Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,

Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments

Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices

That, if I then had waked after long sleep,

Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,

The clouds methought would open and show riches

Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,

I cried to dream again.

- Shakespeare, The Tempest. Act III Scene II

1) Future of the book by IDEO

I love reading and am a hoarder of books and ideas. This brilliant UX project by IDEO links together discussions and debates along with the book’s content to enhance your reading experience. An interesting way to increase the popularity of digital books too. Full disclosure: I own a Kindle and it has single handedly changed my reading frequency and patterns.

2) Chemical Reactions

This one I found absolutely hilarious and what better way to make chemistry fun! Real life chemical reactions! I’m bookmarking this idea for the next “how to make complicated and boring things fun” project I work on. I definitely see a clever marketing/branding concept in this.

3) Speed Painting

I’ve began a tentative foray into the art world and came across this artist: Agnes Cecile and became captivated by her work. The video above was a collaboration with an Italian fashion designer. I used to spend alot of time in my childhood, painting using water colour and her work just reaffirms my need to get more in touch with my artistic side.

Sidenote: If you’re looking for creative inspiration, check out portfolios on Behance. It’s like crack.

I believe that marketing/value-positioning is an undervalued practice in the impact investing space. However, if we’re looking to expand the space beyond those who care about the impact value of capital, we have a to start looking at creating a movement of impact investing — a sustainable and scalable platform. We have to look closely on how we can create pull-factors needed for a successful impact movement. Now, I am not as naive to think that the world of philanthropy and for-profit investing should cease to exist. What I am suggesting is that the movement’s aim is to help the general public and those in the investing world to have a third way to think about capital: a blended value of capital and impact.

So, this is my attempt to build this movement’s basic framework and my vision of what core elements of an impact investing movement would contain and look like.

Defining the Movement’s Core

Education is the key to the movement and a first step is shifting people’s perspective to a third way to think about capital. I would like people to think of their portfolios as follow (Note: the pie charts below are based on a hypothetical way to think about capital — main point is to illustrate the inclusion of impact investments when an individual thinks of capital):

I believe the core of an impact investing movement should be two-fold:

1) The choice between impact and profit should not be a binary one.

2) Close the mental disconnects and isolation between the different components of the Impact chain of capital: (Input –> Output –> Impact)

Distinction of Target Groups 

Just like the ‘real’ investing world, in the impact investing world, there are two distinct investors to target: Institutional and Retail. By the nature of the way that capital flows into the space, influence on the retail end is bottom heavy + personal and on the institutional side, it is top heavy and politically barriered. (Sidenote: A great report to read to understand the institutional-policy relationship in impact investing written by Pacific Community Ventures & Harvard Uni).

Another target group (and this is admittedly the harder group to penetrate than the former) would be both institutional and retail investment advisors. Straight away, the inherent challenge to create this movement is how to create a simultaneous pressure on both ends and in each respective groups.

Five Strategies

In creating this ‘pull’ platform, because capital flows through a system through an impact chain, the platform should become the mechanism by which ‘push’ platforms must engage in. The graphic below illustrates this point using the recently announced Morgan Stanley Investing with Impact platform. The idea is that on Morgan Stanley’s end, they can only get so far by engaging their current clients. However, if they look beyond their Investing with Impact platform, and engage in a middle ‘pull’ platform that educates the masses, their message and reach would more than double.

I believe that a successful impact investing ‘pull’ movement would contain the following practices:

 1) Radically lower knowledge barriers

The landscape of impact investing is slowly coming to light. There is great research and data that heavily supports the sector. However, bite size pieces of information are far and few in between. Investors and advisors need understand: the reason for impact investing, proof of concept, and how it would affect an institution’s or individual’s portfolio. The knowledge barrier should also include a way to disseminate authentic and real stories (see: twitter exchange above) about impact investing and the results of the investment — a form of curated ‘entertainment’.

