Innovation is not enough
I was introduced to future-making by Alisa Leonard ( #ToTheFuture ) and and Paul Kuhn at Northside Festival this year. I realized at that moment that “innovation” is the norm, not the future.
Future-making is creating new paradigms that regenerate themselves by digging into the origins of our problems. It’s about pushing past trends and looking beyond improving what exists now.
There is the stereotype that startups build the future while corporations innovate for innovation’s sake. Big companies tweak their existing product to be more efficient and relevant. Startups create new products, take risks, and move fast. But, it doesn’t mean they will be creating the future. Startups can also very well be innovating for innovation’s sake. Having experienced small startups and now being at a tech giant, I empathize with both sides’ objectives and abilities.
The idea of future-making pushes us to question if the product we are building, existing or new, needs to be in its current form. It can be something else. What do we want it to be, and how can we make it inclusive and regenerative?
The hardest part about building the future is how much risk are we willing to take as individuals then as a team. It may seem that we don’t have many opportunities to take risks because of blah blah blah. And, we enforce these constraints on ourselves because it’s concrete and focused. It’s easier than trying the unknown.
We can start building the future by thinking systematically. Step back and think about how each part of what we’re building relates and affects each other and the whole. When we dig past the layers of systems on top of systems, we’ll gain insights into where our problems came from and what we can change. It paves the way for figuring out how we can make a difference.
“We have to realize none of [technology] works, none of it works, if we don’t plug [the device] into the wall and burn former living things. So next time we think we’re so sophisticated we should remember we burn shit to make the device work.”
— Peter Senge, System scientist and author of The Fifth Discipline
Break the rules. Make new ones. Rules and constraints are great at keeping us on track and pushing us to be more efficient. But, I know we’re all a little cray. Our success depends on being cray. Voicing our outrageous ideas is one step closer to making them reality. Share them with people who know more about building them than we do. Once broken down to its parts, it’ll be apparent that it’s more tangible than we may have thought. Don’t cap our ideas at what we know is possible.
Abandon what’s sustaining us for what can regenerate us. No doubt this is difficult for anyone and any team to kill off what’s “working” in bringing in the money. It’s a co-dependent relationship that maintains the status quo but leaves us wondering, “What if…?” We need to free up our resources and headspace by letting go of structures, projects, and even relationships that hold us back from exploring and creating what could be. Design with regeneration in mind. Think beyond sustainability.
Share your learnings and questions about building the future, thinking systematically, and designing for regeneration with your peers and me. And, keep sharing your crazy ideas.
Notes: I’ve discovered Peter Senge’s work via Ash Buchanan when I was digging into systems thinking. Sandi MacPherson and Helena Ngo helped with edits on this post.