We are on Aboriginal land, how do we even begin to pay the rent?

I acknowledge the elders and youth past, present, and emerging of the Kayyeemy and Gamaragal people on whose land this experience and article was influenced and written. I acknowledge the elders and youth past, present, and emerging of the Gadigal of the Eora Nation on whose land this article was envisioned and supported. I acknowledge all First Nations people of Australia as an unbroken chain of caretakers and custodians on whose land these insights were inspired.

 

As a first world, white, well-educated immigrant in Australia, it might be fashionable to call myself an ex-pat. I could simply enjoy the nice weather of this climate and the exceedingly lovely lifestyle offered by being comfortable in a mostly well-developed country. I could take on various political or ideological leanings to sooth my ambitions or my guilt, depending on which way the wind blows. I could donate money, change my job, start a non-profit, go and volunteer in remote communities. All of these are brilliant ways to begin to ‘pay the rent’

I could ‘do’ many things, and yet in my journey, my mentor and leader Rick Shaw has helped me deeply integrate the biggest lesson of my life. It is not immediately important what I work on; what dollars are involved, who is attached to it, at what level of scale or impact. The change I can affect in the world is not in my ‘doing,’ it will always begin in my ‘being.’ What is key in all endeavors, is that I am the one ‘being.’ Thus, through all my work the world will be healing. I have the responsibility to keep my integrity aligned to the path. It is in my ‘being’ that I support realignment of culture, country, and people in all my endeavors. This applies to you as well, the world will be better for everything you have done, for you are the one ‘being’ this world.

Let us stop worrying about how to fit our efforts into the egoistic or capitalistic matrices of value. Let us be the healing.

Recently, I chose a path to help figure out how we normal folks, can begin to ‘pay the rent’ to this place and the people of this land. I am not going to pay it with just guilt alleviating charity or popcorn style, sheep-dip engagement with First Nations people. I am not going to be a perpetuator of consultation fatigue in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. I will not be voyeuristically going out to learn from a culture other than mine. Even though my profession as an ethnographer might sound like exactly that, the truth of our living nature is that I am a participant in this. I am going to be an actor in this system, an agent for sustainability. Tyson Yunkaporta clearly articulated this role in the book Sand Talk.

Let us all be sustainability agents in a complex system. Regardless of your role, you can behave in pursuit of sustainability and healing in all you do. Every bit of energy matters. Let us be truly subversive. I am going to do my best to deeply listen and help others to do the same. That is why I am here. Why are you here?

One way we might like to view it is that we are all here because we are meant to be here. ‘Here’ is the ‘teaching place’ as Susan Moylan-Coombs often helps us to conceptualize Australia. I have heard her say that if you were born here, you are of this place, and if you are from outside Australia, you are meant to be here. Once we de-compress from fraught finger pointing, then the healing can begin. When we listen into the expansiveness and regenerative nature of teachings held by people who are one with country we start on our path as sustainability agents in a complex system.

Globally, Australia has the great responsibility to be the land that starts solving big problems in the world. We have no choice; climate change will hit us and our Pacific friends hard and fast. Demographically there is a crisis in every segment of our population, from children in poverty, a domestic violence crisis, a depression epidemic, to the elderly being disconnected and in danger. Australia’s horrendous track record (modeled often on my birthplace of America) in terms of how far down the gluttonous capitalistic pain path we have gone, is simply the opening of the opportunity to fulfill our cosmic position. We are the place that will source the solutions for our global future. This is the teaching place, and the teaching we are all making is healing Australia.

We need to use this space and momentary discomfort to shift the systems for all of us to have joy, peace, and love. As Aboriginal activist groups in Queensland and Lilla Watson are quoted saying, ‘If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. If you have come because your Liberation is bound together with mine, let us walk together‘.

Its clearer than ever before, my liberation is bound up in yours. We are all one. Let us take steps to illuminate the inter-dependencies so we can choreography a way into the future. First Nations people are those who first forged the path of walking in two worlds, we may all follow them, if we listen. Let us learn the steps from those who have been caretakers of the dance since it came down to humanity.

First Nations ways of being, cultures, and languages are the original technologies we crafted to express a place for all the land and the relationships to everything in it, including our human needs. The First Nations people in every country are custodians of precious longitudinal lived experiences across time and space. They are caretakers of stories beyond rudimentary reductionist frames and systems that are currently limiting our ability to solve problems. This is not another gold mine to be extracted and exploited by the uninitiated, it is a gift and an insurance policy against our own misguided experiments which have run contrary to the nature of the world.

We have simply been a part of a baby universe learning how to be a universe, this is all a part of our lessons.

First Nations knowing is what First Nations people are still developing and profoundly protecting through their survival in the face of countless machinations, massacres and persecutions.

