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Imperative Impact

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5 Questions to Ask for Ethical Innovation

21/2/2018

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“It's not what you know - it’s the quality of the questions you ask. Ask great questions,” Peter Diamandis urged the cohort of founders, executives, and innovators at the Singularity University Executive Program in the Valley.
The power of questions is a recurring theme when it comes to creating impactful change and leading with purpose. All it takes is one person to ask “What if…” to change the course of industry - and history. 

As technologies rapidly accelerate and we face an uncertain future of work, resource scarcity, and global economic shifts, questions are more important than ever. Taking space to approach change from a skeptical and thoughtful perspective will ensure the future we build is one that we want. 

Great questions are challenging but necessary to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and anticipating the possibilities, repercussions, and outcomes of a hyperconnected, evolving, and redefined future for people, communities,  and sectors. ​
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5 Questions to Guide Your Impact

Here are five questions that we believe are critical for an ethical and truly innovative approach: 

  1. What if? What if is a powerful question. It helps us to consider new approaches, ideas, and frameworks. Use what if to challenge your assumptions. For example: What if we change what we measure? What if we change how we deliver a core service?
  2. How Could We? Building off of what if, ask yourself how could you. How could we build a community of champions? How could we impact a billion people?
  3. Who Are We Serving? Don’t assume that you know your customer -  take the time to  truly understand who they are and what they need (even if they don’t know it yet).
  4. How Does Sustainability Fit Into the Equation? Have you incorporated economic, social, and environmental sustainability into your planning? How are you thinking about second, third, and fourth level impacts?
  5. Who is Missing From the Conversation? Don’t limit yourself to a standard set of stakeholders. Think beyond the obvious to include the diverse and disruptive voices that will help you uncover and explore unexpected opportunities and considerations.
The more challenging - and bigger - the questions you ask, the more ambitious and resilient your impact will be. Always dig deeper and consider the implications of your personal and organisational actions.

Be bold. Ask great questions. Catalyse impact.
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Krista Pawley

Krista Pawley is a bilingual brand and reputation executive and experienced communications leader in the public, private and social-profit sectors. With over 20 years’ experience working in 50+ countries across five continents, Krista has held executive positions building, training and leading world-class teams within the Government of Canada, Scotiabank, The MasterCard Foundation and Aimia among others.
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Smart Cities: Connecting Technology with Cities for Stronger Communities

2/2/2018

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Visions for smart, connected cities are gaining momentum as viable technologies emerge and policymakers, architects, and unlikely players open their minds to new approaches in city building. The incredible potential of IoT, open data, digital integrations, and machine learning offer countless new approaches to urban planning, city life, and community building. In many ways, Toronto is leading the conversation and welcoming innovation at the centre of its planning initiatives. As cities around the world attempt to integrate these technologies in ways that respect citizen privacy and enhance the experiences of every resident, Toronto is committing to major innovation projects that push boundaries and extend possibilities.

My personal interest in city building began two years ago. On a 6 month backpacking journey through Southeast Asia, I began to recognize the influence of place, space, and the built environment on my emotional state and interactions with others. Time and time again, I felt most comfortable, and even a sense of pride, in spaces that had a distinct design and made community connections possible and engagement visible. The sense of ownership and joy created by dynamic environments, creative expression, and teamwork seemed to extend to everyone who entered space - even those just passing through.​

​As I returned home to Toronto and discovered local coworking spaces and mixed-use buildings, my interest in the physical spaces and urban planning forces that impact us all only became more pronounced.

Toronto's Growing Influence

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​The current buzz around Alphabet’s smart city has driven many people to take notice of the city plans that impact their daily lives and begin to consider the implications of data-driven, privately-run enclaves in an urban centre. UPPlift: Toronto’s urban pilot program challenge is also elevating the conversation, asking community members to submit tech-enabled solutions to transform the existing infrastructure in the city. The nature of rapidly accelerating technologies means that new possibilities and innovations are constantly emerging to transform how we live, work, and play in the world and bringing our relationship with place and space to the forefront of the public consciousness. This unchartered territory comes with its own risks and rewards, though, and a new, more collaborative and conscientious approach to smart cities must be undertaken for success. 

