Social innovation in the real world - from silos to systems | Indy Johar | TEDxOxbridge

Summary

The speaker discusses the complexity of social innovation, using the example of addressing road fatalities in India to illustrate the need for multifaceted interventions rather than single solutions. They challenge the prevailing myths about entrepreneurship and venture capital, emphasizing the importance of systemic thinking and the need to rethink institutional infrastructure to scale effective social initiatives. The talk calls for a shift in perspective on welfare, investment, and the role of capital in social change, advocating for a collaborative approach to leadership and policy across organizations.

Takeaways

• 🌟 The speaker was inspired by a 2011 talk at Terrace, Oxbridge, which influenced their subsequent work and thinking about social innovation.
• 🚑 The story of an individual in India who sought to address the issue of road accidents and bystander inaction through systemic changes, including legal protection for helpers and improving ambulance services, illustrates the complexity of social challenges.
• 🤔 The speaker challenges the common belief in the 'silver bullet' solution, emphasizing that societal issues often require multiple coordinated interventions rather than a single product or service.
• 🌱 The example of Edible Todmorden demonstrates how investing in social capital, such as community gardening, can have broader positive effects on society, such as reducing crime and increasing employment.
• 💡 The speaker argues for a shift from an industrial mindset to a systems mindset, recognizing the interdependencies between various societal factors and the need for a more holistic approach to problem-solving.
• 🌐 The importance of addressing the 'dark matter' of social innovation, which refers to the institutional infrastructure that is necessary to scale up effective solutions to societal challenges.
• 💼 The current financial models, which are based on single transactions, are inadequate for dealing with systemic issues that require multifaceted, interconnected solutions.
• 🏛 The speaker calls for a reevaluation of how we perceive welfare, suggesting that it should be seen as an investment rather than a cost, which would change the narrative around its value to society.
• 🌱 The need for new models of business, finance, and governance that can accommodate the complexity of systems-level challenges and the interdependencies between various actors.
• 🤝 The importance of collaborative leadership and the development of shared language and intelligence to address multi-organizational challenges effectively.
• 🔍 The speaker emphasizes the need for open conversations about the politics of change, the design of systems-level governance, and the reinvention of institutional infrastructure to meet the demands of the 21st century.

Q & A

What inspired the speaker's recent years of thinking and work?

The speaker was inspired by a system builder talk in 2011 at Terrace, Oxbridge, which sparked a series of questions and reflections on social innovation.

What societal challenge does the speaker use as an example?

The speaker uses the example of road accidents in India, highlighting the complexity of the issue and the need for multiple interventions to address it effectively.

Why did the speaker's friend decide to leave his job in the US and go to India?

His friend's decision was prompted by the tragic death of a close friend who was left unassisted on the road in India for over an hour after an accident.

What was the initial obstacle the friend faced when trying to address the issue of road accidents in India?

The initial obstacle was the fear of the police among bystanders, which prevented them from helping accident victims on the road.

What did the friend do to address the fear of police among bystanders?

He built a movement and campaigned for a supreme law court ruling to protect citizens who help people in need, which was quite effective.

What was the next challenge the friend identified in addressing road accidents in India?

The next challenge was the lack of ambulance services to transport accident victims to hospitals.

How did the friend address the issue of transporting accident victims to hospitals?

He built a reward scheme recognizing police men and women for saving lives when they transported people to the hospital.

What was the role of the police in the absence of an ambulance service?

In the absence of an ambulance service, the police were the ones taking accident victims to the hospital.

What systemic issue did the speaker identify as a major challenge in social innovation?

The speaker identified the lack of institutional infrastructure to scale out successful social innovations as a major challenge in social innovation.

Why is the speaker critical of the focus on a single product or service as a solution to societal challenges?

The speaker argues that societal challenges are complex and interdependent, requiring multiple coordinated interventions rather than a single 'silver bullet' solution.

What does the speaker suggest is the role of welfare in supporting risk-taking in society?

The speaker suggests that the welfare state acts as an insurance, allowing individuals to take risks because they have a safety net.

What is the speaker's view on the current state of corporate governance in relation to systems-level thinking?

