This series is an opportunity to listen to stories and strategies of the global greats of social entrepreneurship -- a powerful new form of public leadership.

Don't just listen to the lawyers. You know in your heart it's time to get this behind you, avoid the nightmare of more proceedings up on the Hill.

Over the past century, researchers have studied business entrepreneurs extensively..

In contrast, social entrepreneurs have received little attention. Historically, they have been cast as humanitarians or saints, and stories of their work have been passed down more in the form of children's tales than case studies. While the stories may inspire, they fail to make social entrepreneurs' methods comprehensible. One can analyze an entrepreneur, but how does one analyze a saint?

An idea is like a play. It needs a good producer and a good promoter even if it is a masterpiece. Otherwise the play may never open; or it may open but, for a lack of an audience, close after a week. Similarly, an idea will not move from the fringes to the mainstream simply because it is good; it must be skillfully marketed before it will actually shift people's perceptions and behavior.

Poverty is not only a lack of money, it's a lack of sense of meaning.

Some people believe in telling stories. Some believe in doing things about which stories will be told in times to come.