The Vision Pioneers Blog

by Miriam Garvi

More and more business concepts these days are focused on accelerating the pace so as to generate returns as swiftly as possible to keep the wheels spinning. As we become more and more skilled at streamlining production in view of controlling the outcome, natural diversity is lost to the benefit of a few «gorilla ideas» that turn all attention towards the harvest.

As nature changes with the season, we are reminded that there is still a time to sow, a time to grow, a time to reap. With the sowing of new seeds we may come to discover new potential. While things grow and mature we may take on and learn to address new challenges. And with the harvest comes the contentment of a job well done as we enjoy the fruits of what we have planted.

There is something both inspiring and comforting about the changing of seasons as we are awakened yet again to new life.

by Miriam Garvi

This week’s news have been dominated by the less flattering aspects of ethanol production and combustion.

Since the mass diffusion of the car, radical ideas on how to address everyday needs of transportation and mobility are rare to come by - despite undesirables such as traffic congestion and pollution. As ‘inconvenient truths’ fuel anti-global warming trends, biofuels are being promoted as the sound alternative for any citizen adhering to social responsibility.

But how can ethanol production be a sustainable solution when it is so inefficient that more energy has to be put into the process than what comes out of it? Or when agricultural land is reclaimed for biofuel production thus threatening to make large parts of the world’s poorer, rural population dependent on the World Food Program?

Is this the best we can do? Economic interests aside, when fear drives innovation we are walking backwards into the future. We find ourselves embracing solutions which are not sustainable in the wider perspective. And which upon careful scrutiny may reveal themselves to do as much harm as good - depending on whose interests and needs are in focus.

Vision pioneering is about taking radical steps towards improved fulfillment, driven by a vision of the purposeful rather than avoidance strategies. There can be no progressive thinking unless we shift focus from the products and technologies that we know to those invisible qualities we want to enjoy.

by Miriam Garvi

I once read an article by professor Peter Pruzan where he makes this reflection:

“With the aid of our time’s alchemists - economists - money has been transmuted from a means to the end.”

Let me give you a little illustration of this point. As I was interviewing various people for my dissertation, I sat down with an investment manager at the Skandia Group, an international savings company. When asked what his team were all about, the answer was plain and simple; «We’re small and square - money for our pension beneficiaries, money for our pension beneficiaries, money for our pension beneficiaries…». Small and square? Now there’s an answer that’ll fit right into a business growth matrix or a market plan!

It is amazing how the ‘language of money’ narrows down possible options to one single end, namely maximizing profit - or to be more up-to-date these days, increasing shareholder value. This language makes no room for any reflections on whether +5% is the kind of fulfilment we’re looking for or if it is in fact merely a means for developing and sustaining what we are doing. If it is the latter, then the language of money is doing us the disservice of diverting focus away from the fundamental things in business and life alike, by reducing what we talk about and what we think counts to the measurable and simplistic.

A man with a vision once said: “Business is not about dollars and cents so much as about building for the future.” That future calls us to go beyond the measurable and simplistic and start thinking about the bigger picture.

by Miriam Garvi

The other day I read about another initiative in alleviating world poverty. It seems that every new initiative these days involves the diffusion of some kind of golden recipe - as in ‘alleviating poverty through technology’ or technology saves the world. This time, the recipe was microfranchising: “The idea is to replicate sound business models and, consequently, to provide microentrepreneurs in developing countries with training and the necessary assistance for success.”

I could write about how such initiatives reek of a neo-colonialistic attitude where the Westerner knows how money is made and so our models of thinking are imposed on other populations without regard nor appreciation for their cultural settings. But today I will draw the parallel to what is happening in other areas of business life. In my study of venture capital, it became clear that a streamlining way-of-thinking is dominating business thinking today. By streamlining I mean these kinds of ready-made formulas, of ‘best practice’, of ‘business recipes for success’, of ’success factors’ - whatever we choose to call them - which are imposed on new ideas, snuffing the flame. As I wrote in the final pages of my dissertation, “it would be a loss indeed if venture capital [or micro finance for that matter or any other service aimed at promoting new initiatives] would mean the death of visions and ideas that can change our conception of the system. Without them, there would be little new to refine and we might never come to enjoy what we have yet to discover.”

It is time we start thinking about the implications of snuffing out the visionary flame with pre-made, easy-to-replicate business models that are designed with one thing in mind: namely how to streamline a business concept so as to maximize its perceived value on a financial market.

by Miriam Garvi

The highlight of a recent event sponsored by the local business community was a half-hour lecture by a price-winning speaker on how to be creative.

The recipe he offered for creativity was quite simple. «Question everything! And when in frustration suggest the alternative way of doing things!»

Besides the obvious busybody label for those who do not take the time to understand the context, purpose nor setting before offering their tuppence worth on betterment, the generous round of applause that followed really reflects an interesting trend: creativity has become a commodity so streamlined that its practice can be self-taught in an instant.

By the end of this creativity crash course, the speaker appealed to the audience to contribute any thoughts they might have on the topic for his current book in writing. «It has turned out to be quite the challenging topic, you see, so any ideas will be useful.» All contributions to be sent by sms.

And I who thought creativity had to do with creating something rather than scouting for something to offer.