VIEW FROM THE FUTURE, THE

In Business, Mar/Apr 2005 by Goldstein, Jerome

LATE YESTERDAY, we received a phone call from Jeffrey Edelheit of Sebastopol, California who told us about a course on social entrepreneuring at Sonoma State University. He wanted to know what arrangements he could make to get students to subscribe to in Business. Today, Mr. Edelheit sent us this email:

"I have been reading in Business for several years and find it to be an invaluable resource for opportunities and addressing issues of Social Entrepreneurship. Here in Sonoma County, California, a group of us have formed Wellspring for Social Entrepreneurship in order to provide education, networking and possible financial resources. We realize that there are many organizations, companies and individuals who are seeking ways to address social and environmental concerns and creating new business or funding opportunities. We are working to answer the common question of what are the steps to achieve social, environmental and financial sustainability.

"My focus is teaching how to formulate a comprehensive business plan and having it become a living document which triggers the thinking process around cause and effect. As a guest presenter at a business class at Sonoma State University, I opened my presentation quoting an in Business article published November 2003 on 'Financial Basics for Growing Companies.' The beauty of the article is that it presented that the answer is not always more capital. Instead the need to plan, keeping in touch with your market, attention to details, innovation and to move at a manageable pace.

"Overall I find in Business one of the few resources for social and environmental stewardship for business, community and the world of nonprofits. You provide insight to many of the common questions on a very realistic level. In order to succeed in our common goals, we need more avenues to be able to share our stories and learn from experiences including successes as well as hardships."

We thank Jeffrey Edelheit for his comments. As our creative Art Director Doug Pinkerton remarked earlier today, our goal with in Business is to look at the present by focusing on what we'd like the world to be like in 10 years. With that goal in mind, we're proud to feature on our front cover GREEN ROOFS and how they will impact the quality of urban life in coming years. In Seattle and many other cities, they represent important environmental and sustainability components.

Besides the role of green roofs and the businesses who consider them, this issue also features the husband-and-wife team at Gatski Metals and their goal of honoring agriculture through art. A former high school basketball coach in Howard, South Dakota now directs the Miner County Community Revitalization, emphasizing the role of ecoentrepreneurs who see interdependence as a way to keep rural communities from languishing when they can be prospering. As described on pages 24 and 25, companies like Energy Maintenance Service and Dakota Beef are building new economic engines as they exemplify fastgrowing small, nimble, niche firms.

The view from the future that you find here in the pages of in Business boosts our hopes and sense of reality. We thank you for letting others know about this vision. To get your "Spread The Vision" kits that offer an introductory subscription rate to in Business, e-mail us at biocycle@jgpress.com or call 610-967-4135 ext. 22 or simply write in Business, 419 State Ave., Emmaus, PA 18049. -J.G.