Exercise 4: 10 Friends and Family Members

[Joshua]

10 Friends and Family Members

1. List ten friends and family members likely to support you and unlikely to judge you. You’ll probably have to include people less familiar than last time.
2. Schedule to meet with each in turn.
3. Tell each your project and get three pieces of advice from each.
4. Close each conversation by asking:
   1. “Is there anything to add that I didn’t think to bring up?”
   2. “Is there anyone you can think of you could put me in touch
      with who could help me with this?”
5. If you believe their advice will improve your project, implement
   it before presenting to the next person.

[Beth]

Old Problem: People feel discouraged, overwhelmed, and hopeless about the trash in the streets

Old Solution: Create a city wide clean up event that focuses on taking pride in and loving our city

Advice received:

1. Decide on the day you want to do the event, make it meaningful.
2. Have businesses offer employees time off to participate, maybe even paid, then get publicity for their participation.
3. Use some extrinsic motivators like challenges/metrics that demonstrate how much garbage was collected.
4. Take photos of individuals and a blurb from them about why they are participating, of with what they have collected.
5. Photos of people doing the work
6. Use students who may need hours
7. Tweak the project to more directly address the community building that was mentioned in the discussion, maybe not just clean up but other ways to contribute that demonstrate city pride. e.g Include options like tree planting, community garden etc.
8. Talk to enough local people to know that the identified emotions/ problem identified are actually a feelings/problem for them and not just you. Talk to them about what projects would make them feel the community pride.
9. Look at other kinds of community projects for ideas/guidance like “I Love My Parks” day
10. In looking at having a “trash free celebration” at the end of the day, have people bring their own containers for food, drink.
11. Get a Mexican partner from the beginning.
12. Get the word out on the radio. Lots of Mexicans listen to the radio regularly.
13. Get professionals that are connected to kids involved so they can help bring kids into the project. Clubs, classes, teachers
14. Seek sponsorship for drinks, snacks, and celebration.
15. Share stories of people with a photo and quotes about why they participated and about their experience in doing so.
16. Use local “buy nothing” groups
17. In order to have a celebration without creating trash you could have a bring your own utensil policy.
18. Partner with an already existent organization that the community is familiar with
19. Make more options than clean up available as volunteer options.
20. Need a local person as the face of the event.
21. Utilize the help of LoveOurCities so you aren’t reinventing the wheel
22. Get a board together to work with you including at least half local people
23. Connect with local government for permit needs and to be respectful of letting them know what you are working on.
24. Focus on community building nature of the event.
25. Settle on an identifiable name for your event/group.
26. Get more specific in your own head about what you want to do, what you want to accomplish. Avoid mission creep.
27. Develop a planning committee that includes local Mexican people.
28. Connect with people who do these kinds of events and create a vision and mission.
29. Look at establishing a broad brush budget.
30. Develop a way to ensure the group you are addressing is the group feeling the feelings identified in the problem.
31. Include in your plan how to accomplish it without creating more trash (and maybe even including in your goals a way to support the community in creating less waste in the first place)
32. Think about how to identify the group in a way that doesn’t mean buying T-shirts or other things that will end up in land fills. Maybe dying shirts that people already have, making identifying “sashes” that could be made for the group and reused.
33. Consider scaling your project to first be successful. Doing something successfully is better than planning for and not doing a lot of things, or bigger things.
34. Consider getting a sponsor in local government. They might be willing to provide materials for picking up garbage for the event.
35. Look for prominent, recognizable figures in your city (think movie stars, local celebrities) that could endorse and help promote the event. You can hold a rally where that person talks and sets the tone and raises enthusiasm for participation.
36. Plant the seed in the event of ongoing events to maintain clean streets and neighborhoods. Tap into their enthusiasm when they are already participating by having a follow up event they can sign up for.
37. Celebrate with photos, the cleaned up results (maybe before and after) and create the narrative of how this activity makes a difference/matters. People want to do things that matter.
38. See if there are any local laws that should be considered. Go to local municipal government to demonstrate respect and interest in following the laws that may apply.

New problem: Same as old problem

New solution: Get a group of friends and people you have talked to about this project to do a clean up event together that includes identifying apparel.

New People to talk to:

1. Find local Buy Nothing groups
2. Organizer of “I Love My Parks” day in NY
3. Bree Komiski, a friend who has organized events
4. Stockton Mexican Heritage – woman’s name and number who organizes these to follow
5. Jeff Pishney, founder of LoveOurCities.org
6. Kimmi Suki, founder of Yucatan Giving Outreach
7. Carlos Bettencourt, local realtor
8. Padre Jose Vieda, Anglican priest very involved in the community
9. Satelite Merida, local Christian organization
10. Lupita Palafox, has school for summer camps, teaching English, very involved in the community
11. Grax Vida, local graphic designer who became well known during pandemic bringing people food.
12. Coparmex – a business entrepreneur hub on soial media
13. “Ruby’s dad” who has organized trash pick up days. Have name of person who can provide contact info.
14. “Beyond Plastic” organization that has cleaned up Mississippi River, can find info on website.
15. Chris Yeo, friend and scout leader who has organized many highway clean up projects.

Post Exercise Reflections:

Before starting this week’s exercise, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the number of people we were to talk to but just decided to focus on one at a time and proceed. I talked to 9 people.

All of the conversations were engaging and energizing for me. The people with whom I spoke appeared to be genuinely interested and engaged in helping me improve my idea. The local people with whom I spoke were enthusiastic and I think would definitely want to know more about the project and to participate. I did have a couple days of feeling overwhelmed by the scope of what I had proposed and was very uncertain that I wanted to actually do a city wide event, at least to start. My conversation with Josh helped me scale my idea to something that feels more immediately doable and helped me not give up.

