I like thinking of myself as a solutioneer.  I feel like part of a network of people spread out across the world, who share a commitment to create a better world.  I’ve always liked diving into problems, being the underdog, finding systems where a subtle change repeated hundreds of times results in a transformation

Ben Franklin, Solutioneer

I grew up playing in the woods of the Adirondacks in New York.  My family’s house is filled with my kind of toys – books from all over the world, Legos (technics, the kind that can actually make machines) and a basement with tools and materials galore.  If I wanted to do something, whether it was building a racecar, making a tree fort, reading about Africa or creating tramlines to carry rocks out of the basement, I did it.  There was always something that required thinking and hands and a bit of work.

Most of my time at Williams College was spent building organizations.  Getting people together, defining a goal and then finding the pieces we had at our disposal to make something happen.  I’ve felt an interesting contrast between the satisfaction of building organizations with people, and building furniture or machines or forts out of wood and rock and metal.  One is exciting because of how many people it involves and the transformative process that working in a group can have on individuals.  The other is exciting because its precise and tangible and will continue to exist and serve a function even when no one is paying attention.  Continue reading →