Madison Area Network for Innovation & Collaboration: UW-MANIAC

Innovation & Collaboration Learning Cafe Explores "Moving Ideas to Reality"

2011-11-14T15:56:00.000-06:00

The first UW-MANIAC "Innovation and Collaboration Learning Cafe" of the academic year will be held Thursday, Nov 17th, 8:30am - 1pm at Pyle Center. The focus is "Moving Ideas to Reality: Getting Started with Innovation," and it will feature an array of tools for defining, communicating, refining, and disseminating new ideas at the onset of the innovation process. Subsequent cafes in the series (February and April) will explore the later phases of the innovation process... but this one is all about getting started:

How do you get that creative idea off the ground? How do you refine your message so it is exciting to others and is readily conveyed? Who are the people you need in order to advnace that crazy notion so it gets off the ground? These are the types of questions we will explore, with stories, graphic communication tools, an exploration of Malcolm Gladwell's 'tipping point' methods, and other activities.

Come on over! The cost is $15, including lunch.

Getting Comfortable With Complexity on October 25th!

2011-10-17T10:05:00.003-05:00

Sudden thunderstorms, unexplained traffic jams, ants finding food, sudden social change on a global scale—these are all examples of complexity. We live in a complex world—one that is interwoven and interdependent. Yet as our world grows more complex new and interesting properties emerge that never existed before.

This October 25th workshop, titled "Getting Comfortable With Complexity" will feature presenter Christine Kelly. Christine is an independent educational designer and holds a doctorate in Science Education from the University of Maryland. She has spent that last 15 years as an environmental and sustainability educator. Her expertise includes transformative learning, complex systems thinking, online communities of practice, organizational learning and sustainability and environmental educational curriculum design.

She has created a video to get you excited for the event, check it out here!

And after, make sure to sign up for this workshop and get a chance to begin your journey of getting comfortable with complexity!

Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity

2011-09-26T09:26:00.014-05:00

Today, it seems like companies are "creatively bankrupt" and only focusing on cost cutting, efficiency and top-down control. But what they are forgetting is that creativity really is a fantastic competitive advantage and focusing on developing and expanding on creativity will make the business more successful!

Josh Linkner's book Disciplined Dreaming brings readers to a realization that creativity is the only sustainable competitive advantage for individuals and companies because it is innovative and cannot be exactly replicated. The book offers creative techniques that will prepare you to take this creativity challenge within your own organization, and will allow you to discover and ignite your own creative abilities. To do this, Linkner organizes the book in a 5 step methodology:

Ask: identify and clearly define your specific creativity challenge
Prepare: prepare yourself mentally and physically for the creative process to maximize creative output
Discover: explore every avenue that might lead to creative ideas
Ignite: proven techniques for sparking creativity and generating better, and more, creative ideas
Launch: make your best creative ideas a reality!

For this post, I'm going to focus on some of the techniques I found interesting from the "Ignite" phase of Disciplined Dreaming . This will give you a taste for the book, and hopefully sparks your interest to read the whole thing!

"If you're unwilling to be different, you'll never get to the next level. The very fact that the entire industry does something a particular way is a great reason to explore the exact opposite approach" -Josh Linkner

Linkner writes that one of the most common stumbling blocks is the feeling that you need to imagine and perfectly design the entire creative solution BEFORE beginning work...this is not true! Creativity is an evolutionary process. Below are a few of the techniques that I found especially innovative for sparking creative discussions. These techniques allow for creativity and are part of this evolutionary process:

Imbizo Groups- a Zulu expression for "gathering"- this is a group of people from diverse backgrounds and disciplines who have come together to simply discuss an idea. This group has NO end goal in mind, other than the goal of exploring. The groups needs to let go of the outcome goal and simply allow for creative, diverse discussion.
The Hot Potato-put everyone in a circle except for a note-taker then toss a football to random person who will then shout out an idea that is no more than one sentence. The person isn't allowed to think about it, analyze it, or contemplate phrasing. This allows for spontaneous creativity and creates a situation that removes obstacles such as fear.
Personas-rather than thinking about a generic, one-size-fits-all audience, try crafting personas (EX: two kids in college, age 52 living in Chicago, risk-taker). This allows you to get inside the head of your audience and make them into a specific person you can relate to instead of a faceless, nameless target. Then have creative conversations while having this person in mind.
TDWR (Think, Doodle, Write Repeat)- A doodle-unlike a chart, diagram or illustration- carries an unfinished quality to it that makes it the ideal breeding ground for new ideas. Let your mind wander without limitations or rules, don't edit, judge, plan or re-read your doodles. Many people learn and process things visually, so doodling can help spark ideas!

The book offers many more creative techniques that spark new, innovative ideas, this was just naming a few. After reading, I found that these ideas allow us to open up different paths and generate different ideas compared to regular, structured meeting that occur frequently within organizations.

Lastly, I will leave you with this quote:

“There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system” –Machiavelli

It might be scary at first to jump away from your normal way of doing things within your organization, but if you have a positive outlook in mind and are motivated from these new creative techniques, your organization could become more competitive in today's shifting marketplace through tapping into the power of creativity.

You can purchase Linkner's book here,
see it on Google Books,
...or find it at your local library. Enjoy!

MANIAC Offers Fascinating Fall Programs

2011-09-01T15:25:00.000-05:00

It has been an exciting summer for the UW-MANIAC group, filled with 'soirees' to the Madison Children's Museum, Sector 67 Hackerspace, Slow Food UW, and (next week) Dr. Evermor's Sculpture Park. But we're just getting started, and the fall promises some fascinating professional development opportunities, each offering fun chances to 'stretch our knowledge' into creative skills and spaces:

'Jammin' in the Fall' (9/15) is our quarterly idea networking session -- bring half-baked ideas you want to try out on others, and come ready to hear some excellent ideas that can benefit from your perspective!

'UW-MANIAC Breakfast - Semester at Sea' (9/20) offers an opportunity to hear Amy Climer's story of her experience teaching in Spring 2011 on this floating academic institution. What are some things we can learn from her experience that can be applied to our work?

'Improv Skills for the Workplace' (10/6) brings back Barry Callen and Nell Weatherwax... for a full day session! Improv comedy skills help us think quickly on our feet and respond creatively and collaboratively to surprises at work. The tools we learn can be applied to staff meetings, project teams, and even our personal efforts to keep the day flowing energetically -- come, learn some cool activities, and then take that energy back!

'Getting Comfortable with Complexity' (10/25) challenges us to dive right into the heart of our work reality: Many of the issues we face today are filled with uncertainty, dynamic forces over which we have limited influence, and factors that seem to bring about changes that are hard to understand. Yet, there are some useful strategies for assessing these challenges and developing effective responses to them... Join Christine Kelly as she takes us on this excellent adventure into complexity... we are sure to emerge with some great ideas that can be applied to our current issues!

These are great programs... and there are more planned as we continue through the semester. Be sure to read the "Raving MANIAC" Newsletter for updates, too!

UW MANIACS contribute to 'Ideas worth Spreading'

2011-05-11T19:06:00.000-05:00

Listen in as Fellow MANIACs Harry Webne-Behrman and Erin Schneider spread Generosity and Abundance during the inaugural TEDxMadtown talk. Videos from the talk are on the TEDxyoutube channel
And of course the event would never have happened without the amazing TEDxMadtown organizing committee led by, you guessed it another UW MANIAC, Deb Gurke. I wanted to take the time and share with you my experiences from the event and hope we'll have a chance to share more innovative stories during UW MANIAC's summer soirees and future Innovation and Collaboration Learning Cafes.
This past March, I had the privilege and honor to share Rob and mine's dream of growing fruit and building community during the TEDxMadtown event. The TEDxMadtown venue brings people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED talks video and live speakers combine to spark discussion, connection and innovative thinking around ideas worth spreading.
I wanted to share with you our story of growing fruit and building community. In 2009 we started the process of diversifying our CSA to include more perennial fruits--transitioning an acre of land-preparing the soil, planting cover crops, and managing for weeds. Specifically, we set out to grow unusual yet marketable fruit crops such as Aronia, quince, Currants, Saskatoons, Seaberry, and Elderberr. Saskatoon what? Aronia who? What are all these fruits and what do you do with them? These fruits are high-yielding, environmentally friendly and exceptionally nutritious. They blow blueberries off the antioxidant charts. We also already know and have a community of apples, pears, and rapsberries on our farm, and we though we'd meet some new fruit neighbors.
O.k. so we're into unusual fruit? What does that have to do with "Ideas Worth Spreading" and emerging stories from my TEDxMadtown talk? The shift is in not just thinking about fruit, but thinking about function and how to grow food/fruits in relation to each other. A key innovation in our projects was the use of forest garden guilds as an orchard design tool. Forest garden guilds are perennial polycultures of multipurpose plants that partition resources and create networks of mutual support. We can consciously apply the principles of plant community function to the design of gardens, our farms that mimic structure and function and also grow our food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizer, 'farm-aceuticals' and fun. (Edible Forest Gardens Vol. 2 Jacke and Toenmeister, 2007). We can extend these concepts as a metaphor for how we relate to each other and live both as free and interdependent beings in a funcational way in our communities.
This is where the TEDx event helped bring my farm experiences to the community and here's what's happening as a result. Telling my story of using Forest garden guilds as a guide to grow fruit and build community have helped us transform our agriculture system ot one of sustainable abundance, community, and the ability to concentrate wealth in the form of happiness, health, and expanded ecosystem services. It's also led us to new businesses opportunities as I work to develop Just Fruit Cooperative. I was also able to get valuable feedback and support with focusing my research and development efforts for Just Fruit Coop. During the talk, I passed around a 'tip jar', inviting participants to dig deep in the pockets of their minds and share ideas, stories, and thoughts ot the question of what creates the conditions and potential for a sustainable abundant food system. I discovered ideas, resources, and made connections with sources and people I never thought of before, or had no idea existed in Madison. For eample, I am helping with the co-deign of edible forest gardens and local venues such as Fractal, a new 'hacker-maker'space' venue on Madison's East side. I met with James Carlson (another great TEDx presenter, his video is worth checking out), who also directs a creative placemaking venue in Milwaukee WI and is a Prezi wiz. I invited Jame to share his talents and insights with using Prezi at an upcoming Unconference, the Midwest Regional Collaborative for Sustainability Education, that I am involved in designing. I was able to connect forest gardens to new internet gaming technologies and met with people at the University of Wisconsin Madison in exploring how to design a Forest Garden Game for you and adults ot play with online. I've been invited to speak at community events and received an invitation to participate in the upcoming Rural Wealth and Livelihoods Conference in Washington D.C. later this year, from Chris who was at TEDx and inspired by my talk.
I believe that growing fruits and growing cooperative connections can lead to increased ecological diversity, social interconnectedness, and economic viability for our farm, for our community, for the U.S. and the world. We need to look more broadly at creating networks and spaces like UW MANIAC and TEDx to cross-pollinate and share ideas, resources, and tools as well as getting inspired by stories shaping wealth and livelihood in other areas such as education, technology, and community organizing. TEDx instilled greater confidence in myself and authenticity in my work. In these uncertain economic times, finding creative solutions and launching ideas worth spreading is critical for not only creating sustainable jobs (jobs that pay well and increase the quality of life, quality of the land, and quality of our community relations), but also creating invaluable connections.
As a farmer, it is my hope that others will be inspired by TEDx talks and help share the importance of cross-pollinating ideas for not only growing fruit, but also growing long lasting relationships with people and place. As a facilitator, I hope you will be inspired by TEDx as it helps frame the questions, set hte intentions, and transform, for example, the current story of food insecurity and scarcity for many communities in Wisconsin, the U.S., the world, to a future re-imagined story of sustainable abundance, one story, one guild at a time.

2011-04-28T15:05:00.003-05:00

Hey MANIAC’s!

