Applying the Medici Effect to Local Problems
By Joe J. Wallace
I was privileged this week to attend a seminar on creativity at USI, the subject of which was “The Medici Effectâ€, a term used by author and speaker Frans Johansson who invited by USI to conduct this seminar to present a deliberate way of seeking innovative solutions to problems. This seminar was in no way about the predictable progress made by making minor incremental adjustments to a proven entity; this was about the intentional juxtaposition of leading edge thinkers for the purpose of creating breakthroughs and transformations.
The name “The Medici Effect†comes from the Medici family of Florence, Italy who intentionally brought leading edge thinkers of the world to Florence to establish it as a center of thought and culture to rival that of Rome. Some of the notable people who spent time in Florence with Medici patrons were Michelangelo, Galileo, and Donatello. The family Medici brought the works of Plato from Constantinople to Florence and established the Platonic Academy along with the largest library in Europe at that time. The Medici’s literally nurtured the greatest thinkers of their age for the glory of family. The results were so transformational on a worldwide basis that the Medici’s are now often referred to as “the Godfather’s of the Renaissanceâ€.
As I have an interest in solving problems on a local scale my thoughts while hearing about all sorts of ways that cross disciplined groups have created breakthrough solutions in undreamed of ways, my mind drifted to some very local problems. In particular, I was pondering the question of first, how can the Evansville region preserve the wealth under our ground in the form of abundant deposits of coal, and secondly how can we repair our dysfunctional sewer system in a less expensive yet sustainable way. Make no mistake, if both of these solutions come from an Evansville region company, the wealth and lifestyle of this region will be expanded greatly. If these solutions come from elsewhere or do not come at all it will be more fowl air and less prosperity for this place that we call home.
Conservative societies suffer much more from an affliction that is typically called associative barriers than free thinking societies do. An associative barrier is an ingrained belief that repetitive experience is valued over thought and people can be categorized. We are all guilty to some extent of seeking the comfort that associative barriers give us. It is natural for the human brain to seek the path of least resistance. That path of least resistance is what causes us to call a plumber when the drain is clogged or a doctor when our arteries are clogged. These skills are trained, predictable and serve us well in most cases where a proven solution already exists and we only need someone who is trained in that particular skill.
What do we do when our economy is clogged? What do we do when the EPA tells us to repair our sewer system and the existing solutions require us to spend hundreds of millions of dollars that we do not have? What do we do when pending legislation has the potential to turn the coal beneath our surface unusable and essentially worthless? I would respectfully suggest that calling an economist, a civil engineering firm, or an organic chemist is not the right answer.
The solutions to these types of problems require transformational yet practical solutions. This means thought followed by more thought and then followed by action. The “thinkers†that will eventually come up with these breakthroughs are likely to come from out of the blue without the debilitating associative barriers that traditionalists typically have. Mr. Johansson spoke of an architect whose team studied how termites built a mound that stayed constantly at 87 degrees in a hostile climate to get the inspiration to design a building in the same way. The result is a building in Africa that is 90% more efficient that previous buildings. That is the transformational power of tossing associative barriers to the curb and expanding the mind through opening up to the creative power of divergent thought.
People with low associative barriers, connect ideas or concepts that have very little basis in past experience. Such ideas are often met with resistance and statements such as, “If this is such a good idea, someone else would have thought of it.” But that is precisely what someone else would never have done, because the connection between the two concepts is not obvious and was not taught in their skills based training.
So, Evansville has two big problems both of which are in dire need of “outside of the box†solutions. Over 800 cities in America have the problems associated with Combined Sewer Systems. These 800 cities have all or will all be mandated by the EPA under the threat of fines to implement solutions to these problems. This is A HALF A TRILLION DOLLAR PROBLEM, with a guaranteed customer base. Is there a research group or a creative center in Evansville working on a solution to this problem?
The current estimate of the number of tons of coal in the United States by the National Academy of Sciences is 1,700 billion tons. In the future there WILL BE some legislation that will greatly devalue if not obsolete the value of this coal. Roughly 100 billion of those tons of coal are in the Evansville region. According to the US Energy Information Administration, Illinois basin coal is currently selling for about $48 per ton. That would make the coal reserves right here at today’s prices have a value of $4,800,000,000,000 (4.8 Trillion).