Key Approaches for Smart Cities

'City as platform' concepts have, thankfully, been rooted in a thoughtful approach to inclusion and sustainable development goals. As we forge ahead with new technology and collaborative approaches to city building, there are many careful considerations that must be made. What follows are three that ensure developments benefit the most people possible and create resilient cities that are not just smart, but brilliant for their (intended and unexpected) uses, neighbourhoods, and population segments.
Sustainable
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The city is not a blank canvas. Approaching it as such is not only unrealistic but wasteful. When reimagining urban futures and integrating technology into daily city life, we need to leverage existing infrastructure to make it economically and ecologically sustainable. At all stages of development and decision-making, we must keep a lens on efficiency and long-term environmental impact. Population growth and concentration in cities means that systems must be resilient, adaptable, and efficient to be smart. As more and more projects and voices arise, strong focus must remain on solving existing problems, not just creating new solutions. Improving less aesthetic and less visible realities, such as resource consumption, traffic, and waste management, that are essential to a livable city must be at the top of the priorities list.

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Civic-Minded
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New models and technologies result in uncertain outcomes, creating space for diverging opinions and perspectives. Security and privacy concerns, as well as reinforced power imbalances, have been a big debate in many smart city conversations. People are raising concerns about access to information, risks associated with collecting and storing massive pools of data, consent, and the right to privacy in a democratic society. A meaningful debate helps to shine a light on the dark corners and potential downsides of tech integrations. Input and a reflective, open approach to account for all voices and concerns must be taken by the city to mitigate the potential for unforeseen and/or negative outcomes in this new era of city planning. Catalytic governance models, that unite stakeholders around conceptualizing plausible outcomes, must be used to ensure the city is being built, transformed, and co-created with those who will live in and define the spaces every day.
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Preservation
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​Beyond the physical reality of buildings, city plans and high tech integrations cannot ignore what already works in a neighbourhood. There are no shortcuts or perfect science when it comes to city life, so developing mindful and tailored solutions for different areas, even within a single city, are essential. Ignoring or striving to transform the multiculturalism, diverse income levels, and most recognizable qualities of an area through non-inclusive, inaccessible, or otherwise unexamined technology will not serve to enhance, but only degrade and mutate the city. Culture is essential, so keeping sight of how progress will impact interactions, existing populations, and relations with the built environment itself should be carefully taken into consideration when determining if plans are viable.

As Toronto gains recognition as a hub for technology and an epicentre for innovation, ensuring our city reflects the activity, passion, and diversity of its residents is essential. Citizen input and action are easier and more important than ever before. Dream up your ideal city and share your key considerations for urban planning innovations that will have a true, tangible, and direct impact on all residents. ​

Lauren Rabindranath

Lauren Rabindranath is a community builder and digital communications professional based in Toronto, Ontario. She is an expert at creating tailored digital content for diverse clients and developing human-centred engagement strategies for communities in-person and online.

​With Imperative Impact, she develops strategy and executes on communications that align with brand voice and client goals while integrating with the broader ecosystem.
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Resolve to Make an Impact for 2018

11/1/2018

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Making a Difference in Your Personal and Professional Life

The start of a new year is a great opportunity to reset your outlook and make positive changes toward a more balanced, healthy, and impactful lifestyle. No matter your industry, passion, or personal goals, small adjustments can create more meaning in your daily life and help you make a difference in your local and global community.
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There is an emerging philosophy that ‘personal life’ and ‘work’ should not be separate or distinct. People are no longer subscribing to notions of a strictly divided work and personal life. An integrated and more flexible lifestyle, where you don't have to leave facets of yourself in any one place, is becoming standard. Instead of filtering yourself, find ways to bring a more holistic perspective and approach to your work and life so that you can do what you love and love what you do. The more engaged you are, the bigger your impact - for your year and your career. ​

