The Nonprofit Times got part of it right with this quote, following the McCain and Obama presentation on their visions of a nation in service:
The problem, however, was it was only the insiders looking in at their own world who saw the power and potential of this “new generation of social innovators.” The candidates themselves seemed to be aware of none of it. They made little if any mention of such potentials for innovation. Nor did they see any of the energy that has begun to be captured by the business and nonprofit leaders who are looking to the infrastructure details of entrepreneurs for communication and connectivity, social and otherwise.
Obama went out on a bit of limb to note that he was aware of the problem that exists within the nonprofit sector: they don’t really value skills and abilities even when presented directly to them. Obama noted, for example, that it was harder for him to FIND a job in the community-change sector that it would have been for him to “lawyer-up” with corporate America.
But he never really followed up on the logic of this, tending, like McCain, to focus much more intensely on how quality service is at least as good as a term or two of military enlistment–the truly noble service that drew the vast majority of their attention.
So what does it mean when the comments of the leading candidates seem significantly out of touch with what may well be the most significant advancement of the helping sector: a fair and balanced integration of charitable values into for-profiting thinking and acting?
Why do our presidential contenders seem so out-of-step with the future that is heading directly toward them?
Tags: business, careers, enterprise, innovation, McCain, nonprofit, Obama, president, service, skills, social, value, volunteerism
