I have spent most of the time in the last 25 years of my working life within the realms of social enterprise and non-profit sectors. I’ll often say that I am surrounded by extraordinary people doing extraordinary things and always within the lens of extraordinary circumstances.

The sum of all these parts allows for an alignment of social purpose and with it the joy of having impact.

We know that leadership is full of purpose – the end goal, the point of what you do each day if you like. By intrinsically linking social purpose to leadership we can start to not only address the worlds challenges but systematically change them.

Social purpose drives impact as it helps shape the difference that you are making. It’s a good question to ask when thinking about your work and contribution. ‘What is the difference you are making’?

My work in the last 25 years has always been about wanting to change something. I am of the belief also that once you have found that way to make the change happen it is your responsibility as a social entrepreneur to open that up and share it with others. This can help to scale the change or innovate it to help solve other problems.

My motivation to have impact and influence change can vary. Some of it can come from distain of our political leaderships and influencers. It may be a response to tragedy or crisis, and it may well be a personal passion or an attempt to simply try and do the obvious right thing being ignored because it may be the harder thing.

As well as running the life changing Kitchen Challenge program I have recently taken on an additional role as CEO of Cultivating Community. As a leader this role is invigorating. It is exciting to be part of a team gathering this rich knowledge bank of place-based activity in the organisation that is 22 years old. We will innovate our delivery of culturally appropriate projects so that through our activities in food systems:

• we can create jobs to help people reach their full potential and have a step up towards social justice 

• we can create fresher food to stop people going hungry 

• we can educate people about growing to improve our environment and take back control of their food choices. 
 To aim for a Vision where we have an equitable food system is important - but having a clear idea of the why is even more important - to sustain the health and diversity of our communities and our environment.

It is so hard to place a value on impact in so many projects or even the 9 to 5 work that we do. We must accept in behaviour change you may not nudge a person from A – Z but you may well get them from A-D. We underestimate that the latter is just as powerful and relevant and how we have influenced them to think about their own behaviours, purpose and their spark to think of what’s next is fundamental.

What is your spark? What is your what next?

Written by Rob Rees MBE DL, Kitchen Challenge and Cultivating Community, in partnership with Benny Button. If you'd like to learn more about Rob's work you can contact him at rob@cultivatingcommunity.org.au