INDEX
Adaptation (strategy), 140–141, 145–146
Afghanistan, War in, 36–37
Agile approaches, 104–105, 107–109, 137–138
Agile development, 108
Agriculture. See Food
Ancona, Deborah, 113
Art, 96
Attraction and power, 115
Autopilot, flying, 29, 41, 108
Backlog, 105
Badiou, Alain, 100–103, 162n13
Barnum, Jeff, 81
Battle making and battle space, 36–37, 118, 123
BDUF (Big Design Up Front), 94, 105, 107
Beck, Ulrich, 1
Bhavishya Alliance, 61–66
“The Birth of the Bhavishya Alliance,” 80
failing early and often, 74–75
initiatives and other results, 81–82
moon shot, 66–71
movement and friction in, 71–74
Big Design Up Front (BDUF), 94, 105, 107
“Birth of the Bhavishya Alliance, The,” 80
“Black swan” events, 99–101, 107
Blair, Cherie, 142
Blood bank industry and HIV/AIDS, 31–32
Bordewijk, Jeroen, 50
Bourdieu, Pierre, 41–43, 85–86, 159n24
Bresman, Henrik, 113
Buffett, Peter, 88
Burgmans, Antony, 54–55
approach(es), 29, 95, 100, 103, 108, 118 173
definition and nature of, 31–32, 122–123
habitus and, 41–43, 89, 122–123
and its radical refusals, 76–77
vs. social labs approach, 13–14, 31
spheres/spaces that define, 32–37
Business-as-usual (BAU) responses
to complex social challenges, 37–38
experts, expert-planning paradigm, and, 38
theory and, 111
Business-as-usual (BAU) spaces, 43, 123
Business-as-usual (BAU) strategies, 42, 103
Cadence, finding, 137–138
Capacity of participating individuals, strengthening, 81
definition and nature of, 84, 86
emerging forms of, and preventing collapse, 83–86
Carbon emissions, 23–24, 126, 143–145
Carrying capacity of the planet, 50
Central planning, 12, 89. See also Planning
Change
desire to create, 8–11
responding to, 105
theories of, 112
core idea of, 45–46
Charity, 88
Chatham House (Royal Institute of International Affairs), 26, 27, 29, 39
Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, The (Gawande), 96–97
Civilizations, collapse of, 83, 84
Climate Action Network, 126, 143
Climate change, 23, 126–127, 140, 143–145
Climate NGOs, 126–127
Collaboration, customer, 105
Community Development Resource Association (CDRA), 57
Community resilience, 145–146
Community Resilience Lab, 145–146
Complex social challenges
characteristics, 19–20
nature of, 19–21
vs. technical challenges, 20
Complexity, planning as a means of responding to, 139. See also Planning
Container Principle, 121
Convening, 52, 53, 113, 136, 138, 144
defined, 46
open, 117
Convening strategies, 114, 116–117, 134
Cottmeyer, Mike, 137
Critical mass of people, 80
Customer collaboration, 105
Deforestation, 23
Demand, elastic vs. inelastic, 22
Detachment
defined, 40
fallacy of, 40
Developmental responses, 32–34, 37
Diamond, Jared, 27
Direction, setting, 135–136
Diverse team, constituting a, 113–117
Dominated spaces, 123
Donors (charity), 88
Dreyfus, Hubert, 11
Ecology of social labs, 14, 15, 103
Eiffel, Gustav, 101
Eisenstadt, Leo, 108
Ellis, Anthony, 142
Enclosures, 89
Events rupture dispositions, 98–104
Experimentation, 2
Expert-planning paradigm, 37–40, 42–43
Experts, 3, 38–39, 41, 43. See also Technocrats
defined, 38
External, focusing on the, 113
External activity on teams, 113
External orientation, 123
Externalities, 48
defined, 48
Fab Labs, 15
Failing early and often, 74–75
Failure, avoiding (admitting), 87–88
Faith, investment decisions based on, 87
Fields, 123
Finance Innovation Lab, 116–117
Fishwick, Dave, 129
Flyvbjerg, Bent, 96
Food. See also Malnutrition; Sustainable Food Lab
growing demand for food creates a race to the bottom, 47–49
multiple and conflicting logics of, 49–52
“Food apartheid,” 52
Food diversification program in India, 82
Food Lab. See Sustainable Food Lab
Formalism
defined, 40
fallacy of, 40
Foucault, Michel, 114–115
Friction
of diverse participants working together as a team, 121
and speed, 75
Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection (Tsing), 71, 77
assassination of, x
Gawande, Atul, 96–97
end of, 80–81
Food Lab and, 50
genuine strategic intent at, 45
Hassan’s participation and experiences with, xii, 46, 76, 79
mission, xii
partners from, 81
Reos Partners and, xii
Genuine strategic intent
lack of, 41–43
signs of, 45
