The 99% Conference was a conference held on April 16th at The Times Center in NYC that focused on how idea generation and organization come together to make ideas happen.  Cheryl Dorsey from Echoing Green kicked off the day as the first speaker.  If you didn’t get a chance to attend the conference, here are some highlights from her talk…

From Fast Company:

“Cheryl Dorsey, president of Echoing Green, a social entrepreneurship funder which has dispensed over $27M to projects such as City Year and Teach for America, says the people who make things happen share certain common traits.

Each year Echoing Green vets about 1000 ideas to come up with 15 projects they want to fund. The trick, Dorsey says, is ferreting out which of those submissions is not just a scalable idea, but has a person behind it with the right stuff to make it happen.

“There’s truly magic to doing this work,” she said. “You’ve got to find the right person, with the right idea, who can execute, and who’s at the right moment in time for idea to take flight.”

To separate the worthy from the wannabes, Echoing Green canvassed the characteristics of more than 500 Echoing Green fellows. They distilled them and put them together into something they call the social entrepreneurship intelligence–with a nod to Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence (EQ).

Running out of time, Dorsey listed six:

1. Core identity formation and alignment. “These folks,” she said, “have reached a level of authenticity in life. They have found purpose and passion. They know what they’re on earth to do. They’re in the Social Change ‘zone.’ They have head/heart alignment.”
2. Focused and ability to execute with alacrity. “It’s not enough to have an idea. You must be able to prove your model is having an impact and build on it.”
3. Solutions oriented.
4. Asset based thinking. “Most of us deficit based thinkers,” Dorsey said. “But instead of seeing the world as filled with problems, they see opportunities. They see the glass as half full, and execute against all odds.”
5. Resource magnet. They’re able to draw money, garner human capital, and attract media attention.
6. Deep and unshakable commitment to a cause.”

Also here are some snippets from twitter – courtesy of Squidoo:

• MobileBehavior: Echoing Green is an angel investment firm in the social sector, seed funded Teach for America, City Year, Seed School in DC #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Not all ideas should be implemented – even those ideas that are really good (Dorsey) – #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Sometimes, the ideas aren’t great – other times, the people who proposed the ideas aren’t the right people to execute them. #the99percent
• blainehogan: #the99percent Cheryl Dorsey: Please don’t start a new organization! Not all ideas should be implemented!
• rosskimbarovsky: If you have a great idea – develop a flexible “battle plan” to execute it. (Dorsey) – #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Ideology v. Pragmatism. It’s not about the ideology – it’s about using any tool to make your ideas happen (Dorsey) – #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Echoing Green is rolling out a new behavioral model – SEQ (Social Entrepreneurship Intelligence) (Dorsey) – #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: SEQ: Social Entrep have found themselves and have formed their identity and their cause, they live it and breath it #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: SEQ: Social Entrep have a focused ability to execute. Not enough to just have a idea. Build a mission driven business #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: SEQ: Social Entrep must be solutions oriented, must have the ability to actually solve a problem and not preach an ideology #the99percent
• swissmiss: Cheryl Dorsey: “To be a Social Change agent you have to be in the business of solving problems and not of generating ideas.” #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Social entrepreneurs see opportunities rather than problems (most of us just see problems). (Dorsey) – #the99percent
• nicolecwong: SEQ 4. Asset-based thinking, a psychological framework of glass-half-full and seeing the world as opportunities, not problems. #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: SEQ: Asset based thinking, instead of worrying about a problem eating you, social entrep see the opportunities in the problems #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: SEQ: Social entrep must be a resource magnet, money, people, media all things required to execute #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: SEQ: Must have a deep and unshakeable devotion to a cause. You’re going to spend 20 years of you life doign this #the99percent