InnovatingSMART

In times like these, when financial capital is often in short supply, we are reminded of the creative power of our social assets.

 

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were approached by an indepenent film-making duo who had at one time lived in the basement apartment of our historic Victorian home.  Delighted to make the connection, and impressed by their creative vision and gracious manner, we were thrilled to receive a request to film an important scene in our living room.  Happy to have something to offer which would ease their logistics and please their budget, and certain that we would enjoy the process, we quickly said yes.  A creative two days ensued, new friends were made, and our living room is none the worse for wear.  We were left with a restored site, fresh arrangements of movie-prop flowers, and an invitation to the Wrap Party.   It's what you'd call a Win-Win**.

 

And it got me thinking.  There are so many assets that we have, that we can share without giving away, and that can help forward the creative efforts of ourselves and of those striving to create around us.  Whether a living room or a conference room, the spaces we command can become guest spaces for worthy projects.  Our social networks, whether on-line or on-the-ground, can become the connective tissue that matches innovators to allies, fundraisers to funders, new products to early adopters.  Last year's overstocked inventory can become this year's response to a non-profit's wish list.  An introduction, an endorsement, even a word of encouragement -- when well-placed these become gold.  From generous listening to full-on collaboration -- these are the priceless human resources that carry the creative process toward its next step, making the impossible suddenly possible, and the difficult almost easy. 

 

So please be generous with this most renewable of resources!

 

 
** Thanks to Josh and Jacob Kornbluth, and their very cool team!
Watch for "Love and Taxes" targeted for Tax Day, 2012. 

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Comment by Natalie Forsythe on February 3, 2011 at 2:23pm

Oops, my comment was cut off.  Here is the rest of my thought:

 


satellite locations, and even libraries as usable workspaces for a companies workforce, and decrease the physical plant that a company must support in their formal office.  A win-win for everyone! To better understand how Teletrips works, and how their innovation affects the sustainability of companies and the world, click here.

 

Comment by Natalie Forsythe on February 3, 2011 at 12:57pm

This reminds me of the conversation that I had with Ian Gover, President and CEO of Teletrips, after I interviewed him last fall.  We were discussing the wide range of interesting innovations that were emerging around the evolving concepts of sharing space.  There is the more mainstream examples of Zipcar and other similar sercvices, that facilitate hour-to-hour city car rentals which alleviates the need to own cars.  Less well known services such as AirBnB allow individuals to rent out a room, or a couch to travelers on a nightly basis, or Couch Surfers which is a social network connecting travelers with free couches to crash on for free.  Something that Ian told me during that conversation was that Zipcar was in the process of renting people's private garages that were empty during the day.  This would allow more Zipcars to be closer to their clientele, and simultaneously further blur the lines of public and private space.  

The fundamental sustainability book, Cradle to Cradle, suggests that the most sustainable building would be one used around the clock.  As per their example, a school cafeteria would serve students food during the day, in the evening would become a pizza delivery company and in the middle of the night would become a bakery making the next days bread to be delivered to restaurants and grocery stores.  Making full use of a building in this way hugely decreases the need for more buildings as well as 24 hour climate control in all of those buildings.

As Ian's business helps companies shift their relationship away from the need to operate in the office 9-5/M-F business as usual, this relationship of changing conceptions of how and where space is used is vital to their M.O.  Over 50% of energy usage in the world comes from buildings.  Currently office space is extremely under-used and therefore wasting huge amounts of energy.  At Teletrips, they utilize people's homes, s

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Sue Lebeck 

  Cool Block Platform Director

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