2) Uncover and disrupt offline analogies

Most form of human interactions surround a pre-existing way of thinking. e.g. before email, people would send letters. In the case of thinking about capital, the tipping points of where someone starts to think about money is in the education system, with a focus on universities and college (typically an individual’s first experience in managing a substantial amount of money).

3) Empower key community leaders

I’m a big fan of Seth Godin’s practice of building tribes. People are more passionate about this issue than you think they are. A great organization that organically (and perhaps unexpectedly) tapped into the power of tribes is Acumen Fund. (Full disclosure: I currently volunteer with them, and this is by no means a representation of their perspective on the matter. Just my own). Acumen Fund currently has 12 volunteer-led chapters around the world that support and spread their cause. These chapters are going into local communities with a depth and reach that Acumen would not have been able to achieve just by themselves.

4) Reduce friction

Thinking about capital — can be an overwhelming experience, especially on the retail side. The movement needs to create a frictionless and simple experience that catalyzes ‘pull’ for transactional activities. A great example of this practice is by LearnVest, a budgeting and advisory platform to help individuals achieve their goals. Simple and clear. I envision a successful impact investing platform to embrace a similar frictionless user experience.

 5) Getting started

No single agenda or strategy is equally relevant to all target groups. I see two main engagement strategies embedded in the movement, which in some cases can be executed separately or combined. One is a online-mass led proposition with multiple knowledge engagement pieces. The other is a high-touch with direct channel distribution. The latter would fit in more with the advisory/‘push’ platform engagement target group whereas the former would fit into a engaging retail investors. The high-touch component is definitely more of a challenge as we would be looking at a target group of banks/corporations/venture capitalist that have systems in place in order to achieve execute their business model.

 ***

There are multiple ways to continue to build out this framework. The points above are merely a starting point in the basic wireframe of this impact investing movement. All ideas are welcome, and if you want to have a brainstorm session about this — hit me up!

Thanks to Erika, Jo-Ann, Steve and Kevin for inspiring this post.

I have been on a learning rampage for the last few months and had read this book a while back. Admittedly, although I thought it was a good book, it didn’t resonate as much with me as it did for those who continuously recommended the book to me. This past weekend, I picked it up again (yes, I’m one of those people that re-reads books over and over) and lo and behold, I felt like every page in the book was screaming out one fascinating learning technique to another. Perhaps it has something to do with the way I am learning right now compared to back then.

The book, written by Josh Waitzkin, is part autobiographical, part chess memoirs and part martial arts techniques. He has an incredibly impressive background that includes an 8th time National Chess Champion in his youth, developed Chessmaster — the largest computer chess program in the world and then, moved on to perfect martial arts, where he currently holds a combined 21 National Championship and several World Championship titles. Given his impressive list of accomplishments, the premise of the book is that learning is a transferable art and our current ways of learning often don’t deep enough into understanding how we learn. I really enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t a typical list of learning techniques but instead, a blend of great storytelling and personal insight.

 “A key component of high-level learning is cultivating a resilient awareness that is the older, conscious embodiment of a child’s playful obliviousness. — Josh Waitzkin”

The book touches upon a lot of techniques that range from building triggers to emotional control, but one particular insight really stood out for me. It was on the source of creativity. Waitzkin writes that when he thinks about creativity, he thinks of it in relation to a foundation. Knowledge needs to be so deeply internalized that we can access it without even thinking about it. Then, we use our knowledge base to make a leap to get a couple steps ahead — a creative discovery. Now, most people stop here and hope that they manage to find another “burst of creativity”, however, Waitzkin shares that this is a “missed opportunity” if you just stop there.

The creative process is more than just breakthrough moments. It doesn’t just appear out of thin air and you just wait for it to happen. Waitzkin asserts that when you have those moments of creativity, what you should be focusing on — is the connection between your new discovery and what you know. Once you have figured that out, create techniques to re-create the process to “create a body of theory around a fleeting moment of inspiration.” Once this is done, our knowledge pyramid is that much higher and it’s foundation that much more solidified.

