@jandeman

Rant on innovation

I wrote this on January 2, 2009. After coming back from two days at a conference on innovation in the public sector I was just about to write a rant about the goings on in this field. But something in me said I had already written it... And so I had. Here is a small excerpt:

If you really want your organization to be more innovative, creative and entrepreneurial - go to school and study the best. Steal from them and implement. But foremost understand that this is a process of changing culture that takes time, a long time. And be humble to the fact that you might not succeed. Organizations have been known to resist change...

Here is the full post. I'd love to know what you think.

/jan

PS. In general I find it more and more intersting to explore the charades we employ in our organizations. I'l be writing about this in a coming post. DS.

The coming decade: will we learn to live sustainably?

Right. It has been more than two weeks since I posted my thoughts on the coming decade. You can read the extended Swedish version here. And the English summary here. Today I thought I'd further explore the first of five proposed action areas - Stopping the destruction of our planet.

This does sound awfully pretentious, and I'm pretty sure I'll expose myself to criticism either way I decide to write about it. So here goes.

I'm certainly no environmental expert, or climate expert for that matter. But I can look with my own eyes and I can use my common sense. The ways we humans are pushing the usage of planetary resources is unsustainable, and we must sooner, rather than later, get on to a track of sustainable life on Earth. 

This simple conclusion seems to be very difficult for us to grasp.

It seems we don't have dealing with such a challenge wired into our systems. Sure, there are lots of smart people out there that have written smart stuff that would make sense to adopt in order for us to be more sustainable. But we don't. Or we do, but extremely slowly. There is no way we are adopting new technologies and lifestyles fast enough to offset the destruction. Add to that the amazing level of population growth we still have. 

The pressure on planetary resources is continuing to build, instead of easing off. Some smart folks are speculating if we'll be passing a tipping point soon. Or if we already have. Some other smart folks are saying there might not be a tipping point - we can carry on as usual.

Me, I say let us use the precautionary principle. Let us not put us in a position where we find out if there is a tipping point or not. Let us ease off and share what we have. Let us also make sure that we use planetary resources in a way that they can replenish. Let us stop using the stuff we know is poisonous. I could go on, but I know you know the drill.

Point is, I'm pretty sure we know how to live sustainably - at a personal level and at a societal level. The biggie is to chose to do so. The biggie is to chose another mental model to live by. And since my professional arena is helping businesses and organizations develop I'd also like to point what perhaps is bleeding obvious - this cuts right to the core of any organization's raison d'etre! All organizations have to make the transition to sustainability. Period.

This I believe we have to put in place the coming decade. No more. No less.

I once again quote Daniel Quinn who I think has captured our challenge very poignantly:  

"Something extraordinary will happen in the next two to three decades; the people of our culture will learn to live sustainably – or not. Either way, it will be extraordinary."   

With hope for the right kind of extraordinary decade.

//jan

Tales from Berlin, part 1

I spent of couple of days in Berlin last week with some network collegues. It was an awesome experience in several ways. Berlin in itself is a wonderful city. A lot had happened since my list visit, 14 years ago. Lots of new amazing buildings. A vibrant creative community. The contrast between the old West and East is still there, but has faded some. On top of this, nice and warm weather. Made hanging out at cafés and bars even easier...

My friends and I gave ourselves the task to observe and explore the city. We roamed around different parts of the city. And we met people. Two meetings stand out afterwards - meeting Felcitas at Active Philanthropy and meeting Wiebke at The Hub Berlin.

More on these visits and my "take homes" from Berlin in my next post.

//jan

Yunus on Social Business

Should be worth a few minutes of your time :-)

//jan

Tjäna pengar och rädda världen

I dagens pappersversion av DN Ekonomi finns ett helt uppslag med Maja Brisvall och Erika Augustinsson om deras nyutgivna bok Tjäna pengar och rädda världen (Köp den hos Bookhouse Publishing).

Boken har också kommenterats av Cecilia Aronsson på Veckans Affärer.

Jättekul att socialt företagande uppmärksammas allt mer!

//jan

Head spinning

I would have loved to post some thoughts I having going in my head around social business. But I can't. My head is blocked by other processes. 

Feels really wierd. I can physically sense that I have stuff in my head that lies in the way of what I'd like to express and explore. Dang. 

I'm quite sure this has to do with the type of work I'm doing a t the moment. I have two projects that are cognitively challenging and all my processing power seems be used in these projects. One is carving out a 1.5 day leadership training process for 100 managers. And one is creating a plan for a makeover of a local governement's development work.

These projects are also forcing me to spend longer stretches of time in front on my Mac, which in itself tends to make my head spin. I prefer doses of an hour or so by the computer and then do other types of work.

Well, I'll just have to ride it through. And perhaps I can share some of the results. Depends a little on what my clients allow me to show the world.

//jan