The conversations definitely helped me think more clearly about what I am proposing to do and why. That is an ongoing process that I wouldn’t say is “done”. While I do want to help clean up Merida, what I really want to do fundamentally is to connect with my community and help build a community that decreases consumption and waste in the first place. My vision includes regular stewardship of maintaining clean streets, but also finding ways to reduce the trash that is generated. The idea of ensuring that whatever I do doesn’t ADD to the trash generated was a focus of many conversations.

[Hayden Kessinger]

Just shy of 10!

I’m pretty exhausted after 9 conversations about my animal welfare project idea. It was hard work to schedule and complete 10 conversations! Especially since a few were with fellow workshop participants which meant receiving and giving advice.

Almost every day I had calls scheduled, I felt stressed about them. I didn’t feel like following through. I was excited, but with a social job, more socializing before/after work was tough. That said, once the conversations began, I often didn’t want them to end. People gave advice on specificity, goal setting, organizing, ambition, practicality, audience, advertising, direction, visualizing success, the importance of reflection and defining the “why”, and more.

I felt like a burden during every conversation. Even when they went really well, I felt like I had taken valuable time away from the person. They helped me much more than I ever expected; I learned a lot from everyone. I feel like I owe them all something. I enjoyed giving advice and especially loved connecting other participants with friends who I thought could help them. I felt excited to see where each person’s project would go. I think others feel the same about mine. Several people were very interested in what I would develop and encouraged me to keep going; they thought the project would be helpful in the animal advocacy space. Despite feeling like a burden, the conversations were fun and engaging. I made new friends and became closer with my existing friends.

The result of this long week full of great advice is this updated problem and solution:

Problem: Vegans and vegetarians feel tense and unequipped when discussing animal welfare with people who eat animal products.

Solution: Create an experiential learning group for vegans and vegetarians (open to serving others as well) who meet regularly to discuss effective communication skills, explore biases and blindspots, practice conversations, and increase our knowledge of relevant topics together.

I’m remaining open to the specific direction this will go. Maybe after this week, I’ll have a stronger sense of what the people I want to help want. If I’m still unsure, I may try creating a group with an overarching goal of improved communication, specifically related to animal welfare, and use the participants to help guide the program (i.e., each person suggests an area they want/need help in). Ultimately, I want to help people feel more confident and comfortable communicating this topic and in general.

I’m also starting to look into what else already exists. I’m thinking that along with the work we do in the group, I’ll compile a list of educational resources for people to utilize on their own accord. I can pull from many things that already exist, simplify them, and make a more user-friendly resource. I think it will be much more beneficial to create a group that focuses heavily on communication and message delivery and much less on the content of the message. People remember the way you made them feel, not the the facts you told them.

My old project:

Problem: Animal advocates feel tense when discussing animal welfare with people who eat animal products and find it difficult to talk about.

Solution: Create a communication-learning group for animal advocates (and anyone else interested) who meet regularly to discuss effective communication skills, practice, and increase our knowledge of relevant topics together. Develop practices to handle tension (i.e., breathing technique). Encourage others to share their expertise, bring in speakers/experts. Perhaps include a book club!

[Olivia Ong]

Method Initiative – Exercise 4

Original Problem:

Environmentally conscious adults who want to minimize their belongings feeling underequipped or helpless to take action for lack of resources/knowledge/time on how to reuse/reduce/recycle or properly dispose of things

Original Solution:
Increase resources and accessibility by engaging community events and sharing knowledge broadly – create podcast and/or YouTube channel of doing so.

Advice 1: Use the Spodek Method with a twist on minimalism to help someone build their own conviction and ability to take initiative – can be more impactful than someone just having the resources to take action. What seems to be the root is having people feel empowered to take the first step.

Advice 2: Lower expectations for people reading a newsletter. If creating an all-inclusive resource – be very intentional with the way it’s presented and ensure to be strategic with HOW they are provided. This will prevent people feeling overwhelmed.

Advice 3: Use a forum to create a search for hard to recycle items – this way people can search for their items and get specific advice. Similar to hackathon. If you can code, this can help increase accessibility. Make it concise.

Advice 4: Create a workshop to challenge people and engage people to get rid of one thing a day. Start a challenge like the minimalists have to inspire action.

Closer 1. Can you specify further than environmentally conscious adults? Are you wanting to do this in my community, locally, or nearby? Question whether or not more information or more resources is really the main issue. Do people do more with more resources? or is it more lack of action? Focus more on engagement.

Closer 2. Look up Beau Miles – creativity inspiration on how/what to do.

Advice 5: Make it easy.

Advice 6: Find a way to make it fun. Make it so that people don’t have to spend too much time or effort to do so.

Advice 7: Raise awareness in people for win-win solutions. I.e. reusable water bottles vs. plastic bottles. Reusable keurig cups vs. single use. Both equate saving money.

Closer 1: include why they should. Why they could.

Closer 2: no.

Advice 8: Questions: do they already know how to identify what they want to dispose? Some yes, some no. Figure out how they can identify what they want to dispose of.

Advice 9: Determine who you are giving support to: Support for people who already have the drive? It’s for those with the desire, but not necessarily the drive.

Advice 10: support people to find solutions for their problem.

Advice 11: Connect people with a resource they can consult for hard to recycle or dispose of items. Provide a live consult for people to get rid of things.

Advice 12: Narrow down to 5 items for example or do you want it to be any sort of item people cannot get rid of?

Advice 13: Figure out items that are most often thrown away because people don’t know how to get rid of them. Or have a web page where people can connect.

