Enterprising Ripples

I can’t remember how we were first introduced, but I can tell you that when we sat down over coffee, I learned Yvonne Fizer is an intelligent, energetic woman who is passionate about supporting entrepreneurs.

At our first meeting she handed me a strangely titled book called Ripples from the Zambezi and suggested I read it if I wanted to know more about the work she was doing with others to support business enterprise.

She went on to explain it was a book written by an Italian named Ernesto Sirolli, who first learned about business development in Africa, honed it in a remote area of Australia, and then moved to the United States to spread his learnings before Yvonne introduced he and his work to Canada.

So to be honest, I’m thinking, “Really?”

As a community builder, I work with many people who want to strengthen their local economy and see the growing importance of entrepreneurs. But, the reality is that starting up and sustaining a business is hard work.

And, even though many government programs, economic developers and other community organizations have been established to provide assistance, they aren’t always effective in motivating and supporting people.

Instead of trying to motivate, Sirolli, as well as the many facilitators he has trained, become coaches and advocates for anyone who is serious about starting or expanding a business enterprise.

By understanding that economic development is about people and their personal growth and self-actualization, Sirolli ignored accepted thinking and top down methodologies. In doing so, he created effective coaching and an enviable track record of success.

The strategy Sirolli teaches to communities often involves a committed volunteer local board, who hires an “enterprise facilitator” who is then trained by Sirolli.

Unlike most business developers, the facilitator doesn’t initiate projects or even promote good ideas. Instead, he or she responds to the interests and passions of self-motivated people, for free and in confidence.

A critical part of their coaching is helping the potential entrepreneur understand that a successful business needs to pay attention to three distinct areas (1) the actual product, (2) marketing and (3) financial management. But perhaps even more important, is promoting an understanding that no one is ever going to be good at all three.

Because no one has an equal passion for product, marketing, and financial management — all of which are essential — the secret of success and survival for a business of any size is not to get better at what you hate, but instead to find people who love to do what you hate.

As a result, the facilitator and the local board also promote networking that helps people form teams to advance the entrepreneur and their business. It definitely suggests an “it takes a village” kind of approach.

The ultimate result is a civic economy where people understand that when we help one another to succeed, we all win because our community gets stronger, healthier and more vibrant.

The message is that grassroots-up, person-centered, responsive economic development works. And, if it is well understood and community-driven and led, it works better than anything else. When a community can help motivated people succeed, the motivation and success travels.

Perhaps Sirolli puts it best, “The future of every community lies in capturing the energy, imagination, intelligence and passion of its people.”

Decluttering

I love the character of an older home but I can’t say I’m a fan of the small closets.

As a result, closet culls are part of my routine — typically as the seasons change.

During my most recent clothes purge, I realized my criteria for decluttering was no longer effective and needed to be tightened.

Like many others, I was probably only wearing about 20% of my clothes on a regular basis.

The rest stayed there because they fell within my rather loose criteria of thinking I might wear that article of clothing “some day”.

Since “some day” rarely happened, the result was a closet stuffed with clothes I rarely wore.

While most of them were perfectly fine, the truth was I didn’t love all my clothes equally.

Consequently, I vowed to eliminate the clutter with new, more stringent filters that would ensure a closet of clothes for which I would feel the love.

Ruthlessly ignoring the “some day,” I added items to the donate pile if I hadn’t worn them within the past year.

The items I had been hanging on to because they were too good to donate ended up at a consignment store.

In addition to being quite therapeutic, the process also made life simpler. Because I really liked what was left in my closet, making choices suddenly became easier.

That got me thinking.

What if we applied more stringent filters to other aspects of our lives. Would we be more successful if we applied clear filters rather than trying to do it all?

For instant, when my husband first started selling kites online, he thought it was important to sell all kinds of kites to accommodate entry level users as well as those with more expertise.

He has since made a move to specialize in the larger traction kites that pull the user along in a buggy, surf board, snow board, or skis. That filter has contributed to him gaining more expertise in that specific area, resulting in increased sales.

Perhaps part of deciding one’s own specific filters is the result of asking ourselves what is essential — not only in terms of our clothes but in terms of our lives.

