On The Edge

In this episode we wanted to explicitly focus on the psychology of uncertainty. Therefore we are very pleased to welcome Noelle Dye. She is co-founder of the strategy and innovation unit at the legendary design firm Continuum, where she helped co-create, amongst many other products and services, the Swiffer for Proctor and Gamble which is now become a half-billion dollar brand in fifteen countries. And more recently as a leadership coach she asks startup founders and executives the tough questions that need to be asked. In other words she has spent her life guiding people through the fog of uncertainty, and so I wanted to talk to about the psychology of uncertainty given that we are all staring into the void of an unknown future right now in so many different ways. We talked about the typical emotional responses to uncertainty, and how they manifest themselves into action or inaction? We also discussed a variety of tactics for navigating uncertainty and turning it into something to be embraced. So I started out by asking her why do we even need certainty in the first place?  https://www.linkedin.com/in/noelledye/ https://www.continuuminnovation.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiffer https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/03/can-three-words-turn-anxiety-into-success/474909/ #complexity #complicated #chaos #confused #cynefin #networks #systems #crisis #crises #change #innovation #transformation #change #coronavirus #covid2019 #weareliminal #ontheedge

In this episode we are delighted to speak with Dave Snowdon, who is founder and chief scientific officer of Cognitive Edge, and also creator of the Cynefin decision making framework, which he created when he worked for IBM. Cynefin is a Welsh word for habitat. If you are not familiar with the framework yet I would encourage you to search for it online or take a look at some of the links below, before or after listening to this podcast. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework https://cognitive-edge.com/videos/cynefin-framework-introduction/ https://cognitive-edge.com/sensemaker/ https://cognitive-edge.com/blog/cynefin-st-davids-day-5-of-5/ It was a really fascinating conversation about how complexity relates to the current, former and future crises and how we can best navigate our way out of confusion using complexity science. This then led to a really interesting exploration about the need for innovation right now, to make the most of the opportunities that present themselves to redesign and reinvent our world for the better. Finally we talked about a range of methods and projects he’s currently doing including with the UN called Sense Maker, with an open invitation for anybody to get involved. This podcast was brought to you by Liminal - a collective intelligence community to address complex and collaborative challenges of our connected world. You can find out more about us at weareliminal.co Thanks again for listening. Until next time, keep on connecting people and ideas - if you do you never know what might happen. Thank you and goodbye. #complexity #complicated #chaos #confused #cynefin #networks #systems #crisis #crises #change #innovation #transformation #change #coronavirus #covid2019 #weareliminal #ontheedge

In this episode we are pleased to welcome back Valdis Krebs, who first appeared on episode 3, and is an renowned expert on social network analysis, and founder and chief scientist of the company OrgNet. In the previous episode you can hear us discuss the many of the positive benefits of contagion in networks, such as through creating new knowledge and fostering innovation. However in this episode we really wanted to respond to current events and to talk about contagion in networks given that we are in the midst of the Corona virus has become a global pandemic. We had a really interesting conversation about the differences between good and bad contagion, and the different responses required to deal with a biological epidemic as opposed to with an information epidemic. We also talked about how contagion can leap from one domain (e.g. healthcare) to others domains (e.g. oil or finance) which also appears to be happening tight now. I started out by asking what is contagion in networks and how does it propagate? Enjoy. http://orgnet.com/contagion.html #networks #contagion #virality #virus #coronavirus #covid2019 #epidemic #pandemic #disease #misinformation #weareliminal #ontheedge

In this episode we are pleased to welcome Joe Scarboro whose passions lie in building businesses, innovation, technology and mental health. After starting out as an accountant, he forged a place in the London tech community, starting a few companies and working at the intersection of startups and large companies, which is the main topic of our discussion in this episode. I first got to know Joe as one of the driving forces behind Silicon Drinkabout, a startup community that started around the so called Silicon Roundabout of Old Street in London, that then grew to 20 different countries, with hundreds of events that were attended by over 100,000 people. A few years later he launched Touchpaper - a not-for-profit, on a mission to make it much easier for startups and corporates to work together, through their excellent free toolkit and services. He is currently CFO at an AI company called AltViz as well advising various startups, and also working with Tech City UK, Code Club and the RaspberryPi Foundation. https://www.joescarboro.com/ https://www.touchpaper.org/ https://thebotplatform.com/ We had a really interesting conversation a few months ago now, in a great recording studio in Hoxton called Coda2Coda, where we talked about corporates and startups collaborating, and in particular exploring whether open innovation is. So I started out by asking how the Silicon Drinkabout startup community that he helped to build back in 2011? Enjoy. #corporates #startups #collaboration #community #innovation #openinnivation #london #shoreditch #silicondrinkabout #weareliminal #ontheedge https://www.joescarboro.com/ https://www.touchpaper.org/ https://thebotplatform.com/

In this first episode of 2020 we are very pleased to welcome Shelley Kuipers who is an activist in business, fashion, feminism and finance. In this episode we focussed upon three things that she is activating right now. Firstly she is co-founder of The51 investment fund focussed on female investors and entrepreneurs. Secondly she has co-created a sustainable clothing label called Harris Kuipers. Lastly she is a founder and CEO of a technology company called IOVIA which builds people-powered, sustainable brand communities for the likes of Unilever and IKEA whom we discuss in this episode. Shelley is based in Canada and we first met over 10 years ago, and since then we’ve worked together on many projects including helping to co-create LEGO Ideas - which is now described as the world’s most successful customer crowdsourcing communities. I’ve always found that she has a blend of humility and curiosity, coupled with ambition and resilience, which is as rare as it is powerful. We had a really interesting and insightful conversation, where we talked about activism through building community, and in particular exploring whether business can be a force for good in the world.  https://www.shelleykuipers.com/ https://iovia.io/ https://the51.com/ https://www.harriskuipers.com/ #activism #activate #community #participation #sustainability #finance #feminism #fashion #brands #sustainablebrands #weareliminal #ontheedge