In these ways of being, there is an infinite well of self-healing for us and our planet. We can never go backward to source; we have no right to exploit or extract from the auto-healing First Nations knowing of the past. We can pour our energy into re-alignment with the living world and the living First Nations people and cultures here and globally.

We are a part of a wounded planet calling on its natural patterns and immune systems to stop the trauma, we are the energy that needs to re-align with these patterns and systems. It is time to change. Through the stories we tell and share, we will manifest a newer more harmonious future.

As Emeritus Professor Jo-Ann Archibald et al. wrote in Decolonizing Research: First Nations Storywork as Methodology:

In Coast, Salish cultural gatherings, the spokesperson who oversees the event says, “My Dear ones, the work is about to begin.” When we hear these words, we pay attention to the cultural work that is about to take place because we know that we will either be involved in some way or will be impacted by this work.

My dear ones, the work is about to begin

So what about you, dear reader? Are you willing?

How do we begin to ‘pay the rent’?

Three ways to start giving: give time, give attention, give resources

Give time

Prioritise educating yourself through listening. It takes time, make it a focus, put a block in the diary. Actively pursue your reading, watching, experiencing of content produced by First Nations people and credible sources. Don’t expect First Nations people to educate you for free, pay the rent for their experiences, time, and services.

Give attention

Prime yourself to notice, “where might be the approach or angle that connects this effort to supporting First Nations people?” Whether it is in procurement, employment, designing an online form, or managing a financial product; whatever it is that you touch, only you can make the space to consider inviting or amplifying a First Nations perspective.

Educate yourself on racism, privilege, appropriation and how to spot them. These are big complicated topics, if you don’t start looking at them, who will? Step up and speak out when you see racism or microaggressions. Its everyone’s job.

Give resources

Support First Nations efforts to create and make for their own people, instead of to educate non-First Nations people. Additionally, support First nations efforts to educate non-indigenous people, goodness knows everyone needs all the help we can get. Donate money and time. Apply your superpowers to supporting First Nations projects and endeavors in your community, across our country, and internationally.

 We are on Aboriginal land, how might everything we do begin to pay the rent?

Acknowledgements

I know this article won’t get everything right, and I hope nevertheless it helps you be kinder and braver in order to think about how you can put a thought towards supporting First Nations people in everything you do. I hope you are now primed to look through this lens more often and with more depth.

I have learned so much about mutual acknowledgement on this journey, I do not feel comfortable taking credit for this expression of my journey solely. This is an effort influenced by many people. I list them here not to bank on their credentials or to gain glory by association. I list them here because by being with them or learning from them, I have changed. Both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous people are listed here. I list them here because by their being, I am learning to be.

–      Rick Shaw, Deloitte Partner & Indigenous Leadership Team

–      Dr. Deen Sanders, Deloitte Partner & Indigenous Leadership Team

–      Angela Robinson, Deloitte Partner & Indigenous Leadership Team

–      Susan Moylan-Coombs, Gaimaragal Group

–      Dr. Dennis Foley, Professor of Indigenous Entrepreneurship University of Canberra

–      John Briggs, Founder John Briggs Consulting

–      Angie Abdilla, CEO Old Ways, New

–      Tyson Yunkaporta, Author of Sand Talk

–      The board of Miwatj Aboriginal Health Corporation

–      The board of Alawa Aboriginal Corporation

–      Sarah Brown, CEO Purple House

–      The people from the town of Kalka in the APY lands

–      Dr. Marcia Langton, Author, professor, speaker

–      Josephine Cashman, entrepreneur and activist

–      Emeritus Professor Jo-Ann Archibald et al., Authors of Decolonizing Research: First Nations Storywork as Methodology

–      Raymond Feist, Author of Magician series

My calling to my central self

I haven’t published a single piece of writing in over a year on this page.  The ambitious achiever driven to get out there inside of me is shaking her head in shame. I’m sitting here holding a large compassionate space to explore what I haven’t said in the last year on this blog.

This isn’t to say I didn’t write, I just didn’t publish. As I look at why I didn’t share my thoughts, I look back in hindsight and see how confused and uncertain I was, and still am. Boy, oh boy, the lessons have been coming so thick and fast and strong this year, its been like a personal development growth spurt on the inside. I am still confused and uncertain. I don’t know what I want to do about what might be my primary calling to improve empathy systems in the world. I also don’t know what to do about my secondary calling to begin the path to grow mushrooms and fungi as our future of food and materials.

So here is a little bitty ditty I wrote about a crunch of confidence, a collapse of ambition, and an ode to the drivel of drive. Its an attempt to write about why I am learning to love being confused and how I feel alive.

