Time to change the tone

It's exciting - and frustrating - and scary - to find and talk to people whose parents are old. Exciting because they have so much to say, and they naturally identify gaps in what's available to make their jobs easier. These are a new generation of adult children of older people - they are internet savvy, professional, used to advocating for their own health care and rights, busy, and very, very, very, very (did I mention very?) pragmatic.

It's frustrating because they all talk about the same needs and yet no one is meeting them. They want real information that clearly understands their issues and problems. They want it to be intuitive and easy for them to use, but also reliable and very trustworthy. This is their parents we're talking about after all - they are not going to just go with whatever fly by night dog and pony show they come across on Geocities.

Scary, because I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to try to do something, which is always scary. A friend said to me recently, "You sure like to bite off big mouthfuls." Fair enough. I get it. I am exploring a field that is crowded (albeit with, in my opinion, for this group of users, content and offerings that don't "get" them), highly attractive to big players with lots of resources, and fraught with emotion, l

There is so much out there about "caring" (if you're from the UK) and "caregiving" (if you're a Yankee like me), but the tone (not to mention the content) just doesn't work for the people I am talking to. People don't want hugs and pictures of smiling older people. They don't want hearts and logos of a stylized group of people holding hands. They don't want advice about how they should look after themselves, too, and plan ahead, and make lists, and try not to feel guilty. The way they really feel goes something like this:

1. Of course I feel guilty. Why is this even worth talking about?
2. Why would I want to belong to a caregiver support group to continue talking about something that already takes up so much time? When I am not caring for my aging parent, I would like to be
1. Doing my job
2. Taking care of my kids
3. Actually participating in my marriage
4. Drinking wine with friends
   
3. Telling me to find local sources of support for my parent is the most useless advice in the world. I don't even know what questions I should be asking. I have never in my life dealt with social services, so why should I know how to do that now? If I am looking for someone to check in on my Dad, should I be asking social services, the agency on aging, a local charity, a paid helper...?
4. I bloody well know my parent is declining. I don't really need help with seeing that. What I need is specific answers to my specific questions, about my specific situation.
   

Yet the way information and support is structured for these guys goes like this:

1. You probably feel guilty. Let's talk about that.
2. You should join a support group.
3. If your parent lives far away from you, make sure you do the following:
1. Find local sources of support
4. Watch for the following signs you parent is declining...

The gap between these two is amazing. It's as if nobody has asked the question: What is it that would be helpful to you?

I'm trying to ask the question now. If you have an answer, let me know.
JS.

SI Camp, rebellion, and Web0.0

Had a fantastic weekend at www.sicamp.org - basic concept was to throw a bunch of geeks and aspiring social entrepreneurs in a building for a weekend to see how far you can get in 48 hours toward using the web to create social value. 6 projects were selected aheadbof time, and they all looked interesting but you know how it is, when you have your own idea waking you up nights, you don't really want to focus on anything else.

So at lunch on saturday i had noticed that several geeks and other people were still floating and hadn't chosen a project to work on yet. I asked the organizer permission to be cheeky, stuck my hand up, and announced i was creating a 7th project and would love some help. I was approached by Angel, a spanish guy with mad Druple skills (i pretended i had heard of Druple before in my life) and we found some space to get working.

The best thing about working with Angel was that he wasn't just a coder; by talking me through the ideas he actually brought out new questions and ideas. Knowing no other way to 'build' a website i set to work with flip chart paper, scissors, markers, and blue tack, building giant mock ups that had components i could rearrnge and change. Once the front pageof the app was 'built', web 0.0 style, angel got me to walk through all the inputs and pages that a user would interact with to get to that stage. Then he started coding while i moved on to mocking up my paper app in photoshop to get some look and feel. Soon a stream of smart people started trickling through to see what the camp was calling the 'rebel' team. We got amazing support and critical thinking from a digital lawyer, marketing and user experience experts, html designers, and more. We worked past 10 pm saturday, and came back bright and early sunday, amidst a london snowstorm with flakes the size of half dollar coins - on my way in i saw a south east asian family taking pictures in the snow in what looked like their first time experiencing a real snowstom. We had until 2pm to ramp up to the pitching to judges.

At 2, we were told we were welcome to pitch but ineligible for the 2k prize money, due to our 'rebel' status. This elicited sympathetic groans from our competitors, which i thought was a great proof of the collaborative spirit of the weekend. Nonetheless the 5 minute pitch, in which i told a user story and walked through the mockups and various apps we had in mind, was great practice and we received really positive feedback from judges and competitors alike about the quality of the idea and presentation.

i've come away frm the weekend simultaneously exhausted and energized, with a stack of business cards and a much clearer picture of what i want to do, and how difficult but ultimately rewarding it will be to accomplish. Long story short, the event was an inspired idea executed well, and i feel ready to get a move on. Big thanks to sponsors NESTA, young foundation, and office of the 3rd sector, and the hard working team that ran the show.

spec'ing a website and other nightmares

i'm spending the weeknd at a web-based social innovation boot camp - see www.sicamp.org. Perfect opportunity to meet loads of geeks and show them my quite sad 10 page powerpoint website spec and ask them how on earth to get started. Great opportunity to learn and meet but what i'm finding most of all is how not-easy and nonlinear the process of spec'ing and launching a web-based service is.

Do you go quick and dirty to save money and time, spend a few K to get smething up, get reactions from people, and see if there's traction? Pros are quick and cheap, get out to users fast, don't do too much without their input. Con is that if it takes off in 6 months you will have to scrap and rebuild.

