Is it possible to reform the great institutions of our time? Is it possible to align them to the real needs of people?
I was at a meeting last week where passionate reformers have worked for more nearly 50 years to reform the US military. They had a few successes but over time they all failed. The "System" is more disconnected and bad today than when they started in the 1970's. I too was part of a major effort at reform in a large bank. We were all marginalized and fired.
As I look at this image above, I see why we have to fail. It is a matter of design. How can a machine and a kinetic tool transform and become a living thing?
Do you see the path for that transformation? I don't!
Over the next few weeks, I am going to dig into this. I need to find out why our work to reform institutions is futile and to seek what will take us to a better place.
I am sure that many of you are hovering around this point yourselves and I am sure that many will be reaching the hopeful alternative that I see too.
The alternative starts not with reforming THEM but surely US. It starts with each one of us. We as the change are our only hope.
PEI is near the Tipping Point where a new system breaks out. For many years the farmer's market was where the Granola fold met. It was a club of the converted. It was the Innovators who are this group. Innovators are:
Innovators are daring, rash and risky. They are able to cope with a high level of uncertainty. Rogers says, "While an innovator may not be respected by the other members of a local system, the innovator plays an important role in the diffusion process; that of launching the new idea in the system by importing the innovation from outside of the system's boundaries. Thus the innovator plays a gate-keeping role in the flow of new ideas into a system."
My dear friend Raymond Loo was such a patient Innovator.
But now it has moved up the curve. Farmer's Markets all over North America are booming into the next level of acceptance. They are growing at 17% a year. Now the next stage of people, the Early Adopters are moving in.
Opinion leadership is an important aspect of the Early Adopter. They often serve as a role model for other people. They are more integrated into society than the innovators. "The early adopter is respected by his or her peers, and is the embodiment of successful, discrete use of new ideas. The early adopter knows that to continue to earn this esteem of colleagues and to maintain a central position in the communication networks of the system, he or she must make judicious innovation-decisions. The early adopter decreases uncertainty about a new idea by adopting it, and then conveying a subjective evaluation of the innovation to near-peers through interpersonal networks," Rogers said.
This part of the Adoption Cycle is all about gaining credibility and in building infrastructure. It starts with more supply.
Such as people like Amy and Verena of Heart Bet Organics They find that they can buy good land that is relatively cheap compared to Ontario or close to Montreal. Low capital cost and a good market have been the key to people like them setting up shop. They also use a very innovative model of super high ntensity greenhousing that allows them to produce and sell for 10 months of the year.
It starts with new kinds of relationships that drive credit. Such as Raymond's Indiegogo campaign and all those that use CSA such as Jen and Derek. And who also use small acres and greenhouses.
It starts with new distribution such as Aaron Koleszar who delivers to your door. Or the Riverview Market and others like that that offer a regular supply of real food.
It starts importantly with Chefs. On PEI Chefs have made local food their trade mark. Started by Chef Michael Smith, now most chefs on PEI lead the way. They are a key taste shifter - they are the ideal Early Adopter with credibility.
For even more credibility, we see the Culinary Institute. Boot Camps and local sourcing add their weight.
The Beef and the Pork industry are there. They now see that what they have to sell is QUALITY.
All that is left to take PEI to the edge is now for the government to make sourcing local food the key to all the institutions that it supports. That means UPEI, the Manors and Hospitals. It is madness that the worst food you get today is while a patient in hospital. In other places this trend is well under way. At Dalhousie, more than 40% of the food serrved to students is local. It is possible. The Culinary are close to this level. It's a matter of will.
Once this is done, then the supporting systems needed to take this into the Early Majority will be in place.
So all of this is bubbling up and leading us to the edge of the Tipping Point. What will tip PEI over? What will get the Early Majority convinced. These people are:
The early majority adopts new ideas just before the average member of a system. The early majority is the most numerous adopter categories, making up one-third of the members of a system. Rogers says, "The early majority may deliberate for some time before completely adopting a new idea. Their innovation-decision period is relatively longer than that of the innovator and the early adopter. They follow with deliberate willingness in adopting innovations, but seldom lead."
I think 4 factors.
The new understanding about health. Over the last 5 years more and more people have started to get the information that they need to take charge of their own health. Central to this is the new knowledge about what foods are good and not good for us. Highly processed food is rapidly being seen as the cause of the epidemic of chronic illness. In 5 years this knowledge will be well into the Early Majority. The Health care system already know this and will start to push hard on diet and lifestyle. They do not have the money to give us pills that don't work.
Long term structural unemployment. The old jobs are not coming back. What will people do for work? Some are going back to the land, where most people worked 100 years ago. They are going back not as subsistence hippies but as "New Farmers". They will be pasturing animals, using greenhouses, using permaculture. They will finance using their community. They will train the next layer. They will seek low cost land and a ready market.
