Even as large corporations extend their reach, we're witnessing the flowering of Pro-Am, bottom-up self-organization." Charles Leadbeater (2004)

Pro-Ams are amateurs working to professional standards who are reshaping society, according to social enterprise thinker Charles Leadbeater. His new report documents the rise of 'serious leisure' as more people commit time, energy and expertise to a widening area of activities. Leadbeater explains why the spirit of collaborative problem solving by self-organising communities of committed amateurs, appeals so powerfully. Pro-Am workers, their networks and movements, will help reshape society in the next two decades says Leadbeater.

"The 20th century was marked by the rise of professionals in medicine, science, education, and politics. In one field after another, amateurs and their ramshackle organizations were driven out by people who knew what they were doing and had certificates to prove it. Now that historic shift seems to be reversing. Even as large corporations extend their reach, we're witnessing the flowering of Pro-Am, bottom-up self-organization." Charles Leadbeater (2004), The Pro-Am Revolution. Fast Company magazine Issue 87, October 2004, p31.

Leadbeater's report "The Pro-Am Revolution" can be found at www.demos.co.uk.

"The emphasis in the contemporary social era appears to be much more on the individual and his/her capacity to make things happen to create change." John Pearce

Another key social enterprise thinker, John Pearce, discusses the rise of the social entrepeneur, the maverick outsider who makes things happen, albeit for social benefit.

"In the community era we started from the basis of a group or a community coming together to arrive at a vision, to agree what needed to be done and taking steps to implement that plan. There was a sense of collective endeavour.... The emphasis in the contemporary social era appears to be much more on the individual and his/her capacity to make things happen to create change. The Ashoka Trust, for example, talks about "outstanding individuals who are already building on their own ideas of what their societies need" appearing to encourage doing things for communities rather than with them."
John Pearce from his paper 'Social entrepreneurship - old wine in new bottles?'

See http://www.cbs-network.org.uk/SocEntsp.html for a copy of the paper.