In this final episode of 2019 it feels appropriate to welcome Rob Poynton who has had a longstanding interest in improvisation and creativity. He is also the author of several books including most recently the bestselling Do Pause, all about the importance and necessity of pausing, which seems particularly relevant at this time of year and given some of the complexity and turbulence of recent months. Rob is originally from the UK but now lives off-grid in rural Spain as well as spending quite a lot of his time in the city of Oxford in the UK, which is where I met with him a few weeks ago, where he is also an Associate Fellow at the Said Business School. We had a really enjoyable and wide ranging conversation, where we talk about everything from the work of the complexity theorist David Snowdon and his Cynefin framework, to the election in the UK which had not happened yet when we met up. See below links to some of things we discuss in this episode:  https://www.robertpoynton.com/  https://thedobook.co/products/do-pause-you-are-not-a-to-do-list  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094580/  https://oyf.com/  https://rebase.camp/london-2019/  http://www.fritjofcapra.net/  https://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/  https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework  https://www.ynharari.com/book/sapiens/  https://anchor.fm/weareliminal/episodes/005-The-Age-of-Abundance---James-Burke-e5k1i8

In this episode we are really pleased to welcome Gina Lucarelli, who heads up the Accelerator Labs Network for the United Nations which launched recently in 60 countries around the world. Gina is a native New Yorker and has lived and worked all around the world for the last 15 years working with and wrangling colleagues at United Nations to collaborate on sustainable development. She describes herself as an aspiring geek & believer in the comeback of citizen participation. There was so much in there that I found fascinating and inspiring about accelerating sustainable development. From the UN’s role not being about taking humanity to heaven but to saving it from hell. To setting these global goals yet considering how do you keep your promise whilst following how things unfold over time? And from fighting complexity with complexity and operating on many planes, with multiple experiments simultaneously to throw a lot of things at the. We also discuss the collective intelligence playbook which is a free to download guide for tackling complex social and global challenges by combining the best of human ingenuity with machine intelligence, at scale. And all of the links are included below: https://medium.com/@acclabs https://acceleratorlabs.undp.org/ https://www.nesta.org.uk/toolkit/collective-intelligence-design-playbook/ https://www.zebrasunite.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobra_effect https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140128-how-wolves-saved-a-famous-park https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ I hope you enjoyed listening to this seventh episode of On The Edge. Please rate, comment and subscribe to this podcast, and also share it episode with others who you think might like it too, using the hashtag #ontheedge.  This podcast was brought to you by Liminal - a collective intelligence community to address the complex challenges of our connected world. Thank you for listening. 

In this episode we are delighted to welcome designer and uber-connector, Cassie Robinson, who is connected to so many interesting people, programmes and organisations, that it’s almost impossible to list them all. Starting out her career as a fashion designer, Cassie is now the Head of Digital Grant Making at the National Lottery Community Fund in the UK, as well as the founder of the Point People network, and a fellow at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, to name but a few of her many affiliations. And until recently she was Strategic Design Director at the responsible technology think tank Dot Everyone, which she also mentions in this episode. I’m struck by how many people I’ve met who know, or know of, Cassie and I’m fascinated by what drives her to do what she does, often working in emerging or exploratory fields to try to apply new ways to design transitions.  So when I met with her a few weeks ago I asked her about being a prolific connector of people and ideas, and what motivates her to do it and also practically how she manages it?  https://twitter.com/cassierobinson https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/ http://www.thepointpeople.com https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/ https://doteveryone.org.uk/

In this episode we welcome back James Burke for the second half of the conversation we had back in May in a busy cafe in West London. The first half of the conversation was first shared in episode 1 of the On The Edge podcast, and so if you haven’t already heard that episode, then we would really recommend that you listen to that first before listening to this next instalment. The previous episode was largely about looking back into the history of science and technology and exploring how everything really is incredibly connected and what we do about that. In this episode we jump far into the future, into what James called the Age of Abundance which he argues is no more than a generation or two away. However before we get there he predicts what he calls “severe turbulence and chaos”, which some might argue we are already in. The key technology that he talks about, to unlock this new age of abundance, he calls nano fabricators or motes - these are a tiny specks that can make anything. This may sounds like science fiction but he shares examples of where this technology already exists in labs around the world. He goes on to share his thoughts on the implications of this new for education, democracy and beyond. Once again, like the first episode, it is a wide ranging and mind bending conversation but I think there is lots of food for thought and I hope it sparks some ideas and reactions as you listen to it.  James covers similar ground to what we discussed in this episode in a recent BBC programme called the end of scarcity:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09jvfc4 https://www.weareliminal.co/ontheedgepodcast

In this episode we are delighted to welcome the entrepreneur and designer Tessy Britton. Two years ago she founded and is now CEO of the Participatory Cities Foundation, which is a 5 year research and development programme that has raised very significant funding to boost cohesion, health, equality, happiness, safety, sustainability and innovation, in cities through peer-to-peer citizen co-creation. Their first big project is called Everyone Everyday, and is based in Barking and Dagenham in east London and is already having an amazing impact on the lives of the people in that part of the city.  Underneath her softly spoken and thoughtful words, lie really some bold and transformative ideas which I’m excited to share in this episode. http://www.participatorycity.org/ https://www.weareeveryone.org/ https://www.weareliminal.co/blog/2019/8/25/participatory-cities