jonnybaker

on innovation [1] - we do things differently

i keep talking to people about innovation. i have a ton of thoughts that have been knocking around my head for a while in the areas of change, newness, innovation, imagination, pioneering, mission and changing the world! so i will try and find some space for some blog posts. life is sadly too busy to blog enough but i must blog! i was prompted by this today because i was having a conversation with some good friends about theological education and innovation and whether they do or don't go together easily. i'll come back to that in another post. several of the posts will be about books i have read. 

i have pondered several times in the last few years why i spend more money when i am in an art bookshop than a theology one - see a tale of two bookshops where i suggest that it's because they seem concerned with changing the world and not just art. i have found myself almost repeating that exact same experience only with a different set of books - all of which i hope i will say something about in these posts...

i love people who come up with ideas that solve problems. i especially love it when to solve a particular problem you actually have to reimagine the world in order to solve the problem because the paradigm itself is part of the problem. it's akin to the future present imagination that i have blogged about before.

we do things differently is a book of stories of outsiders rebooting our world by mark stevenson. i nearly didn't buy the book because it has a terrible cover but i am glad i got beyond that. it is an incredible book that filled me with hope. let me mention two stories from it to give you the flavour. one that i mentioned at the new parish conference is of peter dearman who has invented an engine that emits zero carbon. he initially began by messing around with his lawnmower and antifreeze. as an engineer he figured that what drives a piston is temperature change and you could drive a piston by moving the temperature from sub zero to zero if you used liquid nitrogen (along with isothermal expansion). i won't bore you with the details but he has invented an engine that is not oil dependant, and has a bi-product of refrigeration which in hot climates with a lot of food wastage is brilliant. you can read about the dearman engine here.

i also loved the story of the indian scientist samir brahmachari. finding new medicines is and has been a really interesting and potentially life saving area. turberculosis is a disease of the poor so drug companies simply haven't come up with new new medicines to treat the increasingly drug resistant types. further the way drug companies go about it is a multi billion dollar expense to find a new drug which involves thousands of failures. samir's approach was to find a new process by tackling the genome annotation for tb - over four million letters. for one person to do the work would take 300 years. so he effectively created a wikipedia for science students in india to work on particular aspects of the task. through this process they found 350 people who were good and to cut a long story short the results were amazing - the most comprehensively annotated tuberculosis genome in history completed in four months and published online free!!! through this he then found people to create a computer model of tuberculosis bacterium that he could experiment on virtually. once they built that (which was complex) they open sourced it. and through participation 11 weaknesses to explore in the code were identified and the latest was that a cheap drug which already exists for diabetes can be used for tb. i don't claim to follow the details of the science but i found this story compelling. it's compelling because samir who is clearly a genius has to break through the old ways of doing things and imagine very differently to come up with a solution. you would think that the drugs world would be all over it but unsurprisingly he meets incredible difficulty - he is maligned in journals, poo pooed by experts and of course his whole approach is a threat to the economics of the system. it's hard to argue with him though when he says -

'we don't believe in the western concept of knowledge being proprietary. i'm not in this for wealth but because i would like to see  reduction in death'

wow - i am on board!

the book is full of stories of such people who have to reimagine the way the world is organised in order to come up with a solution to the problem - the stories relate to energy, education, drugs, agriculture, engineering, the environment, food production, cities...

thank god for the gift of such seers/innovators - i love that they exist and it fills me with hope. of course i am reading a parallel with pioneers in my own context.

the amount of difficulty they all have is extraordinary - whether it's farming or oil or drugs industries they do not like a threat to the existing system even if it's clear that system needs to change because there are vested interests (and money!) and frankly a lack of desire to even listen to or see the new solutions. (so it's not just the church that is resistant to change as it happens - it's normal for  pioneers all over to experience this kind of resistance sadly and i think we should all wise up about that).

connecting people together becomes really important for support, for encouragement, for hope. this is why i was stressing the importance of getting yourself connected in my last post on the value of networks.

two web sites that are connecting people producing the kinds of futuring solutions in this book are really worth looking up - 

the league of pragmatic optimists and the atlas of the future 

home community cafe launches

i was at the opening of home community cafe in earlsfield last night. it was wonderfully done and such a joyful celebration. this idea has been 3 years in the making. i got to share in the story because meg whose dream it has been and whose work has made it happen trained with us at cms on the pioneer course for a year. she brought this idea to make good, a module we run on missional entrepreneurship, 3 years ago. so it was wonderful to see this dream realised and it will be a great hub for community gathering and transformation i am sure. it was actually the same week that clean for good was brought to as an idea so it's been so exciting this month to have the joy of going to two launches of projects we have seen develop from idea to reality. well done meg!