The speaker believes that most corporate governance is struggling to deal with today's reality of systems-level thinking and needs to be reinvented.

What is the speaker's perspective on the future of democracy?

The speaker sees the future of democracy not just in voting, but in the agency to create society through high-frequency feedback and interoperability.

What is the speaker's call to action for the audience?

The speaker calls for a reinvention of the institutional infrastructure, including the paradigms of finance, governance, and ethics, to address the challenges of the 21st century.

Outlines

00:00

🚦 Social Innovation and the Complexity of Societal Challenges

The speaker begins by expressing gratitude for being part of the event, drawing inspiration from a previous talk at the venue. They delve into the concept of social innovation, questioning its true meaning and using the example of road accidents in India to illustrate the complexity of societal issues. The narrative highlights an individual's journey from the US to India to address the lack of help for accident victims, leading to the creation of a movement and legal changes to protect good Samaritans. The speaker emphasizes that social challenges require multiple interventions rather than a single solution, challenging the myth of the 'silver bullet' in social entrepreneurship.

05:00

🌉 Building Social Capital and the Illusion of Single Solutions

This paragraph discusses the importance of social capital in driving change, using the example of Edible Todmorden, where community engagement led to a decrease in crime and an increase in local prosperity. The speaker critiques the industrial mindset that seeks direct cause-and-effect solutions, instead advocating for a deeper, systemic approach. They argue that interdependencies between issues are often overlooked, and that social innovation requires a shift away from traditional financial models and towards recognizing the value of collective action and systemic change.

10:02

🏢 Rethinking Institutional Infrastructure for Social Innovation

The speaker identifies the institutional infrastructure as a 'dark matter' problem in social innovation, arguing that current systems are not equipped to scale effective solutions. They use examples like Brixton Village to illustrate the need for new business, financial, and governance models that span multiple actors. The paragraph challenges the perception of welfare as a cost rather than an investment, suggesting that a shift in perspective could lead to more effective social policies. The speaker calls for a reevaluation of our financial and procurement practices to better support systemic change.

15:02

🤝 The Future of Collaborative Leadership and Systemic Change

In this paragraph, the speaker explores the concept of collaborative leadership across multiple organizations, emphasizing the need for a shared language and intelligence to effectively address complex challenges. They discuss the importance of smart policy and the politics of change, suggesting that transparency and a systemic approach are essential for progress. The speaker also raises questions about the future of governance, professional responsibilities, and the role of corporate forms in a rapidly evolving world.

20:04

🌟 Redefining Democracy and the Role of Agency in Society

The final paragraph concludes the speaker's thesis, suggesting that the future of democracy lies not in voting but in the agency to create society through high-frequency feedback and interoperability. They highlight the need to reinvent the corporate form and challenge the audience to rethink paradigms of institutional infrastructure, system financing, governance, and ethics. The speaker ends on a note of optimism, encouraging a shift in perspective to embrace complexity and the potential for systemic change.

Keywords

💡Social Innovation

Social innovation refers to the process of developing and implementing new ideas that address social needs and problems. In the video, the concept is discussed as a multifaceted challenge that requires more than a single solution or product. The speaker uses the example of addressing road accidents in India to illustrate the complexity of social innovation, where multiple interventions were needed to create a significant impact.

💡Wicked Societal Challenge

A wicked societal challenge is a complex social problem that is difficult to solve due to its interconnectedness with other issues and the lack of a clear solution path. The script mentions the high rate of road deaths in India as an example of such a challenge, emphasizing the need for systemic intervention rather than a simple fix.

💡Systemic Thinking

Systemic thinking involves understanding and addressing problems by considering the interactions and interdependencies within a system. The speaker argues that many societal challenges require this type of thinking, moving away from the traditional approach of single-point interventions. The example of the ambulance service in India and the need for a coordinated approach to social problems exemplifies this concept.

💡Intervention Points

Intervention points are specific areas within a system where actions can be taken to effect change. The video discusses the idea that solving complex social issues often requires identifying and addressing multiple intervention points, as opposed to relying on a single 'silver bullet' solution.

