The practice of creativity is an invitation on the journey whatever it might be to find rest. Rest however must be understood as more than a state of tranquility, peace, and calm but rather an active disposition toward bringing about and sustaining such ideals in a just and equitable way.

Nice thought. But what does this really mean on the ground? Here are some considerations,*

1. Clarifying our objectives in terms of knowing our context, the people whom we serve, understanding their issues and aligning our creative practice to solve problems as real (impact measuring) creative responses to such needs. 

2. Effectively communicating our prospective approaches for impact oriented design solutions to all stakeholders in the social ecosystem. 

3. Helping those whom we serve to look within and about and come up with solutions in conversation with their communities, assess and evaluate the potential contributions of community assets, and build bridges for mutual exchange of resources in ways that are profitable for each other and the entire ecosystem.

4. Identifying channels and people who naturally identify with our cause and are already championing our cause in their own networks. How can we help such people to amplify efforts collectively for the greater good?

5. Appropriate insights from our diverse community of stakeholders for the design and development of products and services, test prototypes, and further common good.

* See “five objectives that companies can pursue in the groundswell” in Groundswell: winning in a world transformed by social technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, HBR Press, 2011, pp. 68-9 for further information on part of the source of inspiration for the above suggestions.

Photo by Enrique Vidal Flores on Unsplash. Thank you!