What next?

Since my last post on the journey to attaining my masters, many have asked me the “What next?” question. I recognise that we live in a world where chasing money, fame, competing at climbing the corporate ladder or simply surviving are key definers while purposefully serving others without profit expectations is often relegated to the side until a time there’s a “sense of stability or arrival”. This works for some but for me, service comes first.

The need to give and share myself in a meaningful way has always been my drive and was one of the reasons I decided to go back to school. I needed to learn how to think, differently to serve better. I am talking about being a social intrapreneur. To this effect, I find the idea of creative collaboration as a way to break down work or departmental silos fascinating. Something powerful happens when in house teams bring their expertise and gifting to the table to co create. Making this happen is one of my “what nexts” as a change maker.

While in school, I did three courses that have changed my life. They are Neuro marketing, Social Innovation and Design Thinking. As a media and communications specialist, neuro marketing to me means emotively connecting with my diverse audiences to create unique and memorable experiences for them be it through press releases, documentaries, feature articles, speeches, blogs, websites and photo stories.

Design thinking resonates with me so deeply perhaps because I finally learnt that contrary to popular belief, I am not “weird or strange” (laugh) but that I am an alternate thinker or as one of my good professors once labelled me an “idea machine” – still not sure if it was a compliment. I love that through design thinking, I can empathise with different audiences, define challenges and ideate together - be it on product or service development, youth or community empowerment, male involvement in ending violence against women, women’s rights, using technology and the internet for a purpose, improving user experiences, developing prototypes and testing them over and over. This process is even more significant to me as a development communicator because I have sat in one too many meeting were experts grapple with the challenge of changing mindsets and negative attitudes. I reckon design-thinking is a useful tool here. It is also valuable in harnessing the energy, dreams, ideas and solutions in young people and connecting these ideas to business and governance policies. I know because I have been studying with exciting and impressive bunch. So, an “idea lab” for millennials is my other “What next”.

Quite ambitious “What nexts” but also very doable and to actualise them, impactful story telling will be key. And this is were I will need your help in form of co-creating. If you have an inspiring story, reach out or if you know of someone making change happen point them out to me so that we can document their journey through documentaries, photo stories or articles.

So, for me this masters isn’t simply something to declare on a CV or in a boardroom, it is a reminder of my commitment to be servant leader, to always be on the side of creating positive and lasting change. #LetsThrive #WhatNext

Written by Misozi Precious Happy Tembo