We are here to
catalyze the well-being of people and the planet
Our generation is experiencing the rise of an inherent tension between improving human well-being and the ecological degradation, social inequality, and economic disparity that has resulted from organizations trying to achieve this goal.
By building the capacity of leaders to design prosperous systems with positive social and ecological impacts, we are helping unleash creativity and shape transformative action.
People
Nature
Organizations
We believe that
yesterday’s approaches are not fit to address today’s challenges
Late 19th - Early 20th Century
Mass production, mass markets, and mass media were the underlying forces guiding the design of new organizations to fit changes in the relationship between people and the natural world.
Late 20th - Early 21st Century
The context has shifted, but organizations have not responded accordingly. Modern approaches developed 50 to 200 years ago created friction between people, organizations, and the natural world.
21st Century
Leap supports organizations interested in catalyzing the well-being of people and the natural world but lack proper frameworks and methods to achieve new levels of fitness between the three constituencies.
Inadequate education, lack of affordable housing, environmental degradation, political polarization, and inclusion in all senses are a few problems that challenge our well-being. These difficulties, challenging in ordinary times, are more daunting in today’s uncertainties.
Efforts from the past decades have demonstrated how transformative actions are extremely difficult. While there is no clear path forward, we know existing practices are not enough to shape the future we aspire to inhabit.
Twentieth-century transformations, powered by cheap oil and mass markets, neglected elusive intangible values. However, future shifts will encompass both tangible and intangible values in an information-fueled, adaptable economy with tailored demand.
Although leaders recognize the need for leap changes, most still implement incremental adjustments that respond to the context they are leaving, not to the one they are entering.
Lack of transformative action is not caused by a lack of knowledge
To act differently,
people must see differently
We believe that advanced design models can help organizations shift two modern paradigms preventing organizations to promote well-being in today’s world. While they are connected, understanding each paradigm’s unique aspects is useful.
The Way Organizations Plan and Operate
Modern organizations fragmented their operations into siloes to increase efficiency and promote knowledge specialization around specific questions. Over time, they found they had unprecedented knowledge about operations and strategy, but became less knowledgeable about users’ patterns of daily life. Today’s leaders face an Innovation Gap, struggling to bridge the knowledge siloes and overcome a huge uncertainty about what to make.
Users
Who is it for?
Offerings
What to make?
Strategy
Why does it create value?
Operations
How to make it?
Innovation
Gap
Organizations
1800s
1850s
Time
Now
Organization
Outcome
Enviornmental Integrity
Wealth Concentration
Material Goods Production
1800s
1850s
Time
Now
The Way Organizations Use Resources
While more integrated approaches can help, it will not lead to sustainable outcomes if organizations continue to produce more things in a linear, take-make-waste fashion. We all know this worldview has led to successful organizations, some of which are able to accumulate more wealth than many nation-states. But it has also shown its limitations in facing well-being challenges, such as those related to environmental integrity and social equity.
It is time to work toward futures where our lives are supported by systems that provide opportunities for all to shape healthier, happier, & more prosperous experiences.