Core Report: Proposal for Acceleration of my Capstone Cycle

This OP will combine information from my Pre-Capstone OP2 and OP3, updated to include an expanded exploration of the theoretical and philosophical basis of Regenerative Economics and an examination of how we might act to shift society in that direction.  My Pre-Capstone OP2, entitled Business as a Driver of Change, looked at the emergence of “conscious” or “regenerative” business as the practical expression of the philosophies of Regenerative Economics.  The project basis for this OP was my experiments applying tools and principles of regenerative business as interventions in several small business ventures.  My Pre-Capstone OP3 built on these business experiences by examining the marketplace for Ecosocial Design with a view to identifying how I might be able to make a living in this field.  In it I lay the foundations for the development of a business plan.

My rationale for combining these topics in a Capstone OP is the evolution of my thinking in the two years since I wrote them.  I’ve identified a high degree of interconnection between these topics and desire the opportunity to articulate it: Regenerative Economics is the theoretical basis for the practice of Regenerative Business, and creating a livelihood in the facilitation of the emergence of these is an optimal role for an Ecosocial Designer.   I consider the opportunity to examine and articulate this hypothesis a valid justification for this proposal. This OP will also include the outline for a business plan to grow my professional practice.

This OP will follow the Gaia U standard practice of reviewing my work throughout my Action Learning Cycle and the specific contents and format will emerge over the course of this cycle.  I will also present the final title of my thematic focus in this OP.

This early in the process, I am challenged to identify specific methods for evaluating and tracking outcomes for my chosen thematic and accompanying outputs.  Because the hypotheses that I am formulating for my thematic topics are rather grand in scope, I do not anticipate proving or disproving them on a system-wide level in the allotted time; they will remain hypotheses.  However, I suspect there is ample information available to infer outcomes if I can determine the best evaluation methods.  Many of the projects I have already done provide relevant data on a micro level and returning to them for further analysis will likely produce additional information.  Exploring the greater field for relevant studies and projects by others will provide additional data, ideally corroborated by experts in their fields.   Recognizing nature's pattern of fractal scaling, I can also surmise that outcomes that I observe at smaller scales will replicate at larger scales.  I write this with the conscious that not everything can or should be scaled and just because something works at an individual or community level doesn't mean it will work at a country or global level. What patterns I am observing and how I am measuring outcomes will emerge in greater detail as I immerse myself in the work.

With regard to tracking, I will develop plans on a topic-by-topic and on OP-by-OP basis.  I will begin by performing thorough and systems mapping of each topic.  Tools such as Cluster maps, Zone and Sector analysis, Asset maps, Network Analysis, Process maps, Iceberg, and other mapping methods, as appropriate to each case, will help me develop a deeper understanding of each topic.  Developing Scale of Permanence/Level of Intervention analyses from these maps will steer me towards likely places for intervention.  From here, what to track and how to track it will become more clear.  

My intention is that OPs 2, 3, and 4 will complement each other as a complete work on my thematic.  Parts of OP5 will serve as a guide to navigating the set.  In parallel with these I will be creating a professional website that will be home to re-versioned extracts from my OPs and additional writings.  These I will cross-post via Medium.  Thus, this set of OPs will serve to create the foundation for a series of published writings.

As part of my Capstone I am also launching a series of popular education trainings and workshops.  The first of these, What Would Nature Do?, is nearly complete and will run starting May 4th, 2019 for three weeks.  Others will follow.  While the reach of these courses is initially small – unlikely to accommodate more than a dozen or so people at a time – it is my hope that between my writing, my trainings, and my consulting work I can develop a message that will appeal to larger audiences. I enjoy public speaking and receive good feedback on it, so developing a market for that would be good both for disseminating valuable thinking and for my own career.  Since most of these projects are collaborative it is also important that I work with my collaborators to identify and support their dissemination efforts.  If my hypotheses prove viable, I also hope that disseminating knowledge and skills through interventions with progressively larger clients will be a useful way to exert leverage on systems that need shifting.