Advice 14: Create core information set about things people throw away that could be recycled OR something like a think tank clearing house place where there’s a set of things and there’s contacts to be able to research where things go.

Closing 1: Nothing I didn’t think of.

Closing 2: No.

Advice 15: Narrow in how to address that problem. – people have more stuff than they want but don’t know what to do next. Solution felt like first step. Gain clarity on which project I would launch around the problem. Find a way to tap into people.

Advice 16: Seek out people in the community event to see what their barriers are. Lean on their business models to see.

Advice 17: Start a list serve and people can jump on. How do people find you? Is there something that already exists? How is it being used? If there are resources, why aren’t people doing more?

Advice 18: Consider the following: What medium, format, what people have done?

Closing 1: in the world of environmentally conscious people, there are people who live various lives – I.e. rough necks. Keep grouping and definition of group broad and inclusive.

Closing 2: Eugene did a lot of work on public speaking. If you go the community event route, he might have some parallels to share. He engaged with some people who ran open mic nights. Evelyn used to be part of rotary club. Look at certain organizations that might have networks or systems in place.

Advice 19: Be mindful of verbal presentation and delivery. When presenting, frame dialogue with increasing timeframes. i.e. Start with ‘Environmentally conscious adults who want to act are feeling overwhelmed.’ Break up the delivery. Have a really short version. How we communicate with others is a big part of it.

Short version: Environmentally conscious adults who want to minimize their belongings are feeling overwhelmed. Help them find resources to recycle or dispose of their items.

Advice 20: Propose not wanting stuff. Propose not getting stuff in the first place.

Advice 21: In working with people on sustainability, it feels like there’s a lot of overlap with minimalism. There’s a mindset shift necessary. People are already swimming in information.

Closing 1: Consider the mental shift part. Make it easy for them to finish. Are you someone getting out of it yourself?

Closing 2: Nobody he could introduce me to. Conrad comes to mind. – speak to him. His mother comes to mind as she just moved, but she might get upset.

Advice 22: There is a psychology behind what we purchase and why we purchase. There has got to be publicly accessible info on why people buy or why they buy so much. Understanding that and enrolling that into the solution would be opportunistic. Find some groups on LinkedIn – could open a door on linked in.

Advice 23: Control what comes in because then you don’t have to deal with more inventory. If you restrict the flow coming in you have less to deal with.

Advice 24: Make a simple 3-6 step process that’s generic. Take stock of belongings. Think about a simple small number of steps process to illustrate the idea. Come up with framework that would take some of the scariness out of it. Follow a methodology for incremental changes to get rid of overwhelm.

Advice 25: describe more the feelings they may feel when they are stuck. Feelings list. Sad, overwhelmed, embarrassed, etc. broadens scope of feelings. Expand the funnel of emotions or people who I can interface with. Balance it with what they will feel when they deal with it. As is – to be. Justify investment. How are you feeling then? Define the benefits.

Closing 1: Where would you start? What grouping would you start with? Might be different for different groups. How it’s handled. Take stock of how the messaging could be different based on audience. Narrow down target audience to start. Environmentally conscious people who somehow have too much stuff.

Closing 2: People he could connect me with would have a problem-solving perspective. No experts in decluttering or minimalistic perspective. Problem solvers. No names come to mind immediately.

Advice 26: Start with inventory. What do I have? What do I need? What do I not need? How would I rank these items? Where would I start reducing things?

Advice 27: Figure out the next best possible way to repurpose so impact on environment is minimal.

Advice 28: Have a plan so that in the absence of a specific thing one knows how life changes.

Closing 1: Environmental impact is very vague. It feels like I’m doing something but have no feedback or information on or basis for whether or not impact is measurable or quantified.

Closing 2: No.

Advice 29: Diminish consumption overall – decrease number of things, cost with having things, etc. Identify existing systems and tools that can aid in that – i.e. repair workshops and organizations; Goodwill-style places that are more intentional that will help find things that are usable or reparable. Prevent duplication of effort. Give more space to connecting people with resources rather than creating resources from scratch.

Advice 30: Look into the psychological nature of accumulation and item gathering/hoarding behaviors. It comes from place of inconsistency in someone’s life. I.e. Childhood lack. Read up on ‘Starvation Economies’ – provide some paths and methods or psychological techniques to let go of things.

Advice 31: Be open to connecting with his friend. His friend is working on app for managing capacity. It also focuses on connecting people with and creating community resources. For example: everybody doesn’t need to own a lawnmower. Split it up amongst available time. In one iteration of 2 or 3 hour blocks, one could have a group of 23 individuals or homes that could own one top of the line lawnmower and get all of it done by sharing maintenance costs. It would cost them less than 10% on their own, and it would facilitate more community.

Closing 1: While working through this and creating a system, tool, or process, if you can make it as systematic as possible it normally aids in measurable outcomes overall with time. It’s something most people are disinclined to do. Utilize systematic checks and tests at different parts in the process. Check for decision nodes or inflection points. These could prove to be helpful. Focus on repeatability, measurability and consistent process. Book rec: Checklist Manifesto.

Closing 2: Absolutely yes. There’s someone he wants to connect me with who is working on a similar problem. Friend is at limited capacity so my information will be shared. Will be up to his friend to reach out.

Advice 32: Cut emotional ties with items by expressing gratitude for an item for teaching a lesson. I.e. a shirt that doesn’t look good on someone. Appreciating the learning that it is not a suitable style for said person before letting it go. Detach emotional weight from the lesson by expressing gratitude.

Advice 33: Educate self more on how to work with people more on a mindset shift. Psychology of hoarding vs. minimalism.

