Future Design Inquiries. November 2024

Hello from your friends at enso, a future design company.

For anyone new here, we’re sharing the things that make us think, bring us joy or shift our perspective. And we welcome your reactions, additions, and suggestions – reach out news@enso.co.

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What we’re reflecting on

These nuggets are curated by enso partners Hanna Siegel (HS) and Sebastian Buck (SB).

Who is responsible for fixing our societal problems – the individual or the system?

During COVID, we were forced to publicize our decisions about our health. Did you wear a mask? Stay 6 feet apart? Get the vaccine? The individual choices mattered, but they weren’t enough unless a critical mass participated. Systemic action was necessary, but it was irrelevant without individual uptake. This debate was painfully on display during a pandemic, but it exists across issues. In The false dichotomy of systemic and individual behavior change Hannah Ritchie talks about the question of who is responsible for fixing climate change, noting that the two sides are 1/ systemic change (ie it has to be gov’ts, corporations, economic systems), and 2/ personal responsibility (ie lifestyle changes like driving electric, recycling, etc.). But the truth, she points out, is that this choice is a false one. Of course the answer is both – systems and individuals all have a role to play. But Ritchie offers an additional narrative that I especially like: “You need to give people what they want, and you need to make that affordable and easy. ‘What they want’, to be clear, is not a petrol car or a gas boiler. It’s a convenient and comfortable way to travel from A to B, and a warm home." At the end of the day, the energy transition has to be part of a larger abundance agenda – one that promotes a better, easier life and future for all. That’s how collective action can ultimately happen. (HS)

When will working to save the world make you rich in the process?

“You should be able to get rich in charity. There, I’ve said it. There should be no limit to the amount of money a person can earn making the world a better place, so long as the money is commensurate with the value they produce. If a person is a value-generating machine, and produces additional commensurate value for every additional increment of money they receive – and you can measure the value – then never stop the machine. And never let anyone else stop the machine. Let it keep producing value. Keep measuring it. And keep paying, without limit. To limit the production of value in the service of social progress is the sin. Encouraging it is not.”

That’s Dan Pallotta in HBR in 2011 and it remains ever true today. I don’t know what kind of systemic change would make this possible. But I have a theory that one of the long-term impacts of AI will be a reshuffling of what careers are deemed valuable, and therefore who makes the most money. It’s possible that someday AI will do surgery, but I doubt that it will be able to take the place of a Kindergarten teacher. Nonprofit workers are trained to take pride in their lower salaries – a mark, they’re told, of the selflessness required to do the job. But it’s a farce. We are a capitalist society – making money is essential. And as our society evolves to understand that value goes beyond making money for shareholders, we should adjust our pay scales accordingly. (HS)

Greatness and joy

“Can you be great without being crazy, without being a little toxic? I can’t help but see greatness and joy as two different paths, and I believe there’s one path, but I don’t know it. I think it’s the journey of my life to try to figure out how to merge these two things. Both I know; I know a little of greatness and joy, but I don’t know them together.”

That’s two time World Cup winner, Christen Press. It continues my fascination with how far off track we’ve got culturally, that so many of us have internalized that joy is not a path to success — even though we know it’s where passion, energy, creativity, collaboration, perseverance reside. I was shocked by Pulitzer-winner Ed Yong’s recent talk; it might be the best I’ve heard this year. “I’ve achieved every professional accolade I could have dreamed of, and more, and it completely broke me. I’m trying something new, and I’m taking a bit of a leap.”  For now, Ed’s walked away from journalism, and the world is worse for that. Surely the burnout epidemic is related to this cultural story, and stories, we can change. Do you need to change that story for yourself? For your team? (SB)

Don’t let the bad apples spoil your view of humanity

I recently saw a post from Adam Grant stating that:

• Just 3% of active social media users are toxic, but they generate 33% of online content
• 1% of communities launch 74% of conflict
• 0.15 of users spread 80% of fake news

It made me think of the many other examples where the tiny-but-loud/extreme/negative/angry people get such disproportionate attention that they create a widespread perception that is distorted from reality. For example: 

• Violent crimes account for only 5-10% of all reported crimes, but they dominate the majority of crime-related news stories, creating the perception that crime is rampant when in fact is has largely been falling for decades
• 6% of highly politically active Americans on social media create 73% of all political posts (which makes the overall conversation look more polarized than the reality of what it would be if we included everyone’s views)
• Less than 1% of people globally are actively working to ban books (it’s ~1-3% in the US), yet there is a perception that these groups are winning. 