So, what happens to the $4.8 Trillion of this natural wealth if a breakthrough alternative energy technology makes it worthless? I would submit that this natural wealth will have the same value as confederate money does today when a transformational energy breakthrough happens. The way to preserve this wealth for our region is to INVENT OR INNOVATE our way to a solution that does something with our coal that renders it useful and clean forever. Our coal reserves are a major piece of this regions source of both jobs and wealth. Coal is our Fort Knox. If we do not do something about it our gold will be turning to dust.
In a panel discussion with the heads of Vectren, the Coalition for Economic Development, and two other leaders of the region the following question was asked. “What is the best example of collaborative innovation that is taking place in the Evansville region?†That question was met with a period of absolute silence. That silence is disturbing. We have plenty of problems, yet a hand-picked group who should be in the middle of seeking solutions went completely mute in the face of where innovative solutions of any kind were being worked on locally.
During prosperous times, it is easier to write checks than it is to use our minds to break barriers and seek solutions. Cash is not and has never been a substitute for innovative thought.
In Florence, the Medici family stepped up and invested their wealth in bringing world class creative thinkers of all disciplines to their city and launched the Renaissance. Evansville, Indiana can and should have such a think tank of innovation. If we can afford to spend $200 Million monuments to entertainment and to seriously consider spending $18 Million for little league baseball fields we can certainly afford to bring leading edge thinkers here to live. It is also possible that many good thinkers are already here and have an awareness of the problems that we are in need of solutions for. Creating an environment where creative people are attracted to come to this place to solve just these two problems has the potential to generate $3 Trillion of wealth. Why is this not at happening and why is it not at the top of someone’s to do list?
What Evansville needs is not only the ability to think outside of the box but the courage to cast the fear of failure aside and try living outside the box. You see, “it is of little value to Think Outside the Box, If you do not have the Courage to Live Outside the Box?â€
In a capitalistic society the bottom line of course is the dollar bill. Collaborative ventures raise the questions of ownership of their output, division of profits as well as division of costs, who sets the direction of the effort.
It took great minds to come up with nuclear powered electrical generators, but is it fair to say that people who prefer not to run the risk of a catastrophic nuclear accident, and therefor use coal generated electricity, are merely victims of “associative barriers”?
Water is a finite resource. It can neither be created nor destroyed. It can be made unfit for human use, and it can also be made fit for human use.
I agree that it would be a great thing to have the best minds on the planet working on clean energy and clean water, but I am not at all convinced that is not currently the case.
Sometimes it is not economically feasible to use the BEST method available. In fact, sometimes it would be nice if they would just fill that damned pothole I hit on every trip to town with some rock.
By the middle of the fifteenth century, Florence was a thriving city-state with a population of 60,000. Its ruling body consisted mainly of twelve rich merchant guilds that congregated at the Palazzo Vecchio to vote and discuss city issues.
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It sometimes seems like the more things change, the more they remain the same.
Joe,
At one point we probably were that conservative society you talk about…
However to argue we have not “progressed” past that is, to me, to ignore part of the problem.
We have a gambling boat that provides residents promises of annual good deeds for us all and promises to allow politicians a little honey pot by which to make themselves a legacy. Yet, our food banks and our needs for the poor seem to be ever growing.
The fact that we can afford a Victory, Centre, Johnny dome, The Park, New pools, Front-door pride homes, Condo programs, bike trails, GAGE entertainment, etc… (yet we citizens are never getting all the great promised economic benefits) should prove to you that we are not some backwater conservative society that hasn’t witnessed medici. Actually, one could argue that the voting public here is coming down from a Medici fever. (A Medici maniacs anonymous of sorts.)
I read something you wrote about Evansville not having a major capital group some while back… But we don’t even have a privately owned golf course in the city limits, do we?
I would go further into the chicken vs. the egg argument, but I’ll leave you to check your premise.
But in general, isn’t applying Medici to sewers and coal… like applying Green’s theorem to making a pbj?