Just as our closets get cluttered so too do our lives. If we continually pursue more, without reducing or simplifying, our lives, careers, and businesses can get bogged down.

If we figure out what is essential and pursue only those, we can eliminate the rest thereby giving ourselves a strategy for eliminating things that are nonessential.

In doing that, we are also ensuring there is room in our lives for that which is more valuable.

Of course, it sounds simpler than it actually is, because it may mean eliminating good opportunities.

However, the discipline of staying focused and reducing distractions might be what separates successful individuals, organizations and businesses from those who are struggling to make sense of it all.

Tall, Dark, and Charismatic?

As he put it, he wanted to develop a relationship because they would likely be in need of the community development training I provide in the not too distant future.

Our connection over coffee stretched to over an hour and resulted in a deep, rich, and meaningful conversation about community building and its importance.

And, while I truly am a happily married woman and probably old enough to be his mother, I also couldn’t help but notice that in addition to being intelligent and a good listener, he was an incredibly tall, dark, and handsome man.

Afterward, in trying to explain the excitement of both the man and the meeting to a colleague, I struggled to articulate his charisma and the compelling sense of specialness he exuded.

My colleague finally understood when I sputtered, “No really, he’s the kind of man women leave their husband and children for.”

That encounter got me thinking about charisma—not only what it is and how important it can be, but also whether it is something one is born with or if it is something that can be cultivated.

For sure it’s not always about looks and voices—although he definitely had his share of both—because not all tall, good looking people necessarily have that special magnetic quality. It does however, appear that charisma tends to evoke a sense that you are in the presence of someone very special.

Some years ago renowned sociologist Max Weber perceived charisma as a trait or something one was either born with or without. More recently, experts are seeing it as a set of behaviours.

Nikki Owen, an expert on charisma from the United Kingdom, suggests that charismatic people stand out because they command our attention because we somehow sense their character, authenticity, power, and presence.

She also describes five internal characteristics shared by charismatic people that are vital to developing a strong magnetic persona that each of us can strive to achieve.

Owen suggests charismatic people possess high self esteem and feel comfortable in their own skin. They are relaxed about showing their true self. She counsels that if we value, respect, and like aspects of our own selves, we shouldn’t try to hide them.

Those with charisma also tend to be living their lives according to their values. As a result, their motivation and enthusiasm becomes a driving force.

Individuals with charisma have great sensor awareness that allows them to tap into their own feelings as well as the feelings and mood of others. Being in touch with their emotions and being uninhibited about showing them, makes them expressive and compelling.

Regardless of whether it’s on global or smaller scale, those with charisma also have a clear vision of what they want that creates a strong energy of intent that others can feel and are attracted to.

Lastly, Owen sees charismatic people as typically having high energy or life force that exudes as well as attracts even more of it.

Owen believes that someone like my client who has charisma and the above five characteristics, is also going to be much more effective as a leader.

And, while I do get that he has that important potential, it was also interesting just to see how others reacted to his presence.

After our meeting ended, it was pure fun simply to watch heads snap and swivel as he got up from the table, left the coffee shop, and strolled confidently down the street.

Sigh.

I Might Just Be an Edupunk

Every fall I feel a compulsion to buy a new pencil case and load up three ring binders with fresh paper. 

Then I pause, give my head a shake, and remember that I’m not going back to school in September. 

The resulting emotion is both relief and sadness.

The truth is that while I never really liked school, I’ve always, and still do, love to learn. Although one would think the two would go hand in hand I have yet to translate my passion for learning into another post secondary degree even though I know I should.

Instead I learn every day by reading and researching voraciously and by hanging out with people who are smarter, different and much more interesting than I. 

 I google when I come across things I don’t understand and use wikipedia to gain insight into unfamiliar concepts.

I’m a regular visitor to YouTube.Edu, Slideshare.net and Open Courseware Consortium (http://www.ocwconsortium.org). 

It’s a formula that keeps me ahead of the curve especially in comparison to what’s being taught in a lot of colleges and universities because much of what I’m learning hasn’t yet found its way into textbooks.

According to the guy who coined the term, my approach to learning makes me part of a growing wave of “edupunks”.