“I believe that one of the most critical factors in the transition to becoming a conscious high performer is the degree to which your relationship to your pursuit stays in harmony with your unique disposition. There will inevitably be times when we need to try new ideas, release our current knowledge to take in new information — but it is critical to integrate this new information in a manner that does not violate who we are. — Josh Waitzkin”

Now, to throw a curveball into my own post, here’s a brilliant talk by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love on nurturing creativity. Gilbert’s take on creativity is much for mysterious — a fragile connection to the eternal and the past, perhaps on loan to us for a brief period of time. It’s quite contrary to Waitzkin’s structured approach but yet the crypticness of her findings really intrigued me.

I like to think that the creative process is a combination of both, that the initial spark/leap forward — is driven by something we are yet to comprehend. Once we able to identify this, we create techniques to re-create this burst of creativity by drilling deep into understanding the triggers. I believe that some people are more ‘prone’ to creativity because somehow they have (un)knowingly surrounded themselves with a process/environment that can help kickstart a breakthrough. All creativity is sourced — one way or another from a current body of knowledge. How you connect, piece together perspectives, uncover a different angle — that’s where the magic happens.

Pic credit: Jody MacDonald

And it came to me. A moment of chaos. A moment of serenity. Breathe in. Breathe out. Red coloured chalk rains down, staining the ground like a polaroid photo coming to life. Past the cheap silk and whirls of bodies that from far off, they look like beautiful coloured beads. In the briefest moment, spring pushes through in this celebration of rebirth. In the next instance, I inhale — some dense, sharp sublimation of reality.

***

How do you see DIGNITY? Vancouver, 24/5

“The most radical and transformative of inventions are often those that empower others to unleash their creativity – to pursue their dreams”… “These innovative, large-scale platforms are not zero-sum – they create win-win situations and create significant value for developers, entrepreneurs, customers, authors, and readers.”

- Jeff Bezos Annual letter to Amazon shareholders

1) MapStory - A crowdsourced platform where the global community shares stories. 

Mapstory allows anyone and everyone to create, share and collaborate on stories to improve our understanding of global dynamics, worldwide, over the course of history. The cool component about MapStory is the “Story Layer” feature, where you can layer on maps, data, etc. onto other stories or create a stories by combining several different layers.

2) DefineAmerican.com — Platform discussing the immigration debate in America

This platform tackles a specific problem in America — the immigration system. It uses stories to bring in new voices into the immigration conversation. The platform is started by Jose Antonio Vargas, an award winning journalist who came out as an illegal immigrant. HIghly inspiring. In the stories section of the website, the public writes in, sharing their stories and opinion on the immigration debate. Definitely worth sending in your story too, and have your say about the DREAM Act.

***

Given that I spent most of my time last week researching about storytelling, my (last) week’s discoveries are all storytelling related. Below is a small collection of tools, platforms, posts and resources centered around storytelling.

1) Cowbird — A Witness to Life 

Out of my many start-up ideas, one of them that I loved the most was to have a storytelling platform where people could share fiction and non-fiction accounts of their lives. Then after sharing this idea over coffee with an interaction designer friend of mine, Tony Chu, he informed me of this seriously kick-ass platform called Cowbird. When I checked it out, it was almost exactly what I imagined for; using storytelling as a short short-term goal is to pioneer a new form of participatory journalism, grounded in the simple human stories behind major news events. Cowbird’s long-term goal is to build a public library of human experience, so the knowledge and wisdom we accumulate as individuals may live on as part of the commons. I promptly signed up for an account after checking this out. You should too.

2) Story Pirates 

This is a education and media organization targeted towards encouraging kids to write stories. Story Pirates encourages creativity by then bringing these stories to life — through plays, stand up and different forms of performances. They’re most famous for the Idea Storm Program — a writing workshop that is followed by a musical sketch comedy featuring stories by students and performed by professional artist. Super fun.

