Change starts with chat, so let’s break out of the Prisoner’s Dilemma
What is the secret to making change happen in the real world?
The power of people.
A humanitarian, surgeon, scientist and Silicon Valley entrepreneur sit on a panel … may sound like the set-up to a great joke, but rather, it was a hugely insightful event called Changemakers held at Swinburne University (find out more about the panellists here).
During the event, there was much talk about Australia’s ‘innovation ecosystem’: the name given to our ability to drive improvements and breakthroughs across all sectors. It relies on government for effective regulation, business for investment and inventions from scientists.
We need bridges to exist between government, business and research to build solutions that are grounded in the real world; operating in isolation is not a feasible way to achieve change —
Dr. Amanda Caples, Victoria’s Lead Scientist, on the groundwork she is leading to achieve the 2018–2020 Strategic Plan.Australia’s ecosystem currently lags behind the USA which has rich capital, progressive policies and a longer history of innovation culture —
Dr. Elicia Wong espousing knowledge from her experiences in Silicon Valley
Despite all converging from different fields, there was synonymous agreement across the panel that there is an increasing need for effective communication between our layers of society. For some reason, we’re not very good at talking and sharing insights.
I started to reflect on this communication breakdown and found some sense in considering the foundations of each sector. Scientific research is based on sharing information in the hopes that our knowledge will be advanced through others building on the foundations. In contrast to this, the competitive nature of business has fostered information hoarding. Intellectual property is not advanced, it is held as “company secrets”.
“Expansion of knowledge through research is the foundation of our society” — Professor Matthew Cuthbertson reciting one of his favourite quotes during the closing remarks.
In the spirit of learning across disciplines, I have expanded on the panel discussion by diverging into Economic game theory to explore this particular communication barrier. The “prisoner’s dilemma” indicates why one company would refuse to share with another organisation.
For the diagram below, imagine that each prisoner is offered a plea bargain if they turn in the other prisoner. Although the fairest overall outcome for all is where each prisoner serves a year, the game’s incentive is individual and encourages each player to act selfishly in order to go free.
Encouraging selfish behaviour arguably benefits the prison system, but has not proven helpful where the goal is shared understanding. I have applied this model to a corporate context to explain the natural friction that has caused information flow issues between research and business communities.
In addition to introducing new communication channels and pathways, we’re asking the business community to adopt new behaviours. This presents an interesting challenge: how do we ensure communication flows between communities with historically distinct and disparate behaviours when it comes to information sharing and knowledge advancement?
Designing business solutions around symptoms is a process doomed to fail — Ebony Gaylor on the changes required for future models of humanitarianism
Tackling big issues is hard, so keep it simple or it won’t fly —
Dr. Peter Choong’s advice on how to communicate complex ideas
Ultimately, it is important to realise that the “business community” is simply a collection of people. Communication will flow when we are free to communicate, empowered to act and informed of what we can do. This is how people can realise their own power, on an individual and societal level.
So if you’re looking to make meaningful, sustainable change happen — start with the people you want to reach, study how they communicate and ensure you create a scenario where people feel free to express themselves.
Follow REDxFutures on Medium and Instagram for more stories and insights as we design people-driven ways to achieve social change.
Follow Swinburne University and the panellists:
Ebony Gaylor, Head of Mobilisation & Creator of REDxFutures, The Australian Red Cross
Dr Amanda Caples, Lead Scientist, Victorian State Government
Professor Peter Choong, Sir Hugh Devine Chair of Surgery & St. Vincent’s Hospital Chair of Surgery
Dr Elicia Wong, Director of Research Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Innovation Precinct
