"The Power of Unreasonable People" by John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan

Social and environmental entrepreneurs are often seen to be unreasonable in the world. The focus of conventional business world is all about profits. However, the power of unreasonable people is truly inspiring. The power of these people is illustrated through examples of the three models: Leveraged Nonprofit Venture, Hybrid Nonprofit Ventures, and Social Business Ventures. All of the ventures bring social transformation by focusing on unprivileged groups. In one of the examples, I thought the Christopher Columbus’s La Fageda case was very intriguing. Columbus, who was a psychiatrist, had a desire to work with the mentally ill. He saw a need in caring for the mentally ill patients in a better way- to have them feel a sense of purpose in the world. His immediate solution was to provide the ill people with real jobs in a real company, which led him to establish a successful dairy farm, La Fageda. La Fageda is a thriving business that is fully staffed with mentally ill people. The mentally ill are no longer viewed as “patients,” which is a disempowering term; they earn their living by contributing to one of their country’s leading dairy companies and are proud of the fact. (48) There are myriad of social and environmental needs that leaves are much to be desired. Social models that succeed will certainly have a strong impact on the society. It will increase prosperity, end poverty, improve the quality of life, and promote the healthy and longevity of the world population at an unprecedented rate. (54)