![[file:field_file_image_alt_text]](https://www.pioneerspost.com/sites/default/files/styles/node-teaser/public/images/article/i-stock%20mountain%20600w.jpg?itok=qKJsbtSK)
![[file:field_file_image_alt_text]](https://www.pioneerspost.com/sites/default/files/styles/node-teaser/public/images/article/PP_Apassionforinefficiency_v3_23C.gif?itok=5pD0rM58)
Five things we learned this week: January 20th-26th
![[file:field_file_image_alt_text]](https://www.pioneerspost.com/sites/default/files/styles/node-teaser-large/public/images/article/private%20party%20pic.jpg?itok=wa___pQ8)
1. Bitter about your missing Davos invite? Ignore it and it will go away
Was your Davos invite lost in the post? Our’s certainly was, along with FT hack John McDermott.
Instead of flouncing, McDermott has launched a rival conference – Dalston Davos.
But what if you didn’t get an invite to Dalston Davos either? Don’t worry says McDermott. Everyone knows Davos achieves nothing – it’s a positional good, deriving value from its desirability for outsiders to attend. So, if you want to get rid of Davos, simply ignore it.
2. Introducing Nesta’s new innovation… networking
The monthly newsletter of Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation, is always worth monitoring for investment opportunities, reports and events. Unusually this month it gave an insight into how the organisation is run too.
This month Nesta introduced a new experiment. “Inspired by Pedro Medina's discussion of serendipity”, they say, “the initiative responds to Pedro's dual challenge of appreciating the benefits of serendipity and the need to 'build new fishing systems’”.
What is this grand initiative? Simply enough, Nesta staff members are randomly matched with a colleague and “the two are invited to grab a coffee together. There are no requirements or obligations regarding the topics discussed, some [discuss] work-related matters, others are entirely personal in nature.”
With characteristically robust research findings, the Randomised Coffee Trials, as they’ve been dubbed, have been a great success and a shining example of “institutional serendipity”.
This got us thinking. What if this process could be amplified and accelerated in some way? Say if multiple Nesta staff gathered in a single space in order to exchange information (maybe the office Christmas party)? Participants could greet each other in a series of brief exchanges during a set period of time. We could call it… speed networking. Nesta, you can have that one for free.
In fact the article conveyed quite an endearing view of the organisation, especially set against its reputation (under previous management) as icy, aloof and snobbish. Most striking was the money, resources and time Nesta clearly has on its hands. The security that this affords does not chime with one widely held axiom of innovation that “necessity is the mother of innovation”.
3. Loaded die in the lobbying game
The question of charity autonomy raised its head this week, with the launch of a new report from the Independence Panel.
How can charities speak out in opposition to government when they accept their funding? The report laid bare the risk, and showed that Work Programme contracts even contained gagging orders stopping charities from voicing concerns publicly.
The situation is in stark contrast with to the private sector. While the DCLG implores local government to “cease funding ‘sock puppets’ and ‘fake charities’” (see rule 37) multinationals are given a direct line to ministers in an exercise of institutional serendipity Nesta would be proud of.
4. The Tour De France: a vicious cycle
Since the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) released its damning report on Lance Armstrong last summer, the cyclist has become one of the most vilified men in the US. Critics have been quick to put the boot in, and there is little doubt of the lack of morals in the man portrayed in the report, despite any heartfelt confessions to Oprah Winfrey.
But was Armstrong’s advantage any more unfair than that of team GB’s cyclists? One might argue that it’s not their inate ability that keeps them ahead of the pack but the technical improvements their director of marginal gains implements.
The situation is complex which this fascinating father-son interview captures brilliantly.
5. Patience and perspective required as social investment marketplace develops
Pixar make the great moral stories of our times. Ratatoille, ostensibly the story of a rat running a restaurant, is about meritocracy, freedom and the pursuit of excellence.
It also touches on hubris. When Anton Ego, the film’s mealy-mouthed food critic returns to the newly trendy restaurant (one his reviews once almost shut down), his order is deceptively simple:
After reading a lot of overheated puffery about your new cook, you know what I'm craving? A little perspective. That's it. I'd like some fresh, clear, well- seasoned perspective. Can you suggest a good wine to go with that?
One wondered if Sir Ronald Cohen and William A. Sahlman could do with a dose of perspective when proclaiming Social Impact Investing Will Be the New Venture Capital.
As one of the most overhyped and underperforming asset classes it’s unclear whether any investors would want social investment to turn out like venture capital. Nor does its profit-or-bust business model seem compatible with a triple-bottom line.
This counter-view was most effectively put on Lauren Burnhill's blog.
Burnhill was not the only one urging some perspective. On Pioneers Post an insightful Ben Metz piece pondered whether investors had lost sight of the purpose of social investment, while Robbie Davidson was more direct in a critical rant-cum-report accusing social investors of “channel[ing] vital funds out of the sector into businesses with no experience of tackling social need”.
In Ratatouille, Ego is eventually bowled over by the eponymous dish, finely balanced and skilfully executed. Before the social investment marketplace sings, a vast array of competing and complex ingredients must be made to work together.
Patience and perspective will be required along the way and the media would do well to avoid the bi-polar, hero-to-zero reporting of microfinance. We’ll aim to do our bit at Pioneers Post. We hope the ex-bankers and MBAers who are now becoming the social investment elite have a fair-minded and inclusive approach too.
Thanks to @jessstacey @commoncapitaI @glinner and @laurenopv for links. Sign up below to get more articles like this straight to your inbox via our weekly news bulletin the Compass.