The Social Innovation Blog

Is Leadership context based?

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Tue, 27 May 2014 05:52:00 +0000

Does the meaning of leadership differ from one country to another, one context to another? During a recent discussion at the Young Leadership (Ungt Ledarskap) Seminar at King's Foundation in Sweden, we shared some thoughts on this topic.

With experiences of living and working for many years in India, United States and now in Scandinavia, let me share my perspective on leadership in Scandinavia and India:

In a country like INDIA, where the resources are scarce (in many situations), a leader seen as someone who can 'get things done' with less resources and overcome all hurdles. That is the essence.

While in SCANDINAVIA, it is not about the resources, but the focus is on the diverse views / perspectives. in Scandinavia, valuing everyone's perspective is of importance, bringing all views together is seen an important. In this context, a leader is a person, who can bring all these perspectives together, to form a complete picture (like completing a jigsaw puzzle from all different views).

We all have different perspectives on leadership, but it does depend on the context (where you are) and the skills you need to be a leader. It is not only about 'getting things done', but also about 'how you get things done' that matters.

Please share your thoughts in comments too.

Does money make you more mean and less empathetic?

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 13:16:00 +0000

Empathy, simply put, means to understand another person's situation from their perspective. Or putting yourself in another person's shoes. It is an important skill needed in a world where people are living in the social media age, and becoming more and more emotionally disconnected.

Paul Piff, a researcher from Berkeley researches on the question of whether having more money make you more mean and less empathetic (see below).

After having lived in India, Sweden and USA, I want to take this discussion further and understand if higher economic inequality in countries leads to citizens being less empathetic.
Among these 3 countries, although Sweden has least economic inequality, but does that mean Swedish citizens are most empathetic? Or take the case of India, that has a large percentage of people having least wealth (compared to citizens of US and Sweden), does that make them more empathetic?

I believe that having less wealth puts you in situations where you have to depend on the people around you (community), and that makes you understand them better, thus making you more empathetic.
This also reminds me of Gandhi's philosophy of voluntary poverty and non-possession - a way of living that helps develop broadened awareness that leads to high level of empathy.

So I leave the question to you as a reader - what do you feel? Share your thoughts and experiences ...

Watch this TED Talk - http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_piff_does_money_make_you_mean.html

Is Serving, Leadership?

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 21:43:00 +0000

Who is a leader?
Is he/she someone who guides people, gives them directions, supports them to grow?
or is he someone who serves his people, and takes care of them?

An amazing discussion with Simon Sinek at the wonderful Good Life project.

Watch the full video.

Stories and Perspectives

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 09:18:00 +0000

Just came across this letter to Malala Yousafzai from a Taliban leader .. who writes to hear personally about why she was actually shot by them .. You might have already read it earlier.

http://topinfopost.com/2013/07/22/the-talibans-letter-to-malala-yousafzai

Having worked for some time near the India-Pakistan border areas with schools and children, I feel that this letter brings in a new perspective to the whole story being published in the media and as shared by Malala.

I am not trying to judge who is right or wrong, but just trying to share the importance of having diverse perspectives and how it helps understand the situation in a better way.

Also reminded me of Chimamanda Adiche's TED talk about danger of a single story (in this case being told by Malala, the UN and the media).

Read the above letter to Malala and check out Adiche's talk below .. really enlightening.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg)

SourceMap - Where do your products come from?

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 09:46:00 +0000

Want to measure the impact of products? Have you tried Sourcemap.com?

Introducing Sourcemap.com from Sourcemap on Vimeo.

Some Free maps available on - http://free.sourcemap.com/

PhoneBloks - a Sustainable Idea?

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 09:57:00 +0000

The era of customization and personalization in mobile phones begins soon .. this would surely lead to a better user experience, and less electronic waste. This would also probably lead to higher competition in the mobile phone market.

