The design opportunities for a post-pandemic world require untangling many knots in our systems. With so much of the world locked down, shut in, or at least restricted in what they can do, there’s been some time to reflect on the state of things and imagine what might come next. The creation of this next …
Those looking to history to shape our future innovations should be wary of the conclusions they draw. Remember the Roaring Twenties? Maybe not in life, but in film, literature, and all of the nostalgic art that has glorified that period of history – that era immediately after the First World War and the Spanish Flu …
This date is an auspicious one in Canada and represents one of the greatest opportunities for social innovation and healing in our lifetime. Every year, from November 25 (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) to December 10 (World Human Rights Day), Canadians observe the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. In …
Plastic language is all about using words in meaningless ways and that creates meaningless impact, too.
Big change might come from small actions and the trust-building that comes from making those actions visible. Here’s how to make a big difference as one person.
Some problems have deep roots, seem intractable and resist change. Our first social innovation might be understanding that change is possible. Innovation is not just about making things better, it can also be about making things right. Thirty years ago today the worst mass attack on women ever committed in North America took place. A …
‘Achieving scale’ might be the golden goose of social innovation. It’s a simple phrase, but its meaning and misunderstanding is not. “How do we take this to scale?” This common and often well-meaning question has enormous problems with it for social innovation besides the grammar. Scale might be among the most widely misunderstood concepts in …
A recent article titled ‘The Right Way to Lead Design Thinking’ gets a lot of things wrong not because of what it says, but because of the way it says it. If we are to see better outcomes from what we create we need to begin with talking about design and design thinking differently. I …
Leadership & Design Thinking: Missed Opportunities Read More »
Developmental evaluation holds promise for product and service designers looking to understand the process, outcomes, and strategies of innovation and link them to effects. It’s the great promise of DE that is also the reason to be most wary of it and beware the traps that are set for those unaware. Developmental evaluation (DE), when …
The world is transformed by creators — the artists, the innovators, the leaders — and their creations are what propel change and stand in the way of it. Change can be hard and its made all the more so when we fail to decouple the creator from the created, inviting resistance rather than enticing better creations. …
