A new collaboration in Cincinnati September 11, 2015 | Expressive Change | Rachel Griner| What if, in research, we paid attention to how we paid attention? What if in strategic planning we were as introspective as we are analytical? What if our work were a true expression of our humanity? Would our capacity for innovation grow? I want to find out. So, I’ve launched […] Read More A simple practice that caught our attention December 10, 2010 | Expressive Change | Warren Nilsson| 9 Comments We are in Cape Town for a few weeks and just got back from a meeting with Nathan Heller at The Hub, a co-working space for social innovators. Although The Hub Cape Town only recently opened its doors, the model has been around for a while and there are over two dozen Hubs worldwide in […] Read More An interesting response to our recent talk May 23, 2012 | Expressive Change | Undine Whande| 2 Comments The first thing that struck me from the talk and that had me celebrate inwardly was that these insights are now surfacing at various points through various people who have all been keenly and committedly observing their environments and coming to similar conclusions: That organisations are […] Read More Becoming human through human-centered design March 9, 2015 | Expressive Change | Rachel Griner| After years of practice, a pivotal moment came when I realized human-centered design could actually be an expression of our humanity. To drive true innovation, I could blur the line between designer and user and create the space for us all to advance our human potential. This happened during my Executive on Loan assignment to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Read More Exploring the link between inscaping & social innovation February 6, 2014 | Expressive Change | Tana Paddock| No Comments At the end of last year, we spent some time trying to deepen our understanding of the relationship between the practice of inscaping and the organizational capacity to initiate and sustain social innovation. Through the generous support of Nesta, we wrote a paper on the topic, which we presented to an international audience of […] Read More Hot off the press! November 27, 2013 | Expressive Change | Warren Nilsson & Tana Paddock| 2 Comments Check out our feature article in the latest issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review- “Social Innovation From the Inside Out”. In it we explore the concept and practice of ‘inscaping’ and highlight three organizations that we’ve learned tons from over the years: Santropol Roulant, Southwest Baltimore Charter School, and PLAN. We’d love to hear your thoughts! Read More Is democracy an enemy of nature? January 27, 2015 | Expressive Change | Tana Paddock| No Comments Are the environmental challenges we face as a planet too urgent and pervasive to be effectively dealt with through democratic means? I was surprised to read that in the wider circles of global environmental discourse, the implied (and occasionally directly expressed) response to this question is increasingly ‘yes’. Andrew Stirling, in his powerful essay ‘Emancipating Transformations’, sheds light on […] Read More Networks: a love story November 11, 2014 | Expressive Change | Curtis Ogden | No Comments We recently stumbled upon the work of Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISC), one of a growing number of capacity-building organizations taking an ‘inside-out’ approach to social transformation. One of their associates, Curtis Ogden, wrote this piece a few months back reflecting on their journey of stepping more fully into their most deeply held value: “the love that does justice”. Read More Social innovation from the inside out May 13, 2012 | Expressive Change | Warren Nilsson & Tana Paddock| 11 Comments We are excited to share this talk that Warren gave last month at University of Cape Town exploring the organizational dimensions of social innovation. In our experience, few social purpose organizations spend much time looking at how their own organizational cultures support or hinder the kinds of changes in the world they are working so hard to create. In this talk, Warren challenges us to consider how much of our current difficulty in fostering and scaling social innovation is bound up in this disconnect. What kind of change might we create if […] Read More SWOT hack November 17, 2014 | Expressive Change | Rachel Griner| The following reflection was written by Rachel Griner, a new contributor to Organization Unbound, based in Dubai, who is keen to help businesses engage more deeply and authentically with social purpose and hone their capacity for social innovation. We’re excited to learn from her experiments. Read More The form trap February 1, 2013 | Expressive Change | Tana Paddock| 2 Comments Check out this talk that Warren gave at Tedx Cape Town on an idea we feel is worth spreading! The biggest challenge the world is facing is not how to create change but how to sustain change, and if we want to sustain change we are mostly paying attention to the wrong things, particularly inside our social purpose organizations and social movements… Read More The heart of Einstein September 8, 2013 | Expressive Change | Veena Vasista| When I recently came across Einstein’s explanation of his statement, I felt relieved and excited to discover that indeed he was instructing us to use more than our mind and ego-driven analysis to work through problems. Knowing this, I take it further to imagine that by ‘higher levels’ he meant higher levels of […] Read More The social innovation space September 7, 2011 | Expressive Change | Warren Nilsson & Tana Paddock| No Comments Inscaping is too broad a concept to explain some of the variation we see in the capacities of different organizations to become true social innovators. Many organizations might reasonably describe themselves as good at inscaping. They are relatively open and honest. The members of the organization care about each other and are willing and able to share their experiences. Yet these organizations often struggle to fully develop their capacities for meaningful, resilient social change. Why? Read More What was sparked April 6, 2014 | Expressive Change | Tana Paddock| 5 Comments More than 170 people from 14 countries tuned into the Stanford Social Innovation Review webinar in February where we shared our learnings around the concept and practice of inscaping. A number of interesting questions and comments were raised during the Q&A. Since we did not have time to respond to all of them during the webinar, I thought it would be worth sharing our responses here in writing. Read More Whole person, whole system August 14, 2011 | Expressive Change | Warren Nilsson| 1 Comment What is less well understood is that treating each other as the patchwork, unruly human beings we are, rather than the zippered office functionaries we pretend to be, is also the only way we can really come to understand, let alone affect, the larger institutional patterns we are trying to change […] Read More