The Innovation and Collaboration Learning Café titled “Transformative Thinking, Being, and Doing” will be held on Tuesday, May 3^rd from 8:30a.m.-1p.m. in the Lowell Center! For more information and to register, click here!

These cafes seek to sustain learning about creative thinking and integrate it into the way we teach, research and work together. This workshop will explore the foundations and applications of transformative processes in our personal and professional lives. We will use storytelling, the Seven Levels of Change, Transformative Design and Theory U to better understand collaborative change.

Make sure to find out more about UW-MANIAC and Fully Prepared to Engage and keep up with our upcoming events!

Hope to see you on May 3rd for the Cafe!

UW-MANIAC Breakfast Series: "Mini" Big Learning on April 7th!

2011-03-25T10:46:00.002-05:00

The next MANIAC Breakfast series: "Mini" Big Learning will be on Thursday, April 7th from 8-9:30 a.m. in the Red Gym, Mezzanine C. Come identify and develop new tools and strategies to help transform your creative ideas into innovative solutions.

How can you pass that up?

This special "Mini" Big Learning Breakfast will pump you up for the Big Learning Event (being held June 7-8) by providing participants with details about BLE and the study groups created to promote thought-provoking discussion and learning. We will also discuss the BLE as a highly innovative approach to learning that has potential to significantly alter our expectations and opportunities in the future.

Join us at this FREE pre-BLE event and jump-start your brain with discussion and learning.

Network, have fun, learn! Be a MANIAC!

UW-MANIAC is Jammin' at the Union on March 7th

2011-02-28T21:23:00.000-06:00

The next MANIAC Jammin' session will be held March 7th, 3-4:30pm at Memorial Union. Facilitated by Darin Eich, Jammin' offers a unique opportunity to network about ideas in a fast-paced, highly energizing manner. In a short time, you'll get LOTS of great feedback about your idea, and make connections with others who can help you bring it successfully to implementation!

Now THAT's a good workshop!

Come to Jammin' on March 7th... it's free, it's fun, it's fantastically useful!

UW Innovation Days - Feb 10-11

2011-02-09T15:14:00.001-06:00

The UW-Madison College of Engineering hosts an annual inventions student competition that is in focus these next two days. If you have a chance to check it out, please do so. You can also learn more about this annual event at: http://innovation.wisc.edu/

Our group needs to find better ways to connect with this initiative... each year, a number of really interesting student projects emerge, some of which become viable as products that are adopted in industry. In a number of impressive ways, the College of Engineering engages its students in collaborative, team-based learning activities that prepare them to work in fields that increasingly require such skills.

Next MANIAC Breakfast Offers a 'YES...And' Improv Moment!

2010-12-27T09:36:00.000-06:00

The MANIACs will enter the New Year with a bang on Thursday, January 27th when we welcome Barry Callen and Nell Weatherwax for a MANIAC Breakfast on "Improv Skills for the Workplace." We will meet at Memorial Union, 8-9:30am -- please register today for this free program! Barry and Nell bring a wealth of experience from their work with CORPROV Improv Training, an approach that applies improv skills to a wide range of workplace challenges.

Have fun! Learn some skills! Be a MANIAC!

Next MANIAC Breakfast Plants a Garden of Innovation

2010-12-07T14:49:00.000-06:00

The next MANIAC Breakfast focuses on "Planting a MANIAC Garden" with Erin Schneider.What are the core qualities required for creative, collaborative, group thinking and problem-solving? How might these unique characteristics be reflected in a garden, where various plants, fruits, and vegetables co-exist in a healthy, sustainable ecosystem? These are questions that engage the mind of Erin Schneider, an organic farmer and MANIAC Team Member. Join us as we explore the ways Erin has sought to answer these questions, and to consider how these ideas can inform our own efforts to 'plant innovation seeds' in our organizations. Register now!

These bi-monthly gatherings allow us to share creative approaches to professional challenges, identify new tools and strategies that can help us transform creative ideas into innovative solutions, and promote relationships that can help us address emerging needs as they arise.

For additional information, contact Harry Webne-Behrman at OHRD, 608-262-9934 or hwebnebehrman@ohr.wisc.edu

Connect at our next Jammin Innovative Facilitated Networking Session

2010-11-10T10:31:00.004-06:00

Have you ever been to a bad networking session? Maybe there was no structure, it was a free-for-all at the beginning of a conference. Maybe it was a disguised as a happy hour at a bar. Maybe you didn’t get the chance to talk to anyone, or worse yet got stuck talking to someone for way too long. Maybe you just talked about the weather and didn’t get to talk about your idea or what you needed or provide any insight or assistance to anybody.

We've been working on innovating the networking session. Join us at our next Jam Session, it's like a facilitated workshop. It is part thinking about important questions, working on your "how you quickly communicate elevator speech," part group introduction, and part one-on-one or one-on-two speed networking. In this jam session people leave with a more comfortable and activity filled experience. They get to share with the whole group, hear from everyone, and go deeper one on one with many new people. They actually get to connect and converse!

Next Innovation Café Focuses on "Technology & Community" Nov 11th

2010-11-02T14:44:00.001-05:00

Innovation and Collaboration Café: Technology & Community

Thursday, November 11, 8:30am-1:00pm, Pyle Center, $15

Join us at our next MANIAC Innovation Café!

This is an opportunity to explore a variety of technology tools and how they may be used to enhance innovation and collaboration in the workplace. The workshop will help participants recognize opportunities for technology tools in their workplace and projects; demonstrate the basics of web site design, social media (facebook/ twitter), blogs, surveys, and video conferencing; showcase good examples of technology use; and provide helpdesk support for real world technology questions. Register here! Or go to www.ohrd.wisc.edu, look for upcoming events.

You have MANIAC potential! Join us!

December Innovation Workshop on Creativity, Communication, & Collaboration

2010-10-19T10:50:00.007-05:00

UW-MANIAC is offering a motivating two afternoon innovation workshop in December. Registration is open for Developing Innovation through Collaboration, Creativity, & Communication.

The Three C’s of Collaboration, Creativity, and Communication can help you to develop new innovations that can contribute to doing meaningful new things, improving processes for problem-solving, and having greater success in your work. You will meet new people and work with others to systematically generate and develop new ideas for the challenge of your choosing. Be guided step-by-step and activity-by-activity through an innovation process to develop and take action on new ideas for your real project. Learn the fundamental “best practice” activities for innovating and leave the workshop with more advanced innovation skills and a portfolio of new developed ideas.

By learning and using innovation tools and activities to create, collaborate, and communicate you will get important work done at this workshop away from the routine of your office. You will innovate how you work and create new innovations to take action on what is needed and wanted. New ideas that can make a difference in your work and life are motivating and engaging for you and your colleagues. Here are some key learning outcomes and actions we will take at the workshop:

Create:
+ Generate a wide range of relevant, new and different ideas based on
your challenge or opportunity through creative thinking tools.
+ Analyze, synthesize, and develop the best ideas into a portfolio of
concepts to act upon based on a best practice development system.

Collaborate:
+ Develop relationships quickly with fellow innovators to collaborate
in groups with at the workshop and beyond.
+ Connect one-on-one with fellow innovators through guided activities
designed to help you gain new insight and validation of your concepts.

Communicate:
+ Learn a simple and effective idea presentation format used by
innovative organizations that will allow you to showcase your new concepts.
+ Practice communicating your best concepts in ways that are engaging
and memorable using involvement, story, visuals, and metaphors.

Darin Eich is an innovation facilitator, researcher, and author who teaches individuals and organizations how to better ideate to innovate. Darin has a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Next UW-MANIAC Breakfast - "Stone Tool Making and Innovation" with Jeff Shokler

2010-09-28T13:46:00.001-05:00

The UW-MANIAC network is engaged in a wide array of innovative programming this fall, starting with last week's "Jammin' in the Fall" networking session and continuing with our first Breakfast Series event on October 12th at the Union.

"Stone Tool Making and Innovation: Old Technology and New Ways of Thinking" is Jeff Shokler's passion… How can a very old technology, chipped stone tool production, give us new ways to think about what we do and how we do it? Join us for a flintknapping demonstration and exploration of the insights and new/different ways of thinking this old process can reveal to us. If you don't get anything else out of it you'll still start the morning off with a "bang!" as you get to see someone break rocks and make sharp things!

The second part of our session will be a dialogue around the topic, "Harvesting Inter-generational Wisdom in the Workplace." Using Appreciative inquiry, an asset-based approach to understanding and addressing a wide range of issues, we will facilitate an initial conversation around this important topic effecting our workplaces. This idea was sparked at a spring MANIAC Café, and our plan is to explore innovative ways to build from the dialogue in future conversations.

To register, go to the course site. For additional information, contact Harry Webne-Behrman at OHRD, 262-9934 or hwebnebehrman@ohr.wisc.edu

Get involved! Become a MANIAC. Innovate. Collaborate. Inspire meaningful change.

100 million effect: Kauffman Foundation Program Seeks to Catalyze Large Scale Education Innovations

2010-08-27T15:19:00.005-05:00

Posted by Darin Eich

When I heard about this opportunity I thought this had MANIAC potential. Maybe there is a MANIAC who will apply or maybe a mini model of this can be done at UW. The Kauffman Foundation is offering a bootcamp and salary funding to selected founders who have a startup idea that can impact at least 100 million people in education or generate $100 million in revenue rather quickly. Incubator models like this with bootcamps are becoming popular in the world of venture funding and programs like this could directly educate education.

This press release speaks to an innovation in improving education at the national level. Foundation sponsored programs like this that provide training, knowledge, network, resources, and some founder salary could encourage new innovations to improve education.

New Kauffman Foundation program launches search for passionate, aspiring founders of high-growth, scalable education enterprises

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) July 14, 2010 – The Department of Education’s Race to the Top competition isn’t the only program focused on dramatically improving education. Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation, an initiative of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, announced today a competitive search for up to 20 aspiring founders to launch high-growth, transformative companies in the education market.

Those selected for the Kauffman Education Ventures Program will be immersed in an intensive, hands-on program designed to catalyze the creation of companies with the potential to generate thousands of jobs and dramatic economic benefits.

“This program is the opportunity of a lifetime for high-potential entrepreneurs who don’t have the resources to quit their day jobs and take the leap of faith to start their businesses—businesses that they think will grow fast and transform education in a powerful way,” said Bo Fishback, vice president for Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation. “Education is a more than $1 trillion market where innovations can produce massive benefits to the world and also create huge change in the lives of individuals.”

The Education Ventures Program will equip founders with the time, resources and skills to take their ideas from thought to implementation.

Selected founders will receive six months of training and education on every aspect of running a business, personal coaching to bring their ideas to market and competitive compensation to focus full-time on their ventures. The program will include helping founders establish a brand, develop negotiation and presentation skills, go to scale, build financial models, validate the market, perform customer diligence, find funding, build a management team and develop a board of directors.

“The rapid pace of change in the education field in terms of technology, the growth of charter schools, new demands for post-secondary education and shifting priorities provide opportunities for entrepreneurs to catalyze their ideas,” said Sandy Miller, director of Advancing Innovation at the Foundation. “We are looking for the bold, visionary founders of entrepreneurial ventures that are poised to grow, show promise to be truly scalable and are able to adapt to the changes in the field.”

Through an open application process available to anyone over the age of 18 with a transformative idea, Kauffman Labs will identify up to 20 entrepreneurial concepts for the education market and work with the aspiring founders to establish their organizations. Candidates may be individual entrepreneurs or teams of up to three people. Businesses from concept through young startup that offer a product or service to help people learn, directly or indirectly, and could change the face of education are eligible. Successful candidates will need to travel to Kansas City for extended periods of time to attend training and education workshops but can otherwise live and work anywhere in the United States.

Individuals interested in learning more or applying should visit www.kauffmanlabs.org. Completed applications are due September 20, 2010.

About Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation
Part school and part business accelerator, Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation is a new approach to developing the next generation of high-growth firms. Tapping the Kauffman Foundation’s vast entrepreneurship knowledge and networks, the program seeks to accelerate the number and success of new firms by offering a new method for teaching and training entrepreneurs of dynamic, fast-growth, scalable businesses in a lab setting, while studying the “science of startups” in the process. For more information, visit www.kauffmanlabs.org.

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I originally featured this program on my innovationlearning.org blog and participated in their conference call on August 18th. At that point they had 850 people start the application! Other innovators I've talked to are excited about this program. Sounds like models like this are gaining traction. We need innovation in education in grand ways!

CEO's Poll Indicates Importance of Leadership in Creativity and Complexity

2010-07-28T09:43:00.000-05:00

We MANIAC's have known for some time that we are engaged in worthwhile efforts that can result in some truly amazing solutions to perplexing problems. But it's always nice to receive some external validation, and this came in the form of a recent report published by IBM, cited in a cover story on the "Creativity Crisis" in Newsweek magazine. The IBM Report, based upon a survey of over 1500 CEO's across 60 countries, concluded that skills in leading through complexity were required for the 21st Century, and that this meant inviting creativty throughout the organization to address changes in buisiness models, infusing 'disruptive innovations' into planning processes, and otherwise managing ambiguity, uncertainty, and complexity.

Sounds like what MANIAC is all about, doesn't it? I encourage you to read the Newsweek article as well, as it cites a number of other interesting aspects regarding our education system and how it is failing to teach these core competencies, as well as research on creativity and brain research that shows the links across creative processes in the arts and engineering. To me, this points to the benefits of more personalized, holistic, integral approaches to education, such as those championed by Sir Kenneth Robinson, Parker Palmer, Alfie Kohn, and others (whose talks and books I encourage you to peruse), as well as insights shared by W. Brian Arthur in his recent book, The Nature of Technology. Arthur painstakingly charts the processes of innovative change across domains and history, concluding that we must both become expert within specific fields and simultaneously lower the boundaries across fields so we can encourage intentional infusions of ideas and perspectives that may not mesh with our dominant conceptual paradigms and modes of inquiry.

Finally, I want to encourage you to view a recent Charlie Rose interview on public television, in which he spoke with one of the Newsweek reporters (Ashley Merryman), the editor of Science magazine (Bruce Alberts), and a Harvard professor doing research in this field (Aaron Berkowitz).

What do you think about these things?

Harry

New MANIAC Toolbox

2010-06-28T11:57:00.004-05:00

Hello MANIACs!

I have developed a new resource tool for you to explore! I have collected the innovation and collaboration tools, exercises, articles, web links, and activities from past MANIAC events and posted them in a "Toolbox." Check it out here!

This reference tool will help you continue the learning from MANIAC café, soirée, and breakfast workshops in your everyday work.

If you have any additional links or resources you wish to share with the MANIAC community, please forward them to Sarah Hurley at shurley@ohr.wisc.edu

Happy toolbox browsing!

Quantum of solace

2010-04-13T15:20:00.001-05:00

Quantum of solace

Posted using ShareThis

Toward Building an "Economy of Permanence," Local Currency as an Employment Tool

2010-03-16T15:17:00.003-05:00

Hello MANIAC's,

I thought I'd share a piece that I wrote for the Madison Hours quarterly newsletter. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments on creative finance and innovations on how to spread the community wealth.

I believe in the power of small-scale, diversified, and a fully engaged, fully employed community. The unemployment rate keeps rising, 10% strong in the United States in January. It’s somewhat a deceiving print. What about the 'under-employed', the part timers, or the disengaged, the undocumented, and those living at the fringe of their 'benefits'. Currently, I am self-employed, yet mostly unemployed, or rather working by virtue without getting paid for my skills and gifts. As a beginning small-scale organic community supported farmer without the immediate benefit of a living monetary wage, I have to piece together off – farm income to keep the bills paid. The irony being, that I'm a farmer who may not be able to afford to feed herself. I see this as a short term disposition, as my partner and I are building long-term capacity through sustainable fruit production – planting perennials, working to break free of the linear crop and monoculture paradigm, adding diversity, edge, and ecology to how we farm and engage our customers, our community. However, I hear similar stories from others who've recently experienced job loss, are underemployed, or are staying in jobs they loathe for fear of losing health care benefits. This is true to all sectors of the job market (except perhaps the defense budget), even those employed in 'sustainability sectors'. I want to offer a few insights on how we can re-invent, re-imagine, and recreate our jobs and our dispositions in our communities. I believe that local currency systems can help create jobs.

Bernard Lietar, proclaims in Community Currencies, A New Tool for the 21st Century that the three most important concerns of our contemporaries in the developed nations are remarkably convergent-- unemployment, the environment, and community breakdown--and there are strong indications that these same issues will remain on top of the agenda well into the next century. Lietar relays, “Emerging

technologies promise to keep unemployment a major issue, even if all Western economies get out of recession. And community breakdown is one of the most systemic, deep, and complex societal trends of the past 30 years, with no signs of any reversal.”

In the U.S., most of the population can meet its basic needs without price fixing on food or rationing cards. However, an increasingly larger proportion of the population is discovering that, due to inflation and reduced wages, making ends meet is getting harder every day. From a legal viewpoint, money is nothing more (or less) than a claim. But from a technological viewpoint, money is a tool. Like any other tool, it can be shaped to perform in different ways. Just as both a scythe and a combine are tools for cutting wheat, money should be designed to perform in different ways with different objectives. In the same way that we are presently designing and creating more appropriate hardware for small scale needs, we must create an equally appropriate tool for meeting community employment needs. Local currency and job creation is not a new idea. The following are a few historical examples of local currency as a tool for job creation (excerpts form E.F. Schumacher Society website www.smallisbeautiful.org and from Lietar's book, Community Currencies)

The 1930s in Austria

In 1932, Herr Unterguggenberger, mayor of the Austrian town of Worgl, decided to do something about the 35 percent unemployment of his constituency (typical for most of Europe at the time). He convinced the town hall to issue 14,000 Austrian shillings' worth of "stamp scrip, which were covered by exactly the same amount of ordinary shillings deposited in a local bank. After two years, Worgl became the first Austrian city to achieve full employment. Water distribution was generalized throughout, all of the town was repaved, most houses were repaired and repainted, taxes were being paid early, and forests around the city were replanted. Lietar points out that it is important to recognize that the major impact of this approach did not derive from the initial project launched by the city, but instead had its origin in the numerous individual initiatives taken in the process of recirculating the local currency instead of hoarding it. On the average, the velocity of circulation of the Worgl money was about fourteen times higher than the normal Austrian shillings. In other words, on the average, the same amount of money created fourteen times more jobs. More than 200 other Austrian communities decided to copy this example, but the Central Bank blocked the process. A legal appeal was made all the way to the Supreme Court, where it was lost.

Stamp Scrip in North America

The theoretician behind the movement in the United States in the 1930s was Irving Fisher of Yale University. He had analyzed the Worgl case in Austria and published various articles about its success. Subsequently, more than 400 cities, and thousands of communities or organizations all over the country, issued one form or other of emergency currency. Many were stamp scrip, involving the application of a stamp at prescribed intervals (monthly, for example). During the Great Depression, stamp scrip was used successfully in many communities. There was also a movement to issue this stamp script officially nationwide: Senator Bankhead of Alabama presented a bill to the Senate February 18, 1933, and Representative Petenhill of Indiana presented a bill to the House of Representatives on February 22, 1933. Concurrently, Irving Fisher approached Dean Acheson, then Undersecretary of the Treasury, to obtain support from the Executive branch for the same idea. Acheson asked the opinion of one of his Harvard professors, who advised him that the system would work but that it would imply strongly decentralized decision making. Soon thereafter, President Roosevelt prohibited any use of "emergency currency" including local stamp scrip and announced that the New Deal would center around a grandiose centralized plan of large construction projects.

These examples all show that the concept of local currency worked in the modern world whenever it

was allowed and correctly implemented.

• A local currency (appropriate scaled currency) should:

• Be consistent with customary practices (cash, checking, and accounting systems – e.g. Madison Hours LETS system);

• Be redeemable in some form of real need of every day value. For example, Madison Hours members can exchange and offer goods and services. These cover the range from bike repair, computer services, and copy editing to massage, hair cuts, and pet care.

• Although based on local production, be a universal measure of value.

• Be transparent and accessible.

As a complimentary community currency and local exchange trading system (LETS), Madison Hours is radically different from the traditional model where a limited amount of currency is circulated by a central institution such as a national bank. Yet community currency is not a radically new process for enabling people and communities to prosper. Thousands of communities around the globe have been using local currency systems for thousands of years. In Madison, we need a few thousand users to keep the Hours circulating.

Hazel Henderson, author, and founder of Ethical Markets Media, has pointed out, the key to the success of a community currency, just as for any currency, is trust. In this case it is trust in your neighbors, in the community as a whole, and in our ability to re-imagine your livelihood and have your needs met.

For more information on opportunities to participate in Madison Hours and employ your skills, receive services, visit our website at www.madisonhours.org

Bright Sparks - Innovation Awards

2010-03-09T11:49:00.002-06:00

Hello Innovators,

I came across this invitation and opportunity from the March 6 - 12, 2010 edition of the Economist Magazine and wanted to share with you.

"Innovation Awards: We invite nominations for our annual prizes recognzing successful innovators

The Economist's ninth annual Innovation Summit will take place in London on October 22. Accordingly, readers are invited to nominate outstanding innovators in seven categories: bioscience, energy and the environment; computing and telecommunications, consumer products and services, business processes, and social and economic innovation...

...Nominees should be people, not companies, who are responsible for an innovation that has been a proven success in the past decade. Please submit nominations by email to innovation (at) economist(dot)com, giving the nominee's name, affiliation, and contact information, and a 200 word summary explaining why he/she deserves the award in a particular category.

Nominations can also be submitted online at economist.com/innovationawards.

Deadline is April 1st" (no joke)...

Thanks for your time and all that you inspire and I look forward to hearing about your innovation awards through the Economist and closer to home in the communities we work in.

yours in hardy kiwi

Erin Schneider

UW Innovation Competition Yields Fabulous Fruit!

2010-02-17T09:46:00.000-06:00

The recent UW-Madison innovation competition for students yielded a great tool for treating fruit trees: the Automated Pest Elimination (APEL) system was developed by mechanical engineering student Tom Gerold, offering "a smarter way to spray" that is safer and more environmentally friendly. The overall competition, an annual event, provided a number of exciting ideas that you should check out.

It also invites the question to the UW-MANIAC community: Is there a role for us in sponsoring events that encourage the development and submission of creative ideas that could improve the campus?

Harry

Design for your 'Innovation Garden'

2010-01-08T10:28:00.003-06:00

Harry's recent posting regarding notable innovations of the past decade prompted me to ponder ways we can design for innovation in our lives, work, and play into the coming year and beyond. For example, how can we nurture people's love and support of local, sustainable agriculture by re-designing our systems and infrastructure? What ways can we build upon the redefined, inclusive, and decentralized media and the way we communicate with each other?

To the individual or even to the organization attempting to create space for a diverse, dynamic and evolving systems shift may seem daunting – it often means you need to let go of an old pattern, say no to a commitment, or give up control. I think it is doable. I think it starts with your backyard and the stepping into the outer reaches of your brain. I think it helps to make a physical representation of the innovation you seek to create and give it a name. For me the outlook, outlet, and representation is the innovation garden. As an organic, ecological farmer, I can't help but think of designing the gardens and landscapes that paint our region. The seed catalogs that arrive this time of year are also a good prompt.

Allow me to share my top 6 plant categories for designing the innovation garden - offering plant selections and functions that may parallel ways to design for innovation of a project, organization, community, neighborhood, landscape, etc...

