Levitt Innovator-in-Residence hosts “Germinating Ideas” Workshop
by Elise Wilson ’22, Contributing Writer
On Friday, Nov. 8, Levitt Innovator-in-Residence Melinda Little held the “Germinating Ideas” Lunch Workshop, which created a space for students to workshop ideas for social innovation projects in an open and informal setting.
According to the Levitt Center, the “Innovator-in-Residence Program brings social innovators and entrepreneurs to campus to help students develop ideas and projects that seek to address a long standing social problems in innovative and creative ways.” As an expert in organizing finances for social innovation projects, Little has been leading workshops with the Levitt Center for the past five years. She is currently the coordinator for Point Positive Inc., which manages the Angel Investor Group, president of the Village Mercantile, a community-owned department store, and co-founder of Independent Means, a financial education and information services firm.
Little described the workshop as a place to “tease out what someone is doing and work it out through problem-solving.” She sees her role as taking student’s visions for social innovation and “bringing out the nuts and bolts,” or turning those visions into a logical and practical course of action. Between bites, students and Levitt Center faculty engaged in a thorough discussion of new ideas and critiques for each student’s social innovation project.
The framework for Little’s workshop draws on John Kotter’s eight-step change management theory from his book, The Heart of Change, forming a general plan for each student innovator. This included steps such as “developing a sense of urgency” and “communicate for buy-in”, or “sending clear, credible, and heartfelt messages about the level of the change, overcome confusion and distrust.”
These steps proved to be personally effective for Little; in 2011, she developed a community-owned department store, The Village Mercantile (formerly the Community Store) in her hometown of Saranac Lake, NY. Little commented that she actually experienced Kotter’s eight steps for herself when working on the project, prior to even learning about them. She added that actually experiencing the steps in action through her own social innovation project made them “real and relevant to me.”
During discussions, Little emphasized the power of images to create a sense of urgency, as well as the importance of short-term wins, and plan adjustment as time goes by and changes arise. She often posed questions to the group challenging students and Levitt Center faculty to think critically in evaluating a student’s plan.
In addition to Kotter’s theory, Little cited Nell Edgington’s work with Social Velocity, a management consulting firm which helps non-profit organizations be more effective and sustainable in their strives for social change.
Workshop attendee Kimberly Ly ’20, who is leading the Social Innovation Team this year, brought her idea about reducing food waste outside dining halls. Other attendees then had the opportunity to pose questions to Ly and brainstorm specific strategies under Kotter’s eight-step plan. Ly concluded that, “Melinda’s perspective was very helpful; she brought up a few points we had not previously considered.”
Ly noted the importance of the Levitt Center’s innovator-in-residence workshops, stating, “I think they’re a great resource for all students, whether you need help developing a project or if you’re new to social innovation and want to learn more.”
