Recently, I was spending an evening ironing whilst watching some fantastic talks on the TED site, and came across a wonderful speech given by Steven Johnson, founder and Editor-in-Chief of FEED magazine, as well as an author and speaker on subjects that look at the intersection of technology, science and personal experience.  Johnson has most recently been researching the kinds of environments that foster and encourage great ideas and innovation.  He likes to call these environments “liquid networks.” They’re similar to what happens inside the brain as new ideas form.

“An idea, a new idea, is a new network of neurons firing in sync with each other inside your brain. It’s a new configuration that has never formed before. And the question is: how do you get your brain into environments where these new networks are going to be more likely to form?”

Johnson disputes the common conception that great ideas are born in one moment, in a quiet, isolated space.  A large amount of innovation doesn’t happen behind the microscope, hunched in front of the computer, or sitting under a tree as an apple thunks you on the head.  True eureka moments actually take place over a longer span of time.  Bits of diverse ideas, conversations, failures and problem solving all mingling together over time-and finally the last, little piece pops into place.  BAM! Innovation.  The environment for that innovation is often chaotic, informal, outside the lab, the cubicle, the workroom.  It is every bit as active as the neurons zig zagging new pathways around the brain.

“This is the kind of chaotic environment where ideas were likely to come together, where people were likely to have new, interesting, unpredictable collisions — people from different backgrounds. So, if we’re trying to build organizations that are more innovative, we have to build spaces that, strangely enough, look a little bit more like this. This is what your office should look like.”

We do a lot of imagining this kind of environment at the Hub Oaxaca where I work. The Hub is a global network of spaces and communities that inspire and support imaginative and enterprising initiatives for a better world.  Here in Oaxaca we’re adapting the model for this kind of space for a unique Latin American context.  Those of us on the staff and development team often think about what kind of environments will best lead to interaction, connection and action.  How can the way we welcome newcomers, position the coffee maker, tell our story in the space-invite the kind of environment that breeds new ideas?  What models already exist here in Oaxaca that could support cultivating the best community space possible?

We recently inaugurated our space at the close of October, inviting social actors, investors, artists, great thinkers and a host of others from our local community, as well as outside the region.  We honored our community, those who help finance the project and the team on the ground.  However, the main purpose of the event was to encourage that same mingling of ideas that Johnson notes.  Those who came with a hand extended looking for funding quickly found that the best thing to put on the table was not a request for money, but a challenge that required many minds.  Exploration, interconnection, shared experience were the key elements we fostered at our three-day conference.  It was our liquid network in action. Our hope was the same as what Johnson posits: “You have lots of different ideas that are together, different backgrounds, different interests, jostling with each other, bouncing off each other — that environment is, in fact, the environment that leads to innovation.”

So I invite you, dear reader, to consider the environment in which you work.  When and where do your best ideas arise?  Not everyone can work in a chaotic office space.  But perhaps this week or next it’s worth spending a few moments between the quiet exploring a liquid network of your own.  It could be a coffee shop, a class, over dinner with the family.  Perhaps a confluence of activity and thoughts will afford you a different perspective-one that could provide that little “click,” and Eureka!

Saludos,

Megan

Well folks, the fourth of July approaches. In the United States that marks a day to celebrate America’s Independence from England.  While here in Oaxaca, July 4th is Election Day in the state.  These occasions can inspire both celebration and ire, depending on where you sit.  For me, since the date can invite consideration for my history, civic work or the role of governments and citizens, I prefer to take this July 4th to reflect on myself and my actions as a citizen of the world.

How am I affecting the world I live in?  What is my role as a part of civil society?  What can I do to have a positive effect on my immediate surroundings? How can I be a good citizen even when I live outside my own home country?

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the misdeeds and shortcomings of our governments and elected officials on days like the fourth. What they do changes our lives in a myriad of ways, often not for the better.  So much so, that I can sometimes get mired down in feeling inert or helpless to affect a change. But the truth is, there are SO many people doing amazing things on the small, micro levels that do have a tremendous impact, even if only in one small space of the world.  And it’s that civic work that I want to think about on the fourth of July; it’s that work that that I want to celebrate.  Let me give you an example from my life…

Hub Oaxaca Work Space

For the last year I have been working with a small group of tireless people here in Oaxaca to set up a space called The Hub.  The Hub is a global network of spaces and communities that inspire and support imaginative and enterprising initiatives for a better world. They are places that borrow from the best of a member’s club, an innovation agency, a shared office and a think-tank, to create a new kind of space for social change–supporting social actors directly in their areas of work. Here in Oaxaca, we have been setting up a local Hub with a mind towards our regional context. Oaxaca is a majority indigenous area; it’s economically poor, and rural. It is often described as the line between the industrialized North and the traditional indigenous communities to the South. Our Hub, Hub Oaxaca, is a community concerned with well being, sustainability and the open exchange between communities–traditional and emerging–here in Oaxaca.

Hub Oaxaca: Collective Learning

Every day that I work at the Hub I meet new people who are doing amazing work at a small level to change our world for the better.  A guy starting a bicycling initiative to inspire alternative and eco-friendly ways to commute around the city.  A therapist who uses art to transform the lives of the children with whom she works. Artisans who are laboring to start a training school for apprentices, so that artisanal traditions and crafts are not lost, but where innovations are also encouraged. It’s inspiring to see!

Who is working where you live, or work to make a positive change?  Are you affecting your surroundings in a constructive way (even if just in a small, personal approach)?  Who are you as a citizen of the world, wherever you are in the world? Make a list.  Put pen to paper to recognize what you’ve done as a neighbor, a parent, a friend, a co-worker.  Maybe you vigilantly recycle, or you planted a garden in your community. Perhaps you’re attentive to keeping a peaceful mindset and a compassionate demeanor. Or maybe you listen attentively to a colleague, an elderly neighbor, a friend. It doesn’t have to be big to make a difference. And what is it that you want to accomplish before the next Election Day or celebration of independence in your home state or country? What steps could you take in the year to come?

And if you can’t find examples where you live of positive work, then take a look here. This is a great site called Philanthropist.org.  Philanthropist.org allows people  like you and me to become philanthropists. As a donor, even in small amounts, you can support entrepreneurs and volunteers working on exciting projects around the world by contributing a small loan or donation. Often times it is difficult for small social actors to receive financial support; the majority of funding is funneled towards institutions. Philanthropist.org supports small social actors who are not a part of large charitable institutions, or those that have not formed official non-profits (a costly process) to get the financial support the need to make an impact at the micro and macro levels.  Check them out.

There are tons of initiatives around the world, like Philanthropist.org, working to support and celebrate the actions of the myriad people interested in making a difference.  Surf around on the web, scroll the bulletin boards at rec centers or churches, or just look around your community, or inside your own home for a good example.  You might be shocked to see how much good work is going on.

Cheers,

Megan