Bill Drayton: Measures of Impact and Trigger Effects

We think there are three levels of impact and it's really important to differentiate them. Direct service, you do need individuals to go out and dig wells and teach an individual classroom. And the measures for that are what you would expect. Pattern change is what entrepreneurs do. You need a completely different set of measures. So we don't talk about how many people do the Ashoka Fellows serve directly. We measure them instead as follows. So over half have changed national policy within five years of launch. Three quarters have changed the pattern in their field at the national level within five years of launch. Over 90% have had independent institutions copy their idea in those five years. Or all those measures have to do with pattern change. Now, framework change is different again. It's the most highly leveraged. And we are living at a moment where a large part of the game is framework change. People have got to see the new game and then see what the implications are for them in all aspects of their lives. And then you have to translate it for geographic areas and subject matter areas like wellness or law. So here we are. We want to change the paradigm for young children and also for teenagers. But let me just take young children. So how do we do this? Well, you can't do it by Direct Service. US is one of the 10 places we think you got to tip if you're going to tip the world. So there are 80,000 elementary schools. We are not going to deal with 80,000 elementary schools. That is completely wrong thinking. And pattern change doesn't really do it. How many schools have picked up Mary's ideas? Or it's coming into the South Bronx and Seattle, et cetera. But it's only when you have the framework change and parents are asking and schools are wanting this that we've really changed the picture. So how do we bring about that framework change? So we have got hundreds of entrepreneurs working together. And first of all, you've got to figure out what the new paradigm is. Then the next step is you've got to figure out what we call the jujitsu. So we, the entrepreneurs, either individually or collectively, are always a really small force. So how do we change the whole system the way people think? So the jiu jitsu, what you have to do is figure out what are the smallest number of forces that you need to set in motion with one another to create a chemical reaction that becomes a self multiplying force and then draws in others. So we're really small. We can't deal with a lot, but if we choose the minimum number. So here's what we think we need to do for the US and this is underway and underway right here in this part of the country. So we started this a year and a half ago. We think 60 schools out of 80,000, 30 writers and publishers and a team of Ashoka fellows who are co leading the effort. So all we have to deal with is 91 teams to have the triggering effect take place. We can do that. Right, so what, 60 schools? Well, first of all, there are five in the Bay Area. You will not be surprised to discover you're ahead of the curve. That's what living in an epicenter means. So we're looking for schools and please help us. We've got 30 of the 60 now. We're inviting others to come in for the second 30 who represent all the diversity of types of kids, types of school, types of community, who have a track record of causing change. So once they're on fire and they really want to do this, they're good at it. You don't choose a basketball team of short people who don't know how to play basketball. And then third, there's got to be a team of people in each of those schools who totally understands everyone, a change maker. This is where the world is going. This is a fact. They understand that. And therefore they know that every child must master cognitive empathy, must not. This is a nice thing and it's sort of Buddhist and all that. This is completely critical and it's not one of 16 things. This is something that we have to do. And they know that if they figure out how to do that, they're doing something really important for their kids, their school, their community, the country and beyond. They're on a big playing field. So this is us recruiting our team of teams. So 60 schools, 30 writers and publishers and the team of fellows. So take Univision. They serve the Hispanic community. They don't have a story until we have Hispanic schools that are on fire. You put those two together, both of them can really have a big impact. If we get five or six major writers and publishers going on this and the school's pushing and we've got 12 Ashoka fellows who are actively leading, two of them from this area, parenthetically, one of them at Stanford, and you begin to see what's going to happen. Parents begin to catch on and they ask schools, well, how good is your school, dear Principal, on empathy? And some principals say we're very good. Come here. And tipping process is underway. Now, we're a year and a half into this and to frankly, my great surprise, we have three graduate schools of education who see this as on their critical path, they really want to do this because when suddenly 10,000 or 30,000 schools want to do it, they're going to be well positioned to serve, and that's not going to hurt them. That wouldn't be happening if we were not close to the tipping point. There's another five ed schools who want in. So this begins to affect. You get a very positive dynamic that is the tipping process. So this is very short, but collaborative entrepreneurship, once you understand how to cause pattern change, triggering, sorry, framework change, triggering pattern and direct service change.