Advice 34: Investigate the feeling of need or attachment. Develop a filter for helping people understand the misalignment with their values. Figure out the deeper underlying things that cause overwhelm. – understand that based on what people tell me, I’ll know what commitment they need. I can learn to understand what they collect or why and the level of collection. Be discerning about who I can help.

Closing 1: That’s it! It might be deeper than I even imagined. There might be some potentially heavy stuff. It’s deep in human and cultural programming that people might not be aware of.

Closing 2: if he knew Marie Kondo it would be her. David Allen – Getting Things Done. Mindset shift around intake filters. Don’t know these folks but could consider looking them up.

Advice 35: Define needs vs. wants.

Advice 36: Identify pre-existing resources for people to use. Donation centers or local Buy Nothing groups.

Advice 37: Use multi-purpose items. Identify multi-purpose items that save space, cost, and inventory.

Closing 1: From the logistics standpoint – consider delivery or implementation. What is the goal of how many people to talk to or to help? What am I measuring? Metric?

Closing 2: Will think about it. Environmental related topics. Reach out to the buy nothing group admins. Get their insights on how helpful it is to the people receiving donations.

Revised Problem:

Environmentally conscious adults who want to minimize their belongings are feeling overwhelmed.

Revised solution:

Help willing and open people to become aware of the root of their issue – inventory inflow. Begin reducing overwhelm by digging deeper into what may cause their emotional attachments to bring awareness to the physical way it is manifesting. After pausing or minimizing inventory inflow, help them to connect with resources for sustainably reducing their inventory.

Reflection:

Regarding the 7 principles, my understanding isn’t really changing, but I have more thoughts and questions. I’m curious about ‘the idea of a lifetime comes once a month’. A month is typically 4 weeks long and I’m curious if exercises 1-4 iterated over and over is what produces the idea of a lifetime. I am on board with the idea that action is greater than ideas. I’m a little confused on the iterate part. Sometimes I feel decision paralysis yet again when I am trying to iterate. Especially with this particular exercise. I don’t think that I necessarily iterated very effectively. I think I could use more guidance and clarity here.

Before the exercise, I was annoyed that I didn’t have a single idea that ‘excited me the most’. Ultimately, since I did exercise 3 with two topics with a total of 11 projects, I picked the project that had the most votes. I was nervous about getting 10 people done in a week as I always seem to struggle to complete the exercise by my desired timeframe, but I was relieved that we could reach out to peers from the workshop. Honestly, similar to the last exercise, I felt better and better the closer I was to completing the 10. One could say that I am task oriented. I definitely struggled with the ‘iterate’ part of the instructions because I wasn’t too sure how or where to iterate.
Yes, I could identify patterns and share with folks some common feedback I was receiving but was that actually influencing their answer? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. With more advice and more options to take the project, I felt decision paralysis yet again and shiny object syndrome yet again. During the conversations, I felt restless. When I got repeated advice, some of it sank in, and others seemed to increase my challenge of narrowing things down by opening up doors of infinite possibility. Other people seemed to feel neutral about the conversations. People seemed to like sharing if they happened to struggle with the same problem I was asking them for advice about – perhaps they experienced a sense of camaraderie.

I definitely got advice beyond my expectations and learned from the conversations. In one respect, I never anticipated getting advice on my verbal presentation/delivery of my request. I think it was too easy to forget about seeing as how I connected with all 10 of my folks via phone. I imagine if it was over zoom or in person, I’d have been much more mindful of delivery.

I do think my understanding of the problem shifted in ways – from treating the symptoms to focusing on the root cause. However, the solution now required seems to involve much more bandwidth to figure out. In my specific case, going from giving someone resources and increasing accessibility seems to be much simpler and straightforward rather than getting someone to openly admit they need a mindset shift and helping them figure out how the mindset got stuck in the first place. It requires digging into someone’s attachments, traumas, and childhood patterns and requires vulnerability on the receiving end as opposed to simply giving someone an option that they could respond with ‘taking it or leaving it’.

I think those I talked to are curious about how the project evolves. Perhaps they are more curious about why I am learning initiative and taking the approach that I am. Overall, the conversations ranged from interesting to boring to informative to tedious. What I’m discovering is that I’m quite execution focused with clear objectives, but that I may struggle more with the ‘iterate and change’ component. For example, completing 10 means completing 10. And writing, sleeping on it, editing, and posting seems to be something I am following quite closely. However, posting by 24hrs before class has proven hard given when the task was completed and when I could have the bandwidth to write, sleep on it, then post.

[Jim Jenkins]

Jim’s problem-solution and feedback from 10

OLD PROBLEM
Problem: People who work in organizations are disappointed and sad when they find there is no means to participate in sustainability initiatives or there is a weak sustainability effort

Solution: Implement a grass roots sustainability engagement function to provide opportunities for people to participate in initiatives and learn to take on their own projects at home, community or work.

FB1
• Explore the belief that sustainability is costly but this doesn’t hold true when you consider other value elements. It is more likely a cost saving for almost any company who gets involved
• How to get past the practice that individual actions are supported with non financial resources up to a point. Breaking through to compete for capital for scaling or integration is a common failure point (my words). My take, running a pilot is a safe bet but are decision makers willing to approve a scale up. Less likely.
• Suggest aggregating individual efforts to see the overall impact which may come in many different forms you are not thinking of. Cost might mean $, time or expertise.
• Think about project initiator outcome value. Value may be different for person to person, group to group. Example, saving wild life may be a primary value for one person but an adjacent community benefit such as lower water treatment cost is important for a different stakeholder. (Michelle’s water example). Talk to all stakeholders to id different value types. This is almost a citizen science approach where each person is doing their own thing but collectively when aggregated across the bigger community, the total value is bigger. Things that don’t cost money that people are doing for their own reason. What are the other value elements.

