Here’s a taster of what Nicola from So Mo has to say about 1/2 of The Satori Lab.
Meet Esko Reinikainen: heretic, hero & Shakespear’s fool !
I invited Esko to deliver a session at the ‘Digital Maze’, an event So-mo ran at the International Festival of Business back in 2014. I loved what he had so say, so shortly after, headed down to Cardiff for to hang out with him for a few days.
Esko co-founded The Satori Lab back in 2013 as a way to ‘fix’ government and public services. He also helps organisations navigate change, particularly the complex transitions required when society undergoes a transformational paradigm shift, in this case from the Information Age to the Networked Age.
He has been called by turns heretic’ and ‘a visionary leader with a social conscience’ I can also testify that he cooks a mean pasta dish & has a penchant for very strong vodka!
This interview followed two days of talking & on some occasions talking and drinking well …Esko is from Finland!
Nicola: What’s the most awesome thing you’ve done or been a part of?
Esko: Ha ha start with a soft ball why don’t you!
I guess in recent history it is the Monmouthshire Intrapreneurship school, because ultimately we gave people this transformational experience that they will never recover from. We sometimes talk about it as a disambiguation process. You see someone who rediscovers the joy and passion of life and then rebuilds their practice from that point of view. It may be a small change for one person, but it’s very powerful. It feels like saving a life.
Nicola: Earlier today you described the intrapreneurship school as a ‘transformational experience’, which you summed up in the phrase, “we don’t live here anymore” tell me more.
Esko: We invite people to take a look at their individual values and to have a good think about how that correlates to what they’re doing as public servants.
In some cases, people find that they’re totally misaligned – they recognise that they’re doing the wrong job. For other people, they recognise that there is slight misalignment, but it’s entirely within their power to change their behaviours.
The recognition can be so powerful they are unable to go back to a state of not being aware. All of a sudden they can see their past work in light of this new perspective – but because of this, “we don’t live here anymore” is a conscious refusal to go back that place.
Nicola: or even an inability?
Esko: Yeah, Going back to the old ways of doing things becomes an impossibility.
If you want to read more, check out the full blog on the So-Mo website.
So-Mo are really worth checking out, they help government, public, private and 3rd sector organisations achieve social change through engagement, collaboration and events.