Do you like the idea? How soon do you want a phone like this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDAw7vW7H0c

UPDATE (Nov 1, 2013):

Motorola (now a Google company), works together with Phonebloks to make this project happen.

http://www.dscout.com/ara

http://techland.time.com/2013/10/29/motorolas-project-ara-diy-smartphone-sounds-a-lot-like-phonebloks-because-it-is/

What can we learn from plants about Change and Transformation?

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 15:40:00 +0000

Can you draw any connections between a plant and personal transformation?? No! ....

Neither could I .. unless I spend a few minutes absorbing this talk.

(Video Link)

Loved the metaphor of a rose plant for personal transformation.

Do you think this learning holds true for only individuals? What about organizations?

Can we apply the same learning for transforming organizations (after all organizations are groups of people working together for a common purpose)?

Would love to hear your thoughts in comments below.

Is Creativity inversely proportional to Efficiency?

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:10:00 +0000

Came across a very interesting talk on creativity by Randa Grob-Zakhary from LEGO Foundation and its role in changing some of the toughest problems in the world.

She raises important thoughts on how we all are "genius" at the age of three and how creativity diminishes with age, and what can we do in our day-to-day lives, within our homes and in our work lives, to become more creative.

LEGO Foundation 5Mbps from LEGO Foundation on Vimeo.

For myself, the talk also raises a lot of QUESTIONS:
- Sometimes to be more efficient, we forget to be more creative .. so is creativity inversely proportional to efficiency?
- Is it true that nurturing creativity requires more resources (time or finances)?
- On an organizational level, can small business organizations (or nonprofit organizations) really afford to be creative in the long run?

- Also on an individual level, what does it take to be more creative while being frugal?

While thinking about these questions, at a personal level, I feel that the talk also gives ANSWERS to some of my questions:
- Why do I ask a lot of questions? or rather why do I ask why so much?
- Why do I put myself in new situations, professions, locations, cultures all the time?
... probably these are just different ways to keep my creative energies flowing :)

To the readers .. Enjoy the talk and share what questions it raises for you .. and also if it answers some of your existing questions.

Have fun and be creative :-)

Can we use Gamification to Build Communities and Bring People Together

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Sweden is one of the most developed countries in the world where the thought of power cuts and blackout is never questioned. It is due to the same reason that all the systems are very much dependent on electricity. But in case of an electricity failure, many things are shut down. And yesterday was one such day.

But I also realized something good happened as well. As someone once said, a glass half-empty is half-full. After a whole day of electricity cut, it became like a blackout situation during the evening hours. A few of the neighbors came out of their homes to see what is been done. One neighbor asked another, and suddenly we were like a group of people trying to find a solution to this problem. Calling the public authorities didn't help due to late hours. Then one neighbor lit a candle and another one got a torch. Suddenly we had created a small space for ourselves where we all could chat and share our thoughts. One thing led to another and the discussions grew longer on how to look for a solution to this common problem. We ended up talking for a 2-3 hours until electricity finally returned.

This kind of electricity cuts are not common, and this is the first time in the whole year that such a situation has happened. Well it was also the first time that all the neighbors were meeting each other, who would have never met otherwise. Not only we discussed about solving the existing electricity problem but we also discussed on how to make our living space a better experience for all of us. It was a birth of a "community".

Now looking at it from a social change perspective, currently in Sweden, a lot of work happening in the area of "social integration", in terms of bringing diverse people and communities together, and building common spaces to achieve a higher social sustainability.

Reflecting back on the electricity situation, I see that the existence of a common problem within the community led to bringing the people together to solve the problem. The larger question that I am asking is - Is it the lack of problems in the community that makes people very individualistic, which further makes it very difficult to achieve social integration?

If we look at some of the developing nations like India, China and nations in Africa, this seems to be true. There are so many local community-level problems that people need to come together to solve the same. While in case of more developed nations like in Nordics much of the community-level issues are taken care of by the government and public sector very efficiently. Hence the citizens do not need to come together in communities to solve these issues and hence the issue of social integration.