Anything to add
• Not everyone can contribute in the same way. Some people can only pick up garbage but the whole thing is not about garbage, it is about the broader environment. Community level influencing, leadership example, ok to change. Whatdoes this mean?
Referral
• Lindsey,-grass roots, Ed Pinerrow (value of a water project that solves environmental water problem.
• Kim Sturgess Alta Watersmart NP

FB2
More beneficial to have conversations with the employees first rather then the people stewarding the initiative. I.e. guage the level of interest
Consider using the spodek method for at least part of it, first 2 steps. , in a group , to identify intrinsic interests,
define what a successful project would look like. Look at other companies that have done something similar and have had a successful outcome.
Bring sustainability that……
Referral: Evelyn

Anything to add?
• Define the win-win perspective: avenues at work for employees to get involved, could turn in to new roles.
• Think about what people are feeling. Conduct a poll??
• What would be a company incentive to people to get involved?
Referral: Possible friend, will investigate.

Restate I’m looking for advice from your perspective on how this idea could be improved.

FB3
Don’t be afraid to use your own person experiences. We were talking about my leader and management experience, organizational learning development.
Don’t make it feel like homework to start up a grass roots for work.
Look into the organizations sustainability objectives
Ownership element is important. Don’t forget it.
We talked about behaviour theory. The matching law where effort must match reward.

Anything to add: none
Referral
Possibly Stephanie?

FB4
1. Id current sustainability initiatives on the books and who is involved. Leverage the Interface example. Engage employees for their ideas on sustainable practices. What do they see as problems. Use their suggestions as foundation of the program.
2. Leverage quality improvement, Deming, drive out fear, celebrate progress, share, recognition process for people working in the program.
3. Don’t think it to death

Anything to add
We agreed you can’t underestimate the enthusiasm of motivated people.
Referral
Person? Could be a book, article, model, concept.

FB5
1. Biggest value is in facilitating communication between employees and leaders. Be aware that each organization has it’s own unique opportunities. You have to be on the look out for them.
2. The message that focusing on sustainability make san organization stronger, reduces cost, triple bottom line.
3. How to go about progressing this initiative is crucial. Start small. Move effective if individual brings learning into their own life. Value for organization is profit. Learning and awareness is another value. Opens the door for the spodek method.

Anything to add
My thought: bring in speakers to motivate.
The is a big challenge, will be interested to see how far I get.
How to scale it is a later task to figure out.
Referral
Seek out some grass roots initiative people. How did they need to plan, organize
Joe knows an HCA person: politics, grass roots. possibility

FB6
Consultant role?
1. People like to work on something that is a big solution. It brings more people energy to all aspects of a person’s job. This is a selling point for management. Making an inspiring difference . E
2. Need a sponsor who has access to top leaders and who believes in what you do and has the right motivation to make it happen. (not Blake). Dave’s Encon example in Borger. Motivation trumps access.
3. Reference the conversation in Iceland compared to CRU. The reason CRU went well was about winning at new products. There are two critical pieces, technical innovation and marketing. These 2 need to work hand in hand or it goes off the rails as in Iceland where there has been not enough emphasis on something to sell.

Anything to add
Show management that they cashed the cheque. They made money. Prove to them that when working with me, you’ll cash the check.
We talked about different organizations (one company to the next, commercial VS community). You need to adjust your script to the audience.
Referral
Ray Dowbenko
Greg Yont
Doug Beever
Ron Witherspoon (ag finance)
Rose Lecky (Ag for Life)
Kim Sturgess (Alta water..) same ref as Michelle gave.

FB7
1. Make it clearer for people to understand what you are trying to accomplish and the impact.
2. Use Deming quality improvement approach and Marilyn learning lab approach (Senge) for working with teams, those who can see the sustainability practices and opportunities in the organization.
3. People are overworked in organizations and organizations are running falt out, be very clear on the time element, the value for both of them.
Anything to add:
Referral: Bob Xing, Mark Wolf, Mark Weick, Adam (Webster contact)

FB8
1. Highlight the incentive for the organization to buy in. What is the benefit?
2. Clearly define the starting point in both the organization and people sides. This requires evaluation of the existing state of affairs. Seek out people to to ask them what they think.
3. Start small
Anything to add: tie in a win win perspective to create avenues in the organization for ownership, employee satisfaction, good PR, new roles. Phrase it as an investment in community and environment rather than a cost.
Referral: no one immediate

NEW PROBLEM
Problem: People involved in organizations of all types are frustrated when they find there is little to no opportunity to make a positive difference by participating in sustainability initiatives

Solution: Implement a grass roots sustainability engagement function to provide opportunities for people to participate in initiatives, start their own projects at home, and customized to the valuate needs of the organizations

Enhancements
• Organizations include commercial, non profit, community
• Define incentive for the organization to buy in: Employee/member satisfaction, activates sustainability action to make a difference at employee level, community investment and environment
• Define incentive for employee/member: ownership, opportunity to make a difference,
• Organizational ROI. Stern Sustainable business ROI methodology to break through to compete for capital for scaling or integration is a common failure point. Suggest aggregating individual efforts to see the overall impact which may come in many different forms you are not thinking of. Cost might mean $, time or expertise. Show leadership they cashed the cheque.
• Model the Deming quality improvement approach for working with teams, those who can see the sustainability practices and opportunities in the organization

[Jim Jenkins]

Jim’s reflection

Reflections: 4 professional colleagues, 5 course colleagues
Was comfortable with the exercise, fairly matter of fact. No concerns about carrying it out except time required and accessing people. The asking for advice approach was indeed a great means to lower the inhibition to say yes to my request. Will add this to my conversation template.
It was a relatively relaxed situation. Many people were curious what I was up to and wanted to know more background, where it was going to fit into what I’ve been doing.
It definitely enriched the depth and many nuances of the problem and solution and my understanding of the problem broadened. Several key AHA’s that will strengthen my approach.
Some are interested to know how it progressed.

