Making the problem bigger—setting our sights on becoming Wise Ancestors—exposes a way out of the polycrisis. It reveals that our species requires different operating instructions, ones that help align all of our actions to our highest aspirations. By distinguishing between cleverness and wisdom, by appreciating how our “solutions” can become the causes of our problems, and by controlling our biases, instead of letting them control us, we can make the Dominant Grand Narrative obsolete.
Today, the world is awash with a profusion of notable responses to the polycrisis. We are heartened by this acknowledgment of the problems facing humanity, this sincere effort to model hope, and this redeployment of financial capital. While we need to learn much more about what others are doing, learn from their experiences, and partner, we believe that six, interlinked elements distinguish RCI’s approach to wellbeing innovation:
1. Our ambitions: While the Gates Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Bezos Earth Fund, Clinton Global Initiative, and Systems Change Lab all have missions like ours, directed at advancing wellbeing by taking on the UN SDGs and other pressing global imperatives, they seem to believe that transformative change is possible within the Dominant Grand Narrative. We, like the Club of Rome, have no such delusions. Our raison d’être is nothing short of cultivating Wise Ancestors.
2. How we conceptualize innovation: Unlike the Earthshot Prize, XPRIZE, and Google X our idea of innovation is not limited to technology or to creating for-profit entities. Social and psychological-spiritual innovations are vital for humanity’s embrace of life-affirming, Wise Ancestor operating instructions.
3. How we source, incubate, and advance innovation: Our innovation sourcing begins with a Deep Pause in nature to assess whether a radical reframing of the initial problem assessment is in order. This is followed by an internal process of drafting a high-leverage “challenge,” which we refer to as an Opportunity Statement. This challenge can be addressed internally or we can democratize and diversify the process of identifying solutions through our global, crowd-sourced WIA prize. As with a venture studio, we offer full, structured, in-house support to advance the innovation through scale-up, until exit or self-sufficiency. Unlike a traditional incubator or venture studio, however, we put purpose before profit and team development before a quick exit.
4. How we work together: Like the Aspen Institute, Esalen Institute, and Patagonia, we believe that our best work comes from making time and creating space for play, cultural activities, self-care, and renewal. We cultivate humility and vulnerability by sharing our hopes, dreams, and worst fears. Through our common purpose and commitment to diversity, inclusion, and community, we learn together, innovate together, and share risk, rewards, joy, and responsibility equitably.
5. How we engage with place: Like the Land Institute, Occidental Arts and Ecology, and the San Francisco Zen Center’s Green Gulch and Tassajara outposts, we believe that being imbedded in a particular place, with its distinctive natural beauty, unique challenges, history, inspiration, and lessons to discover, provides an extraordinarily opportunity for grounded innovation, exercising the practice of care, and regeneration.
6. How we sustain our community and work: Viewing capital too narrowly, solely in terms of financial capital, is parochial, naïve, and, most importantly, a missed opportunity. At Rock Creek, we recognize that financial capital, while critical, is only one of the forms of capital that is necessary for successful, Wise Ancestor Innovations. We take a more expansive and inclusive approach to capital and employ all its forms in catalyzing and supporting innovation. Our Rock Creek Platform for Change serves as a multi-pronged funding approach to balance costs with fee-for-service projects, contracts, grants, memberships, donations, and investments (with re-circulating returns). Like the Patagonia Purpose Trust, we intend for Rock Creek to hold all assets and IP.
