A very thought-provoking article suggesting we are moving into an era where technology supports economic growth and production that will not produce alternative jobs.  This means economic growth shifts from being an economic problem to a political problem where jobs need to be replaced or supplemented by an alternative means of distributing access to products, services, lifestyle and meaning. ​

A recent Harvard Business Review article by Connie Duckworth, the CEO of ARZU (Hope), provides an inspiring story of how design thinking principles applied to the rug-making business she started in Afghanistan have deliberately created a business that has transformed the lives of its female Afghan workers and their children.  Incomes have increased and incentives and social infrastructure have transformed the health, education and well-being of the female workers and their families. 

This is a community perspective on effective change management and innovation and demonstrates the kind of systems thinking that is necessary for effective organisational change anywhere.

Read more in the article in the link below and watch Connie tell her story in the video. 

Josh Silver estimates that half the world's population needs eyeglasses but many do not have access to them. He has a goal that his adjustable, liquid-filled lenses will get to 1Billion of the world's poor people in need of glasses by 2020. A brilliantly simple invention and an example of innovative value creation and how the right solution can turn non-customers into customers.  Read more about how this is being rolled out today at:  http://www.vdwoxford.org/about/#mission

"99% of all new ideas are based on the ideas and insights of others - often strangers"  These strangers could be customers, they could come from another industry sector, from another time in history, or even another species. One of my favourite books from 2015 is Alan Gregerman's The Necessity of Strangers which challenges us to step outside what we are familiar with and connect with strangers to accelerate breakthrough thinking and innovation.  Here is a talk he gave.