Month: May 2013

Too Big to Fail Mapped

In a gesture of positive sibling reinforcement, my brother reminded me last night that i DO get out in the world now and then even though my deck, container plants, and an engrossing book by Ilan Mochari have recently taken their grip.

Created this map real-time  in 2011, during a session with the World Economic Forum that sought to help groups identify intervention points in global systems like health, climate, food security, pandemics, etc. The graphic supported a presentation on systems, using the US housing (and consequent) crisis as an example.

As a result of this work, i sold my house and downsized by .5  into a condo, getting my own “American dream” accurate to the life i was living and reducing my stuff, a mortgage and expenses almost in half. It was hugely impactful to understand the overall dynamic in more depth – which i might never have done if not needing to densely prepare for the session in order to get the visual out in about 20 minutes. I barely understood the crisis then, a bit better now – and STILL find enormous power in visualizing systemic dynamics, with the obvious actions and the paired behavioral reinforcing and balancing loops.

The dry-erase surface from Moving Walls. The amazing team that supported this unpacking from The Value Web.