Dynamic accumulators – are plants that accumulate minerals in their bodies making them available to plants that otherwise would not have access. Overall these plants build soil fertility, making enough essential minerals and nutrients available to satisfy the needs of your entire garden. (Note: building soil fertility is analogous to building human potential and/or organizational capacity). Examples of dynamic accumulators include comfrey and lovage (lovage seeds are also good in soups). By planting bioaccumulators you can avoid adding outside inputs that may offer a short term fix, can be expensive in the long-term. Instead of constantly adding new ideas as a manager, for example, look for what is working well and build on those successes. It will save you time and money and the people you are working with will feel a sense of ownership and accomplishment.
Nitrogen fixers – Nitrogen fixing plants form a symbiotic relationship with bacteria in which the plant provides the bacteria with sugars while the bacteria makes available to the plant atmospheric nitrogen that the plant otherwise could not use. Examples include white clover (also great bee forage), purple prairie clover, and siberian pea shrub (the latter is an excellent forage food for chickens!) Look for ways to build mutually beneficial relationships. Be sure the needs are complimentary in your negotiations so as to avoid burn out.
Culinary/medicinal delights – Plant what feeds you! This category was hard to nail down, but thyme and rosemary are a sure bet to add flavor to your pantry, and soothe what may ail you. Thyme has both culinary and medicinal use – aiding digestion and supporting respiratory health. In flower lore, thyme represents strength and courage; ensures restful sleep. Rosemary 'the dew of the sea' is credited the herb of remembrance linked with increased mental capacity, happy thoughts, fidelity, and love. The versatile rosemary is often used to spice poultry and pasta dishes or used externally, as an essential oil. Remember to add flavor and spice to your idea, maybe this is as simple as having healthy food and snacks at your next meeting.
Companion Plants – plant two or more types of plant families in close proximity – attracts pollinators as well as beneficials, repels pests or confuses/confounds insects and disease organisms in search of their preferred host plants. For example, dill, fennel, and carrots are good companions. (Dill and fennel are also great culinary and insectory crops). Consider what ways you may form compatible teams or nested networks for your next project or marketing strategy.
Insectory/Trap crops – Insectory plants and trap crops provide food and/or shelter to beneficial insects. Calendula, nasturtiums, and borage are my top picks. Nasturtiums have edible flowers, you can pickle the seeds and in flower lore they represent charity. Calendulas are self-seeders, have edible flowers and are a great companion to peppers and tomatoes (solanacea family), in lore calendulas are known to bring joy. Borage flowers are also edible and the plant is highly valued for its medicinal properties for reducing fevers and restoring respiratory health. In flower language borage represents courage. Implementing innovations have an element of risk. Take the time to build beneficial habitat (culture) for your organization or project to grow. This will help you manage for risk, create space for inclusiveness, and repel negatively reinforced ideas or patterns.
Flower power – You plant vegetables for your body and flowers for your soul. Without flowers there would be no transfer of pollen. Without pollen your garden, your innovation, your organization would be a sterile place. Flowers help your fruits and vegetables, (your innovations), reach fruition. There are thousands of flowers to choose from. I recommend starting with zinnias and cosmos – they're easy to grow, vibrant in color, prolific producers and in floral language kindle thoughts of friendship and renewed sense of purpose.

All of the plants listed above are simple to grow, hardy in our climate, serve multiple functions and build soil fertility in different ways. By no means is this an exhaustive list. Through observation, connection and understanding of the landscape you're working with and within, you will find many substitutes and parallels for growth. By planting the space for whatever your innovation garden may be, you can go a long way in cultivating ecosystems (includes culture) where we are stewards and beneficiaries.

What actions might you take to step aside from the linear paradigm (whether in agriculture or a siloed organizational structure or thought pattern) and shift toward creating lumpy textures and edges - 'habitat' for ideas, plants, organizations, and communities to grow? I look forward to learning more...

Yours in hardy kiwi,

Erin

Some of my Favorite Resources

2010-01-06T16:03:00.003-06:00

Here's a quick list of some fabulous resources to inspire new thinking and actions for the new year:

1. Co-Intelligence Institute Toolbox
Describes all kinds of change processes, methods, and techniques -- and even provides the backstory, theory and additional resources if you want to go deeper.
http://www.co-intelligence.org/CIPol_ComunityProcesses.html

2. Human System Dynamics Institute
Chaos theory and complexity as applied to working with groups and organizations in meaningful and practical ways.
http://www.hsdinstitute.org/

3. Fostering Sustainable Behavior: Community Based Social Marketing
Contains articles, case studies, and strategies from social change practitioners (with an environmental lens); tools include: attitudes, branding, commitment, communication, convenience, education, feedback, framing, goal setting, incentives, norms, prompts, social diffusion.
http://www.cbsm.com/public/world.lasso

4. NuPolis: Scalable Innovations for Communities
Includes stories about what's working (and what isn't) to ramp up social innovation in the US; also has chapters of an online book called How Social Innovators are Transforming America's Communities.
http://www.cbsm.com/public/world.lasso

5. Social Innovation Exchange
More international in scope, lists case studies and articles in a variety of social change fields.
http://www.socialinnovationexchange.org/

6. UW School of Business: Business, Environment, and Social Responsibility program
This resource page contains all kinds of goodies -- "Books That Changed My Life", "UW Classes Not to be Missed," "Videos" which include lots of TED talk links, and "Things You Can Do To Live More Sustainably."
http://www.bus.wisc.edu/sustainability/resources/

May you be inspired!

Marian Farrior

12 Innovations of the '00s

2010-01-04T15:39:00.004-06:00

As we turn the page on our recent decade, an article by Sarah Van Gelder of YES! Magazine has gotten me thinking... What were some of the most important innovations of the '00s? Let's start with Van Gelder's candidates, as she identified a dozen important innovations of the last decade:

1. People fell in love with local foods. There are now more than 5,000 farmers' markets in the U.S., up 13 percent in just one year, many new school vegetable gardens, and CSA. People turned their lawns into gardens, and asked grocery stores and restaurants to offer local foods.

2. A home-grown U.S. pro-democracy movement brought greater integrity to the elections process. This movement, built on the voting rights movement, began after the questionable election of 2000. Through public scrutiny, legal challenges, and mobilization of poll watchers, it was able to counter election manipulation, voter suppression, black box voting irregularities, and to begin restoring voting rights to felons who had served their terms.

3. Happiness got redefined. As people discovered that debt and overconsumption cause stress to families, the planet, and each of us, many turned instead to friends, family, good works, spirituality, and personal growth as the keys to a good life.

4. Media became radically decentralized and inclusive, with anyone able to report on events and to post video, tweets, photos, and commentary. Governments found secrecy much harder to come by. Fact checking became a participatory activity.

5. Prison overcrowding, budget shortfalls, and powerful advocacy turned the public against draconian prison terms and the drug war in favor of limited prison time for nonviolent offenses and alternatives like treatment and community service.

6. People went local to rebuild the economy. Instead of competing to get corporations to locate in their communities, they began building economies based on local strengths and local needs, striving to be green and to offer living wages and dignity to employees. Worker-owned cooperatives are at the leading edge of this movement, especially in abandoned rust-belt cities. The new focus is on sustainably meeting the needs of ordinary people, not the greed of Wall Street.

7. Populist resistance grew to corporate power and big government. This movement pushed back against bailed-out Wall Street banks, the domination of health insurance and Pharma in the health care debate, and the power of big coal and big oil. Right-wing think tanks and media tried to morph this populism into an anti-Obama movement, so far with limited success. (But if Obama continues to capitulate to a corporate agenda, he could be in trouble with populists across the political spectrum.)

8. The stage was set for nuclear abolition: A global consensus grew around the need to abolish nuclear weapons. In the United States, conservatives like George Shultz are advocates along with progressive leaders.

9. Indigenous people’s rights were recognized in an official United Nations declaration. Indigenous peoples began using their new-found clout to protect their ways of life and the biosphere, stewarding sources of invaluable cultural and biological diversity.

10. The United States elected an African-American president. While this didn't usher in a utopian post-racial society, it did show the power of multi-racial organizing. And it set the stage for long over-due remedies to racial disparities and segregation. But, as has been painfully clear, it does not guarantee progressive policies will come out of the White House.

11. A new guiding philosophy emerged based on respect for all people and all life. This approach is gaining power after both neoliberalism and neoconservatism proved themselves out of touch with the challenges faced by humanity – and out of ideas. The Earth Charter, formally launched in 2000, received endorsements of thousands of organizations representing millions of people during the ‘00s, revealing the potential for a new worldview to take hold based in environmental sustainability and social justice.

12. A “Survival” Movement swept the world; millions took action to confront the climate crisis, making changes at home and at work, greening cities, resisting coal and deforestation. Look to this movement to grow rapidly, post-Copenhagen.

While I think several of those identified in her article are important, and have potential to make significant innovations in the economic and political landscape, I think there are some other innovations that have vast potential worth noting. These include:

* Access to purified water through low tech solutions. These include the Kissi water filter, potter Tracy Hawkins Filter Pure system, and PlayPump International's great merry go 'round systems. The ramifications of these inventions and the not-for-profit movement supporting them can result in over 1 billion people having necessary access to clean water.

* Computer access through self-meshing systems: Mesh networks have the potential to link remote areas throughout the world and to decentralize internet service provision to hundreds of millions of people. When combined with educational programs and aid, such as through One Laptop Per Child, the impact can be leveraged in some amazing ways.

* The explosion of micro-lending programs: Starting with the work of organizations like Grameen Bank, for which Mohammed Yunus won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, a wide array of organizations has emerged over the past decade. These organizations tend to focus their efforts on small groups, especially women, in the most impoverished regions of the world, with the goal of breaking the cycle of poverty. These efforts result in extraordinary success stories and freedom from social and economic oppression. The multiplier effects of micro-credit are just beginning to be realized.

What innovations would you rate as most important this past decade? What do you think of the ideas offered by Sarah Van Gelder, or by me? Continue the conversation!

-Harry

Hula Hooping and Change -- Exercising Our Minds and Our Brains

2009-12-08T15:41:00.001-06:00

This morning's UW-MANIAC learning event was a real treat, as we first focused our energies on applying the Seven Levels of Change model to a real issue at the university, then totally shifted our gears (and bodies) to enter the world of hula hooping with Adam Grieve.

Last month, we learned Rolf Smith's "Seven Levels of Change" model and played with a few of its tools. The group was then challenged to step up and identify a real UW issue and see if we could apply Smith's approach to it. SOAR offered to engage us in this process, so that today we generated ideas related to how SOAR could engage its student employees in the process of improving its program. Using Smith's brainwriting tool, we generated dozens of ideas in 15 minutes! Hopefully, there will be some valuable 'nuggets' contained within, so the consulting team can pursue them with the SOAR staff. Stay tuned for updates as this process unfolds...

We then introduced "The Hoop Man," Adam Grieve, a PhD student in Ed Psych with a passion for hula hoops. Adam makes them, demonstrates them, shares his passion and gets others excited about trying them out -- which we did with gusto! Here is an example of one of Adam's hooping good times:
Watch this blog for additional video from the MANIAC experience!

Overall, not a bad way to start a snowy day...

Harry

‘Brain-raining Buckets’ A Case in ‘Place’ for Innovation

2009-11-23T10:28:00.002-06:00

Hello Current and Potential MANIAC's,

So what does place and culture have to do with innovation?

In their groundbreaking book "Execution" Charan and Bossidy say: "We don't think ourselves into a new way of acting, we act ourselves into a new way of thinking."

People in today's organizations are moving very fast, doing more work with fewer people, and in many cases, reeling from the fast pace of change; downsizing, restructuring, outsourcing, and off-shoring. This is not a psychological or structural place that will support widespread acts of creativity and innovation.

