Design for Living Complexities

"Afraid of losing the soul of the thing you've built. Afraid of turning into someone you're not. Afraid of stepping into a new, unfamiliar role. Afraid of changing your routines & leaving your comfort zone. Afraid that if you slow down, you'll have to face your neglected relationships - with others & perhaps even with yourself - and rebuild them. Afraid that if you aren't pushing like crazy, if you're not working hard all the time, you won't fit others' definitions of an entrepreneur. Afraid that when you succeed, the people around you will resent you."

" Startups fail to scale up because without the right tools, resistance takes them out. Every startup faces the resistance of risk, confusion, opportunity, and fear. How leaders deal with these issues often spell the difference between success and failure. Examining the patterns that lead to failure of several promising startups will help participants see the warning signs. Startups that successfully scale up follow five simple disciplines. They become students of startup resistance; They build a mission and business model that inspire, create value, and bring clarity; They consistently act on and take responsibility for their top priorities; They regularly learn, adapt, and iterate their plans as necessary; and They create a culture of character and principle that brings out the best in the team."

" The SusHouse methodology is in essence a combination of creativity workshops and scenario building together with stakeholders. The methodology has been inspired to a large extend by the methodology developed in the Sustainable Technological Development (STD) Programme of the Netherlands (1992-1997), and in this Programme by the project Sustainable Washing. An important element of the methodology is called 'Back-casting' (think backwards from a desirable or unavoidable future situation). Like in the STD Programme the premise of the project is that in the long term (50 years) a drastic reduction of environmental burden is necessary (factor 20). This reduction will not be reached by just incremental technological innovations. More drastic technological as well as socio-cultural and organisational changes will be necessary. The hypothesis in the project is that there are interesting opportunities for instance in the concepts of sharing, leasing and service-products. The project consists of the following steps: 1. Investigation of functions in countries (Jan 98-Aug 98) 2. Expert interviews and stakeholder enrolling (Jan 98 - Dec 98) 3. Creativity and backcasting workshops with experts and stakeholders (Nov 98-Jan 99) 4. Scenario-building (Jan 99 - Feb 99) 5. Assessment of the scenario's (Feb 99 - Sep 99) 6. Follow Up workshops with experts and stakeholders (Oct 99 - Dec 99) 7. Reporting and spinn-off (Jan 2000 - June 2000) The scenario assessments are threefold: 1. Analysis of environmental gains and impacts (contact information) 2. Assessment of economic consequences and viability (contact information) 3. Assessment of consumer acceptance (contact information) Each of the three SusHouse household functions (Shopping, Cooking and Eating; Clothing Care; Shelter) is being researched in three countries: SCE Clothing Care Shelter Italy X X UK X X Netherlands X X Hungary X Germany X X