November 2011
2 posts
Zappos Happiness Campaign →
This is BRILLIANT. Zappos removes common frustrations from peoples’ lives as a marketing campaign. For the heaviest travel day of the year (day before Thanksgiving), they’re underwriting the tolls on the Mass Pike. Ugh, brilliant.
Spiders Are People Too →
Male nursery spiders wrap presents in silk to give to their perspective mates. The better (more useful) the gift, the longer the female allows them to do their thing (if you know what I mean). So cool.
GOOD social entrepreneurship vc blog →
October 2009
6 posts
Democratizing Innovation, by Eric von Hippel, head... →
Not only is this an extremely cool book, but its available - in full - through the MIT website. Oh, MIT, I love you and everything you stand for.
September 2009
6 posts
The Predictioneer's Game, by Bruce Bueno de... →
Must. read. this. book.
Using games theory, Bueno de Mesquita (awesome name), predicts the future based on the principal that people/companies/nations will always do what is in their best interest.
He has a 90 percent accuracy rate.
Pop!Tech →
One day I want to be a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow:
“Each year, PopTech selects 10-20 high potential change agents from around the world who are working on highly disruptive innovations in areas like healthcare, energy, development, climate, education, and civic engagement, among many others. Fellows work in both the for-profit and not-for-profit worlds, have a minimum of 3-5 years...
WatchThe Swedes are so good at urban planning.
August 2009
11 posts
Dunbar's Number: 150. →
Dunbar’s number is a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person. (Wikipedia)
All large companies should employ Dunbar’s Number as a rule of thumb when structuring departments. Solid interpersonal...
“With ten minutes, a group of good people and a white board, I’m sure a...”
– Nathaniel Whittemore, Social Entrepreneurship: “Could Y Combinator Save the World?”
For-profit and Non-profit mixed business models. →
If a company can’t claim a valuable, positive contribution to society, should they be allowed to turn a profit?
Yellow Brick Road →
This company understands the need for communication in order to solve many of the world’s most challenging issues. Very cool.
Shouting goals into the ether.
Declaring goals publicly makes them feel more tangible to me. I may be the only person to read this list, but its existence gives me a sense of accountability. Lists give me momentum because they represent a deliberate, first step.
Here are a few goals in no specific order:
1. Be more active
2. Write creatively again
3. Fix my bike
4. Research social science/urban planning graduate programs
5....
July 2009
10 posts
IBM's Smarter Planet
IBM’s Smarter Planet campaign is genius for many reasons. Here are three:
1. It demonstrates that IBM is on board with the “doing well by doing good” version of capitalism that has begun to dominate the business landscape. This reassures stakeholders and potential customers that IBM is capable of adapting to a changing environment and is thus, a sustainable investment.
2....
“Must. Keep. Writing.”
Sustainable Communities.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about sustainable communities. Not sustainable in the sense that they have a low carbon footprint (although this is an important aspect to creating an economically sustainable community), but in the sense that people want to live there.
Among other things, a sustainable community is facilitated by an infrastructure that encourages interaction and cooperation...
Excuses, excuses.
I grew up hating the word excuses. Its what my parents told me I was making up when I didn’t want to do something. “I’m not making up excuses!” I would say. That was a pretty good one, looking back.
One of the problems with having a big imagination is that excuses come easily, and intricately. When something is so detailed and entangled in personal weaknesses, it becomes...
Stuart Haygarth has perfect aesthetics.
Stuart Haygarth is one of my favorite artists. He brings found objects together in the most beautiful ways. The image above is one of my favorite photograph of all time. The progression down the spectrum is at a perfect gradient. The eye never gets tired or uninterested.
The image below is a compilation of objects confiscated from passengers at Gatwick Airport. It only took two weeks to amass...
So here's what I'm thinking.
I’ve been fighting with myself for over a year now on starting a blog. One of my new mantras is, “think less, do more.” So here we are.
Let me describe this blog without painting myself into a corner. alexandra hastings will include, but is not limited to: thoughts on science, technology, art and entrepreneurship and ways all of these things can combine to change the world in...