There is actually a term for this – it’s called Mean World Syndrome and it’s a psychological phenomenon coined by George Gebner, whose research shows that people who consume a lot of violent or negative media (especially television) tend to believe that the world is more dangerous and scarier than it actually is. At this point, that probably sounds obvious, but it’s a good reminder not to underestimate your own thoughts and experiences – separate from what you read in the news – as you continue building your own perspective on the world. (HS)

Best story wins

At a party, in meetings, in media, or on a stage, we know that stories propel ideas, people, and companies. Steve Jobs said the most powerful person in the world is the storyteller; Morgan Housel said the best story wins, ‘not the best idea, or the right idea, or the most rational idea. Just whoever tells a story that catches people’s attention.” As one of our (wickedly smart) clients once said: ‘this company is incredibly data oriented, so long as the data comes with a good anecdote.’ But given the transformative impact of storytelling on our lives, shouldn’t we spend a little more time getting good at it? Charles Duhigg’s new book, Supercommunicators shares (through a lot of good stories) the latest science on connecting with people more deeply, more often (there’s also a good TED talk). One example: psychologists used to think ‘perspective taking’ (essentially, putting yourself in others’ shoes) was key to compelling people to listen. Much more powerful is perspective seeking: asking questions that invite emotional sharing, such as ‘what do you love about what you do?’, rather than ‘what do you do?’ Most of us default to sharing facts, but it’s through reciprocal vulnerability that relationships develop. So we can all go to story gym together. (SB)

Creating systemic ambition

I’ve written before about CEO optimism — that in many cases, it’s likely to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. McKinsey is promoting a new thesis they’re calling ‘systematic ambition’ (I prefer ‘systemic’, but that’s me): they’ve observed that the top performing companies not only set high ambitions, but do the work to embed the ambition within the organization. For example, cultivating an investor base that supports ambitious growth and longer return horizons, aligning incentives and innovation agendas around expanding into new lines of business rather than more incremental updates, and aligning with an ecosystem of ambition-aligned collaborators. I find this a useful progression beyond ‘purpose’, which often is left as un-actioned intention; at Enso, our terminology for this is designing leaps rather than logical steps, and building shared missions. We diverge from McKinsey in prioritizing creativity (rather than analytical logic) to make ambition systemic, but I welcome the sentiment at a time when the world needs a lot more positive ambition. (SB)

10 things that made us think, gasp, share and laugh:

• Did you know that Bob Dylan used to host a radio show? Theme Time Radio Hour was a weekly one-hour show that ran from May 2006-April 2009. In it, Dylan would read emails from fans, take listener phone calls, tell jokes, recite poetry and give commentary on some music. Lest this sound wildly uncharacteristic of him, it turns out much of the content was made up. Still fascinating though – and you can still find episodes around the internet.
• Why Cakes Can Be a Powerful Form of Protest

• I liked reading this as we head towards Nov. 5th: Should I Break Up With My Trump Loving Partner
• Bop Spotter is a phone installed in the Mission (SF) with Shazam running 24/7 so it records various songs it hears from the street below. As creator Riley Walz says, “This is culture surveillance. No one notices, no one consents. But it’s not about catching criminals. It’s about catching vibes. A constant fee of what’s popping off in real-time.” 
• Kelsey Keith’s (Herman Miller’s Creative Director) great newsletter Ground Condition for design people. I especially liked the last one, which features “architects, designers, writers, and other keen observers to elaborate on a transcendent experience they have had in the built environment.”
• Opus Dei, of Da Vinci Code infamy, is part of the dark influence that made abortion in America so contentious.
• David Brooks’ compelling perspective on the evolution of the American political landscape. He highlights the imperative for political parties to self-correct; something one US party has forgotten.
• The antidote to stress is hope, not mindfulness.
• “Investment flows to clean energy projects are approaching USD 2 trillion each year, almost double the combined amount spent on new oil, gas and coal supply”; the International Energy Agency’s 2024 Outlook.
• How couples met, over time. Should we get out more?

What we’re working on

enso is a small, senior team so that we can work on just a few initiatives at a time. This allows us to go deep on some of the biggest challenges/ opportunities. Recently, we’ve been working on a few main missions with our partners:

1. A new enso website: We are a future design company that drives growth and positive impact that scales. We’ve been designing capitalism that works better for the last 12 years – learn about us, what we do and why we do it. 
2. Supporting one of the fastest-growing industries – e-commerce: Reimagining what it means to be a small business in a globalized, digital world. 
3. A brand to radiate optimism: We think restoring optimism in the world is essential. We're exploring building a product, content and community brand around this idea.
4. Radical leap stories around the world: Uncovering the stories of unlikely people creating and solving with technology. 
5. Reforming the world of work: Bringing the world’s talent leaders together to build a better world of work.
6. Design The Future book: Distilling wisdom from those actively designing and creating the future, from a wide variety of fields.

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All photos by Sebastian Buck

See you next time.

enso • 115 W California Blvd #9101 Pasadena, CA 91105