Making Hope Visible
By Carlos Briceño
When I was growing up, the most important person in my life was my father. He was calm, intelligent, a great listener, a great encourager, a patient teacher, and a man of great faith. He was the lighthouse in the storm that usually swirled around at home because his qualities were in direct contrast to my mother, who was highly strung, loud, angry, bi-polar, fearful, narcissistic, superstitious, insecure, negative and overprotective. He was a gentle breeze, while she was a hurricane, blazing a wide path of destruction wherever she went.
My mom’s negativity affected me a lot back then. I lived in a world where she did not want any of her children to leave her, nor did she want any of us to fully experience life — a mindset that encouraged very little possibility for growth or change. The status quo was perfect for her as she wanted to be the one in control of me and my two sisters.
As a result, I was extremely fearful and shy growing up. Looking back, I realize now that all that was great training for the writer I would later become. Writing requires solitude to think, silence to observe, and a passion to express deeply held emotions and thoughts. I had all that in spades, along with an open pipeline to my imagination, which was aided by the many books I read that transported me to other worlds; it was there, in the depths of my imagination, where I felt safe and happy and where life was magical and full of possibilities.
I realize now that all of that was also great training for someone who appreciates innovation. This mindset was nurtured by my father, who always encouraged me to learn and to dream and taught me the value of faith and in having empathy for others. He also taught me how to think. He was a mechanical design engineer, and so he encouraged me to approach problems by first understanding what the problem was. And then by figuring out what steps were necessary in order to arrive at a solution. Empathy was key. So was opening up your mind to view the total landscape of the problem and being unafraid to try something. And if you failed, to try something else.
Years later, I discovered a phrase that described this process. It’s commonly referred to as design thinking, or human-centered design. It involves empathy, defining the problem, ideating, prototyping and testing. In other words, design thinking can be a pathway to innovation because it leads you to something fresh, something new, original or improved, something that creates value — all of which are the very definitions of innovation.
This process brought — and continues to bring — me great joy because it was the antithesis to my mother’s way of thinking. To live a life where I was taught that you should not dream, nor should you do anything new or contrary to my mom’s way of thinking, was stifling and overwhelming at times. So I lived my childhood hoping and dreaming for something new and different than the iron-fisted control I was under. And so being innovative represents hope and freedom to me.
That hope kept me going in life.
Looking around, it is very apparent that this messy world needs more hope, as well. It needs more people who are willing to view empathy as one of their super powers. It needs more leaders with enough creative confidence to access their imaginations to grapple with the wicked problems that drag people and systems down. And it needs more of what Brian Collins, a well-known designer, says when sharing his definition of design:
It was that kind of hope — fueled by my faith in God and by my father’s love — that eventually helped me not to fear failure, nor to think of myself as a failure, and led me to appreciate my imagination as an invaluable part in having an innovative mindset. It also led me to be unafraid to dream big.
My biggest dream these days is to form an organization that teaches design thinking as the springboard for creating social innovators/entrepreneurs. I want to train and inspire a national community of youths and adults who will bring great good into the world by creating awesome solutions to big and small problems, connecting with other Catholics who are already in the trenches, working for social good, or have incorporated design thinking as part of their DNA.
I want to get students at Catholic and Christian schools — from middle school through high school — and homeschooled students, as well, to learn the design thinking process so that they can start to see the world differently: as innovators who want to discover and respond to unmet needs.
Imagine students collaborating with their local Catholic Charities to figure out how to solve some of the problems in their local communities that Catholic Charities in that particular diocese need innovative solutions for — including possibly the creation of social enterprises. (Check out this cool example of a social enterprise started by Catholic Charities of West Tennessee.) Or imagine young people creating apps/games or thinking of innovative ways to communicate the faith to others?
If people can create Uber, Airbnb or Pokémon Go, why can’t Christians do the same — with the mindset to evangelize or to just do social good?
I also want to reach out to young adults, who are itching to change the world and want to aim high and think big. Or as Pope Francis put it: “In an age when we are constantly being enticed by vain and empty illusions of happiness, we risk settling for less and ‘thinking small’ when it come to the meaning of life. Think big instead! Open your hearts!”
I want to connect with baby boomers, those who may be retired and have had successful careers, but are looking for new challenges, such as those who belong to groups like the Ignatian Volunteer Corps.
My aim is simple: innovation, innovation and more innovation. I want to train people in the relentless pursuit of changing equilibriums that are needing a release of potential or are stale or broken so that the status quo becomes transformed into something new and magical and full of possibilities.
Will you join me to make this dream come true?
