Andrew Mangino on building the next generation of dreamers

In early May, Ashoka teamed up with the team at Wondros to bring together a handful of amazing thinkers and doers from both the social impact and creative worlds, to examine what it takes to advance an idea in place of a program, and to identify the ingredients of modern-day movement-building. What follows is a transcript from a talk given by Andrew Mangino, Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Future Project. 

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We started The Future Project about two and a half years ago. I was in Washington, DC as a speechwriter. Like a lot of young people in my generation, there was a lot of excitement after the presidential election—seen in things like the “Yes We Can” video created here—and many of us went to DC. I went to be a speechwriter to Joe Biden. And by the way, if you’re thinking about storytelling, Joe Biden is the best storyteller you’ll ever encounter. 

I was in DC and felt this incredible sense of possibility, like so many people. But I started talking to my friends, and we all felt a certain lack of fulfillment. There was all this amazing energy, but we were wondering what’s the common purpose: what’s the call to action that’s going to drive our generation to change the world, not just win an election? Many people had been fired up by the election not because of any particular policy, but because there was this new sense of possibility in America. 

The point came up earlier about the interplay between things happening by accident versus planned change, and it’s one that we’ve been wrestling since Day 1. I was mentoring a student in a DC school at the time. Judging by the statistics, it was one of the most struggling schools in America, just a few blocks from where I was living in DC. There was a complete disconnect between that school and the community and the energy that I, and so many people I knew, felt. 

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The making of the Wright Brothers—the need for families and parents to provide confidence and encouragement early on in the lives of their children. natcdance: Today I went to the National Air and Space Museum in DC. I have to admit that learning about space isn’t that interesting to me, but I loved exhibit about the Wright brothers. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Wilbur and Orville Wright revolutionized the study of aerodynamics and built the world’s first successful airplane. They were social entrepreneurs in every sense.  What I learned is way too exhaustive for a Tumblr post, but I especially enjoyed reading about all of the factors that influenced the brothers and guided them to their discoveries. Here are some of the factors I found most notable: 1. They came from a family of religious intellectuals who had been active in various social reform movements like abolition, temperance, and women’s rights. 2. The brothers placed a lot of value on family relationships. 3. They were highly supported and encouraged by their parents to explore and learn. 4. Their parents instilled in them self confidence that allowed them to reject preexisting theories that had been developed by formally educated scientists. 5. They grew up in a city that, at the time, was highly conducive to technological innovation. 6. They learned about a wide variety of subjects and pursued careers in printing and bicycle repairing; they applied the multifaceted knowledge they had gained to their studies of aerodynamics. 7. They were enthusiastic and optimistic. 8. They approached the problem in a new way—they didn’t just ask why, but how. It was interesting to see how much Momma and Papa Wright influenced the incredible work of these two brothers. If we want to see more people like Wilbur and Orville, we can start by instilling confidence in our young people—confidence to question, confidence to experiment, confidence to fail and confidence to keep trying. Only then will we see a world in which each person realizes his or her role in solving the problems of our day. 
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The making of the Wright Brothers—the need for families and parents to provide confidence and encouragement early on in the lives of their children.

natcdance:

Today I went to the National Air and Space Museum in DC. I have to admit that learning about space isn’t that interesting to me, but I loved exhibit about the Wright brothers. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Wilbur and Orville Wright revolutionized the study of aerodynamics and built the world’s first successful airplane. They were social entrepreneurs in every sense. 

What I learned is way too exhaustive for a Tumblr post, but I especially enjoyed reading about all of the factors that influenced the brothers and guided them to their discoveries. Here are some of the factors I found most notable:

1. They came from a family of religious intellectuals who had been active in various social reform movements like abolition, temperance, and women’s rights.

2. The brothers placed a lot of value on family relationships.

3. They were highly supported and encouraged by their parents to explore and learn.

4. Their parents instilled in them self confidence that allowed them to reject preexisting theories that had been developed by formally educated scientists.

5. They grew up in a city that, at the time, was highly conducive to technological innovation.

6. They learned about a wide variety of subjects and pursued careers in printing and bicycle repairing; they applied the multifaceted knowledge they had gained to their studies of aerodynamics.

