Great Ideas and the Path of Least Resistance

Net Change Week – Ric Young from MaRS Discovery District on Vimeo.

I’m finally in the process of clicking on all those links I’ve been saving under the subheading of “Iiinteresting” and came across Ric Young’s talk from MaRS “Net Change Week”. Ric is known for his ideas about social innovation and social change.

What struck me was his explanation of how some organizations flatten out innovative ideas (at about minute 20). What I took out of this concept was that many organizations have a tendency to develop programs and products such that they will get passed to the next level, which are then modified so that they get passed at the next level, which are then further modified for the purpose of passing the next level, and so on. This process waters down the final result and confounds the client’s needs with the organization’s path of least resistance. Anyone familiar with politics can recognize this as the path that congressional bills follow.

Unfortunately, many of our development organizations promote this method as well; what gets produced isn’t necessarily the long-term sustainable solutions that true development requires, but rather quick-fixes that will achieve funds, and hopefully keep crises at bay. This is particularly true in projects that address undernutrition, where it is often easier and more cost effective (in the short-term) to introduce supplements rather than address the agricultural needs of a community.

Although these “flattened” solutions may best utilize the current funds available, one can clearly see that this way of developing interventions isn’t advantageous for creating long-term development improvements that the sector – make that the extreme poor – really need.