💡Silver Bullet

A silver bullet in this context is a single solution that is expected to solve a complex problem. The speaker challenges the myth of the silver bullet, suggesting that such a simplistic approach is inadequate for the intricate challenges faced in social innovation.

💡Bridging Social Capital

Bridging social capital refers to the connections between different groups or individuals within a community that can be leveraged to achieve common goals. The speaker cites the example of Edible Todmorden, where investment in social capital led to a decrease in crime and an increase in economic activity, illustrating the power of this concept in social innovation.

💡Institutional Infrastructure

Institutional infrastructure encompasses the systems, rules, and organizations that support and govern societal activities. The script highlights the need for reinventing this infrastructure to better support social innovations and to overcome the limitations of traditional, industrial-era models.

💡Dark Matter Problem

In the context of the video, the 'dark matter problem' metaphorically refers to the unseen or undervalued aspects of social innovation, specifically the institutional infrastructure that is necessary to scale and support innovative solutions. The speaker suggests that this is a critical yet often overlooked area in the pursuit of social change.

💡Welfare State

The welfare state is a concept where the government plays a key role in the well-being of its citizens by providing a range of services and benefits. The video discusses the welfare state not just as a cost but as an investment, challenging traditional perceptions and suggesting a reevaluation of its role in supporting societal risk-taking and innovation.

💡Public/Private Discourse

The public/private discourse refers to the debate and dynamics between government (public sector) and business (private sector) involvement in societal issues. The speaker argues that this distinction may be less clear in a systemic context, where the roles and responsibilities of both sectors are interdependent.

💡Multi-Stakeholder Contracts

Multi-stakeholder contracts are agreements that involve multiple parties with different interests, working together towards a common goal. The video suggests that designing and implementing such contracts is a key challenge in the future of social innovation, requiring a new approach to collaboration and governance.

💡Democratizing Agency

Democratizing agency refers to the empowerment of individuals and communities to participate in and influence the creation of their society. The speaker concludes by emphasizing that the future of democracy lies not just in voting but in this agency, which is closely tied to the ability to drive high-frequency feedback and interoperability in social systems.

Highlights

The speaker was inspired by a 2011 system builder talk in Terrace, Oxbridge, which influenced their recent work.

The concept of 'dark matter' in social innovation is introduced, questioning the true nature of what is discussed in policy agendas.

An example of a car crash in India is used to illustrate the complexity of societal challenges and the need for multifaceted interventions.

The story of an individual who left his job in the US to address the lack of help for accident victims in India, leading to systemic changes.

The importance of addressing the fear of police involvement as a barrier to helping accident victims in India.

The creation of a movement and a supreme law court ruling to protect citizens who help others in need.

The realization that the lack of an ambulance service was a critical issue in addressing road accidents in India.

Initiatives to recognize and reward police for their role in saving lives by transporting accident victims to hospitals.

The privatization of hospital infrastructure and the lack of incentives for treating accident victims despite legal requirements.

Lobbying government to include automatic health insurance on toll roads in India as a solution to the lack of treatment for accident victims.

The development of a tech product for emergency services similar to a 999 service in the UK.

The myth of the single product or service as a silver bullet in social innovation and the need for a systemic approach.

The story of Edible Todmorden as an example of how investing in social capital can lead to broader societal benefits.

The need to move beyond industrial mindsets and towards a more interconnected understanding of societal challenges.

The interdependencies between issues such as climate change and the global financial crisis as multi-actor problems.

The illusion of welfare as a cost rather than an investment and the need to rethink national accounting rules.

The NHS as an example of a system that provides value beyond its primary function, such as reducing corruption during crisis moments.

The challenge of creating system business models that span multiple actors and the need for new financial models.

The importance of shared language and intelligence in collaborative leadership across multiple organizations.

The need for smart policy that is inter-optimal between organizations and the politics of change as a necessary part of the process.

The future of regeneration and rural development through system-based thinking and the practical application of these concepts.

The reinvention of the corporate form and the recognition that it is not a permanent fixture but an idea that can evolve.

