A crash course in changing the world.
"What you have matters more than what you lack (If you’ve got a bicycle, consider what you can build based on that, rather than worrying about not having a car, a truck, a metal shop.)"
Where I work, this secret to social innovation is a summarization of the day to day. I work with disabled adults, who for the most part, haven't been given the oppertunities they should have been given. The idea of focusing on skills that someone has and highlighting them is a huge self-esteem booster and i think is the key to unlocking other skills or ideas people may have. One person that I work with, who has autism, loves going to Costco and wandering around our building at work. So he now was a water delivery business that involves him going to Costco, lifting the cases of water into the cart, paying for it, then delivering the water to businesses and people's homes.
Another guy I work with used to be able to walk. But now is in his late 30's and is wheelchair bound. He also used to smoke cigarettes, but now has massive tremors that lead to a home fire, so he no longer can smoke. He is....was...an angry man. Wouldn't you be? late 30's and now people are changing your diapers, telling you no, and pushing you around in your wheelchair wherever they feel like? My friend really felt useless. So when we started trying to brainstorm things he could do we came up with popcorn delivery. Sounds lame, but it's proof that we've discovered a secret of social innovation.
My friend now delivers popcorn throughout the building at my work and has a new found confidence. Focusing on skills he has, like his great personality, his ability to hold onto something as long as it's big enough, and his determination to prove to himself that he is a capable adult with purpose, instead of focusing on the negatives, has given him the confidence to push himself. Now he always trys new things where as before he would assume he wasn't capable.
Praise people's skills and watch new ones come alive.
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