Invention Not Wasted On The Young

Easton LaChappelle’s story offers a reminder of the simplest key to success–if you want something badly enough, do the work and find creative ways to achieve your desired outcome.

If traditional systems aren’t providing what you need to accomplish your mission, then break away–break away from your 9-5 job, break away from the agenda that’s set by conventional mind-sets. Easton broke away from the limitations of the public education system and taught himself what he wanted to know.

For LaChappelle, this meant learning how to build a better prosthetic arm.

“I tested a need in the market with a Kickstarter campaign. The need was there, so now I’m working to fill it. That’s my mission,” LaChappelle tells Fast Company. “The educational system has boundaries, and you don’t have to work within the boundaries of systems. You can do things to achieve your own outcomes–that’s what I’m doing.”

LaChappelle’s mission is to reinvent conventional prostheses. After meeting a young girl with a prosthetic arm and realizing that her parents had to pay $80,000 for it, he knew something had to change. So LaChappelle focused the desire he’s always had to take things apart and put them back together again in a new way.

Living in a small town in Colorado, LaChappelle has had to self-teach himself everything–electronics, coding, how to use a 3-D printer, the list goes on. “This year’s graduating class had 23 people. The nearest RadioShack is an hour away,” LaChappelle says. But lack of access and the learning curve hasn’t stopped him. Neither has the fact that’s he’s 17 and has little money to buy products. LaChappelle conducts all of his work in his bedroom. “Just the other day, I heated acetone in a mason jar in my room to make the 3-D-printed hands look more human,” he admitted to an audience of thousands in his recent TEDx talk.

via Meet The 17-Year-Old Who Created A Brain-Powered Prosthetic Arm | Fast Company | Business + Innovation

Power To The People

Peru has initiated a new solar panel program that will provide electricity to more than 2 million of its poorest residents, Don Lieber over at Planetsave has reported.

Currently, only 66% of Peru’s 24 million people has access to electricity, according to the country’s Energy and Mining Minister Jorge Merino. By 2016, the plan is to provide electricity to 95% of residents through The National Photovoltaic Household Electrification Program.

“This program is aimed at the poorest people, those who lack access to electric lighting and still use oil lamps, spending their own resources to pay for fuels that harm their health,” he said.

via Peru To Provide Free Solar Power To 2 Million Of Its Poorest Residents

The Power Of Community

In the storefront window on Van Siclen Avenue, an electronic sign shows a running total of how long it has been since the last shooting took place in an area of roughly 20 square blocks in East New York, Brooklyn.

As of Thursday afternoon, the sign read:

363 Days No Shootings No Killings.

This week one year ago, a neighborhood development organization, Man Up!, began to send people into the streets to figure out where the violence was going next so they could hit the pause button. Mediate. Listen. Talk.

via No Shootings or Killings for 363 Days, but the Fight Is Far From Over - NYTimes.com

The Anti-Ice Cream Truck

In 2007, Ohio State University and Indiana University researchers analyzed 5,380 elementary schoolkids’ body mass indexes across the country and found that BMI grew more than twice as rapidly over the summer months. Public health experts have hypothesized that summer vacation means kids spend more time in front of the TV with more snacks than they would consume in school, and low-income communities without access to safe parks and healthier foods are especially at risk.

With these inequalities in mind, the Food Bank for New York City has dispatched an “anti-ice cream” truck targeted at teens in the summer months. Their “Change One Thing” outreach campaign will be popping up at parks, pools, and sports fields in Harlem, the Bronx, and Brooklyn, encouraging teens to change just one habit–even if it means swapping one soda for a bottle of water.

via 1 | New York City Now Has An Anti-Ice-Cream Truck | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

Mosquito Innovations

For you, mosquitoes are a huge–but mostly benign–annoyance. Except for some itching, there isn’t much to a mosquito bite. But in the rest of the world–despite enormous efforts by aid agencies and others–mosquito-borne diseases remain an incredibly large part of the global health problem. The World Health Organization says there were 219 million cases of malaria in 2010, resulting in 660,000 deaths, mostly in Africa. And that’s before we mention Dengue and West Nile.

The Kite Patch is a simple fix that aims to replace today’s sprays and lotions (or leapfrog them entirely in the developing world, where they’re not available). A sticker you attach to your shirt, it contains chemicals that stop mosquitos from sensing CO2, and therefore knowing you are close. It effectively makes wearers “invisible,” according to its developers, and lasts for up to 48 hours.

via 1 | Can This Patch Make You Invisible To Mosquitoes? | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

Expanding Vocabularies

A good friend recently gave me a friendly call-out on my use of a non-mainstream and important word, praxis. Praxis is a practice, like the praxis of design. As a writer, I have a passion for people on the planet expanding their vocabularies beyond the few hundred words they daily recycle.

Language shapes lens: the world we see is largely shaped by the language we have to narrate its unfolding. We now have neuroscience research supporting this. Perspective is an intelligence all its own. Language expansion is not just an accumulative function filling the dictionary attic in our brain.

On a practical level, we lift all boats when we share responsibility for using as rich sets of vocabularies as we can in even the most mundane life contexts.