Transcripts

good afternoon I'm absolutely honored to

be here actually and part of the reason

I'm here was in 2011 marked at a rather

wonderful talk which was a system

builder talk right here in Terrace

Oxbridge and it's actually pretty much

inspired the last few years of thinking

and work that I've done and I hope in a

way raises some questions so on that

basis I'm going to talk a little bit and

I'm gonna braise some questions

following on from actually very much

what Mark and Margaret was saying but

looking at it in in a sense some of the

challenges I think we face the dark

matter I'm gonna talk about social

innovation everyone talks about it

everyone talks about it publicly it's

increasing in the policy agenda but

actually what is it what are we talking

about and I'm gonna use this example

India car crash in India it's a great

example of a wicked societal challenge

India is one of the largest road deaths

in the world when you look at this

problem unfortunately a friend of mine

his close friend passed away on the road

nobody helped him in the road in India

he was lying there for over an hour he

decided to leave his job in the US and

go to India and said I wanted to do

something about this he went out there

and he said why did people not help well

actually the reason people didn't help

at that time was because they were

concerned by the police everyone else

was talking about right we need to build

a tech product a 999 service but the

reason people white people why weren't

walking up and helping people with

they're worried that the police would

take them in so what did he do he ended

up building he ended up actually

building a relatively large so movement

but also getting a supreme law court

ruling done a huge campaign actually to

protect citizens who actually helped

help people in need

did that was quite effective what's he

done dad what he realized was actually

people weren't still being taken to

hospital because there's no ambulance

service so who was taking people to

hospital

well actually was the police men and

women what did he do he turned around

and build a reward scheme recognizing

police men and women saving lives when

people were getting to hospital

unfortunately we weren't still being

treated he meant much of the hospital

infrastructure is actually privatized

there were no incentives even though

there is a legal requirement so you then

lobbied government to effectively put

put it put it on all toll roads in India

you're automatically health in short now

many of the tours being built in India

are now we've got automatic health

insurance on them now after that he's

built a tech out which allows you to

call an equivalent of a 999

why am I telling you this story the

reason why I'm tell you the story is

this story is a perfect example of why

in a system you cannot intervene with

one product there is no illusion of a

single product solving the problem

actually they're multiple intervention

points which have to be coordinated to

delight drive change many of the

societal challenges we face are actually

driven in the same way yet when I talk

to many social entrepreneurs and social

change makers we've become indoctrinated

with the myth of the entrepreneur the

myth of the venture capital the myth of

the single product the myth of the

single service the myth of the silver

bullet to follow on from the myth of the

superhero it isn't that that isn't how

change occurs also most as most of the

changes are bleak it's not

straightforward it's not cause and

effect this is a perfect example from

edible Todmorden

- really amazed amazed equipmen leaders

of the council ex leaders of the council

decided to effectively plant every spare

land that was visible in the city every

spell and literally seven years later

crime is down number of abandoned shops

is down number of new jobs be craters

increased why as Margo rightly said they

had invested in building the bridging

social bridging social capital they

hadn't invested in a start-up fund they

haven't gone around marketing the land

what they'd invested in was bridging

social capital they'd got everyone out

talking working with each other now when

I talk to policymakers I say how are you

going to improve the economic

performance of your town what do people

do they set up a social investment fund

the point is the solutions are oblique

they're not direct yet in our industrial

models of thinking we think only cause

an effect yet actually we have to think

a little bleep a little deeper so when

you look at society social innovation

actually it's slightly more oblique you

have to look non not in an industrial

mindset and then actually increasingly

you have to start to think through the

system in a way most of the last kind of

400 500 years of enlightenment thinking

have encouraged us to think in silos we

split art from science science maths

physics we've atomized everything yet

actually what's becoming interesting is

over the last few years the

interdependencies between things is

becoming the thing that is killing us

climate changes in our single actor

problems a multi actor problem

global financial crisis was not a single

actor problem is a multi actor problem

it is the thing between things

following on quite eloquently

and what you start to see is effectively

the interdependency is more complex

so in fishing rights and actually

decline of fishing stocks there were

relationships between gang violence and

the social capital destruction that was

going on in gang violence to the decline

of fishing stock and overfishing how do

you intervene in a system like that as

opposed to always imagining just the

fish

what does entrepreneurship look like in

this world what has changed look like in