The term emerged to describe a trend reflecting a high tech do-it-yourself attitude, the importance of thinking and learning for one’s self, and a reaction against what some see as the commercialization of learning.

Given there hasn’t been a lot of change in post-secondary education, we shouldn’t be surprised that new experiments and models are emerging from entrepreneurs, students and teachers.

My favourite approach is one being utilized by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology best known as MIT. Typically a degree from MIT costs a graduate close to $200,000. However since 2001, they’ve been putting all coursework online for free. This includes the syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, exercises, tests, and in some cases even video and audio files. In effect this means everyone has access to the information. Some 56 million of us have taken up MIT on the invitation to learn. It is only those who want the actual degree who need to attend classes, complete the assignments, and somehow find the money to pay the tuition. 

Of course education is much more than using technology to share information. In addition to sharing information, there are two other components that need to be considered. The first is the social networking required for teaching and learning. Although that always used to take place on campus, now it’s much easier to move it online. The third component is the most challenging aspect of education – assessment and accreditation. The colleges and universities leading the way are those that begin the learning journey with the end in mind. This means they have articulated the outcomes or competencies the learner must be able to demonstrate upon graduation. If these competencies are in place as the ultimate destination, it becomes clear there are many ways, rather than one way, to get there. 

This in turn allows student-centred learning, with the teacher as the facilitator of learning, or as some would say a “guide on the side”, rather than as the “sage on the stage”. It is an approach that ensures students are active, responsible participants in their own learning.

The key to the change necessary for ensuring this shift is that educational institutions separate and treat the three components distinctly – the sharing of information, the social networking required for teaching and learning, and the assessment and accreditation.

It’s not yet clear what the colleges and universities of the future will look like but for sure they aren’t that far away. It’s also probably fair to say colleges and universities will need to move much faster to get there and to think beyond bricks and mortar if they are to remain relevant and meaningful in today’s changing world. 

Are Colleges and Universities Ready for the Knowledge Economy?

There is some impressive research happening in colleges and university.

This week I learned about the importance of assistive devices that are enhancing independent living for seniors and persons with disabilities, how the knowledge and experience of presidents and vice presidents is being transitioned to the next generation, and how an awareness of issues and opportunities facing young adults in rural communities are better understood as the result of their voices being heard through an exhibit of the photographs they learned to produce.

I saw how health care professionals are being better prepared as the result of simulated learning that provides realistic settings, equipment and situations that include actors and manikins that mimic human anatomy and physiology such as breathing, heartbeats, blinking, and a wide variety of symptoms that portray illnesses or injuries.  

All these, as well as many other practical and meaningful forms of research, are taking place. 

And yet, as encouraging as this research was, I was also left wondering, and hoping, our colleges and universities are ready for the big changes being brought by the knowledge economy. Are they preparing for the impact of information technology, the interconnections of ideas, people, and organizations, and the constant innovation that will result?

As futurist Rick Smyre puts it, a transformational change in thinking is the result, but is also the cause, of change. The simplistic notion of cause-and-effect will no longer be enough to understand reality. Learning will emerge from the transformation of a somewhat static world to one based on continuous change. 

In essence, that means we will not only need a nimble and entrepreneurial educational system, it will also have to be one that helps students think systemically – in wholes, not parts, to see connections. This in turn will dictate a new way of thinking about how to evaluate any learning process. The emphasis will need to be placed on learning to connect ideas and see patterns rather than recalling content.

Futurists are also predicting that the idea of class time being separate from non class time will disappear. The era of hyper-connectivity will require most professionals to weave their careers and personal lives within a blended mosaic of activity.  As Gen X’ers and some of us home-office based Boomers are already demonstrating, work and leisure will be intertwined each day throughout the week.

In the very near future, new demands and social networking will drive more collaborative forms of learning. Generation X already uses technologies for working and socializing, so they are familiar with an approach to tasks that is less about competing and more about working as teams. There will be less of a need for a “sage on the stage” model of pedagogy, and more on teambuilding, collaboration, and learning together.

