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Rodney Kimbangu - Active Intentionality with EPG
- 1. Active Intentionality with Epg Active Intentionality with EPG
- 2. Intro Rodney B. Kimbangu From Kinshasa, DR CONGO Berea College Studio Art and Film Majors Class of 2020 www.rodneykimbangu.comLars A. “Rodney K.”. Dartmouth College. June, 16
- 3. Table of ContentAgenda Academic Enhancement Issue Civic Entrepreneurial Leadership Personal Growth Next Steps Food for Thought Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017
- 4. ACADEMIC ENHANCEMENTS ACADEMIC ENHANCEMENTS Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017
- 5. Specific Ways of Learning & We learn differently! Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 7 ways of Learning Rodney Kimbangu. “7 Ways of Learning”. July, 17
- 6. StrenghtFinder Results Risk Independence Disruptor Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 “Disruption”. http://www.thegeniusworks.com/event/disruptive-denmark-5-strategies-radical- innovation/. Digital Image. Web July 5, 17 “Benefits of Independence”. http://www.360logica.com/blog/5-preeminent-benefits-of- independent-qa-services/. Digital Image. Web July 5, 17 “Taking a Risk”. http://lisbethcalandrino.com/tag/taking-a-risk/. Digital Image. Web July 5, 17
- 7. 3 AbilitiesLife is Ambiguous that’s why it is worth it. However, it is worth it when we recognize its value and share it! - Rodney K. Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 EPG Abilities “Ambiguous”. https://andrewliles.bandcamp.com/album/ambiguous. Digital Image. Web July 5, 17
- 8. 10 Concepts Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 10 Concepts Explored Active Listening Guided Mastery Fixed and Growth Mindsets Entrepreneurial StrengthFinders Business Model Canvas Design Thinking Business Model You Deep Dive Lean Startup Associational Thinking
- 9. concept 1: Deep Dive Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 Deep Dive
- 10. concept 2: Lean Startup Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 Lean Startup Build Turn ideas into products Measure See how Customers respond Learn Persevere or Pivot Rodney Kimbangu. “Lean Method”. July, 17
- 11. concept 3: Associational Thinking or Pattern Recognition Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 Associational Thinking
- 12. ISSUE: Understanding Appalachia Appalachia, The Customer Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017
- 13. Appalachian Problems Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 “Appalachia”. https://www.amazon.com/APPALACHIA-History-Mountains-People- PBS/dp/B0030CYJ5C. Digital Image. Web July 5, 17 “October Sky”. https://www.alphasigmaalpha.org/timeline/tag/october-sky/. Digital Image. Web July 5, 17 “Hillbilly Elegy”. http://www.unf.edu/alumni/. Digital Image. Web July 5, 17 “Dean Chad Berry”. https://www.berea.edu/news/berea-college- appoints-chad-berry-as-academic-v-p-and-dean/. Digital Image. Web July 5, 17
- 14. My Personal Philosophy Employee, Entrepreneur or Entrepreneurial Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 3 Es “Brain Differences”. https://seasonsmedical.com/2016/03/earthquake-survivors-ptsd-show-brain-differences/. Digital Image. Web July 5, 17
- 15. CIVIC ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP CIVIC ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017
- 16. Why is this Sensitive to Learning? Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 Empathy “Apple's Swift”. http://www.infoworld.com/article/3104528/application-development/apples-swift-4-road-map- focuses-on-abi-concurrency.html/. Digital Image. Web July 5, 17
- 17. Interest of the Public Common Good Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 Tarykettle. “Stand Out”. http://florida-media-link.com/stand-out-from-the-crowd/. Digital Image. Web July 5, 17
- 18. PERSONAL GROWTH PERSONAL GROWTH Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017
- 19. Assumptions My Assumptions Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017
- 20. My Gains My Gains Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 “Creativity”. https://www.thinglink.com/scene/862398968598888449/. Digital Image. Web. July 5, 17
- 21. Most Significant eventsMost significant events that created the Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 Rodney Kimbangu. “Brainstorming”. June, 17
- 22. Do-overs Do-Overs Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 Rodney Kimbangu. “Rehixe”. June, 17 Rehixe
- 23. NEXT STEPS CONCLUSION & NEXT STEPS Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017
- 24. FoodForThought Food for THOUGHTS Rodney K., Active Intentionality with EPG, July 7, 2017 ©Adobe Stock. “Consider the Ant”. http://www.valleyliving.org/2016/05/consider-the-ant. Digital Image. Web July 5, 17 If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
Editor's Notes
- Active Intentionality with EPG
- I am from the DRC because I was born there, but I feel I home wherever I am accepted for who I am.
