Social Innovation Lab: Vulnerability as a Resource for Social Innovation
Dec. 4, 2012, http://www.incommons.org/lab
Table conversation questions
Round #1: What is a time you led from vulnerability (uncertainty, risk, transparency,
valuing difference, etc?) Round #2: What patterns or themes are emerging in the stories
and how might this inform our ability to advance social innovation?
Harvest question following table conversations: What's an idea or insight emerging from
your conversation about using vulnerability as a resource for social innovation?
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1 Staying! Sticking with it even when it's hard
2 sense of belonging & being empowered to create what we think is important/ to break
away from the status quo
3 connection between vulnerability & failure; the options aren't just failure or success but
also learning; maybe failure = learning
4 part of taking risk/ vulnerability isn't just short-term fixes we know we can be successful
at; long -term requires more vulnerability
5 importance of a container (safe space); relationships are strengthened in a series of
interactions; when we openly can share our vulnerability we get to the heart of the matter
quickly
6 listening without judgment
7 vulnerability, courage & innovation = intimate connection. Being the mole in the great
whack-a-mole of life. Life wants us to be the vehicle for that creative expression to benefit
greater whole
7.1 "the mole in the hole"
8 building a bridge by challenging our inner assumptions & stories about ourselves; to
further & continue to build this bridge together
9 Wisdom doesn't really begin until you know that you don't know anything -- Socrates
10 It's easy to step into vulnerability when one is passionate about a specific innovation
11 vulnerability as personal power; embracing the certainty of the unknown; sitting with
discomfort has to happen to generate change
12 this feels like a lot of talking - what our communities need is constructive action - the
luxury of risking vulnerability; what could we be DOING instead of talking table?
13 the I am collective wisdom
13.1 feeling as though we're pulling from ancestors/ daily, constituencies, identities
13.2 what is the collective wisdom that's being kept smaller ?
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13.3 being willing to let go and not care taking or holding onto the results of how that
truth (collective wisdom) is communciated
14 head talk vs heart talk
14.1 vulnerability allows us to build a human connection. Building the emotional human
connection for social innovation
15 when the walls are gone we no longer have defenses between us
16 tool to break down these walls
16.1 "one thing I'm afraid to tell you about myself is…"
16.2 level the playing field by inviting everyone to say something they've been
withholding
17 We want to DO something
17.1 take this activity back to our organization to create some vulnerability there to pull
things forward
18 we need to tune in not just our minds, wisdom, experiences ours and others but also our
bodies - letting our bodies have the space to hold that collective wisdom. moving into mind
& body while navigating innovation
19 the space between you and this person is finite; but between your hearts is further;
scary conversations = getting to the core values of the conversation = authentic
conversations & relationships
20 love create passion to play in the unknown
21 Courage is necessary in acting with vulnerability as a resource; having that courage
doesn't mean the fears & shame & hurt goes away; courage is the existence of fear & acting
with that faith & articulation of that creative force
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