In addition to the “three R’s”, curriculum of the future will also need to incorporate interpersonal skills such as ethics, self-discipline, responsibility, media literacy, and community building. Education will need to incorporate more active learning styles such as group exercises, discussions, and other forms of experiential learning that will promote opportunities to reflect, synthesize, analyze content and deeper meaning, and develop plans for action.

On the college or university campus of tomorrow, classes won’t matter. The next generation of post-secondary students will be living wherever they want and taking many of their courses online. They will likely earn degrees that are accredited by international accrediting agencies as our world becomes increasingly flat.

Colleges and universities will also need to expand their thinking about their target audience. They can’t think of their market as being primarily young adults, as all of us need to become students and lifelong learners. They will need to be poised to support more local community learning perhaps by being the catalyst for building small and interconnected networks of people interested in transformative ideas and willing to play the role of early adopters. In doing so, colleges and universities can play a critical role in driving the collective impact of varied individuals, organizations, and businesses working together.

Ultimately, it really is going to take a village to cultivate the comprehensive and technical intelligence we’re going to need to address the growing complexity of the world in which we live.

Are We Prepared to Manage Ourselves?

The disinterested look on her face and constant yawning made it apparent she was not with us by choice.

Unlike the others in the workshop who came across as being keen to learn more about our subject of community leadership, she was definitely not an engaged participant. I later heard she had been told to attend the training.

Clearly not a good choice for either her or the organization that sent her, it reinforced for me that it’s never a good idea to send people to courses they don’t want to go to.

Until an individual sees the need for growth, no true learning is ever going to occur. On the other hand, people do develop and change when they feel responsible for their own progress. 

If you are like me and have experienced learning something new as the result of being passionate about the subject matter, that probably won’t be news to you.

Unfortunately the reality is that for the most part our education systems and workplaces have encouraged us to believe that someone else is responsible for our learning and growth. Many still believe it is someone else’s job to tell them what they need to get better at, and how to do it.

However, because the pace of change is faster and more complex than in the past, it’s necessary for every one of us to think about the implications of changes and challenges and how they will impact our organizations, businesses, and communities. Unlike previous shifts in history, changes are occurring faster than we ever could have imagined. 

To survive in this world of continuous change, it isn’t going to be enough to sign up ourselves or others for training sessions. Instead we will need to embrace responsibility for our own learning and growth and ultimately manage ourselves.

American business guru Peter F. Drucker put it this way, “In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time - literally - substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it.”

To get prepared for it, chances are we’ll need to unlearn our old ways before new theories, concepts, and approaches can be successfully identified and learned. And, we’re going to have to do this in a much quicker fashion.

Unlearning and new learning is going to be necessary if we are to deal with complicated issues in our communities especially because experts suggest that it takes an estimated 17 years for only 14% of new scientific discoveries to enter day to day practice and become commonplace. Adapting to change will need to be done much faster if we are to counteract the rising costs of physical inactivity, obesity and chronic disease; an aging population; declining civic engagement; ensure environmental protection; reduce crime, and improve economic activity.

As the reluctant workshop participant was likely reflecting, unlearning and new learning can be scary and counter-intuitive. Even more challenging will be the need to teach ourselves and each other how to unlearn and absorb new learnings at the same time. Our ability to learn how to do so will be the difference between surviving and thriving. Years ago, Alvin Toffler, the noted futurist and author of “Future Shock,” wrote, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can’t read and write, but those who can’t learn, unlearn and relearn.”

My guess is that the woman who attended our workshop considers herself to be pretty literate.  However, she might just find herself to be in a heap of trouble if she doesn’t see the value in taking responsibility for being future ready by managing her own personal growth and development. That also means she will need to be committed to unlearning and relearning.

Conversations, Connections, and Community Building

I’ve just returned from an exciting conference where I sat through three days of sessions delivered by great presenters, heard two fabulous keynote speakers, and collected piles of reports and brochures providing terrific resources. 

As enjoyable as it was, if I were to be really honest, the most useful information was collected from my colleagues during the coffee breaks. 

Something like this happened to American management consultant Harrison Owen back in 1983. He spent a year of his life immersed in the details of organizing a large, international symposium. The day finally came and went, hailed as a triumph.