- The Intent As all of us here, in this presentation, I will talk about my experience in EPG in form of a story. The story is made of my success, my failures, my attempts, my fears, just to name a few. I will present the insights that contributed to the advancement of our common goals, the issues we were trying to solve and I will dive into the Three Content Elements: Academic Enhancement, Civic Entrepreneurial Leadership Learning, Personal Growth as we all know and I will leave you with some food for thoughts.
- This model from Dr. Howard Gardner is a diagram that shows how people works. Since my early ages, I realized that I am a visual, physical and logical learner. To me, it was not a good idea to only choose one way of learning and stick to that. Because life happens unexpectedly, I realized that it was useful to use the other parts of the continuum to make myself more efficient. What is different now, is that my array of ways of learning is broadened and because I learn very well by feeling, thinking, seeing and doing to test my assumptions, the opportunity to use all these approaches in one way or another, has helped me be a different person in comparison to the Rodney I was two months ago when I came to the program.
- From my top 3 BP assessments, I learned what I should work on more to help me reach the goal being a better learner, knowing that I am an activator.
- From the six EPG abilities, the three key abilities I gained from participating in the Institute were uncertainty and ambiguity, recognizing opportunities and facilitating groups. And if I had to sum it up, it would look like this: Life is Ambiguous that’s why it is worth it. But it is worth it when we recognize its value and share it! - Rodney K I gained an understanding of social entrepreneurship in the context of hardship and an outsider perspective. I learned that it is hard to understand someone who is different from us, the other is odd. But I was reminded of looking for the deviants, the misfits, the crazies, the odds, the anomalies, the confusing, because it is under extreme pressure and ambiguity that we learned invaluable lessons from the anomalies and things that seem to be odd, but are mines of golden opportunities, because life is all that. I learned this in almost every single group interaction and it was embedded in the ambiguity part of the journey itself. We were given the opportunity to solve problems with Dr. Hackbert and deal with the types of ambiguous situations that he faces almost every day in his life. It matters because, to me, it was the opportunity that not everybody is being offered on campus. It is a call for responsibility in everything, everywhere we can happen to be and to map possible ways of solving a problem, it is crucial to identify the extremes, the deviants, the odds and make good use of the bell curve.
- From the concepts learned in class, these were the ten that stood out the most to me: Active Listening Guided Mastery Fixed and Growth mindsets Entrepreneurial StrengthFinders Business Model Canvas Design Thinking Business Model You Deep Dive Lean Startup Associational Thinking And I will expand on the last three.
- Deep Dive Deep-Dive™ is the name of a technique used to rapidly immerse a group or team into a situation for problem-solving or idea creation. This approach is often used for brainstorming product or process development. Originally developed by the IDEO group (a learning design company) for rapid product development, the Deep-Dive technique is now widely and increasingly used for innovation not only in product development but process improvement and customer service strategies. Deep Dive – A five step process Understand the market/ client/ technology and constraints (internal & External SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, and PRIMO-F analysis) Observe real people in real situations Visualize new-to-the-world concepts and ultimate customers Evaluate and refine prototypes Implement new concept for commercialization Deep dive requires deep observation. Going from general to specific. However, as this process is not supposed to be finite, zooming in and out every time to see the bigger picture and the details were part of the bright spot from this learning.
