Blog 2 - No 10

People who know me know I’m not someone to crow about accolades. I’ll happily big up projects I work for and the difference they make but other things come less easily. But friends have persuaded me to get out here about the invitation I’ve received to 10 Downing Street to celebrate Social Enterprise Day with the Prime Minister and a large cohort of other leaders in the field.

And I’m looking for your help.

Most people might be single-mindedly thinking about what they could make of the opportunity. I’m mostly expecting either that I’ll get struck down by swine flu or some international disaster will put paid to the event altogether. I have form on the latter point.

At The Big Issue we spent the first year of my time in London planning its tenth anniversary. It became a focal point for each department in the organisation, pulling together after years without cohesion or much of a shared vision. I banked a lot on it. We lined up a series of three special editions, organised the launch of a Midlands edition and won the favour of news outlets both local and national. The BBC had promised a news segment every night of the week we reached double figures.

There was a real buzz but we feared something would screw it up. What was the killer headline we had to avoid? It was 2001 and the weekend before festivities, every member of staff was under instruction to pray for the good health of the Queen Mum, who’d just turned 101. In fact, we were so concerned, the Big Issue editor asked a respected news journalist whether there were whispers of her demise... which in turn launched a rumour there were fears for her health.

By the date of the anniversary, the Queen Mum was fine. September 10th went tremendously but, for obvious reasons, from the next day on, the rest of our celebrations were somewhat subdued.

So, canapés with Gordon...

While I’m assuming the worst about getting there, I’m not assuming for a moment I’ll have any kind of audience with the PM. But what if? Surely everyone in the room will want to make an impression even though it’s unfeasible any business can be done except between the entrepreneurs in the room. But what if?

How do you think I would make an impression? I’m imagining a 60 second window to reply, profoundly, to one of a number of killer questions. It’s a short list of possible enquiries: What do you do? How did Clean Slate come about? What is the single thing the Government could do to make the biggest impact on social enterprise?

The conversation is a fantasy scenario but I’m intrigued about what YOU think. I think I have the first two covered but what would transform the lot of those of us in business to make a difference? Or for that matter, to change the lives of the people we work with?

Answers on a postcard please, click COMMENT below. Lines close on the 18th November.