The learning here is that there is need for balance - between development and community participation. The main challenge here for the government and public sector is that how to maintain that balance while providing proactive service to its citizens but also by allowing the community to participate in solving some of the local community-level challenges.

Coming back to the case of Sweden, can we consciously design and embed some of these community-level challenges, and can we gamify them (talking about gaming and play) in such a way that it would allow diverse people (players) to participate together, not only to solve the challenges, but also get to know each other, and build better and stronger local communities.

Has anyone seen this in practice? Looking forward to your thoughts and ideas?

(Photo Credit)

UPDATE: 28-Apr - Joi Ito (Director of the MIT Media Lab) reinforces the same thought about how living in societies with lesser resources has its benefits on a person's thinking. Sometimes having lesser resources makes you think and act in new and interesting ways.

Joi Ito says - "Frugal Engineering happens in the absence of abundance. Living in a frugal society doesn't mean you are disadvantaged, it means you are advantaged in thinking from the perspective of efficiency."

Skoll Foundation's Dare to Imagine video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1eIYZjzO7A

Mapping and Visualization to connect Communities

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:37:00 +0000

As one of my interest area is to use technology and social media for social change projects, I have been researching on using maps and visualizations to connect people and communities together. Recently, at presente! (a non-profit based in Austria) I helped develop Next EDU Crowd-sourcing Map for bringing together the alternative education community.

I was also a part of a very interesting online talk called the Living Bridges Talks (organized by Living Bridges Planet - do check out the Facebook group). The theme of the discussion was about "How Mapping and Visualization can help us learn and collaborate in new ways?"

The discussion resulted into the following take-aways and learning :

Communities are changing from a localized context to a global phenomenon, and hence the role of mapping and visualizing communities is important.
Mapping by itself is not enough for communities, there is a need for engaging social interactions and a feeling of belonging-ness.
Thematic connections (people connecting globally based on different interests) would be an interesting phenomenon enabled by the maps.
We are still in the stage where we are getting to know people in new ways, working together on projects requires stronger interaction and trust, and is probably the next stage.
Communities are adapting from top-down (old) to bottom-up (new) approaches. The role of the community manager is changing (maybe more facilitation), and the role of community members is rising e.g. especially in case of crowd-sourced maps.
Just like the case of any community initiatives, Participation and Engagement is the key to future of online communities and maps.
Quality of interaction is what matters - mapping helps provide a new perspectives to look at communities but it is certainly not an end to the means. It will be essential to understand what kind of tools would be needed to enable social interactions over such maps.

It was pretty clear that the role of maps and visualization is increasing and was interesting to look at it from different perspectives.

Here is a link to the archived discussion and you can always catch more action and links at the Living Bridges Blog post and Event Page:

Discussion Guests included:

Joachim Lohcamp - JOLOCOM / graphs and visualization
Daniel Bassil - tutor/mentor maps
Jacob Urup Nielsen - Centre for Cities and Creativity
Henrik Hörlin - Interaction design / node based graphics
Yatin Sethi - presente! / open education and mapping
Bert-Ola Bergstrand - Living Bridges Planet, SOCAP / networks and mapping

Where does "change" begin?

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 19:06:00 +0000

Where does change start really?
Probably at home .. maybe in our kitchens .. :-)

What is Serendipity?

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 09:16:00 +0000

What is Serendipity?
How can it lead to innovation and creativity and discovery?
How can it be useful in business and social change organizations?

Serendipitously came across this talk by Ana Silva .. by serendipitously bumping on Illka Kakko's Blog. :-)

You can watch more SWITCH Conference Videos
http://www.youtube.com/embed/cPdjD4dkniY

Creativity & Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 10:18:00 +0000

Is creativity alone useful enough? Or do you need something more than just being creative?
On the other hand, can the leaders be creative or think creatively?