In, Is your Culture Innovation Ready? Authors Gerry Schmidt and Lisa Jackson, reflect, “Innovation thrives in a culture where you make room for it, by putting in place systems, structures, and processes that promote candor, empower people, encourage unsanctioned cross-functional collaboration, and fund experimentation.” I would also add that innovation thrives in a place where people also have access to daylight, good food, and open spaces that promote expansiveness – above and below ground. Innovations can look messy, chaotic, and non-orderly, but what can emerge is a re-imagining of our places, beliefs and assumptions about power, authority, and trust.

A conscious and planned retooling of existing mindsets and behaviors will be a necessary step in truly committing to innovation. At UW MANIAC’s recent Innovation and Collaboration Learning Café, Darin Eich, President and one of the Founders of Brainreactions, LLC, took us on an exploration of idea generation strategies that help us think of ways we can bring innovation into our projects, work, personal life and community. I thought I would apply a few of the strategies I learned from Brainreactions about ideation at the Learning Café toward describing the place(s) where I would like to bring about more innovation in my work with Social Artistry.

Erin’s idea generation appetizer of places for Social Artistry in the Madison area (note I gave myself 1 minute of brainstorming for each method)
Via a Brain-Rain…
Farm, garden, lakebed, coffee shop, town hall, university, ‘artistry shack’, satellite center, traveling on a canoe, tree house, front porch, city park, drumlins, mountain eco-tones, dining room, board room, theater, studio, flower labyrinth, school room, library, grange halls, rooftops, street parties, woolen mill, galleries, front lawn, back porch, ‘virtual classroom’, congressional halls…

Extending into ‘flexible lateral thinking’ via Brain Buckets…
Accessible, ground level, sensory expansive, community oriented, affordable, hospitality

Brain-raining and brain buckets are just a sampling of the many ways you can focus and expand (ideation is also about quantity) your thinking around a question without judgment. If you find yourself getting stuck, take a break, wander outside, grab a kiwi snack, invite others, be a MANIAC, get help from Brain Reactions, re-imagine the transformation that will occur as you design yourself into a new way of thinking. I look forward to inviting you to a place of expanded human capacity. Happy Thanksgiving!

With gratitude,

Erin

The Fun Theory

2009-11-03T09:54:00.004-06:00

Hi All,

Just found this fun site for fun innovation [http://www.thefuntheory.com/] and how it can be used to change behavior patterns. There are some great ideas here.

Dennis

Nested Networks, Building Resilience, Emergence in Groups

2009-10-19T13:07:00.011-05:00

Dear Readers,

The other week, I had the great fortune of attending the annual Community Food Security Coalition Conference in Des Moines Iowa. It was a chance for many groups of people engaged in the stories and policies of 'what's for dinner' to merge - helping in the transformation of our nation's food systems from one of commodity to community. Of the suite of inspiring plenaries and panels to participate in, I attended a session on building resilient networks for food system change featuring the Value Chain Partnership , an Iowa-based network for food and agriculture working groups that brings together producers, businesses, and state and federal organizations.

I left the conference feeling reinvigorated. Here is a state, Iowa, which at first glance seems to be wall to wall corn and soybeans - a difficult field for farmers and communities to negotiate, that has formed a series of nested networks, in the form of working groups that span the value chain of agriculture. Surely I can apply this to my work with the Wisconsin Local Food Summit, Midwest Regional Collaborative on Sustainability Education, as a volunteer fellow with OHRD, and other networks that I and others find ourselves in.

While our topical focus was food systems, there is much to graze on and glean from in terms of building collaborative, nested networks and resilience in groups. I wanted to share a few reflections and questions that I thought are worthwhile for you to explore. For example:

Reflect on what's in your network: Is it collaborative? Are there built in methods to resolve conflict, share and disperse knowledge and funding? Is the leadership decentralized? Does it need to be? Are the right people at the table? Do they span the value chain, and are they helping each other succeed?

How does your network function? Is it an information hub? Catalyst for cooperation? Magnet for others to participate? Does it accelerate learning through sharing challenges?

How do you meet funding needs in our 'perceived' tight economy? Do members in your network work together in presenting a compelling challenge/needs assessment? Are members willing to share funding and credit? Are there private partners involved (ones with money to contribute an added benefit). Can you present a portfolio of prior successful projects? Do any of your members have really really good grant writing, development skills?

Does your network's culture a source of creative tensions? A space where participants can honor differences, demonstrate a willingness to honest open conversations? Do people co-create agendas?

But networks aren’t the whole story. Meg Wheatley, author, authentic leader, and systems change agent reveals, "As networks grow and transform into active, working communities of practice, we discover how Life truly changes, which is through emergence. When separate, local efforts connect with each other as networks, then strengthen as communities of practice, suddenly and surprisingly a new system emerges at a greater level of scale. This system of
influence possesses qualities and capacities that were unknown in the individuals. It isn’t that they were hidden; they simply don’t exist until the system emerges...And the system that emerges always possesses greater power and influence than is possible through planned, incremental change."

Emergence is how Life creates radical change and takes things to scale.

Maybe there are one or two dynamic and resilient networks or communities of practice that you participate in. I invite you to share your interests and aspects about these communities of practice. What makes your learning community thrive? Are you interested in initiating a new network or community practice? Or perhaps you're interested in how to position, manage, fund, and/or evaluate your community of practice. A great place to explore your ideas, share applications, and participate in growing a community of practice is through this blog and at the upcoming UW MANIAC Innovation and Collaboration Learning Cafe, happening November 19th. Help us shape the story of connectedness in whatever system you may find yourself in.
Learn more on communities of practice...

Thanks for sharing!

Yours in hardy kiwi,

Erin Schneider, M.ED

Volunteer Fellow, UW Madison OHRD

Organic Farmer/Co-Owner Hilltop Community Farm, LLC

"Seven Levels of Change" Focus of Next UW-MANIAC Breakfast

2009-10-07T12:46:00.004-05:00

The process of innovation is often viewed either as reserved for 'creative minds' or is something of mystery. Rolf Smith, in his excellent book, The Seven Levels of Change, invites us to consider the possibilities of significant 'mind shifts' that begin with changing some of our basic approaches to dilemmas and projects. At the next UW-MANIAC Breakfast on October 15th, we will explore some of Smith's ideas and use a few of the simple tools he offers us. This discussion will be facilitated by Dennis Rozell and Harry Webne-Behrman.

***Bonus learning opportunity! Dennis and Harry will invite us to specifically consider how to take Smith's model and adapt it to utilize in our projects, forming an ad hoc innovation team. The results of this effort will be shared at another UW-MANIAC event later this year!

Get involved! Become a MANIAC. Innovate. Collaborate. Inspire meaningful change.

Will Allen Inspires Us with Urban Agriculture

2009-07-09T12:37:00.003-05:00

The NY Times Magazine this past Sunday ran an article called, "Street Farmer" about Will Allen of Milwaukee. For those of you unfamiliar with Allen and his Growing Power Farm initiative, he has managed to take a small chunk of urban space and convert it into some of the most sustainable topsoil in the state. He has also found ways to engage and employ many of Milwaukee's youth in his project, both as employees and through his work with schools (which is how I became aware of him several years ago, as he spoke at my kids' school), succeeding with organic, urban farming that supplies food pantries, farmer's markets, and over more traditional food venues.

What do you think? Can you see other applications of Allen's philosophy and approach to the type of work you do?

Midwest Slow Money Institute - An Integral Approach to Creating New Wealth and a Wiser World?

2009-06-10T18:36:00.004-05:00

Imagine investing in regional farms and food businesses that provide healthful food produced in a way that helps to enhance the ecosystem upon which it was grown. Now imagine you actually know the people working on these farms and businesses. You aren't merely one of thousands of investors in a faceless mega-corporation. You are part of a regional venture capital fund supporting businesses in your community, contributing your expertise, ideas, and insights, as well as your dollars. In return, you earn 5 - 8% cash gains, plus social and environmental returns in the form of a stronger community and restored ecosystems. You're also contributing to a new financial system, one that serves people and not the people serving the system. Feels good, doesn't it? Imagine enhancing this pride and extending connections with 'our' farms, cheese makers and bakers.

You can help shape an evolving vision of a financial system that benefits the world-its people, plant, and dirtscapes included, through participation in the formation of a Midwest Slow Money Institute.

There will be a day long workshop in Madison, WI on Monday, July 27 at the Pyle Center on Langdon St. Central to the success of the day is having key stakeholders work to discuss and formalize a network of regional stakeholders, committed to financing local food systems. If you're interested in being involved or interested in investing in patient interest, you can RSVP for the event to Michael Bartner at michael(at)slowmoneyalliance(dot)org.

I look forward to this event and I see it's potential as an integral approach to exploring a solution to our current financial woes. This brings up the topic of integral theory

which provides a framework to look at a topic, challenge etc...through a lens that addresses self-awareness, the task/plan at hand, group/organization outcome, and group/organization culture. I have the great honor of exploring this approach to problem solving and group process through a week long workshop called the Journey Into Facilitation and Collaboration-an Integral Approach offered through the UW Office of Human Resource Development and FacilitatorU.com.

Thank you Harry, Darin, Steve, and all the June JOFC crew for the journey...It is amazing to see what emerges, and all that you inspire. You, and I hope the readers too, are invited to engage in the creation of a new wealth and abundance. I look forward to hearing your comments about the concept of slow money institutes, integral theory, and/or how to create wealth and abundance in your foodshed.

Engage with the Absurd

2009-05-12T13:22:00.008-05:00

I was catching up with the Maniac blog this morning and found Harry's suggestion (March 4) that the group should consider our own innovation challenge.

A few minutes later I stumbled upon the following article: Searching for Value in Ludicrous Ideas.

Putting 1 and 1 together I thought that this concept of "engaging with the absurd" might hold some possibilities for the Maniac group. Somehow absurd ideas and maniacs seem to go together.

Anyway I think it could be very interesting and great fun to design a contest around the creation of ideas similar to those outlined in the article.

Here is a list of random thoughts I've had so far on this idea:

This could be something cheap for students to participating in (just need and idea and a poster),
It could be easy to display (online, campus gallery),
The results could be published,
You could let the masses vote for best ideas,
Have experts determine winners,
Get local business leaders to also vote for best in categories (tie to business community? or business school?)
Give absurd prizes for winners,
Give serious prizes to best ideas (opportunity to prototype idea, work with business experts, work with local design firm to do further brainstorming, lateral thinking using winning concept as starting point, etc)
Create multiple categories so there will be lots of winners (most ridiculous, most green, most unlikely to be useful, etc.)
Create some bounding rules or a theme for the challenge (would we want warp drive cars?)
Entries should include diagram/model of idea, problem that is being addressed, how this idea would solve problem, etc. (I think some type of short description of problem/solution would be useful).
Find artists to help those artistically challenged to design there poster, model, etc.
It could fit nicely with the MANIAC name (help form a Maniac brand?)
Would need to clearly define purpose (would we focus only on the absurd, or would this be first step of a longer process of working from absurd ideas, i.e. lateral thinking; toward applying those ideas, i.e. "applied creativity", etc.)
Open up challenge to community, schools, etc. (need more categories?)
Tie challenge to Maniac workshops (lateral thinking cafe's) which would teach "lateral thinking" concepts,
Create Maniac workshops so people could come and meet artists, conceptual designers, models, and for teams to document the ideas,
Maniac's could create a process to help move ideas from fringe to something more workable (I'm thinking of the design firm IDEO right now, they move from the absurd to the applied/marketable)
Maybe Maniac focuses on this fringe (I like the "how to daydream, invent, engage with the absurd." line in the article)
How would we advertise?
Could get local media coverage challenge/results
Talk to UW Office of Corporate Relations and learn how they developed their Wiscontrepeneur Challenge (hate to recreate the wheel or duplicate efforts. Are they going to do it again? Could we tie in or be first step in their process?)