It wasn’t until later, as the event was being reviewed, that it became apparent the most significant learning did not come from the workshops or the featured speakers he had helped to organize. Instead, it came from the coffee breaks and the open spaces in the agenda.

As a result, he wondered if it were possible to design an entire conference placing a priority on the creation of open spaces.

Remembering a celebration for 500 Liberian villagers he had experienced during the 1960s (this continued for four days with no planning and no orchestration), he decided to do things differently the next time around. He subsequently dismissed his organizing committee, tore up the list of proposed speakers and the agenda, and devised a new and a highly minimalist method of managing meetings which he called Open Space Technology (OST).

Although somewhat unorthodox, OST is typically described as a meeting process that begins with a theme but no set agenda. The actual topics on the agenda are generated by those who are invited to attend knowing only the theme in advance. Because participants generate topics that are meaningful and relevant to them, and, are empowered to talk about what is important to them, they always end up engaged in deep, rich, constructive conversations in a highly participatory manner.

With the number of participants ranging from 15 to 300, I’ve used it for staff planning days, interagency sessions, and leadership retreats. It’s worked well to address controversial subjects as well as issues related to literacy, homelessness, and aboriginals. Once, I even used it as the basis for an entire conference in Eureka, California that was organized for afterschool care providers. 

An Open Space meeting always begins in a circle – signifying that everyone is in it together as equals. Here, participants are introduced to the Four Principles and One Law that guide behavior.The four principles: 1) Whoever comes are the right people, 2) Whatever happens is the only thing that could have, 3) Whenever it starts is the right time, and 4) When it’s over it’s over.

The only law is the Law of Two Feet or what I call “permission to be an adult”. It states simply that if at any time you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing, you are to use your two feet and move to a place more to your liking.

From there, the participants generate specific meeting topics, build the agenda, and move to a series of smaller group discussions. The entire process can take place within half a day or, in some cases, even two or three days before ending in a final closing circle.

As does any community builder, I draw upon many different facilitative techniques from my personal toolkit, however OST remains my favourite tool as it allows people with common interests or concerns to come together, organize themselves, and use their own knowledge and skills to solve problems, innovate, and facilitate change.

We live in a world of complex challenges. The organizations, businesses, and communities that embrace the idea of doing things differently will be those able to respond successfully. OST can be a key tool for empowering the conversations, connections, and community building to make that a reality. 

Today Harrison Owen, as well as many others, promote and train facilitators in the use of OST in the private and public sectors around the world. Despite the availability of this formal training, Owen, somewhat fittingly, also encourages anyone comfortable in the role of a facilitator to use it without it. 

While it may seem risky, be assured that if OST is utilized, every issue of concern to anybody will be laid upon the table, all issues will be discussed to the extent that anybody cares to do it, a full written record of all discussions will be created and shared, and next step actions will be identified. 

Can Retail Therapy Move Online?

While on some level I hate to admit it, the truth is I like to shop. I jokingly refer to it as my retail therapy and as my contribution to supporting the local economy. 

A friend of mine recently made me feel better about shopping by suggesting that for me it was primarily a creative outlet. She also pointed out that it wasn’t a problem because I never spent more than I could afford and always managed to find a deal.

As a result, it was surprising to realize that these days I am shopping as much online as I am in actual brick-and-mortar stores.

Turns out I’m not alone.

The retail experience and the way people shop is drastically changing. More and more of us are joining the tech savvy teens who were the first to take advantage of using the web to compare prices and products and find unique products and services that used to be out of our reach.

Shopping online also allows us to shop more efficiently by saving time, and avoiding crowds, travel expenses and the hassle of parking.

It is especially convenient when one is looking for a specific item. For example, when I knew our nephew was coveting a special edition Mario Brothers chess set that seemed to be sold out everywhere, I was able to find it online and have it delivered free.

Recently I was also looking for a trendy, tunic-style black blouse to add as a wardrobe basic. I found it in one specific store but not in my size. I went online and found out that although it wasn’t in stock in any stores nearby, I could order it online. To make it even more attractive, shipping was being offered free.

Savvy shoppers are also turning to the web to find bargains.

Although I approached it rather tentatively, this month I actually bought a pair of prescription glasses at one-third of the price quoted by a local chain. To my delight, they were perfect.

