<< Last Article  |  Next Interiew >>

"A Job is Just the Beginning"

An Interview with Elliott Brown,
Founder of Springboard Forward

(First appeared in The Stanford Daily, 1/11/2005)

This week, we interview Elliott Brown, Class of ’89, and founder of Springboard Forward, a non-profit career development organization. Springboard Forward provides skills development and job coaching for low-wage workers. Based in Mountain View, Springboard works with employers to provide their low-wage employees with the skills and confidence to advance their careers. Elliott Brown won an Ashoka Fellowship in 2004, a prestigious award for top social entrepreneurs and a “Social Capitalist Award” in the Jan. 2005 issue of Fast Company.

The Daily: Springboard Forward takes a unique approach to helping the economically disadvantaged. What is the idea behind its model?

Elliott Brown: If you look at the system of services and opportunities available for people in low-income communities, it is obvious that this system is broken.

There are services to help people who are unemployed and poor to find jobs. But there is another 50 percent who are employed and poor, and there is almost nothing available in terms of services and opportunities for that group of people.

If you don’t focus on what is next for these employees, all you’re doing is moving people from being unemployed and poor to working and poor. It creates a lack of hope. Springboard aims to change that feeling of hopelessness through skill development and job coaching.

The Daily: Springboard is hired by employers to work with their employees. What does Springboard offer the businesses it works with?

Elliott Brown: When you translate the problem of hopelessness to the business side, that lack of hope creates a workforce that lacks engagement creating high turnover, low retention, and poor customer service. If people don’t want to be there, it’s going to show.

What we’re trying to do is put the two together. We help low-wage workers get that light bulb to go on that says, “Wow, I can do a lot more than I thought I could do.” We then help them realize what it is that they really want to do now that they realize that they can do more. On the corporate side, companies are paying for us to do this for their employees because they get a better workforce.

I was talking with someone a couple days ago, and he said, “So you run a business of hope.” I think that is the core of what we’re trying to do.

The Daily: You’ve mentioned before that particular classes at Stanford had a large impact on the work you do now. What were the most influential classes you took while at Stanford?

Elliott Brown: Two of the most influential classes I took were taught by Professor Albert Bandura in psychology. His theory of “self-efficacy” just blew me away. He focuses on how behavior gets reinforced by current experiences, rather than just past experiences.

He also introduced me to Delancey Street, one of the best examples of social entrepreneurship around. Delancey Street used his theory of self-efficacy to create a self-sustaining community for ex-convicts and recovering addicts. I heard about that when I was your age, and I decided that’s what I want to do.

The Daily: You’ve won several awards as a result of your work. Why do you think the social entrepreneurship movement has become so popular?

Elliott Brown: What I think is exciting about the movement is that people can come to it from two different sides. If your goal in life is to make the world a better place, there is no more exciting place to be than the social entrepreneurship movement. The movement involves the brightest people and the biggest ideas. Winning the Ashoka Fellowship was a validation from the social entrepreneurship side.

From the other side, there are people who mainly do business, but also want to do more to make the world better. Winning the Fast Company award was a validation on the business side. It’s business entrepreneurs that read the magazine. They will say, “These people are changing the world using the free-market system. I like that, and I want to be a part of that. How can I help?”

The Daily: Students are often interested in getting involved in non-profits but don’t know how. How can students help Springboard Forward?

Elliott Brown: I think there are a lot of ways. We need someone to manage our Web site, and a lot of students now have that capability. I think that the opportunity is there if people have skills that they want to bring, as well as an interest in watching the progress of an organization.

I am always open to talking to students and answering questions. There is a lot of opportunity, and we have a lot of stuff to do.

Wow, great interview. How can I read them all?

All the interviews with outstanding social entrepreneurs and articles have been collected into a report on social innovation. It is available below for easy reading, printing, and sharing.

The Story of Social Innovation:
Interviews with Social Entrepreneurs