I'm quite impressed with all 33 "secrets of social innovation" at
http://designinafrica.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/innovation-in-africa... But the one that resonates most for me is this one.
"Listen to the right people. Okay, so you probably don’t know what it’s like to carry fifty pounds of firewood on your head. Well, don’t pretend that you do. Talk to someone who has done it. I believe that the key to innovation in international development is truly understanding the problem, and using your imagination is not good enough."
Again and again I've lost my way by listening to social convention (the assumed "right" way to do things) only to later discover I've been listening to an echo chamber. Again and again when I find myself in the presence of someone who really "knows" what they're talking about, from first hand experience, not from tradition or what's expected, there's a very different flavour. They feel real, because they are. And by paying attention to them I find magical connections start to happen. Life starts to gel, to flow, become more functional. "Talk to someone who has done it." Spend more time with people who walk the walk, and less with those who just talk the talk. True of technical problems, true of social problems, true of everything. Let go of assumptions and get real.
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