Why Social Entrepreneurship, Systems Thinking, and Complexity?
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Transcript of Why Social Entrepreneurship, Systems Thinking, and Complexity?
Why Social Entrepreneurship, Systems Thinking, and Complexity?
Bringing Theory and Practice Together
“There is nothing more practical than a good theory.”
-- Kurt Lewin
Associacao Saude Crianca Renascer
• 1991--founded by Pediatrician Vera Cordeiro because of recidivism rate of children with same health problems; meeting with 50 colleagues
• Reach-out to families (mothers) in favelas re: treatment plans, medical education, antiseptic conditions; enlisted other docs, nurses, etc.
• Many more joined as volunteers, set-up physical location, began work inside the favelas and instituted job training and small businesses involving dress making, crafts, cooking
• Free nutritional supplements as incentives• Funding from government, Ashoka Foundation, dues
paying members, help from McKinsey Consulting• Replication: scaling outwards to 14 other hospitals
in Rio, Sao Paulo, and Recife.
s
~ /s
Odilon Arantes (Head of Pediatric Ward at Hospital
da Lagoa): “Here I can say with absolute assurance
that the main element for Renascer’s success was
Vera.”
“[Vera] acknowledged she… had brought people
together, but it was their collective energy that
made it all happen.” [Bornstein, p. 145]
Success Factors in S.E. What to Emphasize?
Charismatic heroic leader
Networks, Emergence, Resonance--Complexity
Barka Foundation for the Promotion of Mutual Help
• In early 1990s, gov’t stopped subsidizing collective farms with the result that thousands became homeless;
• Tomasz Sadowski and his wife, both psychologists, purchased abandoned schoolhouse and renovated it and started farming;
• By 2003 there were 20 such homes/farms; mature “mother” houses hatch new smaller homes and farms;
• Residents manage each home and farm with assistance of Barka’s staff;
• One resident, “We are all people with problems…biggest miracle is that we sit at one table and talk with each... at the end of the day I feel needed”
• Sadowski: “People told us that it wasn’t possible to create such an inclusive feeling…there is nothing mysterious about it. …The worst criminal doesn’t believe things can be this way only because he has never come across these kinds of relationships..”
Barka Foundation for the Promotion of Mutual Help
• Sadowski: “People told us that it wasn’t possible
to create such an inclusive feeling…there is
nothing mysterious about it. …The worst criminal
doesn’t believe things can be this way only
because he has never come across these kinds of
relationships..”collective/cooperation; interaction resonance; emergence (possibility and hope)-- complexity
Social Entrepreneurship:Grass roots/community organizing
Organizing
Complexity Theory:Networks/Graphs
What kind of network or graph?Hub network; scale free network; small
world network; emergence of giant cluster?
What information do we gain when we know what kind of network/graph?
OrganizingSocial Entrepreneurship has Systems Thinking and
Complexity Written All Over It
Networks/graphs/collectivity
Distributed control/heterarchy
Innovation/emergence
Scaling outwards, upwards, downwards
Differences/information flow
Self-organization…
Equilibrium describes a stable state, generally economic or social, controlled by and benefiting established entities. The social entrepreneur sees the limitations of an existing equilibrium and offers a more efficient solution with the potential to benefit those not served by the existing model. Skoll is seeking social entrepreneurs who have created and are implementing new, large-scale approaches that can change the equilibrium by fundamentally transforming the lives of marginalized populations. The ultimate example of equilibrium change would be to eliminate a problem by solving its root cause or to create global impact by driving universal adoption of a new innovation by all others who address the same issue.
From Skoll Application Form:
Challenge of Diffusion of Innovation for S. E.’s. (Rogers)
Early Adopters --- 13.5%
Innovators – 2.5%
Normal Distribution
Mean
Challenge of Diffusion of Innovation for S. E.’s. (Rogers)
Early Adopters --- 13.5%
Innovators – 2.5%
Normal Distribution
Mean
From Resistance to Attraction
From Eoyang
Status QuoPassivity
InertiaRestoration
RewardRecognitionSharing
ComraderieBoredom
WarShort term peace
AngerFrustration
CreativityInnovationTransformation LearningExcitementTension
life consciousness speciation project life consciousness speciation project
teams multi-organisms artificial life the teams multi-organisms artificial life the
InternetInternet
magnetism superfluidity magnetism superfluidity
superconductivitysuperconductivity
additional computational functionalityadditional computational functionality
dissipative structures optimal options dissipative structures optimal options
pricesprices
perception of color attractors and their perception of color attractors and their
basinsbasins
drug interactions leadership drug interactions leadership
behavior behavior
software “bugs” temperature software “bugs” temperature
citiescities
wars scientific revolutions Benard wars scientific revolutions Benard
cells cells creative ideas giant creative ideas giant
graph component graph component
EXAMPLES OF EMERGENCEEXAMPLES OF EMERGENCE
Social entrepreneurial projects
“In a sense, I put together elements that were already there, but that is what inventors always do. You can’t make up new elements, usually. The new element, if any, it was the combination, the way they were used.”
-- Kary Mullis, Nobel Laureate for his invention of polymerase chain
reaction (PCR)
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
-Thomas Alva Edison