[Joe Spradley]

Reflection on Exercise 4

Engaging with 10 friends about my project to support movement leaders in creating authentic digital presences has been incredibly insightful. Initially, I felt overwhelmed by the scope of feedback needed, but breaking it down into individual conversations made the process manageable and productive.

Key insights from these discussions included the importance of specificity in defining movement leaders, integrating creative storytelling, and differentiating between various service models, such as “do it for me,” “do it with me,” and “help me do it on my own.” Recommendations emphasized building trust through testimonials, leveraging community connections, and considering low-budget, scalable solutions. Additionally, the need for ongoing engagement and feedback systems was highlighted.

These conversations refined my project’s direction and underscored the value of community-driven, sustainable solutions in digital presence building. The most crucial element in providing this solution is trust, which is best gained by showing up authentically as a member of the community in service of the community.

Overall, these discussions have helped shape a clearer, more actionable path forward, reaffirming my commitment to empowering movement leaders through tailored digital solutions. Moreover, this exercise has deepened my relationships with friends, family, and classmates!

[Joe Spradley]

Before – Frustration with Websites

Problem: Movement leaders feel frustrated and helpless in crafting a digital presence that reflects their real personality and mission.

Solution: Offer support, guides, and tutorials for creating websites. Additionally provide a service that helps them build a custom site together.

After – Supporting Authentic Digital Presence

Problem: Movement leaders feel frustrated and unskilled in crafting a digital presence that reflects their authentic personality and supports the change they seek to create.

Solution: Offer a range of services that can be tailored to the solution these leaders need. Provide each of these offerings based on the desired engagement level they want to provide (time, assets, creative input), along with the level of trust between us. Develop that trust by sharing resources and showing up among sustainable health and wellness communities.

[Evelyn Wallace]

I did it.

I made the ten calls, received three pieces of actionable advice from each person, remembered to ask them who they might put me in touch with, all of it. I directed conversations, took notes, made files, and overall practiced my chops of early-stage project development. I was developing some real momentum around Sustainabilty Leadership workshops for early-stage entrepreneurs or small businesses.

And then I heard Jonathan Petts speak about solving a real problem. Which got me thinking: is it a real problem that early-stage entrepreneurs and small business owners struggle with the “triple bottom line” (i.e. financial sustainability, social sustainability, and environmental sustainability)? Or was that just me trying to smush something I knew I wanted to be doing into something I sort of know to be a tangential problem?

I haven’t abandoned the notion of providing workshops (or coaching) to small-scale entrepreneurs, but I have reconsidered which of the infinite problems on earth I would like to spend my time solving.

I landed on an issue that has been gnawing at me for years now: the incarcerated population of America tend to feel hopeless, helpless, and abandoned by society at large. Do they struggle, in general, with a wide array of other undesired emotions? You betcha. Are there mountains of other problems and issues around our culture of criminality and obsession with punishment, especially in America? Also yes. But an initiator’s gotta start somewhere.

My updated project idea is to provide one pilot program in our local Union County jail of Sustainability Simplified workshops. This is the first project that feels like it’s lifting off of its own accord, and I’m trying not to be intimidated by all the “you should call” advice I’ve already received.

At the same time, I’m also finding myself most doubtful about this project’s potential success. As one of my friends put it, “what can they actually do in there?”

And the truth is: I have no idea what they can do in there. Is it even possible to follow through with a Spodek Method commitment from a jail cell? These fundamental unknowns mean that this project could be a flaming ball of failure. Heck, it could get shot down before it even gets started. But the other side of that coin is: I also had no idea what any of the folks I’ve led through the Spodek Method could do. It’s a surprise every time! So if anything, I’m deeply curious to find out the ways in which our friends behind bars might tap into any of the same empowerment, hopefulness, and peace of mind that so many others have found through the Spodek Method technology.

In summary, here is the advice I received:

• (x2) Be aware of inmate limitations. What are the constraints on their time? Physical space? Rules?
• (x2) Reach out to others who have run programs in jails and prisons. Reach out to government department in charge to discuss other programs. Research other programs in prisons/ jails.
• (x2) Emphasize the desired outcome for inmates: will they be able to get jobs, regulate their emotions, etc? Emphasize skills built.
o Keep in mind we are not a community of risk-takers. Sell program as “this workshop helps people become self-sufficient, who aren’t such a tax on society anymore…”
o Speak the language of those who have the power to approve programs on the inside. Research DOC mission/ find ways to say the right words.
• (x3) Be cautious of particular personalities (like our DA, for example). They may know me by reputation, and not necessarily in a good way.
o Hearsay stories of programs being run poorly/ possibly illegally in past. Be aware of historical context.
o County commissioners notoriously risk averse. I could talk to them, but they’ll almost certainly send me to sheriff.
o Find commonality with Cody Bowen. He tends to go where the winds blow him. As a school resource officer, those winds were a bit more grounding. Now he’s prepping for a coup?
• (x2) Convince authorities this is a program worth putting on the roster. Consider who I know, directly or indirectly, to help me get “in.”
o Find social service coordinator for jail (sometimes social worker, sometimes chaplain). Connect with them.
• (x3) Tailor sustainability concept into this direction so it fits. Use as many of the same materials as possible
o Perhaps reconsider structure of workshop/ hours per session/ sessions per week
o Find a way to implement program without starting from scratch. Use any workshop materials or frameworks that already exist.
• Consider offering program to the newly-released
• Consider offering Initiative
• Consider how I’m going to be compensated, or decide if I’m just doing this as a passion project/ clarify parameters of intention.
• (x2) Keep in mind different inmates have different stories. “The incarcerated” is not a monolith.
o Narrow types of people who might be interested
• Get feedback from participants as you go. Build that into the workshop
• Bridge gap between “incarcerated” and “sustainability” and ensure that is communicated in pitching program
• Clarify description. Why is this a solution to their problems?
o Ask myself: why this group? Is the delta the greatest?
• Consider expanding emrollment beyond inmates: maybe jail admin or leadership, too? Try to engage with them while engaging with inmates
• Acquaint myself with order of operations in County commissioner funding. Money comes from county budget, goes to sherrif, but jail is run through deputy? But don’t jump chain of command!

