The Power of Us: How we connect, act and innovate together
By David Price
Thread, Bookouture / 28th August 2020 / ebook, paperback, audio
We are witnessing the emergence of ordinary people working together to solve big problems in all aspects of our society, rooted in a communal desire to make the world a better place in which to live:
The outdoor clothing company that sees record sales after telling its customers not to buy their clothes.
The 17-yr old high school dropout who created the world's most used Covid tracking app.
A school achieving great academic outcomes because of its commitment to diversity.
The successful brewery giving customers the opportunity to become co-producers.
A co-operative empowering communities to generate renewable energy.
David Price takes us behind the scenes of some of the world’s most innovative organisations harnessing the power of collaboration and diverse thinking to effect real change – and demonstrates what we can learn from them.
Thought-provoking and incisive, The Power of Us is an urgent call for leaders, teams and individuals to challenge the status quo. The response to Covid-19 has shone a light on how people-powered innovation is reshaping our world. We’re seeing a global wave of self-determined and self-organised activism. The Power of Us offers a practical toolkit of ideas to show us how we can foster our own cultures of co-creators to transform our lives and rebuild a better world for the future.
'This uprising of action in response to COVID-19 demonstrates the ingenuity and talent that flourishes at the grassroots…It also fills a powerful desire for people to get involved and bring whatever expertise they have to bear—technical, medical, social, political, legal. This movement inspires hope for the future. Leveraging open, collaborative innovation by grassroots makers at international and local levels can help solve not just for the coronavirus but teach us new ways to work together to solve other challenges too.’ David Price
‘People are starting to find their voice, to understand that they can actually have an impact […] Doing our best is no longer good enough. We must now do the seemingly impossible. And that is up to you and me. Because no one else will do it for us.’ Greta Thunberg
Case studies in the book include:
Brewdog; Act-Up; Riders for Health; sparks & honey;
Liger Leadership Academy; Patagonia; WD40; New Roads School
TALKING POINTS
The New Activism - don’t just protest, provide solutions! (eg #MeToo, Extinction Rebellion, Black Lives Matter)
We are witnessing new, and more effective, social movements redefining social, environmental and cultural norms, deploying the tools and techniques of mass ingenuity.
During the coronavirus pandemic grassroots actions often outperformed governmental responses that were slow and unwieldy.
Social movements, citizen scientists, and peer producers are now better connected and have learned from previous attempts to leverage social reform. They are willing to lead communities in a post-Covid world. Given the scale of the anticipated economic depression, we may have no option but to work closely with them.
Tips for successful businesses:
Focus on the mindset – ingenious innovators will shape a problem to fit the skillset.
Know your limitations – surround yourself with people who have the skills you lack.
Make your actions practical, enterprising and collaborative.
Social enterprise demands unreasonable attitudes – the world won’t change by itself.
Be excited, not intimidated, by the scale of the challenge.
8 Key TEAM Ingredients:
o Trust & Transparency
o Engagement & Equity
o Autonomy & Agency
o Mastery & Meaning
Medicine:
Research suggests that up to 8% of patients with rare diseases have developed innovations that were unknown to the medical science community (eg Tim Omer who worked with the NightScout group to develop an artificial pancreas).
The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly recalibrated development and safety timescales.
The pandemic has also brought together user-innovators, lead patients, and producers in a powerful, effective alliance.
About David Price
David Price is an expert in organisational learning for a complex future. He is co-founder of We Do Things Differently, a UK culture consultancy. In 2009 he was awarded an OBE for services to education.
He writes, talks, trains and advises, around the world, on some of the biggest challenges facing business, education and society: solving the problems of employee, student and civic disengagement; maximising our potential to be creative, innovative and fulfilled citizens, and understanding the global shift towards open organisations, and systems of learning. David is the author of Open: How We'll Work, Live and Learn In The Future. He lives in North Yorkshire.