Barry Patterson

There’s a wide range of lenses that can be applied to help with sustainability innovation. Some of those I work with include: Integral, Complexity Theory/Thinking, Conscious Capitalism, Emergenetics, and any lens that helps us connect more deeply to Nature.

The AQAL Integral model is essentially the ‘master lens’ through which all of the others can be placed. My experience with Integral Sustainability comes from applying it with clients, and through the work of Barrett Brown (the model below is from his work). A full post on utilizing the AQAL Integral framework for Sustainability Innovation is in the works. For today, here’s a visual of the AQAL model and an intro to Complexity Thinking.

Barrett recently studied sustainability leaders who hold what he calls a “post conventional consciousness.” One thing he uncovered in his research is that some of these leaders use Complexity Theory / Thinking to aid in their decision making and efforts to catalyze change.

For example, rather than charting a linear path to ‘where you think you want to go’ and plowing your way forward, recognize that your greatest impact can often come from strengthening the connections among the members of the organization or system you are working with. This way you are in effect linking them with other emerging ideas and structures that span the entire system, and thus enhancing the possibility of realization.

Next, instead of trying to methodically direct change as you move forward, pay attention to the small changes and emerging patterns that you see and feed those back into the system. It seems to be a form of Decide – Act – Listen – Respond…Repeat. This could mean acting, then paying attention to the feedback and asking, ‘Am I projecting and forcing?’ or, ‘Am I acting-listening-responding?’ This also reminds me, for some tangential reason, of Buckminster Fuller’s concept of Precession.

I am Core Integral Level One certified, and am working on Level Two. If you are interested in diving deep into Integral learning, Core Integral’s Essential Integral is self-paced and interactive, and you can hire expert instructors like Barrett anytime you want to discuss theory and concepts, or delve more deeply into potential applications.

Updating...

I’ve worked on a Mac since 1993, and I find myself thinking about the prolific life of Steve Jobs often these days. Here’s a favorite quote on creativity and connecting things…

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people. Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people….haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.”

- Steve Jobs, Wired, February 1995