Dream Ecosystems

I’m more than occasionally in the grateful position of being the only one in someone’s life who is an authentic and passionate champion of their dreams, while others in their world try to keep them busy just living the past. Struggling communities ponder the mystery of why others thrive with the emergence of people passionate with compelling dreams.

I would argue that the scope of potential growth is related to how many people there are active champions of their dreams and the dreams of others there. This is the dream ecosystem for which there are no other economic or institutional substitutes.

Connecting Dots

Over the years, there has been an interesting and beloved genre of people who have intentionally read many, and in some cases, all of my books. They are people who like making a difference. They are fans of transformation and the power of narrative, the primacy of connections and the importance of realizing our individual and collective potential.

The new book adds another layer to the curry. In it I suggest that presence is key to all the above. Good leaders have a sense of presence. People become more together in presence together. Presence unleashes courage, compassion and creativity. The dots connect.

Launching Book 13

Today my 13th title launched, Abundant Possibilities. More on the book and orders is at AbundantPossibilities.org. It was another interesting journey as each book has been. It started a couple of years ago with a different focus and title. The enduring constant has been the target readers: people who want to create change in their life and world.

These are the formal and informal leaders, change agents and anyone just passionate about a world different from the past.

The premise and message of the book is simple: we realize our capacity for creating change when we live fully in the present. So the book is about the art of intentionally living in the present and how it unleashes abundant possibilities for change. Stay tuned for courses and coaching on this theme.

Ball Park Innovations

Today was facilitating a successful workshop on innovation with Cleveland’s MLB organization. It’s the baseball team of my youth and an honor to show up decades later to help transform the way the organization innovates. The multidisciplinary group did a great job riffing on hot tech applications and strategies that are far beyond what other parks are now doing.They were most jazzed at how easily and quickly they can test new ideas, precluding weeks of futile and invalid committee debates.

The only organizations that will thrive in uncertain economies will be those that innovate how they innovate.

The New Face Of Currency

Finland is taking the world one step closer to a world where your live face will replace the faces of dead presidents as the only shopping currency you need.

Uniqul, a Finnish startup, has patented and tested a unique payment system that does away with many security worries about paying for items in a store. In Uniqul’s system, your face is your PIN.

The company is going to roll out terminals in the Helsinki area soon. The actual mechanism is as simple as it sounds: To confirm a transaction at point of sale, the user simply has to present their face to the camera, watch for their ID to pop up, then click “OK” on a tablet display to confirm that yes, they actually do want to make a purchase. There’s said to be no payment card involved, no wallet, no mobile phone use involved–which implies that the system stores your ID centrally along with details of your payment method. Uniqul says you can register with almost any payment system, from PayPal to traditional cards, and the data is protected by “military grade” encryption.

Designed to improve the security and speed of transactions, the business model of Uniqul may actually be its best innovation. Like Square–which it’s a direct threat too–Uniqul is aimed at smaller businesses. It’s likely to be free for merchants, while users pay a small stipend to allow transactions within a certain radius of a chosen point, such as their own home. €0.99 a month unlocks terminals in a 1-2 km radius, and €6.99 is the total wallet-free option.

via Forget Credit Cards. In Finland, You Can Pay With Your Face | Fast Company | Business + Innovation

The Power Of Invisible

Here is another example of the entrepreneurial penchant for empathy as prime mover of innovations.

For you, mosquitoes are a huge–but mostly benign–annoyance. Except for some itching, there isn’t much to a mosquito bite. But in the rest of the world–despite enormous efforts by aid agencies and others–mosquito-borne diseases remain an incredibly large part of the global health problem. The World Health Organization says there were 219 million cases of malaria in 2010, resulting in 660,000 deaths, mostly in Africa. And that’s before we mention Dengue and West Nile.

The Kite Patch is a simple fix that aims to replace today’s sprays and lotions (or leapfrog them entirely in the developing world, where they’re not available). A sticker you attach to your shirt, it contains chemicals that stop mosquitos from sensing CO2, and therefore knowing you are close. It effectively makes wearers “invisible,” according to its developers, and lasts for up to 48 hours.

via 1 | Can This Patch Make You Invisible To Mosquitoes? | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

Thanks, Jack

High Engagement Learning

I’m in the midst of creating a virtual course on engagement, addressing educational, work and community contexts. I’m making the case that the core principles and practices of facilitating engagement span equally across these contexts. The possibilities of engagement in education contexts are particularly interesting when the premise is that all learning should contribute to real situations in communities. Think: volunteer home building and repair projects, community gardens and kitchens, arts and entertainment events. In each context real learning that addresses real outcomes is possible. This is high engagement learning.

Questioning The American Dream

U of BC professor Elizabeth Dunn has been researching the relevance of the American Dream as the self-sufficiency mythologies from the Puritans to the Cowboys behind the requirement of home ownership.

Now there is research like Dr. Dunn’s, emphasizing that when it comes to your overall happiness, “there are a lot of better things you could be putting your money toward” than real estate.

This isn’t necessarily bad news in a place like New York City, where nearly 70 percent of the housing stock is rentals. And it may offer some solace to frustrated buyers facing bidding wars and all-cash offers they simply can’t top.