7. They were enthusiastic and optimistic.

8. They approached the problem in a new way—they didn’t just ask why, but how.

It was interesting to see how much Momma and Papa Wright influenced the incredible work of these two brothers. If we want to see more people like Wilbur and Orville, we can start by instilling confidence in our young people—confidence to question, confidence to experiment, confidence to fail and confidence to keep trying. Only then will we see a world in which each person realizes his or her role in solving the problems of our day. 

Launching The Innovation Fund - are you in?

Over the last 30 years, Ashoka has built the world’s largest association of leading social entrepreneurs – over 3,000 men and women in 70 countries. These Ashoka Fellows are practical visionaries who introduce and fully commit themselves to realizing an important new idea to solve pressing social problems. With creativity and entrepreneurial skill, they push ahead their idea until it changes a pattern and transforms their field, in the process opening new opportunities for citizens to be changemakers.
Today, we offer you the opportunity to catalyze the work of leading social entrepreneurs in the United States through a fund of seven fully vetted Ashoka Fellows.
With a tax-deductible financial contribution, you can partner with Ashoka to shape the future of the country by investing in game-changing social innovators across many fields, from health to education to the environment. 100% of your money will go directly to these Ashoka Fellows.
                                                   Innovation fund 
                                   View more presentations from Ashoka US

Contact US Director Paula Recart or Kila Englebrook for more info.

STEM education is super duper duper important. Don’t get me wrong.  But what would we do with the great innovations of great engineers if we didn’t also have great minds figuring out how to implement, distribute, and market them, create the organizations and businesses and value chains needed to deploy them?  Are our schools creating the types of people capable of making good on that potential?  Check out this article in the atlantic to understand why calls for better STEM education should be accompanied by calls for empathy education.
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STEM education is super duper duper important. Don’t get me wrong.  But what would we do with the great innovations of great engineers if we didn’t also have great minds figuring out how to implement, distribute, and market them, create the organizations and businesses and value chains needed to deploy them?  Are our schools creating the types of people capable of making good on that potential?  Check out this article in the atlantic to understand why calls for better STEM education should be accompanied by calls for empathy education.

The Case Foundation launched their super cool new campaign today, asking you to pledge to be fearless - to quote the Case Foundation: “To tackle today’s big and ever-changing social challenges, we have to take risks, be bold, and fail forward”. Read more about their “fearless approach” on their new campaign site.
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The Case Foundation launched their super cool new campaign today, asking you to pledge to be fearless - to quote the Case Foundation: “To tackle today’s big and ever-changing social challenges, we have to take risks, be bold, and fail forward”. Read more about their “fearless approach” on their new campaign site.

Don’t forget, technological innovation doesn’t just mean making innovative technology—it also means doing innovative stuff with old technology.  Check out this piece, featuring fellows Josh Nesbit and Bright Simons, on The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/boeing-innovation/archive/2012/05/spontaneous-innovation-on-the-cheap/257789/
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Don’t forget, technological innovation doesn’t just mean making innovative technology—it also means doing innovative stuff with old technology.  Check out this piece, featuring fellows Josh Nesbit and Bright Simons, on The Atlantic.

http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/boeing-innovation/archive/2012/05/spontaneous-innovation-on-the-cheap/257789/

Past and present juxtaposed

The blog Dear Photograph has asked people to retake a moment of the past, by recapturing it in the present - literally holding up an old photo and retake the moment in a modern setting.

When scrolling through the images it made me think of all the ideas from the past, that could use a reframing in todays context. Be it an upgrade of a working idea or an old idea put into a new context, radically changing the outcome. 

(found via NPR)

Do you really know what the Finance Department does in Ashoka?

This video provides a good approach to the understanding of some aspect of our day-to-day work. And it doesn’t mean that we are not so creative or not so innovative, this means that we see things quite different. And it’s great!

(images from Ursus Wehrli’s book Tidying Up Art)

At the MediaLab

I’ve just seen so much creativity and talent today at the open house #MediaLabIO. Amazing. So much cool stuff.

But probably the coolest are the ideas of Joi Ito to transform the MediaLab with an amazing set of principles:

  • Resilience instead of strength,
  • pull instead of push,
  • portfolios instead of planning,
  • systems instead of objects,
  • compasses instead of maps,
  • practice instead of theory,
  • encourage rebellion instead of compliance,
  • smart crowds instead of experts,
  • constant learning instead of education.

We would sign up that manifesto in a nanosecond.
Among all of the creations, see the fun makey makey. My kids will love it.


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