Nielson recently reported that nearly 50% of U.S. smartphone owners are using shopping apps each month to compare prices and purchase from online stores such as eBay and Amazon. 

Research from the Canadian Retailer suggests there are other trends regarding online shopping that can help bricks and mortar retailers compete.

For example, educated, English speaking, and upscale groups are most likely to research products online before making a purchase. On the other hand, older francophones still greatly enjoy the in-store shopping experience.

Both online and offline factors influence consumers’ purchase decisions. In the offline world, word-of-mouth marketing still proves to be the most powerful and valuable method. Two-thirds of Canadians reported that recommendations from family and friends had the greatest influence on their purchasing decision.

Recent immigrants led the way in the endorsement of the products they had purchased online. Asians are at the top of the list perhaps reflecting their propensity to be early adopters of new technology.

Rural, downscale Canadians are the biggest fans of buying through classifieds such as Craigslist and Kijiji, while 17% of Canadians check them out once or twice a week. Urban, educated segments are the biggest fans of group-buying coupons such as Groupon or Teambuy.

Younger ethnic groups are already active users of mobile shopping applications and websites and 17% of Canadians have shopped using their mobile phones within the past three months. Close to 44% of the survey respondents use comparison sites to make purchase decisions.

However, not all Canadians are eager to adopt online and mobile shopping and still prefer an in-store experience—not necessarily the big box store but rather shopping in local boutiques where shopping is a more personal experience that allows them to touch and feel the products. They firmly believe an in-store experience is one that can’t be replicated by online transactions.

For those wanting to explore online shopping, begin with retailers you know and trust. In the end, the best retail experiences probably involve a little bit of both online and offline shopping.

Vulnerability: Birthplace of Innovation, Creativity, and Change

More interesting than one might anticipate, two separate incidents this week left me thinking about research in a very different way.

The first happened as the result of watching a TED talk video by Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston who has spent the past ten years studying vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame. She’s also the author of the bestselling book called Daring Greatly. If you haven’t watched her videos or read her books, know they are well worth the time.

However, it was one of her comments about how she approaches her research that resonated.

Brown explained that when people referred to her as a researcher, they also assumed she was boring and irrelevant. However, she realized that more than anything she was a storyteller, a qualitative researcher or, as she puts it, a researcher-storyteller because, after all, “Stories are just data with a soul.”

She also explained that as a young researcher she was taught that if you cannot measure it, it does not exist. It was that which drew her to the field of research because while many in her field of social work believed life is messy and it was important to lean into the discomfort of the work, she was more the kind of person who believed,  “Life’s messy, clean it up, organize it, and put it into a bento box.”

Turns out that’s not always possible.

Brown shared her own vulnerability when she courageously revealed she’d had a breakdown or as she later framed it—a spiritual awakening—on her way to learning she had to stop the controlling and predicting which research had taught her, and instead, be vulnerable.

She also suggests that while people generally aren’t comfortable talking about vulnerability, it is in fact the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change.

I witnessed some of that same vulnerability in another discussion this week when I joined academics and community partners from across the country who met to develop a proposal for an innovative major research initiative that would, if approved, lead to significant learnings about sustainability, planning, and citizen and community action.

It was especially impressive to hear participants demonstrate their own vulnerability. One professor openly admitted that he had been accused of not listening well. A community partner went on record as saying her municipality simply wasn’t doing a good job of planning and needed more knowledge, tools, and resources.

It could be that we’re on the cusp of a potential shift in terms of how we approach research.

More universities and colleges are exploring how engaging with their communities will help them navigate the complexities of change and respond to increasingly intense public interest. In doing so, post secondary institutions will be better positioned to demonstrate the impact of research, ensure relevant curriculum that prepares students for life beyond university, and be better able to mobilize knowledge to address community challenges.

Ultimately the collaboration between academics, community partners, and others will be messy, require vulnerability, and new approaches to research—including storytelling. Yet, it is this vulnerability and courage to admit we can’t figure it out on own that will result in our respective work being more impactful, inspirational, and innovative.