3) Startstorytelling.com — The starter guide to nonprofit video storytelling

A really comprehensive  resource for nonprofits to ending bad videos. This is put together by CauseVox and ListenIn Pictures, two great organizations that are in the nonprofit space and who were also on the Be Social Change Panel in my previous post. If you’re a nonprofit and looking to spread your message via video — this is a must read. Did I mention it’s free too?

4) Get Storied — Teaching Entrepreneurs how to tell their story 

So apparently storytelling is an actual consulting business, and Get Storied managed to do this. They have a great manifesto and offer advisory services & various storytelling program. Next week is their Reinvention Summit 2: An online conference for storytelling in the digital age. An intriguing concept that allows for scale and low operational costs. GetStoried.com also has a great list of storytelling books to check out here. A book that is not on the list or related to GetStoried.com that is on my personal to-read list is: Resonate: Visual stories that transform audiences.

5) IDEO Human Centered Design (HCD) Connect

It’s not secret that I love IDEO’s work and last week, the HCD Connect was launched, a platform where the public takes on the world’s challenges by sharing stories, questions and resources. I haven’t gotten around to playing with the platform yet but my immediate impression is that it is pretty similar-ish to OpenIDEO to solve global challenges using crowd intelligence. I’ll let you know my full thoughts once I’ve had the time to play around, but it’s definitely worth checking out.

6) And finally… a plethora of other storytelling resources/articles that was compiled by Rob Wu of CauseVox. Knock yourself out. (Tip: I would start with Blair Miller’s next phase of storytelling)

• Digital Storytelling from Soup to Nuts by Denise Atchley
• Digital Storytelling Festival Digital Storytelling: A Tutorial in 10 Easy Steps by JD Lasica
• Storytelling through Infographics by Debra Askanase, Community Organizer 2.0
• Data can tell stories by Beth Kanter, Zoetica
• 4 Tools to Tell Stories Online by Amy Sample Ward, NTEN
• The Next Phase of Storytelling by Blair Miller, Acumen Fund
• How to Get Started in Storytelling for Fundraising by Cara Jones, Storytellers for Good
• The Power of Storytelling by Linda Ziskind, Z2 Consulting
• How to find amazing, powerful stories for your nonprofit video, by Socialbrite

“Of all our truest hopes and desires for our work is that, what we find, we ourselves never knew. It came as a shock. It came as a surprise. It was new. We could never have known what we were going to do before we did it, and in that sense, we discover too. Here is what I’ve got to say to you: there are things in your life you will see; there are stories you will hear; if you don’t write them down, if you don’t make the picture, they won’t get seen, they won’t get told.” – Emmet Gowin

Stories have always been essential to the human condition. I’ve written before  on how stories are a window into how we perceive the world around us. Lately, I have spent quite a bit of time reflecting on the role of stories and their importance in generating engagement, empathy and to deliver insights about people and behaviour. A great event by Be Social Change on the Power of Narrative on Creating Impact that I attended recently really helped complete some of the reflections that I have been mulling over, and thought I’ll share some of my thoughts:

Be Social Change Storytelling event. Panelists on the RHS. Photo taken by: Alex Mora from Xelaarom Photography

1) Practical applications: Co-creation of a story

The are two main categories of stories that are told: our own stories and stories on behalf of someone/something. In both circumstances, elements of a memorable stories usually starts with Authenticity, bridged by Narrative Transport and ending with Combined Relevance (a component that the audience can relate to). Stories can be practically used by product storytellers, community architects and in virtually almost any position that calls for value connection with your audience. The role of a storyteller is not meant to replace the marketer, brand strategist or founder. Instead, they dwell in the realm of synthesizing the overall picture, mold the value proposition and know what entry points in current conversations that they can enter into. They are connectors who look for the puzzle pieces and bring them together in frameworks that inspire appropriate solutions.

