Taking a Scrappy Approach to Social Change: The Advantage of Being on The Periphery

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The speaker highlights the advantage of being on the periphery in driving social change, as it encourages exploring all avenues and uncovering hidden opportunities. Unlike those with a traditional, structured education, being on the periphery fosters cognitive diversity, agility, and the ability to adapt quickly. The speaker emphasizes the necessity of resilience in dealing with setbacks, such as losing funders, by continuously reinventing strategies and approaches to attract new sources of support, even in challenging and grueling times.

Michael Sani founded Bite the Ballot (BTB), an organization in the UK that mobilizes young people to vote. BTB started as an idea in one classroom and grew into a national movement. At a national election in 2014, over 400,000 people registered to vote via BTB's platform. For the BREXIT referendum, that number was 1.9 million. The organization also promoted a number of policy changes that made voter registration easier for young people. Each step of the journey required Michael to assume a different role, including teacher, organizational developer, campaigner, advocate, network builder, and others. In the interview, Michael walks us through his thought process of why he decided to transition from one role to another, as well as the difficulties and conflicts that these decisions entailed. He also highlights the importance of personal development and letting go of "ego" in order to have more impact on a systems level. Key questions explored in this episode include : How do you decide which role you should play as a social entrepreneur? What is the relationship between systems change, personal development, and well-being?