‘I’ve just realised,’ she said, ‘If I do get sick here, in this city; I don’t have anyone to call on. ’

The silence on the phone after that stark realisation, was deafening. I was completely powerless to act.

Less than three hours later; gratitude and relief gifted by Clare; someone we don’t even know. Someone reaching out from a distance from an invisible community.

We may be socially distancing but we’re more connected than ever; united in the fight against Covid-19 by our willingness to physically disconnect.  We’re in it for survival.

Like me you’re probably inspired by the stories of support and generosity in our communities. People are pulling out the stops to lead personal and organisational responses, to collaborate across sectors to respond. People want to get to the essence of the important work to be done, to support those in desperate need.

Crisis creates a clarity and productivity that evades us for much of the time. Crisis cuts fast through the cr*p.

It takes time to process something like this; understanding your own response adjusting to this new world. Survival; People have been getting the basics in place; food, warmth and rest. We need to feel safe and secure. As we adjusted to this strange new world  we wonder about the challenges and problems after all of this is over. What will crumble and what will this new era give birth to? As we start to wonder we may want to act, to contribute to the collective effort.  

A call to community, a call to action for collective impact

Last week The Martin Trust Centre (MTC) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ran a bustling ’Virtual Town Hall’ for their students on line. It was a call to community, a call to share and understand, a call to action for collective impact.

MTC’s MD, Bill Aulet’s met with the MIT students on Zoom. He spoke for us all who care about Education, Enterprise and Impact as a force for good in our communities.

He said that the world will never be the same. We will be in lock down for weeks. But, he said leaders at all of higher education, businesses and community have stepped up, reimagined and re-engineered business and operations to respond to the crisis.

Higher education is leading the mission in new ways. The buildings are an important part of the human experience, but shut down means recreating that experience 100% virtually to continue the service.

Ambiguous, unchartered territory

The virtual world is a large opportunity and a sudden and steep learning curve for us all. It’s ambiguous unchartered territory. We will make loads of mistakes on the steps to mastery; educators and students will learn unapologetically together on line.

He said what you and I already know. The hardship out in the world right now is real; in many of our communities it’s unreal. He asked his students, ‘What can we do..? Where are the opportunities for impact?’

Bill  urged students everywhere to tune into the innate entrepreneurial capacity everyone has. Notice the needs emerging in teh world around you. These are opportunities for change and contribution.

And that’s our work at Work in Progress…We’re here to urge and support our Lancaster community to to tune into the innate entrepreneurial capacity everyone has. To spot needs, frame challenges and come up with solutions that sustain.

Impact, and Inspiration from others

Other people’s authentic stories of crisis and learning can be a huge inspiration. We all have the potential to contribute to change and regeneration.

Impact isn’t created by one person; It’s created by teams working, and learning together. 

Clare and the Jesmond Neighbour’s idea was very simple; It responded to a real need. The impact was real for hundreds of miles.

Working with no roadmap, towards impact creates what Bill Aulet calls ‘anti fragile’ people, teams, communities and society. Mastery is the accumulation of many small steps. 

The world needs antifragile entrepreneurial people more than ever. We need to work together to reimagine the future when all of this has gone away.

Being inspired by others is often the spark to new thinking.

For all of you in lockdown inspiration may come from the …’Antifragile Entrepreneurship Speaker Series.’ From 2nd April we’ll be hanging out on line, listening to the Bill and guests in the MIT ‘Antifragile Entrepreneurial Speaker Series’. After we can talk through some of the themes that emerged. To join us book in and pick up the on line link here. 

We’re a small team but we’re here to learn together.

We’re a small team but we’re here all through lockdown in the work in Progress Teams Channel.

Here’s now you we can connect:

Connect on our mailing alerts to hear about on line Work in Progress community ideas drop ins, meet ups and forthcoming access to on line ideas development platforms.

If you’ve started spotting problems or needs in this new world we’re in, and you have a solution you want to develop and test, join the Work in Progress Community to work through it.