Creative Leadership = People who have their heads (thoughts) in the sky and feet on the ground = Thinkers + Doers.

Stefano Marzano defines Creative Leaders in a wonderful way.

Stefano Marzano on the urgent need for Creative leadership from THNK.org on Vimeo.

Offering v/s Seeking

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:04:00 +0000

Came across this wonderful example shared by Benjamin and Rosamund Zander about the Art of Offering v/s the Art of Seeking.

What if we start looking at ourselves with the perspective of contribution .. with the perspective of giving rather than getting things .. what would living in that kind of a world feel like?

Interview Benjamin and Rosamund Zander from THNK.org on Vimeo.

Impact of Globalization on Environment

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:04:00 +0000

The other day at a friend's birthday, I saw a beautiful bouquet of red roses. While admiring those roses, I observed something that surprised me .. the package read "Exported from Kenya".

The weather in Sweden is really cold and that makes it difficult to grow any food and I know that most of the food is normally imported .. but how sustainable is it in one of the most environmentally-friendly countries to import flowers from approx. 10,000 kms away?

To some extent, it is understandable that food is being imported, but flowers .. really? How many barrels of oil is being spent just to bring those flowers to Sweden?

Three questions that I start asking myself:
1) Why can't roses be imported from a country nearer than Kenya?
2) Is it so important to have roses? Why can't we use local flowers (that can be found in or around Sweden) as alternatives?
3) And the larger question boils down to needs (food) v/s wants (flowers)? Well I understand that some of the things need to be imported, but when this starts happening with everything, its time to think again.

View Larger Map

PS: The problem is not small ... Imagine most of the things one uses in the country being imported from across the world, and multiply it by hundreds of countries doing the same, and you see the huge impact of globalization on our environment.

Now, can you name any thing similar in your markets that travels thousands of kilometers to reach you. And who do you think has the power to change this - governments?, companies (who sell these products)? or you (as a customer)?

This reminds me of a wonderful quote by Rumi, a sufi-poet - "Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself."

Non-Profit or For-profit Social Enterprise? Or both?

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 00:58:00 +0000

Social entrepreneurs these days are moving away from starting a non-profit, to depend less on donations and funds, and are excited to start something self-sustainable i.e. for-profit social enterprise.

I recently came across an article where Kevin Starr (from Mulago Foundation) shares that starting as a for-profit social enterprise could limit the resources and growth prospects, due to which many social initiatives fail in their initial stages. He shares a new way of thinking that leads to better sustainability of the social initiative. Read below..

"If you launch right away as a for-profit, you’ll likely end up an orphan: Philanthropists won’t know what to do with you, and investors will rightly view your firm as a lousy place to put their money. You’ve made it hard for philanthropists to give you grants, and you offer investors an unlovely combination of high risk and low returns. In short, you’re screwed."

Kevin suggests that the way out of this is to start with a non-profit model where you can make the best use of philanthropists. While working with them, build your business model and find the right financial structure to reach the maximum impact. At this stage, you are ready to approach the investors and shift to a for-profit enterprise.

Full article at SSIR .. http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/premature_incorporation?goback=.gde_117523_member_196074725

A new level of Sustainability Thinking

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 13:57:00 +0000

I recently came across this video about Meghalaya's Living Bridges in the north-east India that entirely redefined the way I looked at sustainability.

This new view is not about making incremental changes in the way we do things, but rather redefining Sustainability altogether. It is about how can we create new projects that are entirely aligned with nature, utilize the bare minimum resources but still provide an ingenious solution to a social problem.

Living Bridges is an epic-project that no one person can finish in his/her lifetime. It takes generations to finish, but what emerges is a sustainable building architecture that grows over 500 years. Explore more in the video below.

Video about Living Bridges by BBC

During my recent visit to Helsinki (Finland), I also saw another similar architecture project that was made out of a carved hill in the center of the city. Temppeliaukio Church in Toolo area has been carved out of a solid rock in the center of the city that wouldn't have been of any other significant use. It took almost 40 years to build this place from planning (1930) to completion (1969), but what you see now is a marvelous place where almost half a million people visit every year.

