Punk Innovation

Do we need design or organizational consultants to bring about social innovation? Do we need to send people to areas like outside Hyderabad, India to observe all the problems associated with transporting potable water? Or can we take steps towards expressing a global culture of punk problem-solving? Empower citizens in all areas of the world to shake up their own status quo, use the tools at their disposal - improvised or otherwise - to solve their own problems. In reading the article by Tim Brown and Jocelyn Wyatt, espousing the doctrine of IDEO's success, I was inspired to learn more about their methods and I came across another article written by IDEO-er Kara Johnson. "Punk Manufacturing" talks about the rise in consumer co-creation in mass produced goods - like designing your messenger bag or customizing your laptop - and how this is shifting our mindset from the belief that we need corporations to make things for us, to solve our problems.

As Johnson points out in the article, the "punk" movement isn't by any means new but more and more it's making an appearance in areas of life we think of as traditionally resistant to subversion. It may be a naive conceit to think that citizens in developing nations could take a punk approach to solving crises of base need but I think it's worth a thought. Throughout the 20th century, we made huge moves toward a global culture of institutionalization which imposed fearsome hierarchical structures and that seem impossible to challenge. What we may solved in supply chain management, we left undone in combating world hunger.

Johnson talks about the role organizations can play in creating a platform for punk manufacturing to take place and maybe that's the role NGOs and not-for-profits can take in their approach in underdeveloped countries. Former DJ and journalist Matt Mason explored the modern punk movement in his book The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Reinvented Capitalism and it's an excellent read for anyone interested in the punk influence on art, media and the economy.