About​ Femi

I believe that positive social change is not necessarily a responsibility of businesses, rather it is a result of business.  Let me explain. The attitude a business takes toward stakeholders is what really makes change in society. For example, if a business employs people and treats them fairly, in terms diversity and inclusion, wages, benefits , respect etc, those people in and of themselves are going to be a positive addition to any community because they’ll have a sense of dignity. Their sense of dignity has a bearing in the way that they will treat others and take care of their community. So in a sense all business leaders can have a tremendous impact on social change.

 

I have spoken on the subject of social change at places like NYU and CUNY, and also mentored a lot of young people about it through my relationship with Creative Visions Foundation. People often ask me why I never went for an Executive MBA, why I chose a social change program for my executive education, my answer is simple, I know how to run a business at senior executive level, I worked my way up from the ground up, there's not much an MBA will teach me, my interest is on making social impact as I do business, I wanted to be able to show the entrepreneurs and employees with whom I work how they can genuinely support social change through their own community of stakeholders. 

There are many different kinds of entrepreneurs, and you will also find different types of entrepreneurial people within any organization. Entrepreneurship is a mindset. What I mean by this is that there can be founders and organizational leaders  who don't have an entrepreneurial mindset, and they will struggle as a result of this.  In terms the profile of the average entrepreneur, there are many different and unique levels of openness to new experiences, conscientiousness, introversion, ambiversion, extraversion and neuroticism. 

 

Entrepreneurship does not occur in a vacuum, and as such your personality, experiences in life, and the cultural environment in which you find  yourself tend to shape what kind of entrepreneurial mindset you have. So it's not so much about your age as it is the experiences that have shaped your life.  Interestingly enough, according to research by the Kauffman Foundation and others, the average age of 'successful' start-up founders is somewhere around 40, with high growth start-ups almost twice as likely to be launched by people over 55 as they are by folks 20-34.

I love both the 'Star Wars' and the 'Star Trek' franchises because the parallels with business and society are incredible.  They force leaders to ask questions of themselves, questions about their responsibility to humanity.

 

'Star Trek' points to a future in which human civilization is advanced enough to provide everyone with the basic necessities of life. It also shows us the ways in which we have already achieved great things in that society, yet some folks decide not to make some of those things accessible to all people. The importance of inclusion and diversity are my takeaways from Captain Kirk.

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'Star Wars' teaches us that feats of human courage, rather than technological utopianism (the idea that technology in and of itself will guarantee a more free future) is the path to a better civilization. 'Star Wars' to me is all about the circle of life. Human potential is limitless. Nobody can put out our fire when we are in the right state of mind.

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