PEI has the least expensive good farmland close to a ready market. Where else can you get 100 acres and a house for less than $100,000? You don't need this either. 15 acres and a farm house is all you need. You cannot get this in Ontario or Quebec. I am seeing couples in their mid thirties giving up their urban lfe and looking for places such as PEI to make a new life. If we pay attention to this trend, we can also make a difference to PEI's skewed population.
Much of the rest of Agricultural Canada is tied into the old grain model. PEI does not make grain is central plank. This keeps land prices too high for people that wish to be the new farmers. It also holds the whole system back. This reluctance will give PEI an export market.
I am very excited to be back soon on my beloved PEI.
I will be giving this years George McRobie Lecture at the MacPhail Homestead on Saturday night Oct 26 at 6pm.
The evening begins at 6 pm with a reception and cash bar, followed by the lecture at 7 pm.
The title of my talk will be, “Food & Health; the PEI Opportunity.”
I have become convinced that the connection between health and food, that some see now, will become THE key idea over the next 30 years and will drive not only a change in how and what we eat but of course in how we grow food. In time I think that this may lead to PEI becoming a HAVE province.
In my talk I will:
Explain the connection between food and the epidemic of chronic illness that not only affects PEI but of course the world today
We will see why those of you who on PEI are growing food in a new/old way will be the key suppliers of what will become a massive demand for genuine quality
We will see why such an approach to growing food can only scale using a network of small producers
We will see how chefs and restaurants on PEI and elsewhere are the key bridge between the old and the new system
We will see how large institutions such as universities will add positive pressure to the shift and expand the infrastructure needed to get into the mainstream
We will look at the opportunity for PEI to create a full employment economy and a much healthier society
This lecture series is named in honour of Dr. George McRobie, Patron for The Homestead Farm, the new sustainable agriculture entity operating at the Homestead. George McRobie has long been one of the world’s leading proponents of sustainable agriculture and appropriate small-scale technology.
I am back after a summer of reflection and family.
Here is a short slide deck that has helped me understood why we are so stuck today. I see now that the Buddhists are correct. Life as we know it is based on an illusion. This illusion is that we are all separate objects. So if we don't like what is going on in Syria we bomb it. If you are ill we treat the sympton etc.
This deck is very short - hope you see what I see. And glad to be back
Please forgive the odd thing with slideshare - they have somehow removed the image of the solar system????
I am sure that you , like me, have been wondering what is going on as seemingly small issues such as bus pass prices or a development project seem to spark such massive social movements.
As I walked the dog this morning it was what filled my mind.
Might it be that many many people have lost faith with the idea and the practice of government?
They don't want Bread and Circuses as in Brazil. They want government to do what government used to do - operate good schools and healthcare.The government seems bought off by FIFA and the IOC and the developers. The government fails most of the people.
They don't want developers to rule in Turkey and urban Turks do not want a theocracy. The traditionalist government is supported by the rural vote. The urban Turks cannot go back but the rural Turks cannot go forward.
In America we also see a split between the Coasts and coastal cities and much of the old Confederacy. Neither side feels that government represents them. No single government can! Instead it seems clear to most now that the US government serves only the elite.
I think that we are seeing a 3 way split. There is a conflict in values between the new and the old and the Elites have taken the prize.
Might it be that many nations are split in their values between "traditionalists" who look to external authority and to a growing group of people who are "participants" who need to be actors in their own lives. Who look to their internal locus of control?
I see these groups in every nation. The traditionalists all want the same thing. So do the Participants. The problem is that they are locked into one nation and so into great conflict. This feels to me like the time of the Reformation. There was no middle ground for those who wanted the Pope to act between them and God and those that wanted to relate to God directly.
What I see that is new is the role of the elites. Then the elites themselves were split along religious lines. Now the elites are using the anger of the traditionalists to keep their power. There are no elites on the side of freedom and of self.
Which brings me to the web and to Prism and the NSA.
The great force that is driving the new reformation is surely the web. It is the fire than fuels the new. It is where each of us can find out what we need and to connect to others like us. It is like when Luther translated the Bible into German. It was why Printers were burned at the stake. The Traditionalist do not want people to form their own views.
The elite has launched the Inquisition. They have used Terror as their excuse and to get the Traditionalists onside.
So how do Traditionalists define "terror"? It is surely any person that does not take the party line. It will be anyone who objects to the Elite and how they run things. Don't like the pipeline, you are a terrorist. Offer unpasteurized milk, you are a terrorist. Don't like the banks, you are a terrorist.
