Approaches With Traction in 2020

I’d like to explore some of my own recent views on what approaches have more teeth right now. In no way is this meant to undermine the work of those taking any other path, but instead I seek to provide more option space for folks to choose where and how to channel their energy for change.

First a reminder: Many of these ideas go hand in hand, and many of them can be used together in a coherent, multi-prong approach. Some of them are slow, some of them are fast. Some of them are more emotionally charged, some of them are more rational and distanced. They are all necessary.

So, now ask yourself which of the methods we looked at in the previous section only work in a functioning democracy. Which ones are only effective in a society where you can take a public stance on an issue, and run an event and get in the newspaper, you can change hearts and minds with people power and honest story telling? Which ones still function in a society with programmed social media algorithms where it is simultaneously easier and more difficult to reach our communities? In a society where you can protest outside a politician’s office and link arms until they agree to meet with you, you can advocate effectively using non-violent direct bargaining power. But in a society where people protest for months to prevent a corporation digging it up for export value, and then be shot in the face with rubber bullets and told you were in the wrong, some of these approaches no longer work the same way.

LABORATORIES

“Labs” have been around for awhile now; from Innovation labs, to Wellbeing Labs, Social Labs, Systems Labs, CoDesign Labs et cetera. This format for change making focuses on bringing people together who represent different perspectives within a system or across an issue, and collaboratively building an empathetic understanding of the nature of the problem, clarifying the core need for action, and then funding or implementing some experimental solutions together. In essence, it is a design process, but done not just by a designer to a user, instead multi-directionally conducted as a co-design process; a collective discovery of the higher possibility for all parties. It is an especially valuable approach when the inertia and stuckness of a sector is compounding the problem you’re tackling. These “labs” can be kicked off by community leaders, funders, governments, corporations, or non-profits alike. The convening body needs to have enough respect to get the other stakeholders’ attention, to be neutral enough to genuinely host the process without forcing a direction, and to offer something which incentivises participation. My favourite resources on this topic come from Rachel Sinha, Cheryl Dahle, Daniela Papi Thornton, Zaid Hassan, Joshua Cubista, Adam Kahane, and Otto Scharmer, but by no means is that a comprehensive list of mentors. I highly recommend you check out the work of these humans.

STORIES & MEMES

Creating a new story for humanity to live into has been the work of science fiction authors, journalists, book writers for centuries. Imagining what’s possible and sharing that vision definitely impacts how we go about creating the future. This is as simple as telling stories, and yet it’s also as complex as the psychology of affecting how people perceive certain issues due to what they associate with it. In the world today, how we talk about issues and solutions has an impact on how likely we are to take on a challenge or take up a new approach. If riding a bicycle is always associated with men in spandex with 0% body fat then women may not be so quick to bike to work in heels and a dress. These days “memes” are circulating widely in the form of images with silly captions, or comedic GIFs. But the origin of the word “meme” is a lot broader in its meaning: Meme comes from the ancient word for imitate and the word “gene” fused together and it’s core meaning is an idea which is evolving and collectively held. A meme is the mental image of a concept -such as the meme of cyclists being lycra-clad men. Digital memes are a new format for the same concept: sharing ideas and evolving our understanding of them together in simple, memorable, “memetic” formats. Meme propagation and creating new ways of thinking and seeing the future is a legitimate way to create change in today’s world. In political campaigning this is referred to as “changing the frame”. For example, a word like “tax” has a negative connotation and so industry marketers can propagate the word “carbon tax” to make the public less supportive of taking action on climate change. Some of the most important work we need to do is to frame new futures as inevitable. Change is coming, there’s no question of whether you believe in it or whether you’re inconvenienced by it, or how costly it is compared with the status quo. The status quo is over. It’s so easy to get distracted by justifying your work on helping make the world a better place, but instead we all need to activate new stories and open up new pathways in peoples’ brains that new ways are not just possible, but they’re inevitable and the sooner we get on with it the happier, healthier and more prosperous we’ll be.

POLITICS & POLICY

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jacinda Arden, Katrín Jakobsdóttir are just a few of the powerful fresh faces in global politics. In this moment in time where there is a risk of democracy devolving completely into corporate puppetry, fearful nationalism and mob mentality, we are seeing a rise in new young political leaders with just and inclusive platforms. Fresh candidates with bright ideas and a social-media savvy approach to making politics human, relatable and relevant are picking up speed. Fresh parties with platforms built around innovation, technology, green economies, and common humanity are popping up around the world to serve the political appetite that lies in a more nuanced position than just “left or right”. Within that landscape, these new political platforms need some solid policies to stand on. Any aspect of this realm could benefit from more engagement from folks seeking to show civic leadership. From policy drafting to understanding the needs and desires of communities to speaking and building a profile for yourself or another fresh-faced candidate; the political realm needs all of us to help it evolve into its next stage.

SCALABLE SOLUTIONS

Social enterprises are built around solutions which improve quality of life for people and planet, while making sustainable revenue. These business models find a win-win between the commercial incentives of one industry and the needs of a community. For example, Hola Code trains latino deportees and returnees to develop software via a free 5 month training that is paid for in installments once the students gain work in the industry. Their design leverages the low cost of living in Mexico, alongside the skills of deportees who speak perfect english, to provide an extremely desirable labor source for international companies, and ultimately securing steady high paying jobs for those in vulnerable moments of transition. This kind of business is one of many which finds those win-win solutions between an industry and a need. Once these models are proven they can be scaled up, either by making those organisations bigger, or by replicating them in other places where the same pressures exist. These kinds of approaches to change are typically discovered by people close enough to the problem to see the opportunity, but networked enough and educated enough in business skills to be able to operationalise the concepts. Whether it’s a social solution, an educational solution, a technology product, these “scalable” solutions are about creating a slip-stream of rapid improvement within an issue area. Because they so often rely on a business model which aligns with existing industry incentives, this is often the hardest format within which to create system change, but it can act as a funding mechanism for more radical work.

LATERAL INNOVATION

When glass was invented, we didn’t know what to do with it. When refrigeration was invented, we felt artificial cold for the first time. So many technologies or applied scientific breakthroughs change the parameters of what’s possible, and sometimes it takes the world awhile to figure out how to leverage that potential. Today there are many efforts pushing the edge. Blockchain technology may provide an entirely new protocol for the internet and banking, genetic manipulation may change all food production or dramatically lengthen human lifespans, the dramatic miniaturization of space technology may make it affordable for this generation of humans to experience long term habitation on other planets. Reducing the cost of something by a factor of 100, or shifting the protocols we use to share information, are game changing innovations which may not immediately look like they solve the problems of everyday people - but perhaps neither did electricity at the beginning either and yet now installing electric lights in kitchens is highly correlated with increased health of families in some of the poorest conditions. Changing the context within which we solve problems can contribute to solving problems in ways we don’t understand yet. Literal or figurative “moon shots” are high risk high reward because in the same way that they could change things for the better they could equally change things for the worse. Any work done in the realm of indirect problem solving by changing what’s possible via technology or science should be done with ethics at the core. It would be hard to overstate the importance of intentionality in these projects.