I am lost and floating and doing my damnedest to sit in this precious liminal in-between space and see what emerges. Yet my inner commander and conditioning wants me to pick something and go achieve. In questioning my own inner value and values, I noticed there is a value hole, and I have crammed valuable activities into that gaping maw for decades from my first world, immigrant eldest daughter, female perfectionist, be smart to be safe perspective.

I’ve been on a journey, not too dissimilar from one that every human tends to go on if they are lucky, it is called growing up. These last couple of months I’ve been lucky enough to read and collect some amazing truth bombs and idea nuggets. I’ll summarize the big ones here and then I’ll collect them in a handy 2×2 matrix and tell you a story.

A) Personality as a construct to survive childhood, the calculating self, and the central self:

First some passages and concepts from the book,  The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander. Please read it as soon as you can, it will truly transform your life if you can hear its message and act on its frame changing delightfulness.

Personality as a construct to survive childhood

“Frank Sulloway, a former research scholar at MIT in the department of brain and cognitive sciences suggests that we think of “personality” as a strategy for”getting out of childhood alive.” Each child in a family stakes out her own territory of attention and importance by developing certain characteristics of her character into “winning ways.” One child may be sociable and outgoing, another may be quiet and thoughtful, but both are aimed at the same thing: to find a safe and identifiable niche in the family and the community and to position themselves to survive. Anxiety regulates behavior and alerts the child to the dangers of being one-down, unattended to, or at a loss.”

The calculating self

The calculating self is the scarcity mindset, prickly cactus inside of me who is always scheming and worrying to get my needs met. It is all the permutations of the bawling baby inside of me, crying for attention and demanding the world focus on me. It is all the ways I have learned to charm and arm myself into situations that appear more certain, safe, sustainable. It is the me that buys into the illusion of safety and certainty. It is the me that strives and survives in a hierarchical and measured world where all the gates are designed to manage scarcity and only dole out resources in small lumps to the deserving. It is the me who plays the game of judgement and deserving versus undeserving.

For the purpose of this reading consider personality is something we develop in order to survive childhood, and “that set, raised to adulthood is what we are calling the calculating self. The prolonged nature of human childhood may contribute to the persistence of these habits long after their usefulness has passed.” 

“This calculating self is concerned for its survival in a world of scarcity…. as the calculating self tumbles out of control, it intensifies its efforts to climb back up and get in charge, and the cycle goes round and round. How do we learn to recognize the often-charming, always scheming, sometimes-anxious, frequently conniving calculating self?

One good way is to ask ourselves, What would have to change for me to be completely fulfilled? “

The central self 

The central self is the kind, compassionate, abundance based mindset self that lives in our core. It is the part of ourselves that has survived, has nothing to prove, and can be open and giving without designs or complications. It is our collaborative core that is best brought out in our social and caring interactions. It is that part of me that consistently brings tears to my eyes when I witness others kindnesses towards each other or towards me. It is the feeling of having done a kindness and not in search of the validation feeling of having been kind.  The central self is a true expression of me without even needing identity. The central self is who I can be once I see past the illusion of certainty and control.

“Such is the nature of the central self, a term we use to embrace the remarkably generative, prolific, and creative nature of ourselves and the world.”

“Unlike the calculating self, the central self is neither a pattern of action nor a set of strategies. it does not need an identity; it is its own pure expression. it is what a person who has survived and knows it looks like.

“From the perspective of the central self, life moves with fluidly like a constantly varying river, and so do we,confident that it can deal with whatever comes its way, it sees itself as permeable rather than vulnerable, and stays open to influence, to the new and the unknown. Under no illusion that it can control the movement of the river, it joins rather than resists its bountiful flow.”

“We might even describe human development as the ongoing reconstruction of the calculating self toward the rich, free, compassionate, and expressive world of the central self.”

WOW! Thank you Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander for consolidating and capturing these beautiful frame changing ways of being for us all.

B) Deciphering Conditioning From Calling

Lisa Zigarmi wrote a short piece for Forbes, which for me crystallized in simple words a key component of my struggle: conditioning versus calling.  She simply relates her own observations of her behaviors, similar to my own where I would ferociously continue following patterns of high-achiever conditioning. In these cycles there might even be very little joy and gain in the sparks of winning. I was fueling my addiction to attention and having achieved things I was uniquely suited to do (or so I thought, lots of people could do them, they just might approach them differently).