this world that is the question that

we're facing the illusion of a single

product is actually a convenient lie of

the last 400 years

that worked beautifully for the infinite

idea of the infinite world as the

interdependency of our world becomes

material that lie no longer is helpful

there are the lies and other myths and

one of the big ones is welfare how is

welfare perceived this is a injury as

sort of a very quick diagram that we put

together for a conversation which was

actually you can proceed welfare in many

different layers welfare is public good

you can see we're up there from the idea

of the mitigation of sort of the issue

of homelessness you say let's move

someone off the street right just move

them off the street that reduces our

welfare

actually it doesn't somebody's homeless

cost the state and public goods

somewhere about 35 to 45 thousand pounds

a year in emergency care in other non

direct related issues so when you look

at it when you don't look at it from the

problem of the individual but a

cheetah's system actually there are real

costs attributed to us that's only the

real sort of accountant first order game

then the real opportunity is I'll

actually hold it how much hours are we

how much are they not contribute to

society and then the third third and

final layer which is super important

which is actually how much of all of us

how many of ask

take a risk because actually we have the

insurance of the welfare state so how do

we how does the welfare state support us

all to take risk I'll give you a

parallel example the NHS is not just

good for health it's also good for

corruption when does corruption occur in

crisis moments in people's lives that is

where crap corrupted behaviors become

endemic so when we look at health care

from purely a health perspective we lose

all the system values that it provides

why am I talking about this

because actually we've been stuck at a

product level problem homelessness is a

single issue but actually when you look

at it from a systems level you start to

see the business models the value models

the financial models are different yet

our financial models are based on single

point transactions what happens when you

invest into a social housing block

because out of energy poverty the

savings are made by the NHS because a

number of pneumonias going down yet our

financial models are no longer able to

compute this unless we can we cannot

deal with the challenges we have in the

21st century so a challenge for us is

not only building corporate business

models the system business models which

span multiple actors the challenge we

face is there are many many innovations

going on beautiful examples edible tour

Morton as many many many of them but

actually what's becoming more and more

fundamental this is at Brixton village

which was done by Dugald again a

beautiful pieces of example really

practical on their ground examples but

actually what's becoming more and more

problematic is that all of these

innovations are largely black swans

they're happening regardless of the

institutional system actually how we

account how we structure is all still

organized in industrial sets and in a

way my thesis I want to prevent present

here is that actually the social

innovation challenge is that here a dark

matter problem is the institutional

infrastructure

problem right now we face it is no

longer a problem of us knowing that

healthy sort of walkable roads are a

good thing we know that already we know

edible Todmorden works the problem is

not knowing that it works the problem is

we don't have the institutional

infrastructure to scale it out so when I

ask policy people why don't you do this

they say well I don't know how to fund

it how am I going to fund how as an

economic development officer am I going

to fund somebody to plant carrots you

see right and let's not imagine that

nothing's being done actually there is a

lot of interesting moves in

institutional infrastructure that are

being developed CICS and sort of lots of

plays being at being added but actually

the real questions are still open and

I'm gonna list quickly some real

challenges one welfare is increasingly

perceived as a cost as opposed to an

investment try that trick in your mind

it's a very interesting trick and the

reason why it's perceived as a cost is

because of national accounting rules

what if it's perceived as investment how

would you perceive the ROI of actually

investing in someone who's homeless it's

a completely different story it's a

completely different narrative it's a

completely different discourse -

actually it's not enough to just talk

about the impact capital we've seen big

society capital put together 600 million

which let's put it also in Frank Frank

terms we buy 1 billion pounds worth of

ice cream so we have 600 million a year

sorry 1 billion pounds of ice cream we

have 600 million of impact capital being

allocated it's not enough only when we

start to account for future social costs

and liabilities what happens let's

imagine the next 10 years worth of

liabilities of stock board we start to

understand that actually the role of

capital in debt set the Desai's

allocating that market

until we start to understand those

liabilities and account for them we

cannot open up this conversation

most of our discourses I was rightly

said as I was saying earlier was that

actually we talk about all our languages

come from venture capital all our

language is borrowed from the idea that

one company will give a hundred x return

ten companies will give ten x and

everything else will be wiped out it

isn't going to change that's not how we

can finance this change that isn't how