THIS is why what is going on in the US is so dangerous. The Traditionalists have been weak on the web. They cannot use it for themselves. But they can and are now controlling it.
I don't know how this will turn out but I do know my history. We are seeing a schism in human society that can only get worse I fear. People die and kill for these deep beliefs.
So far the Participants have been naive. There is no naivety on the other side. The Elites know who their enemies are and they know that this is a life and death conflict.
"Mr. Gill owes about $45,000 in federal student loans, plus another $40,000 to his parents. That investment in his future has led to a secure job with decent pay and good benefits. But it has left him with tremendous financial constraints, as he faces chipping away at the debt for years on end.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in a new study, found that 30-year-olds with student loans were now less likely to have debts like home mortgages than 30-year-olds without student loans — even though most of those with student loans are better educated and can expect to earn more money over their lifetimes. The same pattern holds true for 25-year-olds and car loans.
This is surely a different start than any modern generation has had before? Can you buy a car? Can you own a home? Can you afford to have children? What does it mean for how you live your life?
Is this why so many young don't and have to find another way?
Is this why car sharing has to be a new reality? Is this why renting will become so important? Is this why owning stuff will have to be less important? Is this why in the UK so many 30 plus year olds still live with their parents?
Isn't our economy and our culture is centred on owning stuff. It has been since the dawn of agriculture. But the Millennials cannot own stuff. A whole generation will grow into middle age with few assets that they "Own".
A marker of this is car sales. Cars sales have dropped in Europe for 18 months in a row. Car sales are down 10% in Europe and 17% in Germany! Demand also sank in other major continental markets, falling 14.5% in France, 13.9% in Spain and 4.9% in Italy. The UK was the only major bright spot for car makers, with sales up 5.9%.
What does this mean to an economy that is based on selling more and more stuff?
What will this mean to marriage and family? At the moment single people and single parents are at an all time high. Can a person survive as a single in this kind of world where sharing may be the only way to have what we need?
We cannot know how this will be in any detail. But this is will be very different from any generation for 10,000 years.
It could mean the re-emergence of a society that is based on sharing and on the tribe. We used to live like this. Huans lived like this for all time - Except the last 10,000 years after the dawn of agriculture.
More and more people cannot get work or get work that is worthwhile. So they start to live another way. Many laugh at these people and think of them as Hipster poseurs. Maybe some are poseurs but, as the reality of the job world becomes more clear and long term, Urban Mamas are a trend.
“The various pieces—the urban chickens, the domestic-porn blogs, the retro cookery, the attachment parenting—are beginning to come together to reveal a larger whole,” writes Matchar. “To say that these phenomena are ‘just trends’ or to snark on them as the whims of privileged hipsters is to ignore this emerging bigger picture.
Fashion is fashion, but our current collective nostalgia and domesticity-mania speak to deep cultural longings and a profound shift in the way Americans view life.”
And not only well-off Americans with liberal-arts degrees. Matchar began her book expecting to find a lot of ex-CEOs and dropouts from corporate law. Instead, she discovered “middle-class people struggling with modern life. Underemployed recent college grads learning to knit because they got no satisfaction out of their temp jobs. Women who ‘just happened’ to learn about attachment parenting at the end of their too-short maternity leaves from jobs they felt ambivalent about to begin with.”
My wife and I live on a very very low income. More and more of us are like this. I cannot go back to get a job. So making our own food, clothes etc is not a hobby. Making bone soup is not a crafty new recipe but is a healthy necessity. We long term baby sit because our kids need the break. I ask my son to help me stack wood for the winter, because I need this cheaper alternative. I have a beard even. Do you know what blades cost today? I wear the same old clothes.
Living on a very low income will be where most of us will be soon.
We will be pushed into this or you will not be able to go back to your stupid job. We will find out what it is like to get more for less. Because, you can have more for less. You might have less stuff but you can have more life. You will have time to raise your kids. You will have time to cook and so eat better food for less. You will have time. Time to do things for your self and for those you love.
The Queen Street Commons, PEI's Co Working site, at 224 Queen St Charlottetown, opened its doors in May 2005. We were one of 5 such sites in the entire world!
There are now nearly 800 commercial co-working facilities in the United States, up from a little more than 300 only two years ago, and about 40 in 2008, according to an annual survey by Deskmag, an online magazine that covers the co-working industry.
More than 110,000 people currently work in one of the nearly 2,500 coworking spaces available worldwide. Compared to last year, there are now 83% more coworking spaces that serve a total of 117% more members! Considering only workdays, we see 4.5 new coworking spaces have emerged daily for the past twelve months. During the same time, the number of coworking members increased by 245 people on average each work day. (Deskmag)
As a member of the QSC, you are also part of the Coworking Visa - you have the benefit of access to over 200 sites all over the world. Details here. Visiting Toronto, London, Paris, Los Angeles? You have a space and a community waiting for you.
