Individual Impact: Using Your Career To The Fullest
By: Abbie Falle
Coming into the Commerce program, I felt quite conflicted about getting a business degree. I knew that the undergraduate program at the Smith School of Business was an amazing one that aligned well with my strengths, but I worried about my ability to find meaning in my degree and my future career. In order to work through this apprehension, I made a deal with myself to utilize my time in university and the career that would follow to positively impact the communities around me, even if this meant taking a non-traditional career path focused on the social impact sector.
On this mission to utilize my career for the greater good, I figured out quickly that setting out to simply have a positive impact on the world around you is much easier said than done. The social impact sector is incredibly complex and, in some senses, incredibly divisive. I could either take the for-profit route, working for a company that really inspires me, or I could take the non-profit route, dedicating my work to the charitable sector. Each of these career paths has benefits and drawbacks, both in terms of personal preference and ability to make an impact. This is what I have learned about these two options thus far in my career.
The first step I took to set myself up for a meaningful career was becoming a first-year representative on the Queen’s Social Investment Initiative. Through this role, I worked on several consulting projects with community organizations which allowed me to cut my teeth on the key areas of business, investing, and social impact. Moreover, through this first experience within the Queen’s community, I learned a lot about the social impact sector and how both for-profit and non-profit organizations are working to advance society. This experience was quite eye-opening for me as it exposed me to the world outside of the non-profit sector and philanthropic giving, demonstrating to me how for-profit businesses can have varying degrees of impact. It showed me that there is no one-way impact will look.
My time on the Social Investment Initiative also exposed me to one of the most prevalent debates in the social impact sector: is it better to commit your career to the cause or commit your career to make money that can support the cause? At a networking event, I discussed this topic with a gentleman who used the following metaphor:
In a soccer game, a player can run as fast as possible, but if someone kicks the ball up the field, it will always get to the net first. Working for a non-profit will always be like that. You can work your whole life for the cause, but you will never be able to make as big of an impact that way. The million-dollar donor, that shooter, will always have a larger impact on the cause.
This was definitely something for me to think about. Although I felt this metaphor was interesting, I felt the issue was hardly this simple. Depending on the work being done and the level of disregard for the social impact, the negative externalities you could be contributing to may be disproportionate to the impact your profits may have. Are these negative externalities justified if it is a means to an end? In this situation, should I just have faith that the negative or environmental and social impact I may be contributing to will be offset by an individual or organization that committed to the work I was unable to do? These are difficult questions, many of which are without answers.
In addition to my experience with QS2I, I have also had the privilege to work hands-on in the charitable sector. In the summer following my first year of university, I had the opportunity of working with the amazing team at the ALS Society of Canada. Throughout my time with the ALS Society of Canada, I was able to work with the community services team. This team worked to provide direct support to community members who had been diagnosed with ALS. This support came in the form of support groups, home visits, and equipment provision. My main project for the summer was working to quantify the impact that the equipment loan program had. I was able to compare the budget of the program to the average amount it would cost each client to attain the same quantity and variety of equipment independently. In this case, the impact was immense, and the equipment being provided, in many cases, could not be attained by these clients through any other government support program. Without this program, many of these clients would have their safety, mobility, independence, and comfort at risk due to the lack of support for Canadians living with ALS.
This experience demonstrated to me how many non-profit organizations have become indispensable to our broader communities. There is very little money to be made in accessibility equipment provision, yet that does not mean that it is not essential work that needs to be done for the greater good of our communities. If it was not for the individuals I worked with at the ALS Society of Canada, the hundreds and hundreds of individuals living with ALS in Ontario would be much worse off.
In addition to this, this experience also showed me how difficult it could be to work within an entirely donor-funded organization. Reasonably, donors prefer to leave their money knowing it is being used responsibly. Because of this, any major spending decisions must go through the board of directors before implementation. Although there are evident upsides to this level of accountability within the organization, this can also slow the organization’s ability to progress and streamline operations. At times, spending decisions that could save time and money, in the long run, are stalled in the decision-making process.
Experiencing this more slow-paced environment pushed me to explore the entrepreneurial environment within the Queen’s community. Through this process, I met several incredible founders making huge strides within their respective industries. I thought, maybe widespread change was not in an office slowly allocating limited donor funds, maybe it was going to be in the space where brilliant people are being enabled to innovate and push the boundaries of their respective industries. This inspired my involvement in the entrepreneurial space. I am currently taking steps to enhance opportunities for growth for Queen’s students by using my position as Co-Chair of Queen Women in Leadership to create a start-up pitch competition for organizations with a strong female presence on their founding team.
At the end of the day, figuring out how to build a fulfilling and impactful career is no easy task, but moving forward with the intention to do well by your community is a fantastic place to start. The intricacies of this journey will surely look different for everyone, and just because your career path looks different from those around you does not mean you are not on track to do great things. Whether or not an organization can operate in the for-profit or non-profit industry is highly dependent on the goals it is trying to accomplish. Work like that of the ALS Society of Canada would not be feasible in a for-profit model, but that does not mean it is not work worth doing. In contrast, there are many organizations making great strides in the sustainability and social impact spaces that are doing so in a for-profit model. Because the social impact space can be so complex, one can hardly judge their individual impact from something as simple as a title, organization, or industry. These complexities of the social impact space can make pursuing the overarching goal of maximizing your individual impact seem like a daunting task. As you move through your career, it is essential to remember that the effort will always be worth it, even if you fall short of perfect. Your goalposts for perfection will constantly be changing as you learn and develop as a person and professional. Your career will evolve with you, and you will evolve with the world around you. Throughout this, remaining set on perfection and maximization will hardly seem fair to yourself. If you ask me, as long as you are constantly striving to do well by the communities around you and continuously seeking ways to use your skillset to address topics you feel passionately about, you are already on the right track.