this works yet all of social investment

has borrowed headlong into this world so

what the system financing looked like

and how do you find it systems is going

to be one of the key issues another one

the whole public/private discourse may

be an illusion when you draw the system

out actually what you realize is

actually the public-private discourse is

increasingly the local authority in that

diagram was a very small actor at the

top right hand actually it's about

interdependence II maybe the way we've

started to conceive this industrial idea

of tax and redistribute is actually an

old-fashioned idea because actually

there is the private actors even have to

acknowledge the shared wealth and their

shared liabilities they hold the way we

procure we procure singularly one actor

to one after what has many too many

procurement look like that's going to be

possible when we start to think about

computable contracts massive how about

all of us were in a contract together

what would happen we can start to

imagine this world with actually

computable contracting this does to

change the nature of the relationships

we build and how we organize the chains

of relationship become metrics of

relationships what does that mean what

does leadership look like when you

actually have to talk about leadership

across multiple organizations working

collaboratively to an end incredibly

difficult what does this collaborative

leadership look like Margaret said more

than

spoke about more than eloquently but the

challenge is not just in organizations

it's between multiple organizations and

that I think is another order of

challenge and if you want to invest in

this well actually have to invest in

shared language as Mark was saying

that's a chip invest in shared senses

how do you see the world together now

that census could be data doesn't really

matter intelligence how do you have

shared intelligence then you have to

talk about smart policy policy which is

inter optimal between organizations

again this is not a myth anymore this is

a game possible and then you have to

talk about the politics of change often

in strategy and discussion politics has

become a dirty word but the reality is

if you want to even change a kitchen in

a in an office you end up talking to the

right people so why don't we talk about

the politics of change why don't we talk

about the politics and make them

transparent and make them a key part of

the process there's an open one for you

guys I don't know but I recognize that

governance our systems level is going to

be a key issue and I don't know how to

do it

in fact most corporate governance is

actually struggling to deal with today's

reality but actually how do we talk

about governance at a systems level

multi actor governance what is that

going to look like and in a sense we're

seeing these realities play out so these

conversations that we were having about

they're being played out and actually

the future of regeneration future of

actually rules development systems

investment into rural villages into kind

of ecological systems again some

fantastic work happening and also

corporate supply chains so what we're

starting to see is that system based

thinking aside to deploy itself in new

ways across these these are probably the

early mover landscapes this is not a

myth it's actually quite practical

ground and there's some open questions

massive multi-stakeholder contracts how

do you design them how do you put them

together

what does governments look like what do

what is effectively design at a system

forever look like what is authorship

what has liability look like all these

things are going to get questioned and

opened up in a way that we've just not

become used to yet

what does professionalism look like and

professionalism where you have to take

account of your active public

responsibilities I'm going to come to an

end and in a sense the thesis I want to

say is the future is not complex

actually complexity is actually reminds

a view problem it only looks complex

when you look from the top down that

diagram of of the fish was entirely done

by actually citizens entirely done on

post-it notes and fisherman's and

teachers it looks complex and intricate

to us because we look at it from a

god-like perspective when you're in it

that you're part of the process and in

the way the future is going to be built

by us having to be able to build massive

multi-story back and interoperability

what does that look like what is the

process of doing that what does that

company of the future which does that is

I think going to be the biggest and most

interesting challenge I think that's how

we're going to redefine democracy it's

not going to be the vote it's about how

we actually drive that high frequency

feedback and interoperability to create

a new democratic power to create our

society democracy is not the vote it's

the agency democratize agency to create

Society I'm having these conversations

in Dubai which I find fascinating

because they start to think about it in

a different way it's maybe time for us

to think about this in a different way

and I'm honored to be here and honored

to be speaking I'm after marking

Margaret because I think they genuinely

have led us to a different conversation

but it requires us to really start to

think through the institutional

infrastructure and the paradigms that

we've been talking about institutional

file system financing system governance

system ethics these are going to be

their real everyday issues for us to

reinvent and remember the corporate form

as an idea was built it was an idea born

in the 17th century it's not been here

forever and nor will it be for here

forever our role is to reinvent it thank

you

you