Let Local Businesses Show You What They Can Do

I reconnected this week with a colleague from the past who holds a special place in my heart.

While I can’t say as I knew her really well, she served as an important role model.

At the time I had graduated from Brock University with a degree in recreation and leisure studies and was working for the City of Niagara Falls. My colleague was a director of recreation for a large municipality, had a reputation for intelligence and hard work, and was a leader within our provincial professional association. She was the one who stood up to the old boys at annual meetings asking insightful, hard-edged questions, pushed all of us to question the status quo, and inspired us to believe we could do better. She made me proud to be working in the field of municipal recreation.

As I discovered when we met over breakfast to catch up, she’s had a number of career moves since then and is no longer working for a municipality. She now lives in British Columbia where she owns her own company specializing in working with communities to develop master plans for recreation, parks, arts, culture and heritage.

Despite her talents and experience, its often a tough gig because she’s competing with larger and longer established consulting firms. In fact, she recently lost out to a large out-of-province firm who, in an attempt to gain a foothold in western Canada, had bid on what would have for them been considered a relatively small contract.

Ironically, it was a master plan for a community that she knew very well as it was next door to where she lived. She had been involved there in a volunteer capacity, understood the issues, and spent a fair bit of time there as it was also where her parents lived.

Yet despite those advantages, and as is too often the case, elected officials and staff appear to have been swayed by the glitz of a big city company and missed an opportunity to support a local entrepreneur.

It seems they didn’t give much thought to the fact that by passing on the opportunity to support a local business, they also missed an opportunity to invest in their own community well-being. 

After all, my colleague had a much greater vested interest in ensuring the important decisions were made, owned, and implemented by local citizens.

If her consulting company had been hired, far more dollars would also have been kept and invested in the local economy thereby enriching the community rather than the out of province community of the company that was awarded the contract.

Research shows that for every $1 spent at local businesses, 45¢ is reinvested locally. Non-local purchases keep, at most, 15¢ in the local community. 

Additionally, the more successful my colleague is, the more likely she is also going to be able to create more jobs in the community.

The community would also have garnered more bang for their buck as there would have been no travel costs, far fewer costs attributed to the more expensive overhead of a larger company, and much less time spent in becoming oriented to the community and their strengths and challenges.

Too often, many also overlook that it is the smaller, local businesses that give back to the community not only in terms of tax dollars but also in providing support to community groups.

While things didn’t work out this time for my colleague, I know she will continue to build on the many successes she has had to date, and will ultimately survive and thrive.

It was, however, a reminder that if we’re really serious about wanting stronger and healthier communities, we will all need to think more, and get better about, buying and investing locally.

Giving local businesses the opportunity to show what they can do is an opportunity to put our money where our mouth—and the rest of us—lives, works, and plays.

Disruptive Innovation: What is it and Why Should I Care?

It seems everyone these days is talking about innovation or the lack thereof.

Although I was never exactly sure what it meant, the latest buzz phrase seems to be “disruptive innovation”.

This past week, amidst the chatter surrounding the launch of the new iPhone 5, I heard a pundit suggest that while the phone brought great new features, it wouldn’t be considered disruptive.

Instead, he explained, it was the first iPhone launched in 2007 that would be considered disruptive technology — not because of its attributes as a phone but rather because it provided access to e-mail thereby displacing or disrupting the necessity of laptops.

According to Wikipedia, a disruptive innovation is one that helps create a new value and new markets and ultimately displaces an earlier technology.

The term is used to describe innovations that improve a product or service by introducing simplicity, convenience, accessibility, reliability, and affordability, whereas before the product or service may have been complicated, expensive, and inaccessible.

Apparently, the iPhone 5 is better described as a continuous “sustaining innovation” because it isn’t going to create new markets but instead is more about evolving existing ones to ensure better value.

Ford’s mass production of the lower priced Ford Model T is another way to explain disruptive technology. Cars weren’t disruptive up until then because they were quite expensive. As a result, horses remained the main mode of transport until assembly lines made cars affordable and available to a broader segment of the population.

Why is it important for the average person to understand disruptive innovation?

It’s important because it’s happening faster and more often than it ever has in the history of humankind. That means we all need to get really good at being nimble and able to adapt to rapid changes.