My conditioning cycles through education, experience, and choice were fueling my calculating self’s needs much more than creating space for the growth of my central self.  She says it best, “Conditioning gets uncomfortable when it no longer serves you with its endless cycle of proving your worth.” I was definitely proving my worth, my calculating self’s worth, and neglecting the central self who sat behind with a sly smile waiting to be noticed. My central self has a calling that has been driving me since I first decided to go study ethnography, that the world’s systems of sensing what is going on with others are faulty. It drives me still, that organisations need empathy systems to feel with their customers and their employees and instead we create feedback theater that no solid business decision can be based upon, and the whole world is running this way.  Why can’t we make more human centric systems that bring empathy up the ladder to hold a place of valid consideration in the input into strategy? Not just product based research and insights, but higher level uncomfortable questions… This is my calling and when I stray too far from the learning I need or stop seeing the link between my choices and this calling I feel I might as well die. This is exactly what Lisa captured so clearly n her article:

“Callings come with discomfort from inner pressure not from external standards. Callings are initially mysterious, unknowable and, therefore, frightening. They feel as though part of you might die if you don’t respond. They provoke confusion around how your unique gifts best serve the world. They require the abandonment of certainty to allow for creative expression to move through you. Callings are quieted when you listen to them.”

C) Conform / Confront ( and all the behaviors in-between )

I met with one of my mentors this week and related to her how I had been burned recently by not reading the signs that my challenging choices and confronting behaviors were making others dangerously uncomfortable.  In the story after progressing for sometime… Bam! I got smacked with huge repercussions, and I wasn’t surprised, but I was surprised by just how much they hurt and hurt and hurt. I kept making more and more pain out of this one lesson. I thought I had pulled up out of the nose-dive, only to dip back in again for more. I saw some old patterns resurfacing of how hurt my central self was after having allowed my calculating self to take the driver’s seat for too long, to get shit done, to make it happen, to achieve.

She was so amazing at pinpointing how conforming fully and confronting fully are both unhelpful in terms of influencing and contributing in a group to have impact. She related to me her own story on how quietly conforming not only limits your expression and silences your voice, but it eliminates your contribution from the group achieving a better outcome. One very influential boss took her aside once and told her, “it is not your job to come to these meetings and quietly conform, we get no value from your diverse experience that way.”

On the other side of the coin we both spoke about our experiences as outspoken women who do not shy away from conflict, as well as our lessons on how destructive it can be when that brings on inefficiencies and those around us shut down from our influence. Effectively this can not only negate the desired outcome we are aiming for, but it can also craft a reputation that doesn’t serve our central or calculating selves.

I suppose if there is a moral to this story its the age old mantra of balance or all things in moderation. Ugh! balance, why you gotta be so elusive… such a simple word to say, and lifetimes to learn. Balance, the ultimate endless challenge. For it is not balance we achieve ever, only the art of balancing and the act of noticing unbalance to enact changes and learn again.

D) The 4Cs matrix: growing up from conditioning to calling through conforming and confronting

As any nice consultant would do, I thought to put some of these lessons on a 2×2 matrix and play with the axes. As I started to think about this I started to map some of my experiences and journeys along the zones created. I recalled my childhood (and adulthood!) and how much I bounce between 1 and 2, back and forth, back and forth to learn more and more about what in my conditioning supports my calculating self versus my central self. Have a play and think about your own experiences and how you have bounced around through the zones in your own journey of self development.

Here are some of my examples:

1. Conform Conditioning: “Sure I’ll do what everyone else is doing because it seems like it will meet my future needs and set me up for a path of happiness and security. I’ll study hard, get degrees, get solid jobs, build strong relationships, and save money for a rainy day. Sounds like doing what society wants is the only way for me to get what I need from society. I’ll also keep my feet off the dinner table.”
2. Confront Conditioning: “WTF mate these rules suck! Why do I need to make my bed everyday if I am only going to sleep in it tonight? UGH this system doesn’t seem to be working for me! Why? Why? Why? This doesn’t work, it doesn’t achieve anything, it’s totally busy work for the sake of keeping us all from achieving our true calling. Get out of my way! I am coming through, this isn’t working FOR ME.”
3. Conform Calling: “OMG this is amazing, I enjoy doing this and other people value it! I can be supported and achieve for doing something I believe in truly. Ethnography is fantastic it allows me to take the human and empathetic side of things into business and helps people! I can do this forever and we’ll make such an impact! I am on path, this is totally what I was made to do forever!”
4. Confront Calling: “Oh shit, I can’t scale this impact as one person… and the leadership isn’t listening to me because I am not like them. Oh man what if this isn’t my calling anyways, what if I was just serving the calculating self this whole time thinking it was my central self. Is this the right calling? How can the calling be changing as I am more influenced by the river of uncertainty constantly giving me new things to consider? How can I ever build something in the midst of this flowing onslaught of life, experience, and beauty? Is this my calling?”

This is a wonderful little tool to think through where the bouncing around the zones has lead to insights, lessons, and new possibilities. It is the unending joy of the play of balancing. The interplay is endless and the pleasure is in the reinvention of making oneself beyond any calculating self’s habitual charms or demands. The greatest joy I find in the sly smile of the central self and knowing the survival is imminent because I have the confidence to conform, confront, challenge, and change. I make me, everyday. Let’s us give ourselves a 10 out of 10 for making us everyday.