It seems like this could be as big or small as we like. Small would be a month long challenge for UW students only, create your poster, submit it, display on campus, collect votes, award prizes, all in the name of fun (tie in with Maniac Cafe's?). Large could be a community wide effort, tie in local businesses, local artists, local schools, and design a complete development process (use existing processes too) that can take winning ideas and move them forward using further innovation techniques to determine real world applications. It looks like the large version would/could incorporate all aspects of the UW-Maniac charter/definition.

So that is what my brain has spent the morning thinking about.

Dennis

Bill Gates Funds Unorthodox Health Research in Britain

2009-05-06T12:47:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Nancy Schultz-Darken for this contribution...

In a story yesterday from The Times of London (Online), we learn about how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is supporting some critical, innovative research in health care.
Through more than 80 projects at the far edge of innovation in global health research, the Grand Challenges Initiative will share millions of pounds of grants to support unorthodox thinking — and the outside chance of a world-changing discovery. In a radical departure from conventional funding systems, the foundation asked only for a two-page application and no preliminary data for the first stage award. It is hoped that this approach will encourage and accelerate bold and largely unproven research.

What do you think of this Initiative? What implications does this approach have for funding other innovative projects?

Pieces of String Tie Loose Ends Creatively

2009-05-05T10:44:00.004-05:00

I'm grateful for this morning's UW-MANIAC breakfast, "Pieces of String Too Small To Save," as Kent Lesandrini sparked some creative stories that had lain dormant within us. Much was inspired in the conversation, and I hope we can continue to share some of these ideas on this blog. A few inspirations:

* What are our intentions? If we focus on the things we care about in our lives (and our work), we might actually be able to approach tasks with greater pleasure, yield fuller enjoyment from the experience, and identify some new ways of being and Knowing that can inform our future Self.

* 'Pieces of string' allow us to explore Values in a new, less threatening way, one that exposes narratives that help reveal deeper meaning for our relationships. This can be a great way to access cultural experiences that otherwise lie beneath the surface of our work lives, thus helping us work more effectively (and efficiently?) together.

* "What else might work?" That's a great question! We can benefit so much from S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G ourselves with this question. It allows to examine unstated expectations that, while reflecting our personal 'comfort zones,' may also inhibit our creative responses to new challenges and opportunities.

* Time is experienced in vastly different ways. One discovery was the experience of Time over the years, in the 'elevator stories' people shared this morning (e.g., kids pushing all the buttons and riding the elevator for hours, adults pushing the single button repeatedly in a hurry, seniors not pushing the button and being pleased to be together on an elevator that might not be going anywhere in particular.) Time is also experienced very differently across cultures.

Our understandings of 'pieces of string' opens our capacity to understand one another (it was referred to as a Portal at one point) and make connections that are otherwise elusive. After many had gone, a few members of the group lingered and kept revealing new 'pieces' in our conversation, as well as rituals that might be helpful to incorporate into our lives and work that flow from these insights.

What 'pieces of string' do you have to offer? What are a few catalysts that you might add to those that were generated thus far? Please make a contribution! If you add a Comment, that's easy enough, but if you'd like to offer a new 'thread' for this blog, let me know and I'll give you authorship rights to move ahead!

-Harry

Innovative Twitter Fosters Communication

2009-04-30T15:24:00.002-05:00

I'm pretty excited about the new project that Adam Wilson is developing, a brain-directed "Tweet" to his Twitter account. Wilson is a biomedical engineering graduate student at UW-Madison who has figured out how to sync his brainwaves to convey brief messages through his computer. The implications of this discovery are vast, allowing those with communication disorders a vibrant way to communicate. I can also envision gaming applications, taking us to a whole new Wii of play!

Read the article... what do you see as some innovative possibilities that emerge?

-Harry

"Pieces of String Too Small To Save..." is Focus of Kent Lesandrini Visit on May 5th, 8-9:30AM at Memorial Union

2009-04-15T15:51:00.006-05:00

Donald Hall tells the story of a man cleaning the attic of an old house in New England to find a box full of tiny pieces of string. The box was labeled: "String too short to be saved." Perhaps we all have pieces of string too small to save--stored in small boxes and labeled in the attic of our everyday lives. These small questions or observations pop into our minds and then promptly (often, properly) vanish into thin air. From time to time, however, might some of these curios (if carefully cultivated) lead to interesting and innovative responses that make a difference in our lives?

Such is the premise of Kent Lesandrini, our resident Scholar without Portfolio, who returns to UW-MANIAC to share some of his own "pieces of string too small to save." Building on his initial 2006 visit to us, Kent will invite us to consider some of our own small questions or wonders and to transform otherwise adrift daydreaming into innovative insights. Well, at least there will be donuts. Click here to register -- it's free!

Wiscontrepeneur Challenge Fosters Creative Spirit in UW Students

2009-03-04T16:54:00.002-06:00

Four UW students recently received prizes for creative projects submitted to the Wiscontrepeneur Challenge sponsored by the UW Office of Corporate Relations. The students had 100 hours to complete the Challenge, which received 63 entries this year. This inspires at last two MANIAC-type thoughts:

1. We should find a way to get more students involved in UW-MANIAC! I recall that some of the most interesting contributions to the two "Inspiration from Unusual Sources" conferences (that catalyzed the creation of our Network) came from students... they would bring a fresh energy to our conversations, and they might even find that we have some things to offer their interests, as well...

2. We might want to consider our own 'innovation challenge' as an event to sponsor... it might not take the same format as the one featured here, but I imagine we could innovatively approach it in a manner consistent with our MANIAC approach to other things.

Just a couple of thoughts...
-Harry

Innovation and Collaboration Learning Cafe - Part Two

2009-02-24T16:21:00.002-06:00

Last week's second incarnation of the Innovation and Collaboration Learning Cafe was a resounding success, as participants engaged in a great series of activities to help them improve their innovative capacities. Craig has contributed some great pix of the event:

There was a session on the art of storytelling with Miranda McLenaghan that really gave people a sense of the special craft that it is, as well as how sharing a story can be a useful approach to diseminating creative ideas in an innovation effort.

Craig and Harry shared the GROW Partnership Coaching Model with another group that was focused on specific dilemmas and challenges, with the result that most of them found the model to be useful and helped get them 'unstuck' with some key issues. In addition, the group innovated with the model, transforming it into "GROWL" by adding a Learning step!

The group then engaged in its first 'clubhouse' activity: Watching some inspiring TED videos! The group chose from eight options, formed small clusters, and gained some great insights from the stories that were shared. We then brought everyone back together in four 'mixed' groups to share their insights and consider how to apply all of the morning's learning to their workplaces.

Not a bad morning, folks! Thanks for all of your efforts!
-Harry

Storytelling Resources

2009-02-18T14:09:00.002-06:00

Dear UW Maniacs,

Here are the storytelling resources I mentioned at yesterday's Innovation & Collaboration Cafe:

About storytelling in the workplace:
http://www.managers.gc.ca/read_getreal-eng.asp

About using powerpoints to tell a story (and other interesting thoughts, such as lessons from TED presentations): http://blog.duarte.com/

And this site is awesome: http://www.storycenter.org/index1.html

Happy Storytelling!

Innovative Arts Grants for UW Students

2009-02-11T12:37:00.002-06:00

This Arts Venture Challenge Award competition seems to be capturing the spirit of innovation and cultivating it in our students at UW-Madison. This appears to be an excellent example of collaboration across campus sub-cultures, bridging arts and business to bring about innovative programming and providing seed money for the new ideas. Bravo!

-Harry

In Search of Telling Your Story

2009-02-05T15:25:00.004-06:00

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust

And I would add ears...On February 17, I have the fortune (and I will admit a bit of inner 'butterfly angst') of facilitating a Story-Sharing tract for our next UW MANIAC Learning Cafe Series. I wanted to take the opportunity to get people to talk to each other, share a few resouces and glean your sparks of narrative, dialogue, improv, snapshots, jokes, broadcasts, and the many other ways in which you tell stories.

But what do we have to say? I tend to tell stories in what I do, not always in what I say but what I do. If you're like me, you may need extra encouragement in developing voice, listening to success stories, and a place to convene for dialogue. Our work and our play adds to our stories and provides fertile ground to transform and grow. What (or who) inspires your ideas?

What ways do you open your mind (and heart) to new opportunities? What does story sharing have to do with bringing about innovation? Where do you go to groundtruth your ideas and your locale? What landscape(s) do you read?

If you find yourself stuck in a mid-winter story-sharing slumber, join us for the Leaning Cafe, post a comment, pirate and morph these questions, go talk to a stranger, and let your story be you.

Check out these story sharing resources...(special thanks to Marian Farrior for sharing these wonderful links...good stories tend to spread):

Interesting perspectives and tools for those building virtual Communities of Practice...
Center for Digital Storytelling

Story tips and media tools -- ways to use PowerPoint to tell your story--the website/concept is called slide:ology.
Learn more about what the slide:ologists say...

Stories and organizational management...
The Art and Power of Storytelling in Workplace Communities

Watch videos of inspiration in action...
TED: Ideas Worth spreading

It is my hope that you will help me be a better story sharer. Thanks for listening and sharing. I look forward to learning more...

-Erin

Somebody's Cheese Moved Me

2009-02-05T13:11:00.003-06:00

This morning's UW-MANIAC Breakfast Series featured a presentation by Laurie Greenberg and Joe Burns, sharing a taste of their experiecnes in the world of artisanal cheese. It was a great discussion of how they recognized a need, created opportunities that built upon their strengths, and have emerged with some pretty innovative accomplishments. What did you get from this discussion? How might you take the ideas from it back to your work? Share your perspective on this Blog!

Laurie shared her journey towards creation of the WI Dairy Business Innovation Center, an organization that now catalyzes development of specialty dairy products through training, grants, and networking programs. Joe described his journey from being a wine buyer in Chicago to a collaboration with Brunkow Cheese in Mineral Point to create the highly successful Fayette Creamery line of artisan cheeses. They sell at several farmers' markets, to cheese specialty shops across Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minneesota, and innovate in the development of new specialty cheeses with great success.

Several things jumped out for me this morning:

The metrics for success that are traditionally applied work against the development of innovative products. In the cheese industry, when Laurie first got involved she found that these metrics and resources (and infrastructure) were geared towards large-scale production of commodities. As a result, small-scale operations and specialty producers were not understood properly, and they couldn't 'break in' very easily. We find similar barriers to entry in other fields, simply because the metrics of success are geared towards the predictability and standardization of commodities. Sure, your basic cheddar cheese has a predictably taste, texture, and color, but is it interesting to the pallate?
There was an opportunity emerging in Wisconsin from a combination of circumstances... locally, traditional dairy operations were closing and family farms being sold. Globally, the specialty market trend was emerging. From these two needs emerged an opportunity to develop high value dairy products that could be marketed throughout the world... artisan cheeses could become a part of that solution. We find other circumstances that beg similar inquiry: The traditional US manufacturing economy can't produce commodity products as cost-effectively as many other nations, but we may be able to offer specialty products, with our unique innovative flair, and distribute them cost-effectively through pre-existing networks.
There is great value to be derived, most simply, from the joy of working in a way you love. Joe never imagined himself working in cheese, and his partners may not have imagined selling to specialty shops in Chicago and its suburbs. Yet, they are now selling as much as they can produce. They won't necessarily raise capacity, as they value their relationships with their customers and one another... something only accomplished by going out there and talking with them. There is most certainly something to be said about the value of maintaining such scale and balance in our work.
There are still many questions to answer, and DBIC seems like a good place to ask them. There remain major challenges of infrastructure, especially around transportation (which is costly and specialized), and the overall dairy industry in Wisconsin remains jeopardized. But there are great resources at UW and expertise now being spread so people can develop these specialty cheeses, and an increasing attitude of entrepreneurship that may foster important 'intercultural exchanges' among folks of varying backgrounds and expertise. It seems like a story we should follow some more...

