Irrational exuberance – Alan Greenspan’s famous phrase about the 1990’s stock market boom – has cropped up again recently amidst all the worries about the state of the financial markets.

A few things recently have got me thinking that there are certain parts of the social enterprise sector which are guilty of a bit of irrational exuberance. What started me thinking was realising how much I’d have to pay to go to this year’s Voice 08 conference in Liverpool – close to £600 inc VAT. Not much chance of me sharing my vision, shaping the movement or lending my voice at that price.

I’m annoyed because of the simplistic pricing – God’s chosen people – social enterprises, academics and the public sector – pay up to £230 – but fat cat capitalists like me pay £600. Last time I looked, I was a social entrepreneur who’s self employed and earning a living – but not a £600-for-a-tubthump living. But I also think it’s a bit over-the-top for a sector get-together.

I’ve picked it up on the blogs too – and I’m afraid to say that I think there’s a bit of a London thing going on. Hardly a week goes by without SSE’s excellent blogger telling us about a social enterprise awards ceremony/launch where the great and the good of the sector have got together over canapes and Belu. And then last week Rodney Schwartz on his blog told us of being bowled over by the presence and enthusiasm of the Chief Exec of BSkyB at the Independent’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year awards. I don’t know how these people manage to get any work done.

I’m aware that I’m setting myself up as the sector cynic here, but I assure you I’m not. I’m massively enthusiastic about social enterprise and social entrepreneurship – I just think that the reality of social enterprise in 2008 is a little more complex. Away from the glamour at the top end of the market, there are loads of organisations which are working hard at changing internal cultures, working with customers to encourage them to pay for services, and battling with the public sector to get them to match their new-found enthusiasm for social enterprise with an acceptance that someone somewhere still has to pay for social benefits to be delivered. And many of them – like me – are starting to get a bit distracted by some of the more exuberant cheerleading on the touchline.

In the recession that followed the stock market boom of the 1990’s, people in the US had bumper stickers which read “I want to be irrationally exuberant again.” Perhaps I’d feel the same if the social enterprise bubble burst. But I’d rather try to inject a bit of rationality into it first.

Taken from Rob Greenland’s blog, The Social Business