Gigatonne (GT) Lab, 143–145
Girls Gaining Ground, 82
Godin, Seth, 135
Gomathy, 72
Google, 8
Grand fallacy, 38–39
Greenhouse gas emissions, 23–24, 126, 143–145
Greenpeace’s Mobilisation Lab (MobLab), 14
Greer, John Michael, 83–84, 86
Grounded theory, xiii
Groupthink, 75
Gunning, Tex, 62–63
Habitus, 42, 43, 47, 74, 85, 86, 89, 90, 94
business-as-usual (BAU) and, 41–43, 89, 122–123
definition and nature of, 41, 85, 159n24
mechanisms by which it operates, 122–123
Hamel, Gary, 136
Hayek, Fredrick, 89
Heeks, Alan, 145
Heidegger, Martin, 98, 101–103
Heifitz, Ronald, 20
Hesterman, Oran, 50
Hidden transcripts, 71
“Holistic approach,” 26
Homer-Dixon, Thomas, 2
Horowitt, Greg, 90
Humanitarian responses, 32, 34–35, 37
Husserl, Edmund, 98
Hwang, Victor W., 90
India. See also Bhavishya Alliance
democracy in, 61
food diversification program, 82
Indian organizations, hierarchy in, 69, 70
Inductive approach to research, xiii
Influential people, highly trying to find, 116
“Influentials,” myth of the, 116
Initiatives, 83. See also Prototypes portfolio of, generated by lab process, 58
seven truths of, 135
Innovation ecosystems, Rainforest model for, 90–91
Integrity Research and Consulting, 142
Intellectual capital, 7, 83, 86
Intention
clarifying, 129–130
to create change, 8–11
“strange attractor” of, 79–80, 130
Investment decisions based on one key factor and one hunch, 87
Invisible theory, 112
Invitation, broadcasting an, 130–132
Iterative process, designing a, 117–121
Jaworski, Joseph “Joe,” 46, 62–63, 72, 79–80, 104, 130
Johnson, Steven, 121
Kago Ya Bana (KYB), 11–12
Kahane, Adam, 50, 52, 72, 75, 79–81, 104
Kellogg Foundation, 50
Khilani, Sunil, 61
Knudstorp, Jorgen Vig, 135–136
Koans, 58–59
Lab teams. See Stakeholder teams
Lefebvre, Henri, 122–123
LEGO Group, 135–136
Lewis, Michael, 10
Lewis, Myrna, 104
Lynch mob dynamics, 71–72
Magner, Colleen, 81
Maharashtra, India, 62. See also Bhavishya Alliance
Malnutrition, 103. See also Food
in India, 61, 62, 64, 65, 68, 75, 81, 82, 116
technology and, 95
Mansour, Hadi, 141
Market-driven/market-oriented approaches, 24, 48, 88–89, 119
Market-driven system, measuring success in a, 87
McGonagill, Grady, 104
Meadows, Donella, 50
Media Lab at MIT, vii, 89–90
“Men of thought,” 111
Micro-enterprises and micro-loans, 88
Military strategy, 37
Mills, C. Wright, 114
Mintzberg, Henry, 38–39
Mitigation (strategy), 140–141, 143–145
Mobilisation Lab (MobLab), 14
Moeller, Toke, 130
Movement requires friction, 71–74
Multiple realities, 55
Naam, Ramez, 24
defined, 27
Yemen as, 25–28
Negroponte, Nicholas, 89–90
Networks, 161n7
working your, 132–133
Nova Scotia Sea School, 121
Nye, Joseph, 115
Oakland Athletics, 10
Objectivity and subjectivity, 98, 101–102
Open Contracting Initiative, 15
Open convening, defined, 117
Optimization, the futile optimism of, 21–25
Ostrom, Elinor, 161n7
Ovesen, Jesper, 135–136
Pallotta, Dan, 88
Parts vs. the whole, battle of the, 146–148
Phronesis-based approaches, 96–97
Physical capacity (infrastructure), 83
Planning, 72–73. See also Expert-planning paradigm
BAU responses to complex social challenges and, 37–38, 95, 103
Google and, 8
as a means of responding to complexity, 139
strategy and, 118, 128, 136. See also “Strategic planning”
Planning-based approaches, 21, 94, 108, 118, 139
horizontal state-driven vs. vertical market-driven, 89
problems with and criticisms of, xi, 38–40, 42–43, 89, 105, 107, 139–140
sloganeering and, 130
in Soviet Union, 107
Planning-based response, 13
Plans
challenges of implementing, 38
get funded, 7
require prediction of the future, 7
vs. responding to change, 105
teams and, 7
Plougmann, Poul, 135
Population growth, limits to, 49
Poverty, 23. See also Yemen
Power, 134
the half-life of, 114–117
Power dynamics, 71–74
Power Elite, The (Mills), 114
Practical wisdom, 112
Aristotle on, 96
Prahalad, CK, 136
Predetermination
defined, 40
fallacy of, 40
Process facilitation, 120
Project management models, 94
Propaganda and slogans, 130–131
Prototypes, 72, 83, 93, 107. See also Initiatives
change labs as, 45
vs. pilots, 105
purpose, 105
systemic, 3
Prototyping-based approaches, 94, 125, 128–129
