Teri Gibbs Blog Post #1
3 February 2014
The link below is
for the 2014 Social Innovation Fast Pitch competition that is organized by
Social Venture Pittsburgh (SVP) and takes place annually in Pittsburgh, PA. As
our class is finalizing the ideation stage of our social venture projects, it
would be beneficial to explore the realm of social entrepreneurship that
already exists outside of Carnegie Mellon University. The website includes detailed
descriptions of the social venture ideas that focus on community building which
involves education, assistance programs, and home care. This website can serve
as a roadmap for students interested in learning about the interworkings of
successful Pittsburgh social ventures. As well, the Fast Pitch contest would be
beneficial to those looking to develop their social venture idea beyond the
confines of our classroom.
Below, I have
included a link to the Solutions for Society website. Solutions for Society is
an event organized by Carnegie Mellon University, the MIT Enterprise, the
Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship, and the D’Appolonia Family, and
PSVP. Before taking this class, I often associated social innovation with
technology. Solutions for Society is an ideation forum that emphasizes that
everyone has the potential to be a social innovator, despite their skills or
backgrounds. This event discusses the idea of “Positive Deviance,” which is the
idea that the identification of problem and an assessment of an innovator’s
relevant skills are sufficient for creating change.
Moreover, here is a
description of the book, The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely
Innovators Solve the World’s Toughest Problems:
Think
of the toughest problems in your organization or community. What if they'd
already been solved and you didn't even know it? In The Power of Positive
Deviance, the authors present a counterintuitive new approach to
problem-solving. Their advice? Leverage positive deviants--the few individuals
in a group who find unique ways to look at, and overcome, seemingly insoluble
difficulties. By seeing solutions where others don't, positive deviants spread
and sustain needed change.
With
vivid, firsthand stories of how positive deviance has alleviated some of the
world's toughest problems (malnutrition in Vietnam, staph infections in
hospitals), the authors illuminate its core practices, including:
· Mobilizing communities to
discover "invisible" solutions in their midst
· Using innovative designs to
"act" your way into a new way of thinking instead of
thinking
your way into a new way of acting
· Confounding the
organizational "immune response" seeking to sustain the status
quo
Inspiring
and insightful, The Power of Positive Deviance unveils a potent new way to
tackle the thorniest challenges in your own company and community.
Question:
“We dance around in a circle and suppose
while the truth sits in the middle and knows.”
-Robert Frost, American Poet
“Learn from the people
Plan with the people
Begin with what they have
Build on what they know
Of the best leaders
When the task is accomplished
The people all remark
We have done it ourselves.”
Plan with the people
Begin with what they have
Build on what they know
Of the best leaders
When the task is accomplished
The people all remark
We have done it ourselves.”
-Lao-Tzu, author of The Tao Te Ching
I have
found the above quotes powerful and thought-provoking. The quotes emphasize
that the solution to the problems we want to solve may lie within the
demographic that is being affected by the problem. During your ideation
process, have you immersed yourself in the community that you want to affect,
seen the effect of society without the product you are designing, or spoken to
the individuals that you want to reach? Instead of using best practices or top
down approaches, have you considered starting brainstorming your ideas with the
demographic that is encountering the problem you want to solve?
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