To a certain extent, stories are a moral and value compass. Our own stories that we tell help us understand our own world better, and the stories we tell on behalf of others ensure that we have enough insight to an organization/product’s value that we stay on the right path. The reason why I believe it to be a compass is because if you are not moved (to action/direction or emotionally) by your own story, why should someone else be moved by it too?

2) Framing a narrative

A good story holds so much emotional complexity. A really importance point to distinguish (and you’ll be surprised by how many people misunderstand this!) is that stories are NOT an opinion, bullet points, or articles. They are a moment in time, an experience. At the event, Annie Escobar, co-founder of  ListenIn Pictures, a media company that crafts cinematic stories to inspire action (Their mission is to end bad non-profit video!), shared some of the ways that she uses to (re)frame a narrative via the: challenge plot, connection plot, creativity plot or empathy plot. Non-profit tend to gravitate towards the empathy/sympathy plot (highly overrated these days) and I would like to (re)frame this approach by saying that non-profits should tell stories that come from a place of empathy instead of just evoking sympathy.

A great way to deconstruct a narrative is to use Simon Sinek’s Start With Why Golden Circle. Simon explains in his book that we need to start looking at ideas, systems and in this context — stories with a clear and purposeful outlook: “WHY?”

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. A company needs to say and do only what they believe. If what you do, doesn’t prove what you believe, then no one will know your “why” and you will be forced to compete on price, service, quality, features and benefits, the stuff of commodities…” –Simon Sinek, Start With Why

3) A Storyteller’s responsibilities and characteristics

A great storyteller can be powerful influencer… and with great power, comes great responsibility (yes, I totally just quoted spiderman!). Blair Miller, Acumen Fund’s Leadership Manager (including Acumen’s Fellows Program) wrote a great piece a while back emphasizing on a storyteller’s responsibilities as the next phase of storytelling. She highlighted three responsibilities: storytellers must be dynamic, must come from a place of empathy and must uncover ways to be replaceable. I would like to build on her piece that on top of those responsibilities, great storytellers should have these two characteristics:

i) Unrelentingly curious — someone who is inquisitive, loves to learn about others and uncover the ‘other side of the story’. He/she should have the humility to connect with everyone and anyone and know that the story they are telling is one chapter out of tens of dozens.

ii) Provocatively immaginative — someone who has the imagination powerful enough to see a moment/experience and able to (re)frame it into a compelling story. He/She knows when to ask the right questions, when to hold back and when to dig deeper.

“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”
― Martin Luther King

Sacred Economics with Charles Eisenstein — A Short Film from Ian MacKenzie on Vimeo.

One of my favorite quotes of all-time is that  “once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.” –Alan Keightley. Simple yet powerful. We grow up in a world where pre-existing structures of society and norms are already in place. We struggle with our need to fit into the system, somewhere, somehow. But when I watched this 12 min video, I was reminded of that quote once more. That we don’t have to live in our single story.

I love the message of the video particularly on how it talks about how we’ve monetized community and turned most things into a commodity. If you read the book, Eisenstein touches on themes from negative-interest economics to the story of value. The biggest chord that resonated with me what that the book was written to:

“align the logic of the mind with the knowing of the heart: to illuminate not only what is possible but also how to get there.”

Sacred Economics envisions a world where people do things for love, not money. What would you be doing in such an economy? Would you be reclaiming a toxic waste dump? Being a “big sister” to troubled adolescents?

Now for my scattered thoughts: Although I love the message, I think the book is passionately optimistic about humanity (ha, the skeptic in me speaks!)… especially in creating a world where people would do things for love, not money. My question is: how do we then get there? Is this is where the non-profit world comes in…and that comes with a truckload of guidelines with the term itself!

Other questions that comes to mind: Why do people place so much value on money in the first place? Why do people associate identity with their jobs? How do we make place in our society for a gift economy? And most importantly, how do we work within current structures in order to do the things we love?

Credit: Thanks to Mark McCoy for inspiring this post.

P/s: You can read Sacred Economics here.