Thanks, Laurie and Joe, for your creativity, passion, and persistence!

For a complete listing of Wisconsin artisan cheese producers, visit: http://www.dbicusa.org/resources/artisandir08finallo.pdf

-Harry

FiftyCrows Foundation - Photo Journalism That Matters

2009-02-04T12:35:00.006-06:00

The FiftyCrows Foundation is the creation of Andy Patrick, an entrepreneur who parlayed his fortune into an organization that supports aspiring photojournalists who seek to document some of the most pressing issues in the world. CNN Business ran a story about one of the projects, What Matters, which chronicles a number of these most pressing issues.

This story, besides inspiring me with its creative approach to raising awareness about important issues, got me thinking about the power of transforming wealth and privilege into a constructive force. There is the ethical dimension of such action (or being a bystander and not using that opportunity to help), there is the scale of issues and the challenge of determining the levels of innovation required to truly leverage a situation, and there are the choices involved in determining which issues should receive our attention and how best to channel the resources we possess. Let's briefly examine each aspect...

Ethical obligations were well presented in Peter Singer's article for the NY Times Magazine, "What Should a Billionairre Give - And What Should You?" in Dec 2006. He shared the dilemma that he presents to his students about the obligations of passersby to save a drowning child, increasing the scale and complexity of the situation until we are examining implications for a full community saving an entire pool full of children. One interesting element of the article is his calculation that we could meet the UN Millenium Development Goals by modest contributions, if we all gave something, and could even achieve this goal comfortably if the richest 10% of Americans gave 10% of their income to this effort. Bill and Melinda Gates are leveraging their vast wealth to make significant impacts on large-scale issues , as recently discussed by Nicholas Kristof in the NY Times (Jan 26, 2009), and Andy Patrick is using his wealth to support the aspirations of those whose economic situation would preclude them from making a difference. This brings us to the question of scale.

I often wonder what difference my life (or any other person's life) influences those of other people. When I was younger, I tended to equate ambitious goals with impact on the most people; in other words, if I did something 'amazing,' it would qualify as such because it was on a huge, national or global scale. As I've aged (and perhaps matured in my thinking, perhaps not), I have come to see my influence as being potentially as great by making deeper, relational impacts on a smaller circle of people, fostering a sense of excitement that catalyzes them to influence others. This is similar to the "connector" quality discussed by Malcom Gladwell in Tipping Point, where he describes the capacity of certain individuals to spread news much more rapidly because of their relational efficacy, an extraordinary ability to connect with others in a way that has great credibiltiy and power. He uses it to describe how Paul Revere, and not his collaborating rider on that incredible night in Boston, was able to get people aroused out of their beds and into action to defend the colonies. He also goes to on describe these qualities and their power in achieving the tipping point for change.

When I consider my influence and the question of scale, I also recognize that we are dealing here with complex systems, and that the butterfly effect may certainly apply to my actions. We can try to intentionally organize ourselves to address critical issues, but ultimately we must acknowledge that these issues are far more complex and chaotic than we can control. I am not a wealthy man, but if I summon my privilege to address critical issues within the scope and scale of my influence, I may have significant effects. This, of course, brings us to choices and priorities.

How do we determine how best to use our influence? Where should we focus our innovative efforts? We appear to have a cultural bias in favor of innovations in science and technology, perhaps because we can see relatively fast 'return on investment' in new treatments for major illnesses, new tools for increasing economic productivity, etc. And we often consider the impacts of those options that are significantly funded to be more important, for the sheer scale of the approach. I can see this thinking, but would like us to consider other questions, as well:

If we allow innovative markets to foster 'increasing returns' to accumulate capital and accelerate change, as initially examined by W. Brian Arthur at the Santa Fe Institute, what opportunities are overlooked because they do not ascribe to market forces? For example, new capital is streaming into cloud computing technologies, for good reason. But other pathways that could ethically yield greater returns get overlooked. Tom Friedman may cheer the 'flatness' of globalization, but his analysis may discount the human rights effects, the spreading gap between rich and poor, or environmental factors that capitalism tends to regard as externalities. As John Ikerd has discussed in his work on Sustainable Capitalism, a fundamental reframing of the system may be required.
If we focus on 'big issues,' in our near-term strategic interests, how do we properly assess the importance of emerging issues in remote parts of the world that may not get our attention? And what about small-scale changes, such as Negroponte's self-meshing laptops, PlayPump's amazing merry-go-round water pumps in Africa, or the effects of extraordinary learning experiences through organization's like Engineers Without Borders?
And what of the impact of the arts on the quality of our lives and on our communities? Are there not lingering, sustainable benefits that uniquely emerge from viewing a performance, creating a work of art, collaborating in serious play? Do these 'interruptions of serious work' not provide the catalyst for truly innovative efforts in prioritized areas? If we facilitate the types of creativity offered by Google's "innovation time off" or the Serious Play Conference or even Disney Imagineering, does that not result in energized efforts that could help us solve critical problems, as well?

This could go on much longer... The FiftyCrows Foundation appears to capture some of the greatest, most ethical elements of innovative philanthropy: Patrick has taken his passion and his resources and applied them to something that has a sustainability factor intrinsic to the work. Not only does he empower aspiring photojournalists to do meaningful work, but he does so in a manner that has 'ripple effects' (like the micro-lending ventures we have previously discussed on this blog) to sustain that impact and encourage others to 'pay it forward' over their careers. We live in a time of paradoxical abundance or recession; we have a greater awareness of the challenges facing the planet than ever in history, we have phenomenal wealth, and yet we are often trapped in ways of thinking that preclude integrated, innovative, collaborative actions that best use those resources. If we can start to figure that out, we'll be leaving a really valuable legacy for the next generation.

-Harry

Michael Wesch - Rethinking Education

2009-01-21T11:18:00.002-06:00

I don't know Michael Wesch, a professor at Kansas State, but I'd like to meet him! He is pushing the edge of the envelope in some marvelous, provocative ways that appear to be re-thinking education for the time in which we now live. Here's a good point of departure:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

Now, check out some of the things he's doing in the classroom at Kansas State:
http://mediatedcultures.net/worldsim.htm

Finally, appreciate that he is getting some much-desereved kudos for his efforts:
http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/11/michael-wesch-wins-professor-of-the-year/

So, does this inspire you to be innovative in your teaching? in your work? in your approach to the opportunties before us that now present themselves?

Happy innovating...
-Harry

Happiness, Gratitude, and Our Capacity for Greatness

2009-01-05T12:30:00.000-06:00

The current issue of YES! Magazine features an article, "This is Your Brain on Bliss," by Matthieu Ricard: http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=3046 Ricard is a former cellular geneticist, current Buddhist monk who works with the Dalai Llama. It reminded me of the research being conducted at UW by Prof. Richard Davidson and others, and sure enough, Ricard is among the monks that Davidson has researched here in Madison: http://tezpur.keck.waisman.wisc.edu/press/NCCAMOct08.pdf

Does happiness contribute positively to our capacity to be innovative? Does it catalyze us to do great things? I tend to think it does, as an affirming set of relationships and a capacity to find joy helps us manage anger, distraction, and fear. If we are happy, we are more able to live our lives from a place of generosity, thus opening ourselves to discovering new pathways to solutions that might otherwise trap us.

On the other hand, I also know that many great work teams have been successful in quite agitated, tense environments. Warren Bennis, in his book Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration (1997), profiles a number of these groups. Their capacity to succeed often involved working under pressure and scrounging for resources, often led by obsessed, harsh leaders within larger organizations that required continuous negotiation in order to solve the challenges at hand. What Bennis described hardly seems to fit with the monk's context for meditative happiness, yet we still come upon a 'high' thrill that successful innovators achieved in those experiences of unbounded, creative synergy.

Different pathway, but still a pathway to happiness.

There is much to be learned from the journey towards sustained happiness. In a practical sense, we must cultivate organizational climates that satisfy people, get them fully engaged, and sustain their creative energies. If they stay engaged and sustain the 'high' that emerges from successfully producing responses to increasingly complex challenges, those experiences will facilitate new capacities to respond to emergent challenges. They may also experience improved health and well-being, improved sense of relationships (with it, improved communication and capacities to resolve conflicts), and perhaps lower costs often associated with illness.

Think about it... is happiness a good investment in these challenging financial times?

-Harry

Resolve to Make Room for Creative Space

2008-12-31T15:42:00.000-06:00

“In the absence of capital sparks creativity.” These words offer sparks of optimism, breathing into the recesses of my brain, nudging me to foreclose on inaction, and discourage a slump of unattainable goals that I resolve to at the start of the new year. It’s true, start ups and catalytic collaboration tend to happen during economic downturns. The trick is to avoid protectionism, while entering into a space of expansion. But where and how do I move into this space of expansive creative thought and action? I find what works for me as a place to start is setting up a physical creative space. The following is a general structure to consider that I use in designing a creative space…

Create a distraction free zone.
Employ visual reminders/words that trigger your focus back as a reminder to what it is you’re working on. For example, I am a collector of colorful nature/culture-scapes and seemingly unrelated postcards that I enjoy configuring on a bulletin board. Having natural daylight streaming in also helps.
Think of a theme, slogan, or mantra for each year. For example, my mantra for this year is Joy, Balance, Clarity…put it out there and pay attention to how it is revealed throughout the seasons.
Eliminate the non-essentials, this includes plunging scarcity thinking. “I will not harbor self-limiting thoughts, and replacing how (a dream bashing word) with what if…allowing my focus to expand.”

More broadly, we could say that a good creative space should be accepted, welcomed and happily embraced as an enrichment of daily life by those who are meant to use it, or - even better - by all people affected.

Over the holidays, I encountered a fascinating book, A Pattern Language, by author and architect who coined the term, Christopher Alexander. His work sparked an interest and desire to be my own architect of creative space. I look forward and resolve to re-create my space this year, unleashing creativity, the secret weapon of all entrepreneurs and innovative outcomes which cannot be known at the outset, but evolves into dream building—assuming responsibility for creating the life of your dreams. This take inspiration—finding your trusted yet sometimes invisible friends and places, which leads you to exploring cornerstones of any worthy enterprise and setting yourself up for options in lifelong learning. I’m looking forward to learning more about how each of you design your creative space and the adventures that have evolved from your inspiration epicenter. Dream on!

Other links to explore in designing the creative space time continuum of your dreams:

9 Tips for establishing a Creative Space
Creative Space by Peter Lloyd
A cognitive approach: Creative Space, Models of Creative Processes for the Knowledge Civilization Age
There’s even a creative space social network, called CoachCreativeSpace.com

2008 - A Year in Ideas

2008-12-31T11:52:00.000-06:00

The NY Times published its 8th annual "Year in Ideas" Issue of the Sunday Times Magazine on Dec 14th: http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2008/12/12/magazine/index.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1229249494-SjnkzCeJdcqOyStATatxtQ

Each year, this special issue alphabetically reviews key innovations that have come to light over the previous twelve months. The Times also runs a blog on Ideas to keep the interactions going with readers, if any of you care to get involved in that aspect of the project: http://ideas.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/the-year-in-ideas/?scp=1-b&sq=year+in+ideas&st=nyt

I wanted to briefly close this year by taking note of a few of the intriguing Ideas listed this time around; perhaps some of you will want to comment on them:

Avian Dancing: Aniruddh Patel, senior fellow at the Neurosciences Institute in California, has posted a video on YouTube featuring "Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7IZmRnAo6s Teaching a bird to dance profoundly challenges our assumptions about evolution and the importance of larger brains in learning complex tasks, such as dancing.

Brickley Engine: Mike Brickley has radically reconfigured the combustion engine with potentially significant impacts on the future of the auto industry.

Bubble Wrap That Never Ends: I love bubble wrap -- Who doesn't? -- The idea that you could play with this stuff forever is just plain fun...