Here are three simple techniques you can use in your personal and professional life to make a difference and create positive change all year long: ​
Pinpoint what gets you excited - and dedicate time to cultivating it.
If something gets you excited, it can unlock new levels of passion and motivation that you never knew were possible. Take time to reflect on those joys and try reframing your goals and contributions around your passions. It may not seem obvious how your love for live music or cooking will make a positive impact but, with some creative thinking and focus on underlying themes, you could uncover a new path or discover a new method to inject your work with some fun. Maybe a team PechaKucha presentation challenge can recreate the thrill of a live performance or your approach to inventing recipes can be used in your daily workflow. Get inventive and find ways to connect your work and your pleasure.
Be a more conscious consumer.
“Don’t let better be the enemy of good,” said Voltaire. We're letting this guide our efforts toward sustainability. The goal of perfection shouldn’t stand in your way to more conscientious spending habits. Make small changes by deciding to shop local, vowing to keep your reusable shopping bag handy, or encouraging your organization to switch to reusable or recyclable supplies. Recycled options, Keep Cups, socially-motivated service providers, and local vendors can help you make a positive difference and feel good about your purchases, whether they are for a client or a friend. Our team works with Good Foot for local deliveries and will be focussed on reducing food waste this year.
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Activate - or be active in - community.
Whether it’s rallying together for positive change, learning something new, or just getting social, convening a group is a great way to make a difference at the local level. Encourage new ideas, access new understanding, and deepen the connections within your neighbourhood, company, or social group. No matter the cause or reason, when people come together, great things happen. Chances are, if you are excited about an idea, other people will be too! If you can’t commit to organizing something, commit to attending and sharing. The more people meet, understand, and connect, the smaller and more empathetic the world becomes.

How are you resolving to make an impact this year?

​We'd love to hear about your mission and the methodologies, frameworks, or technologies that you’ll use to achieve your goals! 

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Lauren Rabindranath

Lauren Rabindranath is a community builder and digital communications professional based in Toronto, Ontario. She is an expert at creating tailored digital content for diverse clients and developing human-centred engagement strategies for communities in-person and online.

​With Imperative Impact, she develops strategy and executes on communications that align with brand voice and client goals while integrating with the broader ecosystem.
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Empowering Youth with Digital Technology Programs

13/12/2017

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Impact Spotlight: Digital Opportunity Trust

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It’s no secret that we are passionate about organizations and individuals that leverage the incredible potential of technology to create social innovation. Bridging the gap between the human and the technical, the present and the future, these organizations walk the walk when it comes to making a better future for us all.

One organization we are happy to support embodies this approach to the fullest: Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT). DOT is a Canadian charitable organization that enables youth to create meaningful change and sustainable opportunities in their local communities through digital technology.

Putting digital tools in the hands of the next generation of thought leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs ensures communities around the world are equipped to solve existing challenges and handle the next wave of technological transformation.

Rather than prescribing the best solution or a universal path forward, DOT invites people between the ages of 18 and 29 to explore, experiment, and develop their own sustainable solutions to implement right at home. DOT provides the knowledge, network, and support to turn the youth-led ideas into a reality.

​“Start from where you are with what you have,” says Paul Tinkaman, a DOT Uganda program graduate. DOT initiatives have been launched around the globe and have driven progressive, socially-motivated results in robotics, agriculture, art, and entrepreneurship. ​

We draw inspiration from their unique approach that accounts for context, centres participants, and focusses on empowerment through every project and at every stage. Learn more about the keys they use to unlock success for their program participants and consider how you can apply their model to your organization's learning, development, and give back initiatives.  ​
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3 Ways DOT’s Participant Focus Makes a Bigger Impact