View inside the church.

View from ourside and entrance to the church

Interview with the Architect of the Church

Have you come across any similar examples? .. please do share with me.

Susan Cain: The power of introverts on TED

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:43:00 +0000

It was one of the best talks in TED this year .. was waiting for it to come online so that I could share it with all.
--
In a culture where being social and outgoing are prized above all else, it can be difficult, even shameful, to be an introvert. But, as Susan Cain argues in this passionate talk, introverts bring extraordinary talents and abilities to the world, and should be encouraged and celebrated.

"I prefer listening to talking, reading to socializing … I like to think before I speak (softly)."

- Susan Cain

Susan Cain: The power of introverts

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yyeJ1jaGDU)

Julian Baggini: Is there a real you?

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:39:00 +0000

A good point of view for those who constantly ask themselves, who they truly are?

What Happens When an NGO Admits Failure

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 07:57:00 +0000

We all face failures, big or small, throughout our lives. Does admitting your failure give you a chance to learn from it and grow further. Have a look at this wonderful talk by David Damberger.

(Video Link)

David is the founder of Engineers Without Borders Calgary (EWB). After building the organization in Calgary and working with them in India, David spent four years building EWB's overseas programs as the Director of Southern African Programs.

David will be drawing on his work experience in Africa to speak about the transformative power of publicly admitting failure in the development aid sector which currently lacks accountability, creativity and transparency.

Who do you listen to ..

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:10:00 +0000

That's impossible, said Pride,

That's risky, said Experience.

That's pointless, said Reason,

Give it a try, whispered the Heart ...

A Day in the Life of Swaraj University

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:09:00 +0000

A wonderful university in India that focuses on self-directed learning - Swaraj University - check out the video below.

As a part of our creative art initiative - Art Pitara, we've also worked with another similar school in Ladakh area known as SECMOL. Off late the school has become famous since the character of Aamir Khan in the Bollywood movie 3-Idiots was inspired by the people and innovations in this school.

(Video Link)

Sustainability: Doing Well by Doing Good: by Chris Laszlo

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:36:00 +0000

Philanthropy/Charity is about WHAT you do with your money once you've earned it.
Sustainability is about HOW you earn your money.

A good talk by Chris Laszlo on Sustainability in Business and how small innovations in business processes can bring about huge social and environmental change.

Do Trust in the Things You Love

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:55:00 +0000

Beautiful talk by Mickey Smith (Photographer, Filmmaker, Surfer) at DO Lectures.

You have to watch the full video to get the message. Plus don't miss the amazing film he created while surfing.

“If I can only scrape a living, at least it will be a living worth scraping” - Mickey Smith

Watch the video here - http://www.dolectures.com/lectures/do-trust-in-the-things-you-love/

Cultivating the right frame of mind

noreply@blogger.com (YS) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:09:00 +0000

I came across this interesting article When the World's Poorest People Volunteer, at Huffington Post, that talked about being in the right frame of mind i.e. the right perspective makes a lot of difference in the work you do.

Here is an excerpt from an article about volunteering in a developed country:

"How do feel when you come to a country and interact with people who have so much?" I ask him later that evening. We are walking around the pool at the Hotel del Prado, a beautiful sprawling 18th century colonial hotel.

Lesly pauses thoughtfully. "Every country has its strengths. Some are material. Some are not. I don't worry about it. What I do know is that my real strength lies in my own mind. There are people all over the world who are unhappy and who feel powerless to do something about it. But I know that if my mind is on what I don't have, I am powerless. When I volunteer, when I think about what I can give to others, I realize how much I do have."

Volunteering or Service is a frame of mind. It is an attitude of continually working to improve lives and the environment around you, without demanding or expecting reward.

Full article at Huffington Post