For those resistant to change, things could get tough.

It’s hard to ignore the increasing number of examples of disruptive technology that have changed our lives.

One of the first disruptive innovations I recall from my childhood was the transistor radio.

Being battery powered meant we could take our radios with us — thereby disrupting the need for plugged in music. Apple disrupted that innovation with their iPod and again with iTunes which distributed and monetized music. If the early attempts of tablet PCs were considered as an existing market, Apple also had a major impact with their iPad.

Chances are Apple will do it again in the near future as they are planning to enter the TV market.

The World Book Encyclopedias that my parents scrimped and saved to buy us have now been displaced by Wikipedia.

Other technologies such as Skype have replaced telephones which themselves replaced telegraphs. 

There are many disruptive innovations impacting education. E-learning, ebooks, free learning via TED lectures and MIT, customizable modular majors, and year round learning.

Innovative organizations like the Khan Academy are questioning the idea of one size fits all learning and are, with their hundreds of 10-minute videos, providing a form of virtual tutoring that makes learning affordable and simple for each and every student.

Disruptive innovation will also need to be applied to addressing social needs to move beyond existing solutions and delivery models that aren’t always as effective as they could be in creating sustainable, systems-changing solutions.

To face the challenges of a constantly changing world, we are all going to need to place a priority on seeing and seizing opportunities, introducing new products, revamping operations, reprioritizing, and creating new models.

We can’t lose sight of the fact that the future is already here, and it’s up to us to focus on innovation not just to improve the bottom line of companies but to help deliver and maximize individual, social, environmental, and economic benefits.

What the Heck is a MOOC?

September signifies back-to-school but, despite the best of intentions, I didn’t sign up.

I came pretty darn close this year in that I found an MBA being offered in Community Economic Development that caters to those in the workforce. Additionally, it was the only MBA I’d ever found that acknowledged what I’ve already learned and published, providing me with credit for 6 of the 15 courses that would be required. At $2000 per course that meant saving significant money as well as time.

Regardless, something still kept niggling and holding me back from completing the application forms despite the fact that I am committed and passionate about lifelong learning and have always made it a priority.

When I analyzed my reluctance to return to learning in a formal setting, I realized that it wasn’t just the time and money that was holding me back. It was more about me rebelling against the accepted model of traditional top down, instructor-centric learning. I came to understand that what matters to me, in this world of data overload, is the network and what others are calling the meshwork that results.

My greatest learnings seem more apt to come from a network of both learners and instructors, readings, videos, blogs, conversations, reflections, webinars, writing, training, conferences, colleagues from other fields etc. While it is often messy and chaotic, I am moved on a regular basis by the excitement and richness of what I learn on an almost daily basis.

Imagine my delight when I found out this week about MOOCs—an emerging trend in post secondary online learning. MOOC is an abbreviation for Massive Open Online Course.

While it began in 2007 as an online conference, it has since shifted into delivering courses that don’t focus on mastering content as much as they do on developing networks that continue one’s learning far beyond the actual course. In other words, as George Siemens of Athabasca University puts it, instead of having the social elements of a course wrapped around prescribed content, the social interaction serves as catalyst and contact for relationships with others who remain within their own spaces and bring their own learnings and resources.

Consequently, every participant becomes both a learner and a teacher. The end results are the connections, collaborations, and knowledge aggregation I’ve been seeking.

While this sometimes results in a rather chaotic and messy environment many will find stressful, making sense of the chaos becomes part of the learning experience. While course outcomes are provided, the instructor does not help to make sense of the chaos as they would do traditionally, instead leaving that to each student.

The student’s job is not to memorize but to instead use the tools and information provided during the course. This practice is in fact more important than the content so the learning becomes more of a modern day apprenticeship of learning-by-doing surrounded by many experts and resources.

MOOCs ultimately are another way of learning—albeit one that is open, participatory, and supportive of the development of lifelong networked learning.  The additional bonus is that one only pays if they want credit for the course.

All in all, it was just too much for me to resist. This fall I’m not starting on my MBA but I have signed up for a MOOC at Athabasca called, Openness in Education. Wish me luck!