DOT’s youth leadership program emphasizes nurturing the development of three key characteristics: community leaders, digital champions, and social innovators. We love their participant-centred approach that provides meaningful experience, skills development, and collaboration opportunities. ​
Here’s how their program model goes further:
  1. Experience-based Learning: Completing a program with inspiration is great. Walking away with the experience and tools to enact and materialize that inspiration into lasting change - that's better. When participants build transferable skills, they become actors and teachers in their own right. With new ideas and knowledge rooted in first-hand experience, they can make a lasting difference and empower others. 
  2. Community Impact: Only you have the power to fix your problems. The same goes for larger teams and communities. Culture, geography, history, and a multitude of other factors make each community unique. Identifying the most pressing challenges and designing realistic, impactful solutions needs to be grounded in this particular understanding and come from and for the people who are affected.
  3. Networks: Sometimes the skills and tools are not enough to create change without the resources and network support to help put them in action. DOT provides access to a global network of mentors, partner organizations from different sectors, and approachable peers. That means that participants can leave the program with confidence in their own abilities and access to an ecosystem of multi-talented, impact-driven people.
Creating a supportive and tailored experience for each program ensures that youth and their local communities leave the program better off. Equipped with the skills to self-identify and solve their most pressing local needs, participants can use a proven framework to chart their own path forward. ​
Read research reports put together by program participants and find out how you can empower youth around the world with DOT.

Sign up for our newsletter to learn about other organizations that inspire us with their innovative impact.

Lauren Rabindranath

Lauren Rabindranath is a community builder and digital communications professional based in Toronto, Ontario. She is an expert at creating tailored digital content for diverse clients and developing human-centred engagement strategies for communities in-person and online.

​With Imperative Impact, she develops strategy and executes on communications that align with brand voice and client goals while integrating with the broader ecosystem.
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Start Your Employee Volunteer Program to Support Sustainable Development Goals

1/12/2017

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​​Push your business goals further, inspire the people at your organization, and contribute to positive change in your local community and around the world - all with one, easy-to-implement program.

The UN initiative Impact2030 is hoping to inspire companies across the globe to do just that, by empowering businesses and equipping leaders with the tools necessary to create structured, impactful volunteer programs at their organizations.


The human capital that exists within companies has massive potential to create positive change. Identifying this untapped opportunity, Impact2030 has set out on a mission to activate employees, inspire diverse populations, and create opportunities for tangible contributions around the world. 

The business-led initiative is rooted in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and seeks to drive strong collaboration and relationships between private companies and social and public sectors.

3 Steps to Launch Your Employee Volunteer Program

If you want to get involved and give back, here are three simple steps you can follow to get informed and take action with an engaging and effective employee volunteer program:

  1. Learn. The first step to creating a meaningful and tailored program within your team is to learn. Learn about the SDGs. Think about how you, your team, your organization, and your local community fit into the goals. Learn which ones you and your people are passionate about. Find out how your employees are already giving back and how they can teach others to do the same. Discover local initiatives and draw inspiration from what other teams nearby are doing to make a difference.

  2. Activate. Once you have identified the goals that connect with your organization and your team, you can devise a plan that enables everyone to give back in the most effective way possible. Consider skills-based giving to leverage and develop existing employee talents. Let your team take the lead to find out what strategies they find the most fulfilling when giving back. Most importantly, make it a collaborative and community-centred experience. Create partnerships outside of your organization and determine gaps, project stages, and immediate needs to create the most beneficial program possible.
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  3. Measure. Set ambitious but achievable goals in collaboration with your partner organizations and internal teams. A helpful universal framework has been developed to measure volunteer impact, allowing you to point to real change driven by your employees. The framework is helpful for elevating the profile of your company’s social efforts, connecting teams through a sense of accomplishment, and finding new ways to improve, iterate, and contribute with even greater results.
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Businesses are among the most powerful, tight-knit, and pervasive social structures across the world. Regardless of the size, industry, or goals of your organization, you can leverage the power of your people to make a positive difference.

Imperative Impact is proud to support Impact2030 as Regional Voice Lead. 
To find out more about our contributions and access resources to drive social change, sign up for our newsletter.

Lauren Rabindranath

Lauren Rabindranath is a community builder and digital communications professional based in Toronto, Ontario. She is an expert at creating tailored digital content for diverse clients and developing human-centred engagement strategies for communities in-person and online.

​With Imperative Impact, she develops strategy and executes on communications that align with brand voice and client goals while integrating with the broader ecosystem.
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  • Home
  • Our Services
    • Sustainable Impact Practice
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  • Who We Are
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    • Our Blog
    • Join Us!
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