we run that week in november and april each year so if you have an idea to work up come along - it's an amazing week.

clean for good launch

it was so brilliant this evening to be at the launch of clean for good. clean for good is an ethical cleaning company paying cleaners the london living wage and committed to treating them well. the idea for this was thought up by miriam goodacre and guy treweek when they were at st andrews by the wardrobe church in the city. they had noticed how poorly cleaners were being treated and figured that it would be good news to create a different kind of business. miriam brought the idea to the cms pioneer missional entrepreneurship week 3 years ago (now called make good) and from there a team have worked on the business plan, gaining investment, setting up a board and so on. they have their first managers in place and first cleaners on board with contracts up and running. we heard from a couple of cleaners who told tales of ppreviously being paid around 4 pounds an hour and working 72 hour weeks. through clean for good they now have a fair wage and a contract. so simple but so good. a fuller article is here

if you are in london then have a think about your company or church or whatever and ask yourself if you know #whoismycleaner and see how they are paid and treated. time to shine a light on this sector and do some good!

the photo above is a mix of the team who dreamed it up, the people running it and the cleaners. 

[update: good to see the guardian published a piece on it]

doing good better

i was pleased to see that theos have published a report looking at how faith based organisations are responding to social need through innovation and social enterprise. this follows on quite nicely or complements the issue of anvil on missional entrepreneurship. i was very happy to be rung up to share some thoughts and delighted that the wonderful new enterprise clean for good that was worked up as an idea at the cms pioneer missional entrepreneurship week is featured as a case study. the report is called doing good better and you can download it from the page linked to above.

i love the recommendation that religious charities could create an innovation fund to help invest in innovative projects and processes that catalyse them. if there is a funder out there who is interested in that we have a host of projects that come to us at our missional entrepreneurship weeks - give me a shout!

articles, reflections and interviews on missional entrepreneurship

the latest edition of anvil journal is available online free. i have edited it together with mark sampson. it is themed on missional entrepreneurship with a mix of long and short articles and reflections. this time there are also five video interviews as well. we did these interviews at the pioneer conversations day on that theme a year or so back so it seemed to make sense to include them. i am actually off on the pioneer missional entrepreneurship week in devon next week which i am looking forward to. this is a good warm up! the link to the issue is here.

persuade me to do missional entrepreneurship...

twice a year i am involved together with others in running a training week called missional entrepreneurship. we seek to help people to take ideas for making the world a better place and get them to become real. students who are on our pioneer training at cms do this as a module on the diploma but lots of people do it as a standalone. here's shannon hopkins who leads the course explaining what it's all about. our next week is in november.

it's hosted at pickwell manor - steve baker who also leads the course tells that story here and why he loves the course.

and this year mark samson will also be on the team and he explores an alternative economic imagination here.

these three videos along with the brilliant eve poole all came from interviews at last years cms conversations day which was themed on missional entrepreneurship. we're excited about the one this year on future present!

help kickstart this creative oxford café guide...

hannah davis is launching her project to create an illustrated guide to oxford cafés working with 34 artists - Paint Pots and Coffee Cups: An Illustrated Guide. it's a beautiful book almost ready to roll after a couple of years work. hannah presented the idea at a missional entrepreneurship week on the pioneer course. and we love it when people go away and work up those ideas to make them real. hannah is nearly there. the funding model to help her over the line is kickstarter funding which has a range of options whereby you can pay a range of prices to either donate or pre-order a book to help create enough money to print them. hannah has worked in publishing and is an illustrator herself. the book is being published via her own likeness press - have a look round the site to find out more info and see links to the artists involved. She says this about it

The book will be good-looking, imaginative and practical, used to guide the local and the tourist around Oxford’s cafés and arts scene. Local artists have illuminated the cafés with their work created during and/or after a visit to that café. The aim is to break open the art world for the artists (especially those uncomfortable with the ‘artist’ label), as well as for the public. Our goal is for people to feel a freedom and desire to do more drawing and spending time in cafés, and to enjoy the rich experience of collaboration and community found in cafés and creativity.

what I particularly love about this is the way it builds community and creates a platform for artists to share their work - i.e. it's more than a book. i am heading over to pre-order and help kickstart it. it would be great if as many of as possible can do so to help make this land - the plan is to publish in may 2016 i.e. soon. nearly there!

one retreat and missional entrepreneurship week

i was excited to get an email about the launch of one retreat for two reasons. firstly it's a new venture being launched by susie, my sister in law that she has been dreaming of for a while now. and secondly because she came to a missional entrepreneurship week last april to work on the idea and develop it. it's impressive that one year later it is now launching. that is what the missional entrepreneurship week is all about - helping make ideas tangible. 

