NY Times best selling author of Doing More with Less, Bruce Piasecki spoke to Social Innovation Sydney at COFA last week:
‘Doing More with Less: Innovation Routes for Families and Firms in a Swift and Severe World’
Bruce covered cases and examples he has seen of successful innovation, adaptation and response to change and the need to shift toward more sustainable approaches.
Video of his talk follows below.
Huge thanks to Bruce for taking the time to discuss his ideas with us.
This is an important topic for our times! And it is an issue that has driven discussion and thinking at Social Innovation Sydney from the beginning. This film confronts the new reality facing brands in a world where transparency is there, whether they like it or not.
“Bad Companies Can’t Hide Behind Great Ads Anymore
They can’t abuse the environment and tell us they’re green, hide corruption behind a clever headline, or sell the same old junk as new and improved. We’re just not buying it.
Now we have constant access to information that tells the truth about the products we use and the ethics of the companies behind them—and that changes everything.
In The Naked Brand, veteran ad man Jeff Rosenblum turns an introspective eye on the corporate world. He shines a spotlight on brands that say one thing and deliver another, asking industry luminaries the question that’s on everybody’s mind: now what?”
Source: The Naked Brand Trailer
Check out The Naked Brand Film website or watch the trailer:
The Naked Brand Trailer from EnricoPavia on Vimeo.
Thanks to Mark Pesce for sending through the link.
Thank-you to everyone who braved the torrential Sydney rain last night to watch Miss Representation and participate in the panel session afterward.
Special thanks to our panel members who provided thought provoking discussion:
There was so much interesting ground we did not get a chance to cover we’ve decided to run an unconference later this year on the same topic. Keep an eye out for details on our Events page.
By the way, if you’re interested in Social Innovation Sydney please up for our email newsletter so we can let you know what’s on: Sign up for our free newsletter!
The representation of women in media is an important issue for our times. To kick off in 2012 we’re screening a film to get us thinking, talking, and acting on the issue of women and how we are portrayed in the media.
Join us for a screening of the film and a panel discussion following.
The documentary Miss Representation, by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, and aired on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network in October.
The film explores how the media’s misrepresentations of women have led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence.
Find out more at MissRepresentation.org
Our next Social Innovation UnConference is scheduled for Saturday 13 August 2011 at COFA in Paddington.
The theme is metamorphosis and it is Social Innovation Sydney’s first birthday!
We’ll be announcing the keynote speaker shortly (stay tuned it’s going to be interesting).
The agenda will include our traditional unconference sessions after lunch, with lightning talks in the morning on topics like:
Food Inc screening – 28th July 2011 at COFA Sydney
The film will be followed by a panel discussion that featuring well known social enterprises and influencers who are redefining the local food industry:
The panel includes:
Even if you’ve seen the film before, this is your chance to explore this increasingly important issue in our society.
“Costa’s Garden Odyssey”Social Innovation Sydney is proud to announce Costa Georgiadis, the host of SBS TV’s will be joining the Food Inc. panel:
“Costa takes a holistic approach to gardening and the environment, engaging communities to develop a love of and appreciation of the natural world in all its diversity. Costa’s groundedness and wisdom make his show one that all ages and cultures connect with and respond to because he celebrates life, nature and community.”
We are what we eat!
Join Social Innovation Sydney and the fast developing Sydney food community to watch “Food, Inc.”, an eye-opening expose of the modern food industry. Both fascinating and terrifying, and essential viewing for any health-conscious citizen.
Get tickets here
Food, Inc.
How much do we really know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families?
In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on the food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies.
The food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment.
We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.
Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield’s Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms’ Joel Salatin, Food, Inc.reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it’s produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.
Tickets here
Just wanted to let you know about this event in Melbourne on June 11th, 2011:
Gathering ’11: To Build Better Futures brings together leading thinkers, change-makers and collaborators from across Australia and around the world to explore whatʼs possible, and develop ideas on how we can best solve todayʼs most pressing social and environmental challenges.
We’re coming together to ask:
- How might we tap into the potential of emerging technologies, networks, and systems to co-create a thrivable new world?
- Where are the opportunities – and what do we need – to build pathways toward a new economy, a cleaner environment, resilient communities, and a happier planet?
- What can we all do to build better futures?
