Move the World to a Better Place! - GCSEN

Team Subkit -

Interested in starting your own journey in education but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Michael Caslin, Founder and CEO of GCSEN, The Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship Network, located in Kingston, NY, USA.

What's your organization, and who are your members?

Based in NY’s Hudson Valley / Catskill Mountains - 120 miles north of Manhattan and 60 miles south of Albany. Serving a global audience with nearly 1,000 social entrepreneur graduates from campus partners covering 14 states and 14 countries - from Manhattan to Mumbai, from São Paulo to Southern California, from Rwanda to Syracuse, and Bulgaria to Boston, we are a global network that makes meaning, makes money and moves the world to a better place!

Tell us about yourself

I started GCSEN in 2011, and we became an IRS-approved charity in 2015 after a long career in academia, entrepreneurship, investment, and non-profit work. As a Professor, Philanthropist, Entrepreneur, Author, and Motivator -Influencer, I have seen throughout my life the many benefits of entrepreneurship and the way it can help people change their own life destinies by allowing them to see 4P entrepreneurial possibilities for their futures.

I wanted to help people “GET TO WOW!” And explore their Social Entrepreneur within. They do this through practical action by starting ad-scale ventures that address local problems in their own communities and thereby enable them to influence the world around them. Now that GCSEN has reached over 1000 graduates, I can confidently say we have done that and more.

I'm motivated every day by the desire to help others discover their potential and possibility through a life path as a social entrepreneur and act with passion and purpose for a better world.

What's your biggest accomplishment as an organization?

I’ve had so many great accomplishments in my career as an entrepreneur, corporate turn-around specialist, a 20-year high school educator, and CEO creating NFTE- Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship that has empowered 2 million teens from low-income communities with the essential life skill of entrepreneurship, and as a 20-year higher education professor, entrepreneur, investor, mentor, and author, culminating in the founding of the GCSEN Foundation.

My most recent honor was the international recognition for leadership in the field of Social Entrepreneurship as a U. S. Congressional Fulbright Fellow as the first-ever Fulbright Scholar for Social Entrepreneurship. The fellowship allowed me to travel to Ireland, the UK, and the EU to explore ways to move the world to a better place!

What's one of the hardest things that come with being an organization?

Every entrepreneur takes on a huge amount of risk- but it’s not about the risk you take; it is how you manage it. It’s also hard to wear the right shirt every day! So I ask, what color is your shirt?! It’s an existential question - for GCSEN’s colors are orange and green. Orange is generous, optimistic, opportunistic, bold, emotionally involved, excited, and resilient. Green is sustainable, enduring, abundance-oriented, spiritually and intellectually balanced, and strong.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow an organization today?

  1. Be inspired. Take a GCSEN Course! Make meaning.
  2. Learn more! Read our book, Get to WOW! Make money.
  3. Follow your heart and your mind with confidence in action! Find support for the long haul. You can move the world to a better place!

Where can people find you and your group?

Website: https://www.gcsen.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gcsenfoundation
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gcsen/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GCSENFOUNDATION
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gcsen-foundation/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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