“People still view housing as a central component of happiness and a critical aspect of the American dream,” Dr. Dunn said. “But there is little research to support that.”

A 2011 study of about 600 women in Ohio found that homeowners weren’t any happier than renters. The study was conducted by Grace Wong Bucchianeri, then an assistant professor of real estate at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Indeed, homeowners spent less time on leisure activities with friends and reported that they derived some pain from homeownership. What exactly caused that pain wasn’t indicated in the study, but financial experts say that people who make the leap from renting to buying can be caught off guard by the nuts and bolts.

via Homeownership, the Key to Happiness? - NYTimes.com

This has interesting policy and economic implications going forward. It's a call to reinvent how cities sustain high quality of life for renters.

The Power Of Care

A growing body of research suggests that the way to influence—and to lead—is to begin with warmth. Warmth is the conduit of influence: It facilitates trust and the communication and absorption of ideas. Even a few small nonverbal signals—a nod, a smile, an open gesture—can show people that you’re pleased to be in their company and attentive to their concerns. Prioritizing warmth helps you connect immediately with those around you, demonstrating that you hear them, understand them, and can be trusted by them.

via Connect, Then Lead - Harvard Business Review

This validates the principle that people don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.

Authentic engagement is not the domain of control or even influence. It isn’t about manipulating people to serve one’s agenda, no matter how altruistic or narcissistic. It’s creating capacity for empowerment and caring makes that more possible for leaders and change agents.

What's New Here On The Site

On the new Learning-Work-Living tabs, there are new descriptions of the business case and offerings for high engagement education contexts, organizations and communities. As it turns out, when people are engaged in learning, work, and living contexts, they bring their best to the table. They interact with passion, care, and creativity.

Also new are the coaching products now updated in the Store. The new book, Abundant Possibilities, is due for release next Friday so order your copies today. The PDF is available now.

Libraries enter the tech revolution

Starting this week, though, 3-D printing will be as easy as swiping a library card for Chicago residents. The city’s main downtown library, the Harold Washington Library Center, has opened up a free maker lab that anyone can access, with three MakerBot 3-D printers, laser cutters and a milling machine. It’s the first maker space to open in a major urban library.

via In Chicago, 3-D Printers Are Available To Anyone With A Library Card | Popular Science

Look for this trend to scale. Available programs will be vetted for approved printings of just about anything under the sun. And why shouldn't libraries take the democratization of knowledge to the democratization of consumer created economies.

The truth about living wages

On July 9, Walmart bared its teeth against the living wage. Alex Barron, a Washington D.C. regional general manager took to the Washington Post, stating that Walmart would not pursue three planned D.C. stores if the city council’s living wage legislation–which would require major retailers to pay workers at least $12.50 per hour, instead of the current $8.25–passed. The Post then reported that a team of Walmart representatives and lobbyists presented the ultimatum to the council itself. The law passed anyway, though it’s unclear if the mayor will sign it.

via 4 Bogus Claims About Why Walmart Can’t Pay A Living Wage | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

As it turns out, the increase in wages will cost an average customer the price of a pizza per year and the rest of the economic arguments are false. Living wage employees actually cost communities significantly less realizing a plus gain rather than an economic burden. Good for DC for catalyzing the conversations that surface the truth of living wages.

Cities Reshaped By Driverless Cars

Imagine a city where you don’t drive in loops looking for a parking spot because your car drops you off and scoots off to some location to wait, sort of like taxi holding pens at airports. Or maybe it is picked up by a robotic minder and carted off with other vehicles, like a row of shopping carts.

Inner-city parking lots could become parks. Traffic lights could be less common because hidden sensors in cars and streets coordinate traffic. And, yes, parking tickets could become a rarity since cars would be smart enough to know where they are not supposed to be.

via Disruptions: How Driverless Cars Could Reshape Cities - NYTimes.com

Self-driving cars are on a trajectory to common reality beyond Silicon Valley. This would impact the facts that a third of city driving dedicates fuel waste and pollution to parking spot hunting and third of urban land is wasted on parking lots. These impacts are just the tip of the iceberg on the future of driving.

There could be more car sharing with cars powered by automatic drop off and pick up capabilities. Delivery cars would require little resemblance to cars. And of course, there would be more roads with fewer immature, road-raged, dementia-disabled, drunk and texting drivers.

Compassion Nation

What if we were known as a nation of compassion defined as strangers caring about the well-being of others? Even after 8 weeks of training in living in the present, sometimes called mindfulness, people demonstrate significantly higher levels of compassion to others.

Recent findings by the neuroscientists Helen Weng, Richard Davidson and colleagues confirm that even relatively brief training in meditative techniques can alter neural functioning in brain areas associated with empathic understanding of others’ distress — areas whose responsiveness is also modulated by a person’s degree of felt associations with others.

So take heart. The next time you meditate, know that you’re not just benefiting yourself, you’re also benefiting your neighbors, community members and as-yet-unknown strangers by increasing the odds that you’ll feel their pain when the time comes, and act to lessen it as well.

via The Morality of Meditation - NYTimes.com