And then what kind of geek do you get? How do you know if s/he is any good? His input will have a major impact on the site. It feels like getting married. Or at least agreeing to go on a long road trip with a complete stranger and no air conditioning in the car. What if the other person litens only to meatloaf (the singer, not the meal) and sucks at map reading?

And all of this is supposed to take place sprinting alongside me doing user interviews, focus groups, and strategizing. And of course, i haveno proof until it's up and running that it's a good idea and well executed.

Back to camp now...
JS.

Test post from my phone

If this works, i am a tech genius (well, sort of).

Social change and the internets

Looks like I'm taking a dive back into start-up mode. How do I know this? There are lots of signs, including the facts that I'm working on a business plan, clearing out my schedule, and have gotten a bit of seed money to do so. But the real sign, the oh-shit-yikes-hooray sign, is that I haven't slept through a whole night in about a week. Love the ideas that keep you up at night. Now I just have to find time to (BTW I published this post and THEN realized I hadn't finished the sentence that precedes this parenthetical. Which in the words of Lisa Simpson, seems apt. APT! So I'm leaving it.)

If you're curious, oh 3 loyal readers, the basic idea is, like all ideas, not new. Our society is aging. The demographic chart looks like a dude with a spare tire for a waist. The big bump is still ahead of us. This affects old people, certainly. It affects us young people because the world we also happen to inhabit has always been defined by the Boomers, and now it will be defined by their aging - from automobile design to our ever-dwindling claim on social security benefits. Loads of stuff going on to address that aging process, as well as to support the aging themselves and those who care for them. But what about the rest of us....?

I guess that's all I'll say for now...never good at keeping secrets but I'll try. Anyway, this means that if this really does get going, this blog is going to be taken over, along with my brain and my life, by this idea. One that still involves social change, entrepreneurship, and impact, but which will probably be seen through the lens of what I am trying to do now. I'm a bit of a Web2.0 virgin so I'll probably write about that a bit too.
xJ.

technology and democracy

I'm having a 21st century moment. As I type this, I am sitting in my flat in London, listening in on a conference call with Barack Obama (no, I am not a political high-flyer, just a member of Democrats Abroad UK, who organised the call).

The connectivity that allows me to sit in London and listen live to a presidential candidate talk about his platform is part of the same world of technology that can connect communities, create social value, and drive some exciting forms of social enterprise. Just a couple of examples:
1. Vodafone's M-Pesa project (click), which could transform banking in Africa
2. Community building sites like Netmums (click) which allow traditional users of public and private services to reorganise the world in a way that makes sense to them
3. Organisations like Benetech and PATH, who spend their time thinking about how technology can make people's lives richer, and how it can address some of society's fundamental problems

Mr Obama is now talking about the work the US is going to have to do in the world which affects not just people living in other countries, but our own interests as well: building economies and schools, investing in infrastructure, providing people the basic tools to make their lives better, and finding alternatives to fossil fuels. That's partly the job of social entrepreneurs, so if anyone out there knows Senator Obama, tell him we're ready.

the importance of people

I'm fascinated by the entire entrepreneurial process - to the point that when someone occasionally refers to me as an entrepreneur, I take it as the highest compliment I could be given (perhaps second only to "that was the best meal I've ever had").

One of the most important part of the entrepreneurial process is managing and developing the role of key people. As some of my previous posts reveal, I am dead-set against some of the cult of individual 'heroes' that surrounds many social entrepreneurship initiatives, funding schemes, and communities. That said, I believe firmly that people and teams are a key component to building any successful business or organisation, so in that sense getting the right individuals in the right role at the right time, with the right support, is absolutely essential to social businesses and social enterprises.

Last night at our 2007 conference for social business CEOs, I was talking to Patrick Shine of UK grantmaker UnLtd. Patrick had a couple of really insightful points about the role of people in growing businesses

1. There are two types of entrepreneurs - First there are those that blaze a trail and keep forging ahead, leaving a trail of dead and dying sherpa-like suppliers behind them. The second type are those that blaze trail one mile at a time, and at each mile, make six trips back and forth bringing the others along and creating a clear, wide path for people to follow. I've known and worked with many of both types and the difference really is tangible.

2. We then were talking about how social businesses (and indeed other entrepreneurial businesses) can transition from founder-leader to a more professionalised organisation - often founder/chief execs take the first step to this by hiring a COO or MD. Patrick noted that in his experience, 'the first COO never lasts'. That first COO most often ends up hating the job, being hated by staff and the founder, and leaving in frustration. It's this experience that prepares the entrepreneurial organisation for what it's going to be like to professionalise and grow up. After the first COO, a second COO can step in, work with the team, and begin to build in structure to the business. Kind of a John-the-Baptist approach - the first one comes in with a message nobody wants to hear, gets his head chopped off, and paves the way for the next one who can make his message heard. (Important to note, for Patrick's sake, that the religious analogy is mine, not his.)

I'd add one additional thought for now - sometimes it is in everyone's best interests to hire someone who really annoys the shit out of you. I am not referring to anyone in particular I have worked with over the years - let's call it more of a generic observation across the more than 15 social businesses I have worked with over the past year, and over life in general. That really annoying person probably has completely different skills to yours, will grate on you in various ways that make you better at what you do, will bring completely different ideas and approaches to the table, and will certainly prevent you from falling into the "hiring in your own image" trap. So off you go - find that pain in the ass and give him a job.