E) Transformation= Abundance + Central Self + Compassion + Calling

The 4Cs matrix is a fun tool to use to unpack stories and illuminate calculating and central self experiences, but it is still a following of a bouncing ball. Transcending and transforming require slightly more direction and discipline for me. I have been changing my relationship with discipline, conditioning, and conforming over the last few years through the mantra, “Self control is empathy with future me.” This has been an amazing tool to internalize the motivation and the results of maintaining self compassion and self-discipline at increasing rates of regularity.

I do find that I need something to direct this transformation that occurs everyday as today’s me makes “tomorrow’s me” (p.s. future me never exists, but more on the power of presence, and that we only have the present another time).  So here friends is my path of intentions and the self I work to manifest everyday in what I do, how I do it, and why I do it.  I cultivate an abundance mindset by also noticing when I drop into a scarcity mindset (this is often triggered by time scarcity thinking). I notice when my calculating self wants attention and fears not achieving security or resources and I work upon that with a belief of abundance, trust, and compassion. I focus on not beating myself up and awakening self compassion. This is one of my struggles, I find it always easier to hold compassion for others before I will forgive myself or accept that my best may not achieve illusory standards that I set for my behavior. Finally about calling, I accept

that my calling may take many forms and change over time. There may not be one thing which I can dedicate my whole life to, and there may be large periods of floating, which in and of itself is a compassionate form of calling as well. Here are some more examples of self talk which I find helpful:

Abundance Mindset: I believe the world is abundant and the richness of humanity is compassion and fundamentally good. I believe everyone is trying to meet their needs in the best way possible with the resources they have at hand.

Central Self: I will listen to my core voice and keep a watchful eye for the charming and conniving needs of the calculating self, even when they try to disguise themselves in the central self’s generous nature.

Compassion: I will focus on self compassion to maintain my healthiest self and be abundant in what I have to give others. I will notice my judgement and bring awareness to the creeping behaviors of confronting and conforming in extremes.

Calling: I will listen to the calling in me and support myself fully to pursue it, especially as it changes as I am influenced by the river of life around me. I will hold back judgement on my changeability and the dynamic nature of my calling and keep my ear tuned to the whispering of mystery and the unknowns that surround callings.

In closing I want to thank you for reading this far and give you my final challenges as I can communicate them… My calling is to my central self.  

Dear central self and my calling,

You freak me out. You are powerful beyond all measure. You are also so quiet sometimes I can ignore you too easily in the noise. You are so important I really need to stop and listen to the silence to hear your whispering.

Because I like feeling accomplished and valuable, I like solving problems I know I can get answers to, so often I make those kinds of problems happen. Then I can see clearly that these upper limiting behaviors are something I like because then I can put my enlightenment on hold to deal with them. As I put my enlightenment in the back seat to the pressures of whatever I am dealing with, I am not present, and I can shy away from your demands, my calling. 

Oh calculating self is dancing and sparkling every damn day and saying that she is most important for us all to survive, but without you, dear central self and my calling, none of us will thrive. BUT fear not I am onto her! Calculating self deserves as much compassion and love as we call all give her, she’s just doing her best, yet it doesn’t mean I should ignore the rest. 

I make me every day and I promise you my dear central self and my calling that I will endeavor to hold the space and the silence I need to hear you. I will be and you are me.

Thank you for you patience and continued support

Sincerely,

Alicia Dudek

My calling is to my central self. 

 

 

Macgvyering our way to Danish design: from opportunism to conscious curation

Innovation and design exist to meet unmet needs of people. As designers and design researchers we pursue understanding how to define problems that illuminate unmet needs and how to effectively align resources in order to best meet those needs within constraints. Uncovering unmet needs can be delicate time consuming research through careful conversations, or unmet needs can come straight to your face in the shape of the slap of bad customer feedback. Defining what problems (unmet needs) you might approach solving, in what manner, with what time pressure, with which resources, to achieve which outcome is the beauty of being human and critical in the art of doing anything, especially business.

I am on a professional and personal journey to shore up my fundamental foundations and redesign my values. In this exploration I found that my belief in Macgvyering as a core approach needed broadening and exploration because I was putting myself into situation after situation where I over committed and became harried. I was determined to do everything “I had to do” and everything “I wanted to do.” Also everything always felt, to me, like it was on fire. I couldn’t figure out how to make space and hold space. I did this at home, at work, on the field, and in life. I would solidly pursue meeting one need to the neglect of the others. I wanted to play to my strengths, and through over feeding those strengths I saw them become my weaknesses. I wanted to do what felt good while still reaping the rewards of doing the hard work to learn the lessons and work through the challenges. You know what happened? I did it, I am doing it, but I can see what price I am paying to do it. I am tired. I am choosing to be harried and playing too many roles. Macgvyering is a strength of mine, but any strength can become a weakness over time.

