Designing Tomorrow: Creative Strategies for Social Impact
Designing Tomorrow explores a new playbook for modern social impact leaders and brands to reach their true impact potential.
Why do some social impact brands thrive, while so many others fail to get traction, build support for their cause, and make meaningful progress? Imagine your impact with truly sustainable revenue and resources. With deeper community engagement and relationships. With more influence in your social impact category.
Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, each episode dives into the strategies, mindsets, and behaviors top social impact brands use to play and win in the attention economy. Go beyond high-level concepts to specific tools and tactics you can use today.
Watch on YouTube or listen to new episodes each Tuesday.
Let’s design a better tomorrow, together.
Designing Tomorrow is a Cosmic Production. Learn more at https://designbycosmic.com/
Designing Tomorrow is a registered trademark of Design By Cosmic, Inc.
Designing Tomorrow: Creative Strategies for Social Impact
Say What You Actually Believe
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Most social impact leaders got into this work because they care deeply about the mission, not because they wanted to be public figures with opinions. But that instinct to stay quiet and let the work speak for itself may be doing more harm than good. Developing and sharing a strong point of view isn't a nice-to-have; it's a moral obligation for leaders in this space.
Episode Highlights:
[00:01:00] The hesitancy Eric keeps seeing in leaders who won't go public with their thinking
[00:04:00] Defining "point of view" as a pattern of lived experience, not expertise
[00:08:00] Eric's origin story: from attention economy manifesto to a new framework
[00:10:30] Introducing the identity impact gap
[00:18:00] Why therapy made Jonathan a better leader
[00:24:00] Devil's advocate: what about pure open-mindedness as a leadership philosophy?
Notable Quotes:
Eric Ressler [00:11:05]: "The bigger the difference between who you actually are and how you are perceived by the people that you care about reaching, the bigger all of your problems are going to be."
Eric Ressler [00:29:35]: "People need to do research, they need to develop hypotheses, they need to publish those, not just think about them in their brains."
Resources & Links:
- Seymour Marine Discovery Center — seymourcenter.ucsc.edu
- Kevin L. Brown — Mighty Ally
- Glen Galaich — Stupski Foundation
- Kevin Starr — Mulago Foundation
- Skull World Forum
- Strategy Tier ranking episode - "Most of Your Brand Strategy is a Waste of Time"
Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.
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Thank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.
