On Spaghetti Sauce and Story-Centered Systems

In 2004, author and researcher Malcolm Gladwell gave a TED Talk entitled "Choice, happiness, and spaghetti sauce" which he closed with this insight: "That in embracing the diversity of human beings we will find a sure way to true happiness."

The full lecture focuses primarily on the story of Howard Moskowitz, a man who was, among many things, a brand researcher. Gladwell recounts how Moskowitz came to the conclusion after years of frustration over not being able to find "the perfect Pepsi" formula (by way of spaghetti sauce research oddly enough) that there were in fact many perfect Pepsis...and many perfect spaghetti sauces, vinegars, olive oils, mustards, and the list goes on. It is the closing statement from Gladwell shown above that is the final lesson learned from the tale of Howard Moskowitz.

It is this same insight that has shaped much of what I have written about in these entries over the past several weeks. By insisting on a silver bullet solution to the problems we identify, by mapping and scaling a single narrative for how to create desired change, we in fact hold ourselves back from greater happiness, from bigger success, from more innovation, and from seeing and seeking a world we hadn't before even known we wanted.

I've spent enough time on these blogs critiquing, what is it really that I want to create?

Those solutions that should be scaled should be ones that provide a platform for people and communities to interrogate themselves, to explore their own problems, to be the primary designers of metrics for success, to share those stories, and to change over time. The organization Enabled By Design, particularly its provision of access to 3D printing, is a beautiful example of how such a story-centered system would work on the ground. Persons with disabilities working with this organization are by and large limited only by their own experiences and vision of a changed life. But as we have been shown again and again in this course, the combination of those two things in the hands of enabled people can be wildly powerful.

An important element of such systems would be not only the story-seeking but the story-telling as well. One of the strongest critiques against the ever-widening use of production capabilities around the world, for example, is the concern about inequitably sharing finite resources (though the current system isn't doing such a bang-up job of that either) and increased waste and pollution. But the think about Wikipedia. By most measures it is as accurate and far more up-to-date than most published encyclopedias (no joke, check it out). Wikipedia didn't achieve this by relying on select experts. Rather it trusts the collective, mutually-sharpening, and ever-evolving knowledge of the world at large. Just such a paradigm should underpin the kinds of story-centered systems we seek to implement. 

As capital becomes increasingly fluid and democratized and personalization becomes the standard, it is not for this elite club of "social innovators" to harness and shape the movement in a particular way but rather to see, encourage, and enable social innovation to become a part of daily human behavior and activity. We all have stories, and those stories contain within them a multiplicity of lessons and opportunities. The very systems that structure our daily lives can learn from and adapt to these, and most importantly, we should feel empowered to consciously tell our stories and contribute to their continuous improvement.