- The Lean startup: Methodology for developing businesses and products. The methodology aims to shorten product development cycles by adopting a combination of business-hypothesis-driven experimentation, iterative product releases, and validated learning. The lean Startup concept application emerged the most during the execution of Rehixe, our awesome Hiking Experience. We used the business model canvas to generate ideas and organize our project. Along the way, we learned that our assumptions could be proven wrong or right, but most importantly, we learned to pivot quickly when our ideas failed the customer’s tests. When facing risk, I executed When facing uncertainty I experimented
- Associational Thinking: The way the brain processes information through integrating patterns, seeing contextual relationships, connecting seemingly unrelated elements, and three-dimensional mental modeling. It is the process through which people use tacit knowledge to solve problems they face in their lives. The associational thinking was evident throughout the entire summer institute. From map making to customer discovery to prototyping, to ideation and design thinking. I do not see any activity I was involved in that did not require the use of associational thinking to be successful and effective. Because, when we connect the dots and make sense of what we are presented with from early learned/tacit knowledge and we incorporate those to the way of solving new problems, … Why are these concepts important? They are important because of we always use associational thinking in our lives to make sense of things around us.
- The most significant new insight I gained during the EPG Institute about the Appalachian Region was that the region is a dichotomy in that it is full of resources and has a lot to offer, but because as humans we choose to only see the tip of the iceberg, the rich culture and true nature of natural resources are unseen to us, resulting, exploitation, brain drain and the region impoverishment. I learned this quickly because as per the beginning of EPG, the idea was to increase the health and socio-economic benefits of people in the region. But there is more to that than just EPG. I come from a country that faces the same issues, although most the problems there is a bit different in that it seems clear that people outside of the continent have their eyes on the continent and impact the course of history. Additionally, putting myself in the shoe of an entrepreneur, during the summer institute, Appalachia was my customer segment. I learned this during EPG Viewing Session: Appalachia: A History of the Mountains and People I and II. But at that time, it did not make sense to me because I was just being introduced to the way America views its own region. Then, read Hillbilly Elegy and watched October Sky, but things did not really sync-in until Dr. Chad beery came and put flesh to the skeleton I was trying so hard to comprehend. His explanations put the story onto context that after I read Hillbilly Elegy, I grasped something about Appalachia, more than I did after watching just the movie.
- What is the Issue? The Issue is we live in Appalachia Why living in Appalachia is an Issue? The Appalachian region is facing multi-faceted issues. On one hand, the region is one of the richest in terms of natural resources and culture and history, but its people live in poverty and are constantly exploited. On the other hand, because it seems as if there is not much to do, the youth leave the region in the pursuit of better opportunities outside. This leaves the region with more problems than it started with. The older population has more knowledge about the region, but cannot be as strong and efficient as the youth; and the youth, strong and full of energy but decide to go away where life seems to offer better chances. The result is that most of the counties my cohort members are from (if they are from Appalachia) face socioeconomic hardships and poverty. As an International Student, I was assigned Rockcastle county. However, comparing it to counties outside Appalachia, I realized that there a few people in the county and that the level of life in under the threshold. The things that struck me the most were The population growth is decreasing by 1.2% They have a creative class percent of 13 with o class attraction The county is distressed Poverty level at 22% Because we live here, whether temporarily or permanently, depending on how much we are accepted, we can be actors of change in one way or another.
- I come from a school of thought where Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurs create companies to generate revenue. Although I heard of Social Entrepreneurship, I did not know what it really meant. I read a few articles about it but it did not sync in. At that point, the only problem was me and the time and effort I could put into searching for more information. During the EPG Institute, I gained more understanding of the concept of social entrepreneurship. EPG has been a setting where I learned that there is more to Entrepreneurship than just launching a business. The mindset instilled was an entrepreneurial mindset that should turn people into problem-solvers and innovators, whether they are employers or employees. At the end of the day, I ask myself what more can I give than what more can I get because the more I give is the more I have and not the other way around. Thus creating the Philosophy of “Whether Employee or Entrepreneur, the Entrepreneurial mindset matters the most.”