One lesson I learned is that when it gets cold, the answer isn’t always to throw more wood on the fire. I can throw on a sweater, or find a cuddle buddy, or move to Aruba. So when it gets cold and Macgvyering more isn’t going to meet my needs, I’ve pulled together a spectrum of strategies to consider depending on the design challenge and resources before me.

Here are my first thoughts on Macgvyering our way to Danish design, from opportunism to conscious curation:

PART 1:

Survival ⇒ Thrival ⇒ Design ⇒ Sustainability

Survival: pursuit to survive / escape the immediate threat / pain / death by unmet need

Thrival (thriving): pursuit to not only survive but do so in a manner that meets another need i.e. doing it in a clever manner / without or with help / “Ah-ha look at how they did that with so little, aren’t they clever” (meets supporting need of admiration / stroking)

Design: pursuit to create a solution that satisfies multiple needs of one or many stakeholders i.e. designing a cup so that the drinker enjoys drinking from it and the factory can easily produce them cost-effectively

Sustainability: pursuit to create a solution that satisfies multiple needs over time, satisfies changing needs, or creates a dynamic self-sustaining / self-iterating system that can grow and morph to meet changing needs over time

PART 2:

Pressure of unmet needs (time pressure) VS. Resources obtainable (prioritization of investment)

The inverse relationship between the pressure of unmet needs and the resources obtainable is a product of the march of time. If I had more time then the pressure of the unmet need would not be so great. If the pressure of the unmet need was less then I would have more time to solve for it.  If I had more time I could find more resources. Many of the questions we ask in business and strategy worlds lie along this spectrum, with the added kicker of how will we make money? If we consider money as simply an account of value then,  this one is just an addendum to the entire spectrum because it is a part of the whole lot: from survival to sustainability.

Questions for understanding the pressure of the unmet need:

• How much pain does the unmet need cause me? (desirability to fix)
• How long can I stand for the need to be unmet? (viability)
  • i.e. How much time do I have until BOOM? (when the response is ‘I don’t know’ our adrenaline, lizard brain kicks in and moves it up in the ‘on fire’ queue)

Questions for understanding the resources obtainable / prioritization of investment:

• How much do we care about solving it? (pain / opportunity / viability)
• How important is this problem? (values / purpose)
• How often do we see it? (frequency)
• How long does its impact last? / How many people / communities does it affect? (scale)
• What do we have to work upon this problem? (feasibility)

 

PART 3:

Each of the approaches below builds on the approach preceding it. This is a process of building the space to carve more time out to create and innovate. Maslow captured this same mechanism in his pyramid of the hierarchy of needs. Author Jared Diamond chronicles it on a civilization level in his books Guns, Germs, & Steel and Collapse. He writes about how civilizations had to satisfy the basics before they could create things to satisfy complex needs that stand the test of time such as guns, steel, Moai idols, pyramids, and other monolithic builds. ‘You gotta walk before you can run.’ or in my fire analogy ‘You gotta gather wood, light the fire, get warm, so that you can spin the wool to weave the sweater, so you can warmly attract a cuddle buddy, so you can both make the journey to warm Aruba.’

• Solely opportunistic (flailing for survival) ⇒ outcome is survival
• Selectively opportunistic (Macgvyering) ⇒ outcome is thrival (meets more than 1 need)
• Partial curation (prototyping & iteration) ⇒ outcome is design (meets multiple / complex needs)
• Conscious  curation (Danish design: fit for purpose design to meet complex needs over time) ⇒ result is sustainability, meeting multiple needs over time / a dynamic system

I survive and learn through flailing, which can be a painful process, but this gives me the creativity and skill to know how to Macgvyer. Once I am Macgvyering and solving things in clever one-hit-wonder solutions meeting a couple of my needs, I can start to know my capabilities and materials enough to begin to play with design. I play with design through prototyping and iterating on how to meet multiple complex needs and begin to see the opportunity to carve out some space. With this newly carved space I can begin to think about how to solve the need with a system or a fancy dynamic system meeting multiple needs of multiple people over a long period of time.

