I awake to the news of the earthquake in Japan. The feeling is very unsettling. For a start, the population size of a city in that country is much larger than any city in New Zealand. I learn it is a much bigger earthquake than the one that hit Christchurch and feel a sense of dread, knowing this is not going to be good. And of knowing how much worse it can get.
Calls from friends help to cheer me up. Are you okay? Are you near the coast? Will you be in the path of the tsunami? No, thankfully, I'm inland; a mountain range divides us from the coast. But it is the only topic of conversation at breakfast; a world in natural turmoil. Before class, I try to find out the impact of the tsunami on New Zealand but can't locate any information.
When we enter the lecture room, all our name places have been changed. I am now sitting between Sandra Christie, NHS Wirral, UK and Susan True, First 5 Association of California, USA. This is also unsettling. How like change!?
Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation /Social Innovation and the Global Contect
Our discussion today is on people who seriously change the world by shifting current thinking or practice. The big question was how can individuals (artistists) or companies (theatre) that have boundless passion and creativity generate opportunities in markets traditionally neglected by established competitors? We have addressed this in our region by implementing the Presenting Partners, a programme that empowers and builds capacity within the independent sector. We move people from the fringe to centre stage and help their artistic endeavours and audiences for their work grow.
More importantly, throughout the day, I felt comforted by the fact I'm in an environment where people consistently find creative solutions to what appear to be insurmountable problems, like the two MBA students who found a very innovative solution to waste disposal in Bangladesh. Projects like these give me hope whatever the disaster. They are great models for change.
It's the one thing I have always said about people working in the arts industry, there is never a shortage of creative solutions. The question for my company is what is our potential to impact practices that has theatre catapult into future and leave a long and lasting legacy of innovation?
Week 1 Wrap Up
It's Friday, we wrapped up the week by sharing our key learnings from the course so far. Mine were simple; I have gained a language with which to explain in business terms what we are doing at Downstage and, with the help of the other participants, garnered future possibilities that I'm eager to share with staff to get their feedback and ideas.
I realised that we are already doing a great deal at Downstage of what is being discussed here at Stanford; value creation, capacity building, rehabilitating market failures, cross-sector partnering, differential pricing, generated employment, secondary benefits and sustainability. I have always known that Downstage's existence is vital to the industry and to the community. Our benefits encompass the environment, wellbeing and cultural enrichment. We can quantify our social value and economic contribution. We are locally driven presenting locally created product. We are not encumbered by the "status quo''. On the contrary, we are purposefully different, an inexhaustible resource of ideas and innovation.... as I said, we're bloody fantastic!
Leading by Design: The Power of Personal Integrity
In the afternoon, Gaby Jordan introduced us to executive coaching on "Areas of our own Lives" we want to improve. We touched on areas of personal integrity, which was described as an alignment of our head, our heart and our actions, and considered a life created by design rather than default. Hmmmmm? It's a work in progress! More on that later. But the purpose of this session was to lead us into the weekend and to get us thinking about what we might do in our spare time.
Thank God, it's Friday. There's a party in the Rosenberg Lounge after dinner. I am totally there!
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