Yes I did write that Evansville is the only city in America with more than 100,000 people that does not have an active Angel or Venture Investment group. It was true when I wrote it and it is unfortunately still true. We sell our good thinkers and our ambitious people down the road by not having those opportunities available to them. A gambling boat and other cheap thrill forms of entertaining the huddled masses while separating them from their paychecks is nothing more than a diversion. Boat money builds a beautiful waterfront designed for waterfront entertainment that can’t draw a crowd. That boat has not enticed even one enlightened thinker to Evansville and it never will. Some people on the GAGE board used that chicken and egg argument to me to justify having no investment dollars for entrepreneurs. That is so wrong that it is laughed at when I tell the story to my friends in Silicon Valley. Capital is like a magnet to entrepreneurs with good ideas. They will leave Evansville for funding elsewhere. The egg (investment dollars) has to come first. With an investment fund you can attract or inspire an entrepreneur. Without one they go elsewhere.
Our citizens are only promised things that are visible and come from free money. They buy it an that is a shame. The Medici Effect comes from the mind. The sewer problems of Evansville are universally applicable and are in dire need of an innovative solution. The coal beneath us will be rendered without value if a solution making it clean is not found. Boat money will never have an idea. Boat money will not solve these problems. Boat money however might just fund the attraction of the brain power needed to solve these problems if it were spent on something other than bricks and mortar. I have never met a brick that created a job or generated an idea. What we need to do is stop putting our faith in bricks and voting for people that only know how to spend public money on bricks and mortar. Thank you for your continued well thought out posts.
I didn’t mean a comparison in traditional development terms, I was loosely going the chicken (government investment dollars crowding out private entrepreneurs/Boat money, placating the voting population to wait for the next big fill in the blank) and egg (medici thinking/More important voting “priorities” than… essentials.) from a little different angle. By way of stating that if we can not even tolerate/support an independent golf course as an example, we should not expect to skip to higher levels of leadership…
You have a point, and a really interesting column, I just think that, “Boat money however might just fund the attraction of the brain power needed to solve these problems […]” causes a societal chain reaction that is clearly visible, predictable and cannot be out smarted by cleverness.
I challenge the basic premise of this article.
We have no collaborative or progressive thinking in this community because virtually everybody in the power elite around here is very satisfied with the way things are and do not want to change a thing. Many of them have made bloody fortunes off of the backs of the depressed wages of the average people who work for local employers and they have no interest in making the pie any bigger for area residents.
When was the last time that anybody local (or a group of people) around here went out on a limb and actually made a risky investment to create basic industrial jobs unless it was going to be a sure thing?
When you look at the local community, about half of the local high-value-added jobs are tied up in the education and health care sectors of our local economy. Think about it. USI, U of E, E-VSC, the parochial schools, Deaconess and Saint Mary’s Hospital employ over half of all the professional people within this community. Throw in financial institutions and you are probably pushing 65 per cent.
The myth being sold by policy makers all across the country is that we are attempting to reform our educational institutions to prepare students for the “jobs of tomorrow.” The trouble is, they are not preparing them for professions and occupations that will exist in this community, making their parent’s investments in their educations virtually export commodities.
This is largely a function of the long-entrenched orthodoxy (I don’t even consider it conservative anymore — I prefer to use the term asshole mentality — because that more accurately reflects the collective mindset of these people) which has brought us a restored Victory Theater, a new library, the Centre, Casino Aztar (recently emerged from bankrupcy) a restored riverfront walkway, portions of the Pigeon Creek Greenway, to a Central Business District which, even with the lofts and condos renovations, is struggling on life support. Only rich people can afford to live down there and their is not enough of them to support non-basic development along the walkway (ever hear of a grocery store, another pharmacy or a hardware store downtown? Not for over 40 years).
We don’t have Medici families among us because of the lingering leadership crisis which has plagued this community for 50 years. Anybody with real ideas or a genuine vision of the future of this community cannot get elected to high public office. And the people who do get elected to public office pay no attention to local residents who may have ideas and dreams of their own. They would rather talk to out-of-town consultants who suffer from a similar lack of visio. Look at the types of trial balloons they have sent aloft recently? Do baseball fields really impress anyone?
The basic premise of the article is to hopefully get people to see many of the things that you have written. Thank you for the great comment and we hope to see more and more comments from you.
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