- As far as Civic Leadership goes, it was important for me to see how entrepreneurship could be used in the context of the public good.
- As a team in the cohort, we have worked on Rehixe (the Awesome Hiking Experience), The Daniel Boone trace Trail Map, the Walkability Studies and The Splash and Dash. Along the process, everything boiled down to putting myself in the shoes of the user and empathizing with them. To help us empathize efficiently and come up with ideas tailored to their needs, Understanding my customer (Appalachians) was crucial to the success of our projects.
- The interest displayed in the public good is displayed in the benefits created for the region. Tradeoff: the more you focus on self, the more the community around you suffers from you. However, as we all unique but belong somehow to certain groups, contributing to the advancement of our communities is deeply affected by what we do, leading us to the concept of the Creative class. The creative class is important these people are the seekers, the thinkers, the innovators and they are needed to lead the ways and create the paths to change that we all want but mostly refuse to accept.
- Part III: Personal Growth
- Coming to the EPG, I assumed that: The program would be academically based more than hands-on oriented We would be dealing with people not only in our cohort but also, outside of the cohort Berea and Kentucky (and I assumed it would not be an easy task) Within the cohort, we would be more community oriented than self-oriented because I thought being in Berea for at least 1 year would help us understand that We would share more together as a cohort than expecting everything to come from the instructor I would share more than I did It would be more of what I bring to the table instead of what I get from it After the first week, I quickly realized that: We competed for individualistic benefits more than the overall goal of the cohort which was to work in a pipeline, share and learn from each other. We were too self-centered and we brought most of our insecurities to the table. Additionally, we did not really want to let go. This mindset created an environment that promoted an unhealthy competition. However, towards the end of the program, I noticed that my assumptions were challenged and people (included myself) started to grow, realizing that the issue was not to be solved individually but collectively. From the EPG class/work point of view, my expectations were met. I was taken deeper into the iterative process of creativity and innovation, were given the opportunity to have hands-on experiences with people in Appalachia. I was reminded that we are not finite, rather in the process of becoming because success is not an event but a process. I came with my assumptions and biases, tested them and they were challenged as much as they were confirmed.
- Throughout the program, I have had the opportunity to share as much as we allowed it, allowing me to fail often so I could succeed sooner, make good use of zoom out to see the bigger pictures and zooming in to take a closer look at details. Additionally, the Intentionality behind choosing the Deductive Reasoning instead the Inductive Reasoning was proven efficient. Because, even if all of the premises are true in a statement, inductive reasoning allows for the conclusion to be false
- Above all, my most significant event was the opportunity to finally have a group of people where I can choose who to trust and work with in the future, allow me to create my success network.
- Mulligans If I would get another turn, I would go back continue the Awesome Hiking experience. Because, reflecting on the project my teammates and I have been involved in, I was always driven by connecting with the pathos of people so they could open up and allow creativity to flow from their need to the ideation process. I have seen a lot of potential in that project and I would definitely spend more time developing it to make it better than what it is as of now.
- Conclusion EPG was an experience during which all these concepts were embedded in. I ask myself this question. Do I have to be “home” to do something for people around me, or do I have to be on earth to do that? If I am on earth to do than what more can I give before I get? With EPG ending and what next? As I enter the EPG journey, the intention was to help myself become the person I always want to be. That person is a 5 years older version of me, and every time I catch him, he evolves and he helps me see where I am heading, thus competing with myself. I did not decide on forgetting my early knowledge that is part of tacit knowledge as of now and as I am exiting the Epg experience, I will keep that mindset of always learning and connecting the new knowledge with the early learned. And Epg as of the early experiences, will become part of the patrimoine I will be borrowing from to solve problems around me. Above all that, as A BIS facilitator and a University Innovation Fellow, I will constantly find ways to bring new ideas to the campus and help people see the value in the Design Thinking process that changes lives in the 21st century. I just want to invest in the right people.
- Food for thought: In Africa, we say, If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Because people are smart while teams are well-rounded.