Cold Shoulder Science: Research by Chen-Bo Zhong and Geoffrey Leonardelli at the University of Toronto examines the psychology of warm greetings versus the cold shoulder in human interactions. It makes sense intuitively; what if we applied this thinking to our customer service training?

Locavestors: These are groups of people now investing locally in order to help local businesses, rather than faceless conglomerates, suporting their communities in the process. It is spawning regional stock exchanges around the globe... actually an old idea now morphing into a new investment approach.

Minicattle: Apparently, minicattle are more efficient in terms of their beef/consumption than the average cow now populating US farms. They take up less room, too! This may be a trend...

Positive Deviance: Jerry and Monique Sternin have been working with hospitals around the country to reduce the spread of a hospital-borne infection (MRSA). In the process, it appears that they have uncovered a new application of Appreciative Inquiry (though the NY Times didn't seem to identify it, as such); by asking staff to identify success strategies, rather than by focussing on problem identification, they have generated many more ideas for effective responses to core challenges. Apparently, this approach they call "positive deviance" (PD) was one that the Sternins used in successful health care projects in Asia. This looks like something the UW-MANIAC group might want to pursue further!

Smart Grids: Xcel Energy in Minneapolis has started building "SmartGridCity," a set of technologies that give both energy providers and their customers more control over power consumption. It allows users to fine-tune consumption in real time in a manner never otherwise attempted. Ontario has committed itself to a 20-year energy plan that includes smart grids, as well. For more information on this innovation, check: http://www.smartgridnews.com/ There is A LOT of this type of innovation being developed around the world.

These are just a few of the Ideas that caught my attention, seemingly with relevance to our innovation efforts at UW-Madison. Do you know of some other excellent innovations that have blossomed in the past year? Share them!

Happy New Year!
-Harry

Innovation in America - Implications for Schools

2008-12-29T09:23:00.000-06:00

Deb Gurke posted this as a reply to the "It's a Wonderful Life" post... but it deserves its own thread of discussion...Harry

___________________________________________
I have been thinking a bit about innovation and would like to share this column from the NYT.Time to Reboot America http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/24/opinion/24friedman.html?emc=eta1
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

We don't just need a bailout in this country, we need a national makeover. That is why the next few months are among the most important in U.S. history. I have been particularly concerned about the need for innovation as public schools and the school boards that are responsible for their operation, tend to be rather conservative in their attitudes toward innovation. This is not without some good reason. If school boards stray too far from the desires of the community (and the community tends to be even more risk-averse than the school board) board members are likely to lose their seats at election time. This usually leads to superintendent turnover. When there is turnover in the leadership, change is more likely to be symbolic (as new board members and superintendents bring in new programs), than systemic, which is more likely to lead to long-term change that has as lasting impact on student achievement. Given these circumstances, how can school boards and superintendents encourage innovation without losing their seats? This is one of the big questions I have been thinking about as I try to figure out how to help school board members navigate the whitewater of 21st century school reform.
December 27, 2008 6:32 AM

It's a Wonderful Life

2008-12-26T15:33:00.000-06:00

Hi MANIACS:

Happy holidays! Although this means a long weekend in most respects, I can't help thinking about the creative energies we are trying to cultivate in the MANIAC community and the opportunities for innovative thinking and connections that are emerging. This was illustrated for me on Wednesday night, when I made my annual film pilgrimmage to my favorite flick, "It's a Wonderful Life." Now, you might find it odd for a Jewish guy from NYC to find a Xmas film about a heroic figure from Bedford Falls to be a favorite, but the appeal of the movie seems universal to me. My purpose here is not to argue this case, or even review the film's narrative, but to offer a few observations about the innovative spirit and some of the meaning I have derived from the story.

George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart) gets the unique opportunity to see what the world might have been like had he never lived, and he discovers that his singular existence has had a profound effect on the lives of his family, his town, and (at least) hundreds of others with whom he has had no direct contact. The ripple effects of these relationships are like the dynamical interactions of chaordic complexity, resulting in a new, higher order that reflects a deeper synchronicity. His sense of duty, deep values in community, and persistence to behave in a morally uplifting manner results in profound outcomes that would otherwise not be predictable from any singular event in his life. His capacity to summon courage in the face of menacing power (indelibly portrayed by Lionel Barrymore's "Mr. Potter,") brings us much current meaning as we seek to address significant disparities in wealth and power in our own lives, and attempt to find the path to battle political and economic forces against which we feel powerless.

In the end, the relationships he has developed forge the force that rescues George, just as he has played a small role in helping each of these people find joy and meaning in their lives. Friends and family, without question, come to his aid and, through the experience of seeing his life in a new light, he is presumably now able to continue doing good things with a renewed sense of purpose. That, of course, occurs after the movie's end... but we are left to imagine what he and those he has helped can now do.

I draw many lessons from this story, though I also continue to marvel at the way it continues to pull me into it in the face of knowing every frame of the film:

* One person can have a profound effect on the lives of others, and small actions often have significant impacts on vast communities beyond our sights. This is the 'butterfly effect,' writ true, and we all can identify many occasions when someone might later report that we had an effect that was strong and meaningful to them. In our work lives, it also means that our individual efforts to persist, show courage, and develop innovative responses to overwhelming challenges can be a worthy enterprise. In the movie, George Bailey and Mr. Potter each illustrated this huge power, for good or ill.

* Two people have much more impact that 1 + 1... the profound meaning of 'synergy' can be either constructive or virulent, but when applied to relationships that expand our circles of influence, their power is undeniable. Study circles, work teams, task forces, etc. can be examples of such group power. On a larger scale, even if not intentionally acting in concert, the power of groups is reflected in social movements and organizational change. The relationships in George's life, most especially that with his wife, Mary (Donna Reed), were powerful examples of these synergies and they were important influences in helping keep George on his True Path.

* Peer-to-peer communications and self-organizing systems can reframe situations in ways that defy the power of hierarchical, centrally coordinated systems. Mary organized the community to respond to George's plight, to be sure, but we see examples throughout the story that illustrate the power of self-organized capacity. Today, we see it in numerous 'great groups,' innovative systems (e.g., Linus Torvald's Linux), and other concepts I expect we will highlight on this site over time.

* The conditions in which individuals exist have profound, nearly determining, influences upon their opportunities. If we grow up in fear, scarcity, and ridicule, our learned behaviors and life choices take us down significantly different pathways than if we experience gratitude, hope, and affirmation. While connected to economic means, there is a distinct difference between being Poor and living in Poverty. In Frank Capra's films, that capacity of the human spirit to do great things arises from such generous, loving spaces and relationships. George grew up embracing the ethics of his father and the Bailey Building & Loan, and even though he despised the ways it constrained his energy to remain within the confines of Bedford Falls, his dreams were able to be channeled through constructive impacts of many people's lives. In that respect, his brother Harry's toast at the concluding scene is fitting, when he says, "To my brother George Bailey, the richest man on Earth."

* Every moment is a teachable moment, every day is a treasured opportunity to live our lives in Generosity and Integrity. We can sit around and await permission to do wonderful things, and we can also wait for the 'perfect conditions' in which to move forward to do what needs to be done. That is a choice. Rather than live in fear, or seek permission, we can embrace our lives' opportunities and the moments they uniquely bring to us.

My life has been filled with its share of challenges, and I occasionally get down and depressed about them. I get trapped in 'old tapes' of pettiness and fear that lay deep within my psyche and the challenges of my upbringing. Yet, I have also been pretty resilient and have summoned my innate optimism to find ways to learn, share, and grow, trying to be a good parent, life partner, and contributing member of society. I am most certainly a 'work in progress,' as anyone who knows me will gladly share, but I also think that I have learned to appreciate some of these opportunities to make an impact. And anything I have given, in that respect, has been more than repaid in what I have received through the wisdom and generosity of others. So, as we celebrate these times of holidays in our own, unique ways, I hope we can all embrace some of the lessons from "It's a Wonderful Life" and apply them with joy and gratitude.

-Harry

Next UW-MANIAC Breakfast - Exploring Artisanal Cheese on February 5th

2008-12-23T14:01:00.000-06:00

Please join us for the next in our bi-monthly series of UW-MANIAC Breakfasts!

"Innovation & Evolution in Wisconsin's Artisanal Cheese Industry"
With Laurie Greenberg, Cultural Landscapes, LLC
Thursday, Feb 5th, 8:00 – 9:30am
Memorial Union (check TITU for exact room)

Description: Tremendous growth in the demand for artisanal cheese in the U.S. has created a Renaissance for the industry. How has Wisconsin, America’s Dairyland for 100 years, met this challenge? Laurie will share her ‘behind the scenes’ experience helping Wisconsin’s industry meet the market. For more information about artisan cheese, visit their site:http://wisconsindairyartisan.org/about.html

(Free samples? come and find out... this workshop is about MUCH more than cheese: it's about taking an established industry and approach and offering a creative look at its possibilities... what implications does it have for our ways of doing business at UW? Check it out...)

Register at: http://www.ohrd.wisc.edu/reg/catalog_course_detail.asp?course_key=23357

Kiva and its implications for UW management practices

2008-12-22T10:32:00.001-06:00

On the UW-MANIAC Google Group last week, I posted information about Kiva.org, an innovative micro-lending group: http://groups.google.com/group/uwManiac/browse_thread/thread/b91026f1aa55cadc

This got me thinking: What are the implications of this approach for managing in leaner fiscal times at UW-Madison? elsewhere? One thing that jumps out is the attitude that we need to partner with one another to make the whole greater than the sum of our independent parts. Synergies must be sought, opportunities to share resources extended from a place of generosity.

That's easy to say, but what does it mean in practice? It isn't as if we are going to share our budgets with one another, reassign staff, turn back unspent funds, etc. But what it can mean is that we should pursue ways to facilitate genuine collaboration on issues that we share, such as improved efficiencies in administrative processes, teaching one another new technologies that can advance student learning and research, and being open to approaching issues by bringing together people who often don't usually work together (across depts, work classifications, etc)
In this way, we can 'loan expertise' to one another and stretch our human and fiscal investments.

One other thing we can do that facilitates such partnering is a better job of documenting and sharing 'good practices' with one another ('best practices' may be fine in static environments, but in dynamic ones, I wouldn't be so presumptuous). If we document our accomplishments and lessons learned in a way that facilitates a broader understanding of what they mean, others can grab them, adapt them, use them for their own purposes and, as appropriate, feel genuinely invited to contact the creators for advice about how to apply them in new contexts.

These are small steps... but they can be important. What do you think? How else muight we take the 'micro-lending' model and apply it within large, complex organizations?

-Harry

Innovative Approach to Software for Persons with Disabilities

2008-12-19T08:57:00.000-06:00

Hi MANIACS:

There's an interesting article in today's NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/business/smallbusiness/18edge.html?em

It focuses on some exciting new software recently developed for persons with disabilities. These outcomes are great, and the process by which they came to be is quite innovative: An intense, weekend-long competition sponsored by a non-profit group with student programmer teams.

Check it out...
Harry

Welcome to UW-MANIAC!

2008-12-18T13:40:00.000-06:00

What is UW-MANIAC? UW-MANIAC (Madison Area Network for Innovation & Applied Creativity) represents a network of continued collaborative learning and growth. This unique partnership includes a diverse group of UW-Madison departments and academic perspectives, as well as those from the private and non-profit sector. We will be hosting several events a year around a wide variety of topics, including the “Innovation and Collaboration Learning Café Series” (starting November 18th), generally in an informal format. We hold regular events as part of our "Breakfast Series" and anticipate offering other opportunities to meet and share ideas, both through face-to-face conversation and virtual dialogue. Lastly, feel free to utilize this online community to share reflections, ask questions, incubate an idea, and re-connect with those friendly faces from the conference and other events. For additional information, please contact Harry Webne-Behrman, UW Office of Human Resource Development, at 608-262-9934 or hwebnbehrman@ohr.wisc.edu.