For example: once I am fed and rested, I can begin to solve today’s immediate issues. In solving those problems I learn about my world through the failures and successes. These failures and successes I can now weather because I am surviving. I now have time to invest in prototyping and iterating to solve things well enough to meet my need for more space and time. Now my solutions are a bit more fit for meeting more unmet needs and I can earn myself even more time to properly ponder the conscious curation of a Danish design system built to stand the test of time and meet needs for many people for years to come. Example: foraging ⇒ hunting ⇒ agriculture ⇒ science + art & space food

Solely opportunistic (flailing for survival) ⇒ outcome is survival

This is when survival is paramount, time is short, pressure of unmet needs is high, resources are scarce, and you just ‘have to do something.’ I will take any kind of help offered to me. This is the space of literally shriveling up from unmet needs and provides very little space for choice, creativity, or invention. AND yet the human spirit is so inventive and resilient that in this space we still see remarkable solely opportunistic solutions throughout the world. Desperation can be at times the mother of invention. In this space the thing I do may not be the right thing. I will flail for help and flounder in how to use the scarce resources I have to survive. I will find creativity in the in the pressure and the pain, but if I am successful I will learn and come back again.

Supporting strategies for the solely opportunistic approach:

• satisfy the base physiological needs if you can: breathe, drink water, eat, sleep
• change your location / space / anything
• begin any self-talk / anti-panic / anti-anxiety rituals you have i.e. meditation / emergency procedures etc.
• reach out and ask for help
• re-frame the problem
• reconsider if the time pressure is real or a cognitive burden induced state due to your own unmet needs
• prepare yourself for not achieving optimal solutions / forgive yourself / set expectations of the community and stakeholders appropriately
• prepare to capture learning for next time

Selectively opportunistic (Macgvyering) ⇒ outcome is thrival (meets more than 1 need)

I define Macgyvering as selectively opportunistic because Macgvyer still has a choice in how he approaches problems and he has some resources i.e. chewing gum, his brains, and a little bit of time. In these situations there actually IS something to work with and some capabilities from which to begin. This space is the difference between people literally starving from unmet needs (survival) who need welfare and aid immediately and those who are creatively crafting a path forward with the materials at hand. For me this approach has become my powerhouse, my safe harbor, how I defined my value (dangerous at times). This is where the adaptable, flexible folk live. A place of easing into collaboration and crafting consensus in a community, but one that can over time become unfit for purpose, require lots of energy, and transform beautifully flexible people into harried haunted shells of their former selves. Beware hanging out in this space solely. One person / team cannot be endlessly adaptable or perform too many roles indefinitely. Being a constant burning platform fire fighter can create addictive, unhealthy, unsustainable games with unpredictable payoffs that can diminish over time as the team tires, makes mistakes, or worse sending you back into survival mode.

Supporting strategies for the selectively opportunistic approach:

• include all the supporting strategies for the approach above
• change roles / wear different hats
• do more research if you can: interrogate the unmet needs / their sources
• question the definition of the problem / question the lenses, bias, approaches
• plan for variety / progression up the design approach spectrum
• create opportunities to specialize  / focus deeply on a specific challenge i.e. move into the ‘design’ approach
• build in in contingency plans approaches wherever you can / hedge your bets
• provide different / obtain more resources

Partial curation (prototyping & iteration) ⇒ outcome is design (meets multiple / complex needs)

Partial curation I call the process of prototyping and iteration because it definitely takes more resources and time than Macgvyering but doesn’t provide sustainable systemic outcomes like conscious curation i.e. you’re probably going to have to do it again at some point. Most of innovation we see in businesses lives in the spectrum of these first 3 approaches and more and more businesses are aiming for the ‘Danish design to stand the test of time’ conscious curation approach. It is in this tier of approach the I can truly begin to feel the maturity of problem defining, solving and design take shape. This is like the lessons we learn from dozens of housemates or living in many cities before we decide to settle down. It is the serious dating phase of the design approach maturity journey.

Supporting strategies for the partial curation approach:

• include all the supporting strategies for the approaches above
• just because you have more resources doesn’t mean you can get precious, keep experimenting that’s what you worked so hard to create the space for
• forgive yourself because you are still not building a sustainable system, this is a model of the pyramids, not the real thing
• be prepared to spend more time / focus/ energy here, so take care of yourselves!
• fix one thing at a time, it is basic experimental design so you know what each variable does
• scenario test / war-gaming / love-gaming
• capture, capture, capture – you cannot iterate without a record of your data
• stop before you’ve exhausted all your resources because you’ll need some to deliver and communicate the final iteration

Conscious  curation (Danish design: fit for purpose design to meet complex needs over time) ⇒ result is sustainability, meeting multiple needs over time / a dynamic system

The holy grail, at least until we use conscious curation to design an even more sustainable, dynamic, self- adapting, mind predicting, magical unmet needs meeting solution. That is if we can handle the happiness of having our needs met. See the movie the Matrix if you want to know what I mean or read The Big Leap by Gaye Hendricks which discusses how we have upper limiting behaviors to stop us staying content for long periods of time  i.e. we might still design in some difficulty or variety because humans can’t handle it too easy for too long.  Conscious curation is a globally renowned specialty of the Danish and their thoughtful life curating approach to all things design and need-meeting approach to life called hygge. The Danes are known to be content and have worked as a civilization to create a designed place where people’s unmet needs are met through all aspects of life: transport, social structure design, industrial design, community design. You name it the Danes have found a way to consciously curate it and begun to conquer the unmet needs of the people on a dynamic, cultural, systemic approach level.