Prototyping interventions, 3
Prototyping process, 72
Purpose. See also Intention clarity of, 129–130
Rainforest model (for innovation ecosystems), 90–91
Ramani, V., 65
Realities
multiple, 55
recognizing the gap between what is and what we desire, 97
starting with current, 97
Realizing, 46
Recruiting willing people, 133–135
Reeler, Doug, 57
Relationships, high-trust, 81
Right-hand side (of U Process), challenges of the, 93
Right Stuff, The (Wolfe), 109
Robertson, David, 136
Rocky Mountain Institute, 15
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 79
Royal Institute of International
Affairs (Chatham House), 26, 27, 29, 39
Rules for institutions, 161n7
Saleh, Ali Abdullah
as too big to fail and too big to jail, 28, 29
Scale-free networks, 116
Schmaltz, David A., 105
Scientific knowledge, 96
Scrum approach, 105–108
Sectorial stabilization in Yemen, 141–143
Sensing, 46
Shalizi, Cosma, 146
Shareholder returns, maximizing
as “the dumbest idea in the world,” 87–88
Sharmer, MK, 66
Shilts, Randy, 31–32
Simpson, Emile, 36
Slogans, 130–131
Small-world networks, 115
Small-world phenomena, 115
Social, mental, and physical space
unitary theory of, 122
Social challenges
contrasted with scientific and technical challenges, 7
strategies for addressing complex, 136
Social constructivism, 120–121
Social innovation. See Innovation
Social labs
a cascade of, 13–15
characteristics, 3–4
local, 12
measuring the success of, 7
outputs, 6–7
overview, 2–4
people who run, 2–3
the practical wisdom of, 95–97
rules of thumb for starting, 129–138
scale-free, 11–13
Sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK), 121
Soft power, 115
Space, unitary theory of physical, mental, and social, 122
Spread betting, systemic, 56–59, 87
Sprints, 105–106
Stabilization (strategy), 140–143
Stable velocity, 106
Stacks, designing in, 136–137
Stakeholder teams, 141–142
State stabilization in Yemen, 141–143
Sterling, Bruce, 115
Stilger, Bob, 14
Stookey, Crane, 121
“Strategic planning,” 37–39. See also Planning: strategy and
Strategic responses, 140–146
Strategic vacuums, 38, 43, 143
Strategic vs. tactical thinking, 125–129
Strategy. See also Iterative process, designing a
nature of, 125–128
Strogatz, Steve, 115
Subjectivity and objectivity, 98, 101–102
Subsistence strategy, 119
Suleyman, Mustafa, 116
Suspending judgment, 55
Sustainability, 52–56
defining, 54
Sustainable food and agriculture, 49
Sustainable Food Lab
characterizations of, 4, 5, 51–58
current status of, 59
Hassan’s departure from, 61, 77
Hassan’s entry into, 62
Hassan’s participation and experiences with, 4, 46, 50, 55, 58, 61, 65, 66, 70, 76, 79
novel aspects of, 54–55
outputs of, 6–7
participants/lab team members, 4–6, 49–51, 53–54
purpose of, 52–53
question at the heart of, 48–49, 58
scope of, 62
success of, 5–6
Sustainable Food Lab team, 66
Sustainable pace, 106–107
Synergos Institute, 64
Systemic nature of social labs, 3
Systemic spaces, actively creating, 121–123
Tactical vs. strategic thinking, 125–129
Taleb, Nicholas Naseem, 99, 101
Task-based competency model, 94
Technical vs. complex challenges, 20
Technocratic approaches, 21–24, 38
problems with, 22–25
Technocratic paradigm, 22, 103–104, 146
government, 142
Theory, 112
actions informed by, 112
Trust among participants, 81
Trustworthiness, 161n7
Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt, 71, 77
U method, 50
right-hand side of, 93
Unitary theory of physical, mental, and social space, 122
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 126
Values, 105
Van Heemstra, Andre, 50
Venture committee, 72
Vis, Jan Kees, 51
Waterfall (project management model), 94
Watts, Duncan, 115–116
Wedel, Janine, 25
Welch, Jack, 87
Wellesley, Sofia, 142
Wicked problems, 21
Wisdom. See Practical wisdom
World Bank, 15
World events, 99. See also Events rupture dispositions
Worth, Robert, 26
X-teams, 113
Yemen
averting the zombie apocalypse in, 140–141
crisis in, as complex social challenge, 18–19, 23, 24, 26–29, 140
as natural experiment, 25–28
state collapse and a stabilization strategy, 141–143
as too big to fail, 28–29
Yemen Forum gatherings, 26, 27
Yemeni elite, 157n13
Zen, 58–59