Contact recommendations:
• Dr. Epperstein’s husband. (She was psychiatrist in town, moved to CO with family. Husband tried to start programs in town but came up on some obstacles. He may help me navigate the mine field.)
• Howard Univeristy department of criminology/ any professor
• My uncle Russ
• Andy Alpine, runs support groups for ex-convicts, worked in San Quentin
• Cody Bowen, sheriff. (Send Liz Meyer short write up of what I want her to say… and remind her a lot until she confirms she’s sent it!)
• “Esther” from Initiative
• Cami from NEON. She’s run NA programs in Union County jail.
• Warren Farrell, author of “Myth of Male Power”
• TED talk speaker, name forthcoming

[Hayden Kessinger]

Hey Evelyn,

Love this new direction and your attitude around the uncertainty of the project. I’m glad my initial doubts have helped rather than hindered you. Really looking forward to how it develops!

[Bonnie]

Exercise 4:

A list of the advice you got for your project.

Old solution: Build on the strengths of current shuttle programs that provide patient transportation to clinics and hospitals, and identify areas for improvement. Work with shuttle companies to arrange rides for patients. During the appointment scheduling process, schedulers should ask patients if they need transportation assistance.

Advice received:
Clarify the emotions and think about how these people are feeling
Help people become of the services that already existed
Define a smaller geographical area to start
Include links on providers’ websites and display physical posters in waiting areas to make them visible to patients before their appointments
Analyze the existing models -what work and doesn’t work, and from user and healthcare workers’ perspectives
How are you going to fund this in the short term? Talk to if there are some non profits
Define ability of mobility – what equipment the shuttle is needed
set milestones and try this for a year and see what do I need to do
Set the parameters and expectations
Identify other countries and models that are doing it well
Where is the revenue stream?
What is your goal – help people have healthier lives?
What does success look like?
How is it different from lyft and uber?
Focus on the real problem – how can you help others
How to make it a win win for hospital and clinics
figure out who qualify for assistance
Create a transportation system within a 25-mile radius of the hospital/clinic address

An improved version of the project based on that advice.
Build on the strengths of current shuttle programs that provide patient transportation to clinics and hospitals, and identify areas for improvement. Work with shuttle companies to arrange rides for patients. During the appointment scheduling process, schedulers should ask patients if they need transportation assistance. Geographical area: Start with the East Bay within the San Francisco Bay Area

A list of any referrals to people who could help.
https://patandtheelephant.org/

[Bonnie]

Reflection:
How did you feel about the exercise before starting? Were you anxious, excited, confused?

I felt a bit nervous about this exercise before starting because I needed to interview 10 people within one week. During exercise 3, it was challenging to find 5 people to talk to, as everyone was very busy. Additionally, as I was still catching up on all these exercises, I felt overwhelmed by the coordination and identifying individuals to interview. I originally scheduled interviews with 9 people but ended up speaking with 7. I will explain later why I paused after the seventh interview.

How did those feelings change as you did the exercise?

I became more confused after speaking with more people, though I genuinely appreciate the advice I received. It was clear that everyone was sincerely interested in my project and believed it would benefit the community. However, I realized that the topic I’m covering is too broad. I need to narrow my scope and clearly define my goal—what exactly do I want to achieve and who do I want to help?

How did you feel during the conversations? How did the other people seem to feel?
People appreciate my efforts to address the healthcare accessibility problem, recognizing its urgent need. The conversations went well, and they are eager to hear more about my progress. I feel more motivated after hearing that this topic is considered important. I enjoyed the conversations.

Did you get advice beyond your expectations? Did you learn from the conversations?
I received two pieces of advice: they were not about improving accessibility but about my passion. First, the focus should be on whether I genuinely want to pursue this project and define my goal, rather than just improving accessibility. I haven’t yet clarified what success looks like for this project. I recognize that it is very complex and often feel overwhelmed. Sometimes, I consider choosing simpler tasks to achieve a sense of accomplishment. After speaking with the seventh interviewee, I decided to pause the discussions to reflect on my goals. I plan to interview the remaining participants next week. However, one interviewee mentioned that the key skills gained from these exercises and interactions—such as discovering our passion and improving communication skills—are valuable. Ultimately, these skills will contribute to the project’s success, even though we may not see the results until after the class is over. This was very helpful and motivated me to keep going.

Do you feel your understanding of the problem and the quality of the solution improved?

