The Slow Lane

Introduction

#1 Preamble: Enlightenment on The Cally

I’ve spent the last 20 years travelling the world telling people how to fix problems faster. But the reality I encountered taught me something else entirely. The quickest way to really change the world is to slow down and listen. A day at a notorious London prison truly opened my eyes.

Introduction

#2 Listening: The Fear in Our Ears

A beautiful meal among close friends turns sour when our children talk Fridays for Future. It reveals a lot about our inability to listen at times of crisis - at home, at work, in society.

Introduction

#3 The Bitterest Medicine of the Financial Crisis: Our Rush to Action.

Whenever people in power, whether in politics or business, rush to answers, they only deepen divides. During the financial crisis, governments rushed to action, listening to experts instead of their citizens. Millions suffered this mistake, sparking protest. But there is another way.

Introduction

#4 The Slow Lane: The Audacity of Empowerment.

The Slow Lane is an alternative to the prevailing culture of success that is doomed to fail our real needs. Free from the tyranny of speed and dominance, the Slow Lane pursues far more audacious ideas. Practicing the five principles of successful slow-laners can get us to the right place, faster.

Chapter 1 - Social Imagination

#5 How Albina Shook Up a Country by Listening to its Waste.

As a student, Albina Ruiz set out to fix a waste collection problem in one of Lima's poorest neighborhoods. It led to an audacious vision with a movement. 34 years later, it has empowered thousands of stigmatized recyclers in Peru to lead the country toward sustainability.

Chapter 1 - Social Imagination

#6 The Slow Race Against Time.

Growing up alongside the German environmental movement taught me a few truly Slow Lane insights about what it takes to open our minds, how everything is connected, and the recurring dividend of inclusiveness.

Chapter 1 - Social Imagination

#7 Social Imagination is the Love We Give.

Social imagination is not a dream or ideology, but a practice that starts by reframing the world around us in radically new ways. It brings immense joy as we participate in empowerment and experimentation, but is also a dance with the pain of slowness in the face of urgent problems.

Chapter 2 - Listening

#8 The Day I Met Yuraima, Taught Me All There is to Know

Architects, in the service of a slum community in Caracas, shook up my idea of what greatness looks like. Thanks to their service, thousands of people suffer less and even create beauty -- even as all systems around them collapse.

Chapter 2 - Listening

#9 What's Your Favorite Color? Blue or Blue?

Listening proves an elusive practice. At home, just as in society, questions never are what they seem. Questioning my own questions, I found the fears that undermine my best intentions toward others. It turns out that it takes unconditional trust to listen.

Chapter 2 - Listening

#10 The Slow Lane Government

The Slow Lane is for governments, too. When crisis hit Sefton Council, it became a listening government. City leaders took an unusual turn: instead of imposing cuts from above, they involved citizens at every step of the way.

Chapter 2 - Listening

#11 Making Trust the New Black

Listening in the Slow Lane is a way of sharing power with the people who suffer the problems our quick-fixes create. And instead of having our hands forced by painful crisis, we can acknowledge our shortcomings, and start listening.

Chapter 3 - Zombies

#12 Meet the Zombies

Bumps in the road to change? Setbacks can be traumatic experiences. But we should withstand the temptation of simply blaming government officials. Instead, blame the zombie systems that undermine even the best public leaders.

Chapter 3 - Zombies

#13 Fifty Years Late for Everything

After 50 years, blind people in Chicago are still waiting for safe street crossings. It is part of a pattern, of how good ideas are rejected for the benefit of nobody. A look at how government spends money, offers clues to what's broken. And how the Slow Lane can fix things.

Chapter 3 - Zombies

#14 Flipping a Zombie? Delightful Bureaucracy

In 2009, we set out to turn public procurement into a force for good. To make this dream come true, we created hundreds of projects to prototype a delightful future to shift mindsets. Did we flip the zombie? A bit.

Chapter 3 - Zombies

#15 Take the Pain Away

Setbacks can be extraordinarily traumatic in the Slow Lane. All of us can help ease the pain, build bridges, and fix the broken systems that cause the most harm.

Chapter 4 - Healing Democracy

#16 In·​valu·​able: Precious Beyond Measure

A tax on junk food in Navajo Nation is a reminder of how the Slow Lane produces sophisticated proposals for change. And shows how we can heal our democracies.

Chapter 4 - Healing Democracy

#17 Division. Withstanding the Evil Temptation.

Throughout history, public leaders have sowed divisions to win power. Ireland, took the Slow Lane instead to solve its most divisive issue, abortion. Why?

Chapter 4 - Healing Democracy

#18 And the Winner Is: Democracy.

Everyone tries to change things by booking their next 'win', getting their way. How about getting our way instead, with no 'win' unless it unites us?

Chapter 5 - Scale

#19 Whoops: Off by 100,000%

Scale challenges what we measure. What is bigger, my teenager's grades or her trust in me? Why do we have data on pet startups, but nothing on how governments spend? Most importantly: How deep is the Slow Lane?

Chapter 5 - Scale

#20 Caring For One is Caring for a Million

How do you build a movement around the only known patient of a rare disease? By mastering scale, and putting patients in charge from 1:1 to 1:1.000.000.

Chapter 5 - Scale

#21 Solving For, Solving With

Rosanne Haggerty has not just proved that good data and practicing scale can solve homelessness, but empower families in Brownsville to reimagine early childhood in their community.

Chapter 5 - Scale

#22 Playing All The Scales

Successful movements work in all scales to build highways to empowerment, going from 1:1 all the way to the corridors of power.

Chapter 6 - The App

#23 The App, Or Nothing?

How can data and technology live up to their promise, when we have to deal with complex human needs?

Chapter 6 - The App

#24 The Technology of Caring

Billions have no access to quality healthcare. One physician approached the challenge with love and kindness first, sparking an open-source technology, empowering millions.

Chapter 6 - The App

#25 Hey Techies, Get in The Slow Lane!

When Stockholm cancelled its navigation aid for visually impaired people, they overlooked the bigger issue: even co-creating technology wasn't enough empowerment. It's time for users, techies + funders to go all the way.