Think BIG for impact - or think small?

This week, KWM was recognised for Innovation & Transformation at the NAB Supplier Awards. What was really interesting was that it wasn't for some initiative to reduce legal spend (though of course that is a priority for most businesses these days), it was for the groundbreaking work that our team, led by John Eagleton, has done in social impact bonds for NAB as well as various not-for-profits and governments around Australia and internationally.

I do believe we are seeing a movement in the making. And the most wonderful thing is that in contrast to most movements it is characterised by involvement from multiple levels of society - government, start-ups, professional associations, NFPs/NGOs, big business, SMEs, educational (including from primary through to tertiary) and research institutions, etc.

What has changed? (Because I do think something has changed.)

In the mid-2000s I worked for a brief time at a national not-for-profit at head office in the state office liaison team. The talk around the corridors was all about impact, specifically reducing administrative costs, but not always so. There was general internally-expressed frustration at the constant stream of requests from volunteers and staff at the grassroots of the organisation. These people on the ground, fundraising as they`d always done, were deeply loyal to the organisation but their colleagues at head office felt they were disconnected from the organisation`s primary mission, which at that time was focused on advocacy, specifically lobbying government to increase funding. What was needed was money, and the money was going to come from the government, not mum'n'pop donors in shopping malls.

Back then, the message was 'forget the little stuff, and do one big thing'. That's how you get impact.

Wind forward over a decade and here's what I'm seeing. Dozens of colleagues I started my career with are now either working in social innovation or have serious side-pursuits in that area, usually using their business skills to support programs of all different shapes and sizes that are run by anyone and everyone (there must be something in the water down in my home town of Melbourne!).

I am having an increasing number of conversations with my colleagues at KWM on trust in institutions and social capital - particularly as it relates to banks, government and increasing availability and use of data and algorithms. There is a deep desire in our ranks to work within the firm towards doing good - as a part of that firm, not from a `quit your job and become an activist` mentality.

And in some of the most exciting news this year, Genevieve Bell has returned to Australia after running away at 18 and working in Silicon Valley for 30 odd years most recently for Intel as their Chief Strategist. She has just delivered the Boyer lectures - ever a litmus test for our times - and has been appointed as Brian Schmidt`s first Entrepreneurial Fellow at the Australian National University, creating a new discipline bringing humanity to technology at the helm of the 3A Institute (Autonomy, Agency and Assurance).

I suspect they are on to something with those 3As. Perhaps the positive changes I am seeing are down to an increase in agency through online communication and the greater ability for voices to be heard. Perhaps an increase in autonomy when that same mode of communication teaches people to think critically about what is presented to them. And a bit of healthy mistrust combined with access to information drives assurance, and improvements in accountability and transparency in government and business.

Of course there`s the negative flipside of all this - fake news, echo chambers, online charlatans, biased algorithms. Which highlights the need for initiatives like 3AI to ensure we are thinking about how we collectively support the positive processes. We hear a lot about this, and about the Trumpites and Brexiteers who supposedly hate the way society is going.

But I believe we are seeing much more real activity seeking to create a supportive and inclusive society than to fracture and splinter it.

As I see it, this activity - from small businesses (like the `Painting with Parkinson`s` gift cards I can buy at the handmade markets in Canberra) to big collaborative initiatives (like the social programs being collaboratively funded in new ways which were recognised by NAB this week) - is creating a cultural conversation that is self-sustaining. By which I mean a desire to act that is held personally by a critical mass of people. Something like a shift in the Zeitgeist.

Quite likely it's born of thinking BIG and thinking small.

Now that's how you get impact.