I received a lot of advice that I need time to process. I appreciate the input and will focus on defining my goal, as I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Do you think the people you talked to are interested in learning how the project evolves?
Yes, they were very excited about it and asked me to keep them posted.

How would you characterize the conversations—boring, fun, exciting?
I enjoyed the conversations; they were both fun and inspiring. I found it exciting to talk to people, and some suggestions led me to explore areas I hadn’t previously considered.

[Bonnie]

I spoke with 2 more people the past 2 weeks and I wanted to share my updated reflection.

A list of the advice you got for your project.

Old solution: Build on the strengths of current shuttle programs that provide patient transportation to clinics and hospitals, and identify areas for improvement. Work with shuttle companies to arrange rides for patients. During the appointment scheduling process, schedulers should ask patients if they need transportation assistance.

Advice received:
Clarify the emotions and think about how these people are feeling
Help people become of the services that already existed
Define a smaller geographical area to start
Include links on providers’ websites and display physical posters in waiting areas to make them visible to patients before their appointments
Analyze the existing models -what work and doesn’t work, and from user and healthcare workers’ perspectives
How are you going to fund this in the short term? Talk to if there are some non profits
Define ability of mobility – what equipment the shuttle is needed
set milestones and try this for a year and see what do I need to do
Set the parameters and expectations
Identify other countries and models that are doing it well
Where is the revenue stream?
What is your goal – help people have healthier lives?
What does success look like?
How is it different from lyft and uber?
Focus on the real problem – how can you help others
How to make it a win win for hospital and clinics
Figure out who qualify for assistance
Create a transportation system within a 25-mile radius of the hospital/clinic address
Additional ideas:
Provide options for people or help them get a ride
Research organizations that have arranged volunteers to provide transportation services e.g. American Cancer Society, Angels on Wheels (formerly)
Transportation Volunteers to specialize in specific disease categories, such as heart disease and cancer
Research existing transportation services and create a repository of available resources.
Partner with college students to recruit volunteers, offering them opportunities to earn college credits or scholarship funds

An improved version of the project based on that advice.

Build on the strengths of current shuttle programs that provide patient transportation to clinics and hospitals, and identify areas for improvement. Work with shuttle companies to arrange rides for patients. During the appointment scheduling process, schedulers should ask patients if they need transportation assistance. Geographical area: Start with the East Bay within the San Francisco Bay Area

Edit:
Study existing ride volunteer models, starting with a small community, and gradually expand to a larger area. Build on the strengths of current shuttle programs that provide patient transportation to clinics and hospitals, identifying areas for improvement.
In addition to exploring shuttle programs, consider offering individual car services for patient transportation. This could involve partnering with ride-sharing companies or establishing a volunteer-based system where drivers provide one-on-one rides. By offering both shuttle and individual car services, patients can have more flexibility and access to reliable transportation options tailored to their specific needs.

A list of any referrals to people who could help.
https://patandtheelephant.org/
American Cancer Society
Angels on Wheels (formerly)

Reflection:
How did you feel about the exercise before starting? Were you anxious, excited, confused?

I felt a bit nervous about this exercise before starting because I needed to interview 10 people within one week. During exercise 3, it was challenging to find 5 people to talk to, as everyone was very busy. Additionally, as I was still catching up on all these exercises, I felt overwhelmed by the coordination and identifying individuals to interview. I originally scheduled interviews with 9 people but ended up speaking with 7. I will explain later why I paused after the seventh interview.

Edit: I spoke with two more people over the past week and was pleased to gain new perspectives and insights that reshaped my original solution.

How did those feelings change as you did the exercise?

I became more confused after speaking with more people, though I genuinely appreciate the advice I received. It was clear that everyone was sincerely interested in my project and believed it would benefit the community. However, I realized that the topic I’m covering is too broad. I need to narrow my scope and clearly define my goal—what exactly do I want to achieve and who do I want to help?

Edit:
Over the past two weeks, several interviewees suggested starting with my own community or organizing volunteers to provide rides or assist people in arranging transportation. These ideas have given me new options for addressing the lack of reliable transportation. A few weeks ago, I felt a bit stuck, but now I’m eager to explore this direction further.

How did you feel during the conversations? How did the other people seem to feel?

People appreciate my efforts to address the healthcare accessibility problem, recognizing its urgent need. The conversations went well, and they are eager to hear more about my progress. I feel more motivated after hearing that this topic is considered important. I enjoyed the conversations.

Did you get advice beyond your expectations? Did you learn from the conversations?

I received two pieces of advice: they were not about improving accessibility but about my passion. First, the focus should be on whether I genuinely want to pursue this project and define my goal, rather than just improving accessibility. I haven’t yet clarified what success looks like for this project. I recognize that it is very complex and often feel overwhelmed. Sometimes, I consider choosing simpler tasks to achieve a sense of accomplishment. After speaking with the seventh interviewee, I decided to pause the discussions to reflect on my goals. I plan to interview the remaining participants next week. However, one interviewee mentioned that the key skills gained from these exercises and interactions—such as discovering our passion and improving communication skills—are valuable. Ultimately, these skills will contribute to the project’s success, even though we may not see the results until after the class is over. This was very helpful and motivated me to keep going.

Do you feel your understanding of the problem and the quality of the solution improved?

I received a lot of advice that I need time to process. I appreciate the input and will focus on defining my goal, as I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.
Do you think the people you talked to are interested in learning how the project evolves?
Yes, they were very excited about it and asked me to keep them posted.

How would you characterize the conversations—boring, fun, exciting?

I enjoyed the conversations; they were both fun and inspiring. I found it exciting to talk to people, and some suggestions led me to explore areas I hadn’t previously considered.

[Author]

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