past forty years, those hoping to "make a difference" had one of three paths available to them:  work for a non-profit or non-governmental organization, work for the government, or work for a business and hope to make a change from within that company.  None of these usually leads to a lucrative career (this young man's chosen profession is one of the top earning opportunities for engineers just out of school), reducing the incentive for the truly exceptional to pursue them.  As I thought on this dilemma more, I realized that none of these options offers the maximum potential to make a difference.  Large businesses are beholden to shareholder profit, and environmentalists are usually relegated to support functions.  Government employment in functions that do not fulfill a specific service (e.g. police, fire, garbage) have little power and come and go with political whim.  In the non-profit sphere, the market is saturated with people and organizations looking to make a difference, but the effort required to make even the smallest impact can be demoralizing.  There exists only one real shot at attempting and succeeding to create significant change while pursuing potential compensation that can lure the best and brightest to the field:  entrepreneurship.

Want to eliminate styrofoam waste from the planet?  Don't picket at styrofoam plants, or try to get legislation passed.  Set about trying to create a product - or further one into the marketplace that already exists - that replaces the function of styrofoam without the environmental damage.

Do you have a passion for healthy foods and making them available to people of all economic classes?  Let others do the studies, the lobbying, the education programs targeted at eliminating obesity and food deserts.  Get a team together and open a fast food place that serves foods made from healthy ingredients and price your product in a range that any family can afford.  Put those restaurants that choose to serve unhealthy food out of business with your competitive pricing and better options.

Tired of people telling you they do not have the time to worry about energy efficiency in their homes?  Create a company that aggregates residential customers and pays their utility bills for them, but then invests in energy efficiency and reaps the benefit of the cost savings through reduced usage.

Pick the issue or idea that most inspires you.  Then research the business practices that promote or sustain the destructive practice, investigate the useful service provided by the product or practice, then turn the issue on its head and come up with business models that provide the same (or better) service but without the damage.  If you think that CEOs receive compensation well beyond their worth to an organization, or that good labor is undervalued in the marketplace, then have your business operate differently.  You will need to build a good network of professionals within the field you want to change, become experienced at getting rejected and picking yourself up off the mat, and constantly tweak your ideas until they have the combination of possibility and impact you desire.  All of these take time and initiative, but the potential rewards can outweigh equal effort in a more traditional career path.

One might argue that a person just out of school does not have the requisite skills and experience needed to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities, and that moving along in a traditional career path will give them the background more suited to success.  Although this has a bit of common sense to it, recent grads also have higher tolerance for failure and fewer constraints on their thinking than those with greater experience.  Waiting three to five years may put the young person in a position where they have family responsibilities that will reduce their risk tolerance.  As we all move along in a field, we like to think that we maintain an innovative objectivity toward ideas, but the more we learn and experience, the more closed to new ideas we become…even if that constraint is small, we risk less often because we usually have more to lose from change than we have to gain.  Add to this, new provisions in health insurance law that allow young people to remain on parental insurance policies into their mid-twenties, and we have a perfect storm of opportunity.

Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, however anyone can be an entrepreneur.  The collaboration, communication, and thinking skills required can be developed growing up in a big family, playing on a sports team, or volunteering for a local community organization.  College graduates and high-school dropouts alike can have worthwhile ideas that if pursued can improve the quality of life.  If the time comes where you want to pursue a more traditional career path - not better or more common, just more traditional - then the experiences gained and skills honed through the opportunities will provide better resume material.  In addition, an entrepreneur is less likely to try the scatter-shot-your-resume-and-hope-for-an-interview approach to job hunting, preferring to use networking and face-to-face contact which has greater success.

The work of non-profits, and the champions in government and industry can do amazing work.  They work insane hours for low pay and must accept incremental improvement as their reward.  The competition to join the ranks of the truly capable in these fields has an intensity not justified by the reward.  If, like that eager mechanical engineer, you want to know what else you can do to really make a difference, look to George Bernard Shaw (oft quoted by Robert F. Kennedy), "Some men see things as they are and ask why. I dream things that never were and ask why not."  Come up with an idea, then take matters into your own hands.  Become an entrepreneur. You will not regret it.