Supporting strategies for the conscious curation approach:

• include all the supporting strategies for the approaches above
• diversity and inclusion of thinking is a non-negotiable input at this point to design across a spectrum of unmet needs across time and space
• map the network or ecosystem thoroughly, and then do it again, and again, and imagine multiple futures of how it could evolve
• start with thourough introspection / self-reflection / design research as to what the unmet needs are and where they start and end
• understand ecosystems and networks holistically and test the effects of the solution on all parts of the systems
• start with a systemic output in mind
• design for re-design / iteration / dynamic change / resilience
• double / triple / quadruple the budget or time required as systems need lots of space to be developed
• do not undertake the conscious curation lightly, aiming high is well and good but you might be less stressed with lofty goals if you are solid in your survival, macgvyering, and prototyping and iteration skills first.

Final thoughts

In my own journey throughout childhood my family progressed from survival to ‘thrival’ (thriving). In my education I pursued the luxury jump from thrival to design, and now as I have some understanding of the need for space and how long life might be, I pursue sustainability. Each of these approaches is a crucible in its own right which I can use to refine my abilities and awareness. I can use these experiences along the journey to fortify me for the jump into the next hottest crucible which will meet my next new need for challenge. My final bit of advice is to curate your values, your purpose, you environment, your  travelling companions, and most of all yourself on this journey as strongly as you would curate any set of tools you plan to use to survive, thrive, and sustain yourself for the long life journey ahead to a sustainable, dynamic, ‘Danish designed’ future.

Advice to my future self: Don’t run before you can walk, gather firewood, light a fire, spin yarn, weave a sweater, ask for a cuddle buddy, and run off to warm Aruba.

Working Backwards to Move Forwards

The last month has consisted of reflection upon my recently completed MSc in design ethnography thesis (see previous post). Yesterday I realized we did not conduct any actual ethnography during our masters thesis. This revelation was induced due to a little help from a great informal critique by Chiara Garattini, whose staunch anthropological academic experience and pragmatic advice was a delight.

The MSc in design ethnography, though named as well as it could be, is still not accurately titled, or to say it more precisely it has metamorphosed into a creature of some much larger scope than initially intended.  We embarked on the course last year as a batch of intrepid individuals with diverse backgrounds. We left it as design researchers set upon strategically plodding forward to change the world and influence decision makers with our work. We didn’t do pure design or ethnography but we did turn ourselves into hybrids ready to span the chasm between the rock and the hard place

What have I learned? What is my takeaway?

I learned what a takeaway is and how in planning any product, service, or activity, we must begin with the takeaway. Start with the endgame and work backward, in order to move forwards.

Simple. Clean. Fun. This is my motto for project management and human relations. The best way to manage a complicated, multi-part, multi-disciplinary project is to cut out the fat, keep things clear, don’t waste resources, and make it fun. Having your whole team working in parallel and facing the same direction is keep to achieve effective outcomes.

Communicate strategically and use the vocabulary your audience is most comfortable using.

Confidence is crucial and empathy and understanding necessary to balance it.

Those are my big picture lessons learned during the Masters. My new approach to problem solving and life philosophy has grown out of the unique and challenging experiences of the last year.

Design, Ethnography, and Global Governance?

I found a great article today at 3quarksdaily titled At the Intersections of Design, Ethnography and Global Governance By Aditya Dev Sood. I highly recommend reading the whole extensive article.

Here is my favorite excerpt:

Both Design and Ethnography require one to look at the world in a visionary way: to see with one’s mind’s eye the subtle and hidden relationships that are not always visible on the surfaces, but discerned in the interaction of people and things. To see the way things are, however, is not precisely the same as to be able to see how they could be. I often think of the ideal dynamic between ethnographers and designers as akin to the heat cycle of the internal combustion engine. For the process to work right, we have to be able to move from people to product and back again, but as of now, we mostly train people to become virtuosos of material-cultural production with an amateur or folk knowledge of culture and social behavior. Or conversely, we train specialists in observing culture, who are painstakingly shy of actually producing new cultural artifacts in the world. To extend the metaphor of the heat cycle, this means that the sum of Design and Anthropology can be plotted as a line that courses back and forth without creating an area, a polygon, corresponding to new value. In the professional sphere, of course, designers and ethnographers do work together to create such value, but they must first learn one another’s languages and ways of working.