What is going on and how might this help you?
Working at an office can be too structured. Working at home can be too lonely. You may not have a job anyway. If you are under 30, you probably don't. Same if you are over 55. So you seek to make a living. Co Working gives you the network to help. It gives you the social space to thrive in.
So are you a student with a summer clear ahead of you and want to get a feel for this kind of work and space? Maybe you have a project? Are you in your 40's and 50's and wonder how you will cope when you lose your job? have you retired but are going mad from boredom?
The benefits of coworking continue to be realized: 71% of respondents said their creativity had increased since joining, and 62% said their standard of work had improved. Countering the common claim that coworking spaces can be distracting, 68% said they were able to focus better, as compared to 12% who said the opposite. 64% said they could better complete tasks on time.
Who are the coworkers? 53% are freelancers, while the remainder are entrepreneurs, small company employees, big company employees, and 8% who describe themselves as none of the above (the proportion of "other" respondents has increased from 5% two years ago to 8%, while entrepreneuers has fallen from 18% to 14%). The proportion of female coworkers is growing, up from 32% in 2010 to 38% today.
The average number of desks and members is growing. The maximum capacity of most spaces is now 41 people, and the average membership size is 44. Desk utilization is up, from 49% to 55%, meaning spaces are being used by their members more frequently.
The majority of coworkers are so content with their workspace that they don't plan to leave. 62% said they have no plans to leave their locations, while less than 5% will stay just for one month, disproving the notion that coworking is for mobile workers only.
What is the economy that will give us all hope - real hope that we can have a good life? I think that it is what I call the Networked Artisan. This is a person who makes things by their own hands but uses often the new tools to do this and the network to connect and sell to a community that can be next door or across the way.
It can be a micro farmer like Amy and Verena at Heart Beet Organics on PEI who operate a 2 acre farm using large greenhouses to produce veggies 10 months of the year.
As part of the pattern for all Networked Artisans, they sell direct to customers and create close personal relationships with them. Farmers markets grew by 17% last year. Food will be at the core of this new personal movement. Trust is at the heart of it.
In the UK there are web hubs springing up that make it easier and easier for customers to become part of this.
Are you a knitter? There are 3 million knitters in an online community called Ravelry. Here they compare projects, help each other and sell things to each other. It is a vast tribe of knitters.
Underneath all of this is a new market. This is the market of the people who no longer trust the corporate offering. They know that they lose control and that they are often lied to. This is why food is a wedge. For as people learn how the processed diet is so bad for them AND how they have been misled as to its safety, they seek food that they can trust.
How big is this market?
2.5% of a population are the Innovators who jump in early. In America that is about 8 million people.
13.5% are the Early Adopters - that is about another 40 million.
So nearly 50 million people are ready for this kind of offering. That is a huge market for a small artisan. A market that the Big Corporates cannot reach and compete in any more. They will be excluded over time.
Meanwhile, all the technology that is taking away the jobs in that sector, is helping the New Artisan. You have rock bottom communication costs. You have top flight tools. Want an ecommerce tool - Woo Commerce. Want CRM - Paupress. Want to publish a book - pressbooks. Want make a prototype - 3D printers. Each year, the tools get better and cheaper.
And most importantly as we see in Ravelry and Big Barn, we see the online aggregators getting better. You have an appartment - Airbnb. You make fountain pens - Etsy.
Soon every commnity will have such a site. It will get easier and easier to become part of this.
The future is here now. The empowered person in the empowering network of people who want trust and meaning back in their lives.
So what do you do?
My first book - You Don't Need a Job - explores this shift in detail. If you want to know more abouyt what is going on and how to become part of this, then please give it a whirl.
On this day, April 9th, 1917 the Canadian Corps captured Vimy Ridge and changed how war was fought in WWI. Their story is not only important in purely historic terms (this was Canada's Waterloo - Gettysburg - Gallipoli) but how they did this has lessons for all today who wish to make their organization more like a network and less like a machine.
How do organizations make sense of the new networked world? The same problems faced generals in WWI. How were they to make sense of industrial warfare? The Canadian Corps solved this problem in 1917 at Vimy. The lessons learned of how they did this apply today. Here we discover the essence of what they did and how to apply this to our own time.
In honour of the men of 1917 and to help us understand how to create the culture to create a truly human organization, I have written a very short book that offers you a step by step acccount of how this was done back then. The times are different but the problem of how to get away from Command and Control remains. The lessons from Vimy are here to be learned all over gain.
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