There is no reason for me to be an entrepreneur. By most measures I’ve had a successful and interesting career - beyond what I could have hoped for when I graduated. But I’ve never been happy with the status quo - particularly in the business world where organizations did not care - in a practical way - about the wider context in which they operated. As online communities started to change communications, I saw the power and economic shift that would eventually happen.  That excited me because it means that the complex needs of society - whether flexibility in working conditions for employees or green energy practices - would get more attention. 

At a practical level, I understand how large organizations operate, how software works, and the new communications dynamic. I saw the opportunity to help the individuals within organizations see how to transform the way they operate. I got excited about building a business that uses the network dynamic to ensure every constituent group gets more out of it than they contribute.  Two years ago, Jim Storer and I started The Community Roundtable to do just that. It has been all that I expected and so much more.

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Rachel Happe is a Co-Founder and Principal at The Community Roundtable, a peer network for social media, community, and social business leaders. She has over fifteen years of experience working with emerging technologies including enterprise social networking, ecommerce, and enterprise software applications.