Connect ideas, don’t protect them. Build bridges to a better future.

Posted on October 22, 2010

This morning at Sydney Coffee Mornings meeting at Single Origin, my mate Gregg was talking about seeing ideas as networks echoing a TED Talk. That this conversation was in a cafe was not a coincidence, but only exemplified what the talk was about. Watch Steve Johnson present this TED Talk here:

Steve talks about metaphor. Coffee houses providing the incubation place for an idea.

He cautions that a lot of ideas have a slow incubation period. The falacy of the ‘Eureka!’ moment. The long hunch, as he describes it. Steve asks:

How do we allow hunches to connect with other hunches?

Another metaphor I am exploring through the 10 City Bridge Run is that of a bridge. How might we design a bridge to incubate the ideas that make a difference to extreme poverty?

Soon I start running 10 sub-marathons each of 24 km in 10 cities across 10 countries inside of one month. Each distance represents the 24,000 children that die every day. The run itself is bridging cities, conversations and communities.

The real work of participation is collecting 24,000 photographs of human bridges to be used as a pictorial petition to be presented to the G20 leaders. This is an idea that is emerging and still needs some work to refine and spread. So how do we allow hunches to connect with other hunches?

Will you join us over the next few weeks before I commence running during an informal event: ’10 Cafes in 10 Days’? I thought we could start at Single Origin Roasters Cafe at 64 Reservoir St, Surry Hills on Wednesday 27 October (how is 8.30 am- 9.30 am?) and see where it goes from there. Coffee anyone?!