How do you go about changing things where you live?

Politics, campaigning, protest, social entrepreneurship - what works for you?

I chatted with a group of students on Friday at Notre Dame Sixth Form College in Leeds.

I’d been invited along by Kevin Warnes, who teaches politics and history at the college.

I decided to focus on exploring the theme of how you go about changing things where you live.

Now if I really had the answer to that question I’d probably be traveling the world giving keynote speeches to vast audiences, as well as doing talks at my local sixth form college.

Nonetheless, it’s a good question to ask.

I was keen to make the point that there are many ways to create change.

You might go down the road of being a social entrepreneur. Or a social activist. Perhaps you’ll focus on campaigning, either in a job or in your free time. Or maybe protest will be your thing.

You may focus on what you can do alongside people on your street. Or in your faith community.

Or you may go into politics.

And what you do may well change over time. It certainly has for me.

My focus in much of my life has been on social entrepreneurship. Working with people to set up businesses that do good.

But the campaigner in me is never too far from the surface. I believe in social activism — not just standing by.

Some of my best work has probably come from where activism has blended with entrepreneurship.

Some of the big challenges have come from that same mix too. It’s not always comfortable.

A group of sixth form students don’t want to hear me banging on about how great I think our work is. But I’d hope they find it useful to hear about my reflections on the work that I do.

That it’s been more of a life journey than anything you could possibly call a career path. Constant learning & reflecting on what I can do, in the situation I’m in, to change things for the better.

One thing’s for sure, with all the social challenges we face, we need talented young people thinking about how they can do good in the future, whatever their futures hold.

I originally shared a version of this post on LinkedIn.