Tangible and intangible innovation: Learning from Australia’s Aboriginal History

Learn to think and see like an anthropologist

I spoke at a conference in Christchurch on innovation. Professor Karl-Erik Sveiby spoke on knowledge management. Knowledge management is crucial for service innovation. I later saw his book, Treading Lightly – the Hidden Wisdom of the World’s Oldest People. He partnered with Nhunggabarra elder, Tex Skuthorpe. The book filters Aboriginal stories through the lens of knowledge management. He makes a powerful distinction between tangible and intangible innovation. It is the difference between how archeologists study artifacts and how anthropologists study people and systems.

Service innovation requires we think like anthropologists. It’s the essence of empathy, human-centered design, and user experience. Anthropologists look at the world and see, feel, or experience what others see (and often what others miss) by…

• Creating an emotional connection that fuels the asking of questions of self and of others.
• Taking the time to see what we do not see at first. We have the gift of observation, but we must invest time to see what needs to be seen.
• Living with the problem to explore it. What is obvious is not always obvious at first.

It is useful to make a distinction between two aspects of all organizations. This is the distinction between what is achieved and how it was achieved.

1. Studying what is achieved: what problems do we solve or want to create? You can call these the ‘A’ Challenges. They are tangible innovations.
2. Studying how they achieved it: how can we work together effectively to solve or create the ‘A’ Challenges? Call these the ‘B’ Challenges. This is about collaboration and how efficiently people work together to create their achievements. The research tells us that the ‘B’ Challenges are far harder than the ‘A’ Challenges.

The Egyptians created pyramids (‘A’ Challenge) that we see as major achievements. The ‘B’ Challenge dictated the use of slaves under the guidance of many planners. Consider the Australian Aboriginals who successfully survived as a society for about 60,000 years. They lived through fires and famines without dying out as so many societies did. Aborigines mastered the ‘B’ Challenge of working, living, and surviving.

The problem is that our modern eyes failed to see the rule of law or a system of education. It is easier to see a pyramid than the presence of spirituality. This is the job of the anthropologist. The distinction of ‘A’ and ‘B’ Challenges is useful for an anthropologist.

Sveiby explores the difference between tangible and intangible innovation. The tangible are technologies and products that we touch and see. The intangibles are the systems, approaches, and strategies we experience.

The research used by Sveiby was to combine Nhunggabarra stories with as many different sources as possible: written sources, site visits, and interviews. Other sources were journals by the first explorers, archaeologists’ accounts, and some reports by anthropologists. Several visits to sacred sites added observations, pictures, and field notes to the data that was studied. He concludes with a long list of intangible innovations:

1. Rule of law
2. Welfare system
3. Zero percent unemployment rate
4. Lifelong learning
5. Individual spirituality
6. Learner driven education
7. Context-specific leadership
8. Gender equality
9. Medicinal effects of herbs
10. Barter trade – national trade routes
11. Consensus decision making
12. Model for a sustainable world

?Economic Principle: Intangible Economy

In 1993, Noel G. Butlin was the first economist to recognize that Aboriginal production was much more than food and tools – above all they produced services such as information, education, diplomacy, maintaining order, entertainment, feuds, art, and ceremonies for death and marriage. Butlin’s conclusion was that the Aboriginal pre-contact economy functioned rationally to cater for the high demand of services (intangibles) rather than material goods (tangibles). A simple calculation shows the possible extent of intangible production in an Aboriginal economy: between eight and 13 hours per 16 waking hours (50–80%) or roughly the same level as modern Western economies.

Insights are gold for anthropologists

A man goes ice fishing and notices that fresh fish freeze instantly. He then ponders the idea of cooking food and freezing it quickly. His name was Charles Birdseye. He invented the concept of frozen ‘TV’ dinners and made them popular. Thinking like an anthropologist opens the door to discovering new insights.

1. Insight is a necessary stepping stone in the direction of new ideas.
2. Insights come from harnessing your intuition and taking the time to observe and understand.
3. Insights attract your attention. They surprise you. They nudge you to pursue a topic further.
4. Insights are not fully formed ideas, but great ideas always start with insights.

These are the raw materials for your ideas. Listen to your intuition and capture your insights. Insights lead us toward ideas that can solve our problems, or create new opportunities. What have you become aware of? What intrigues you? What makes you question something? What do you notice? What has come to your attention?

Harness your skills as an anthropologist.

Ed Bernacki created the Idea Factory to work with teams and organizations to build innovation skills and capacity. He has written on innovation themes since the mid-1990s.?Connect to share your comments or observations. www.EdBernacki.ca ???[email protected]

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