we have a week coming up in april from april 11-16. fill this in if you'd like to book. there are still some places available.

nov 3 - pioneering a new economic imagination - CMS annual pioneer conversations day

i have just realised that i have not blogged about this - oops - though i did put it on the pioneer web site. we have had two fabulous days the last two years exploring what we are learning about pioneering mission. out of the first day we published the pioneer gift. and out of the second we are publishing a book (due oct 30) pioneering spirituality. so they have proved very fertile environments for creative thinking so far. 

one of the areas that has been exciting and grown way more than we expected has been missional entrepreneurship, a special module that we run, out of which people are starting new enterprises and working up mission ideas into tangible projects. there's been quite a buzz about it and still is. but there are also lots of questions around money, mission, transformation, entrepreneurship and so on. so we have made the focus of this year's day missional entrepreneurship: pioneering a new economic imagination with a host of speakers and workshops. you can see details here and book here. it's only two weeks away on november 3 at cms in oxford - sorry for the short notice!

i am particularly pleased that eve poole is going to be joining us and presenting her thoughts on pioneering mission in the environment of today's capitalism with its toxic assumptions. I heard her speak at greenbelt where she was excellent. then there are a host of other stories, workshops and presentations. hope you can join us...

second missional entrepreneurship week this year in april

we have added a second week's course on missional entrepreneurship from april 19-24 this year due to its popularity. details are here - book now as it's starting to fill up!

wow - am amazing week at missional entrepreneurship in devon

i have uploaded some photos from the missional entrepreneurship week in devon into a set here

it was as ever a fantastic week. this is the fourth one we have run and it just gets better and better. this is largely due to the amazing effort that cms pioneer shannon hopkins from matryoshka haus puts into it along with the wonderful hosting at pickwell manor. this year there were a whole load of sheets on tables and other things that have been specifically designed for the week. people come with an idea and it gets developed through the week. there is a team of people who work with those on the course through the week to help develop the ideas and the final morning it all culminates in presentations or pitches. this is our very own dragons den - this year there were fifteen offers of support from the dragons plus resources from others in the room - amazing! 

whilst there it was great to read a tweet from heather cracknell who came last year to develop her idea of a social enterprise cafe which launched last week - so some of the ideas definitely have legs!

miriam goodacre was there having won the greenbelt dragons den competition and she has kept a video diary through the week. the last one is yet to go up but you can see that on cms facebook page. 

due to demand we have added in two weeks next year so the next one is the week of 19-24 april 2015 and then there'll be another in november. there will be more places in april as a lot of the ones in november will be filled by cms pioneer students so book early if you want to get a place.

clean living wins the greenbelt missional entrepreneurship competition

the dragons den at greenbelt which was hosted by cms was a lot of fun! congratulations to miriam who won with her idea of clean living - 

The winning idea is for Clean Living, a social enterprise employing cleaners in the City of London for the London Living Wage of £8.80 per hour. Profits secured by the business will then be re-invested in personal development for those employed. This could include English language classes and the teaching of basic literacy and numeracy skills.

she wins the prize of attending the cms pioneer missional entrepreneurship week at pickwell manor in devon, where she will be able to work up the idea. here she is (on the right) with shannon hopkins who leads the week and who was chief dragon!

don't miss the deadline

friday is the deadline for the missional entrepreneurship competition - don't miss it!

cms and greenbelt launch missional entrepreneurship competition

excited to announce that cms and greenbelt are launching a missional entrepreneurship competition. get your idea in and then be ready to work it up and make a dragon's den style pitch at greenbelt festival!

 

building something tangible

had a really good week with pioneers on the CMS missional entrepreneurship module - i have added some photos and written a short reflection here - a brilliant week and building something tangible

reversible thinking

i love this video created by sarah roberts. sarah is from edinburgh and is on the missional entrepreneurship week which is part of the cms pioneer training. a year ago sarah left her job with a dream and idea of working to help young people whose parents are in prison in scotland and is on the week to work that idea up. she is working with families outside

mission entrepreneurship week coming up

mission entrepreneurship week 11-16 november

stop throwing starfish

stop throwing starfish (ht shannon hopkins)

inspiration in bradford

we had a wonderful resource weekend in bradford...

missional entrepreneurship - here's how it went...

the first ever cms pioneer missional entrepreneurship week went really well! i have put together a photo story of the week to give you a flavour - click on the image above. we'll be running a week next year in november - dates yet to be finalised. but book early - i sense this is going to grow!