The Gathering ‘11 program is based on Open Space Technology, with a mix of presentations, participant led discussions and concept development sessions. For the inaugural Gathering we have an outstanding lineup of featured participants from across the not-for-profit, corporate, academic and government sectors including:
- John Hagel: co-chair Deloitte Center for the Edge (USA) and co-author of The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion
- Michel Bauwens: Belgian technologist, theorist and researcher on culture and business innovation and founder of the Peer to Peer Foundation (Thailand)
- Venessa Miemis: futurist, digital ethnographer and writer at Forbes. Blogger at Emergent by Design, founder of Open Foresight and producer of The Future of Money (USA)
- Pete Williams: social web revolutionary and CEO of Deloitte Digital. Helped rebuild Flowerdale after the 2009 Victorian bushfires and is #hannahsdad (Australia)
- Kate Carruthers: Marketer, technologist, educator, blogger. Co-Chief Changemaker at Social Innovation Sydney (Australia)
- Christine Egger: champion of social innitiatives and former Co-Director of Social Actions (USA)
- Stephen Johnson: Social Enterprise Evangelist and Community Catalyst. Head of Social at Community Engine (Australia)
- Jean Russell: collaboration catalyst and founder of thrivable.org and thrivable.net (USA)
- Kristin Alford: Futurist and communicator at Bridge8. Exploring the role of science & technology, in innovation, economic development, social change and sustainability (Australia)
- Tim Longhurst: Futurist, speaker, minimalist and activist (Australia)
- Ehon Chan: Researcher, teacher and change agent. Co-founder News Unlimited and YESBrisbane, Board Member at PlanBig (Australia)
At Gathering ʻ11 we will share insights, explore thoughts, develop ideas and lay down the foundations to build better futures for all, together.
Register for Gathering ʻ11 here
“Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact,
it is the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret MeadPlease follow us on twitter and join our facebook page for some great content, discussions and announcements coming soon.
While the Economics of Happiness film explores the effects of economic globalisation it also uncovers solutions through localisation (tickets and details here).
We would like to introduce the special guests who will take part in the panel following the screening:
Helena Norberg-Hodge is the co-director of the Economics of Happiness. Helena is the founder and director of the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC) and its predecessor, the Ladakh Project. She is the author of Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh and co-author of Bringing the Food Economy Home. Her articles have appeared in numerous journals such as The Ecologist, Resurgence, and YES! magazine. Norberg- Hodge’s ground-breaking work in the Himalayan region of Ladakh is internationally recognized, and earned her the Right Livelihood Award.
Jon Dee was the 2010 NSW Australian of the Year. He is the Founder & Managing Director of Do Something! and in 1991 he founded Planet Ark with Pat Cash. Projects initiated by Jon have inspired millions of Australians into making positive social and environmental change. Recently you may have seen Jon on various news broadcasts as a key advocate of the banning phosphates in Laundry Detergents campaign. Aldi have now agreed to phase out by 2013, at no added cost to the consumer.
Gareth Johnston, Managing Director of the Live Local Foundation, Non Exec Director. GEM Financial Group Ltd, Co Founder Future Ready P/L, Community Beekeeper. Gareth believes resilience is critical for community. He enjoys living in a diverse healthy community in inner Sydney, practising his “local living.”
Lauren Anderson, Collaborative Consumption. Lauren is an Innovation strategist and project manager for CC Lab. She played an instrumental role in building the Collaborative Consumption brand and the growing movement.
Lauren has worked with a range of cutting-edge organizations in the Social Innovation sector, including the Australian Social Innovation Exchange, Project Australia and the Brightest Young Minds Foundation, as well as recently the Vibewire Enterprise Hub.
Make sure to purchase your tickets soon as we have limited capacity.
Tickets here
This is a guest post from Neerav Bhatt who attended the Gartner Symposium in Sydney, this post is reproduced with permission:
I had a press pass to the 2010 Gartner Symposium/ITxpo and specifically made time to attend Craig Rispin’s session “How To Think Like a Futurist” as I’d heard he had some thought provoking ideas to share.
He made a lot of good points including his first one which was that futurists need to read lots of science fiction because science fiction helps you understand that life will change, must change. Science fiction suggests how and why it may change in the near and distant future.
Craig explained that:
“Futurists are reverse historians. We try to peer over the horizon so we can make better decisions today. We analyse trends, anticipate significant changes and help people create preferable futures.”
In a world where social, technological, environmental, economic and political change is occurring so fast it is learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.
To think like a futurist you need to think:
- Global versus local
- Long term as well as short
- Of multiple Future possibilities rather than predicting one
- About Trends not news
- Cross industry vs industry specific
- About multiple trend drivers not just the economy
- About long term vision not short term tactics
- Big picture versus micro detail
More details about some of Craig’s publications can be found on Neerav’s site.
How can we build a public sector innovation system? with Christian Bason:
Masterclass and Free Public Forum
Government and the public sector are key players in shaping and providing social services and decision making on behalf of citizens. But how can we make a public sector that is innovative and responsive to the needs of its citizens?
anguage, the ability, the process and the leadership practices necessary to create the new solutions that society needs.About Christian Bason: Christian Bason is the Director of MindLab, a cross-ministerial innovation unit in Denmark. He was formerly responsible for the public organisation and management practice of Ramboll, an international consultancy. As an experienced presenter and facilitator, he has served as advisor to numerous public institutions around the world. He is also a university lecturer and is the author of four books on citizen involvement, leadership and innovation in the public sector. His latest book, “Leading public sector innovation: Co-creating for a better society” (Policy Press) is out in October 2010.
Social Innovation Sydney 