#001: An idealist's idea list

An introduction to The IdeaList

Today’s edition is about a 5-minute read. If you’re in a hurry, here are the takeaways:

• This post is an introduction to my job and this newsletter.

• I work at an innovation lab for social good founded by the economist behind Freakonomics, and my job is to find creative ways to make the world a better place. Some of my work includes building a free web tool for peer mentoring, using data to inform foster parent recruitment, and exploring how churches could utilize their extra space for social good.

• Each month, I’ll pick one of my projects and break it down on Fridays. I’ll talk about the idea, the inspiration and research behind it, the progress we’ve made so far, and the path ahead.

• I’m writing this newsletter for myself, but I’m also hoping that someone might (1) find it helpful for their own work or (2) want to collaborate on a project.

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I always stumble over my words when people ask what I do for a living. It’s probably because the name of my organization is such a mouthful. I’m an analyst at the Center for Radical Innovation for Social Change at the University of Chicago. Shortening to “Center for RISC” isn’t much help because then people think I work in insurance.

No, I don’t work in insurance

RISC is an innovation lab for social good, which means we generate creative ideas to make the world a better place and then we bring those ideas to life in the real world. We’re quite young (2ish years old) and quite small (15ish people), and our work spans education, foster care, criminal justice, mental health, and much more. If you read our website, you’ll see that our lab is the “brainchild” of Steve Levitt, but Jeff Severts leads our team alongside him.

You may know Steve as a co-author of Freakonomics or from his new podcast “People I (Mostly) Admire.” Steve is one of the most unconventional thinkers I’ve ever met, and he’s a whiz with data. He asks really good questions, ones that poke huge gaping holes in your ideas before you even get to the punchline.

You may not know Jeff, but he’s a big deal too. He grew Best Buy’s Geek Squad into a household name before doing the same with ULTA Beauty as chief marketer. Jeff is one of the most effective communicators I’ve ever met. His ability to concisely convey complicated concepts is embodied in Deadly Memos, his series of business pamphlets.

My day-to-day work varies A LOT

Work at RISC happens in “projects” – or social good initiatives. Projects typically involve the exploration or implementation of a specific idea to address a big social problem, but RISC’s role can vary in the implementation. Sometimes, RISC consults or lends capacity at no cost to big corporations, nonprofits, governments, or other organizations doing social good. Other times, analysts start projects from the ground up and find themselves running mini-organizations within RISC. The flexibility of RISC’s role means that analysts end up wearing many different hats: data scientist, product manager, consultant, entrepreneur, and whatever else a project calls for.

Here are some concrete examples of what I do:

• I’m leading the development of a free web tool that makes it easier to set up peer mentorship in existing communities. My day-to-day work consists of sourcing and onboarding community partners, managing a remote team of designers and developers, and listening to user feedback to prioritize product improvements and feature ideas.

• I’m analyzing data to inform foster parent recruitment strategies in multiple U.S. states. My day-to-day work consists of coding in R, translating analysis into slide decks, and leading meetings with stakeholders.

• I’m exploring a project to help churches unlock their underutilized space for social good. My day-to-day work consists of finding church leaders to talk to, listening to their challenges, and reading the articles and books they send me.

If you can’t tell already, this newsletter is about my work

Every month, I’ll take a project and break it down on Fridays.

On the first Friday of the month, I’ll tell you the idea and the inspiration behind it. You’ll get anecdotes, research, and articles; and I encourage you to respond with your own anecdotes, research, and articles (even if you completely disagree with the idea!).

On the second Friday, I’ll outline the progress we’ve made to date. You’ll hear about concrete actions I’ve taken, learnings, and challenges. I’m young and inexperienced, so I’ll take any advice I can get. You should respond if you have suggestions to make progress faster and better.

On the third Friday, I’ll tell you where the project is going next. Sometimes a project gets killed internally, but that doesn’t mean I won’t revisit it. I would love for someone to revitalize an old idea by partnering up with us or by suggesting a new path ahead.

In the extra week each month, I’ll share interesting articles and new ideas I’ve been thinking about but haven't pursued yet.

Why do I want to talk about my work?

There are a lot of reasons, really. By writing publicly:

• I’m forcing myself to think deeply about my work. Each post helps me collect and organize my own thoughts!

• I’m putting my work out there for anyone to read. In doing research for my own projects, I’ve learned the value of reading about what other people have already done. If my work and ideas can help anyone else working in similar areas, then I think that’s social good. And that’s my job!

• I’m opening the door for collaboration. RISC is a small team with very limited resources, which means we often have to find partners to have any chance of making an impact at scale. I’m hoping that people respond with ways to work together on shared interests!

It’s possible (even probable) that nobody will read this newsletter. But hey, by the end of the year I’ll have a public collection of my work at RISC, and that’ll be pretty cool :)

See you next week!

Noah