nuance intelligence

I feel really lucky. Since February, when I started Chapter 17 of what my good friend calls a ‘curious lifestyle’, I have attracted a unique group of people into the nuance orbit. This has been a rewarding and interesting path, one I have chronicled here with a modicum of success.

The most recent group on the radar is our newest client, Innovation Network for Communities (INC). Founded by partners John Cleveland and Pete Plastrik, INC has been designing and implmenting social systems for more than 20 years, in partnership with the leading industrial foundations of the midwest, including Ford, Carnegie, Kellogg, and many others, I’m sure. Their work has touched schools, urban transportation design, climate change, entrepreneurism and much more.

Their practice is rooted in the study of the emerging patters being unveiled in disciplines like complex systems theory, which begin to give us better models for social systems.

Their core values of discipline and standards means they apply serious academic rigor to the development of these systems. Although Pete and John are happy to see the social entrepreneurism zeitgeist get some legs, they find that most of the work is not very rigorous, and when they sit with many younger social entrepreneurs, they find much lacking in the general grasp of all the interlocking parts necessary for success. In short, they are transcending the rah-rah, and bringing tougher standards to bear to ensure better results for the community.

Along with my partners at Business Catapult and Entrepreneurial Standards Forum (ESF), I’ve now had several days of deep dive with INC in the past couple weeks. We have identified several places where our collective understanding of the application of digital media overlaps well with INC’s systems approach.

While it will take a while for the results to manifest, I’m really excited to be working behind the scenes to help them get their story told in a more public way, and help them build a good web presence that should increase the impact of their work. You’re going to want to get to know them.