Development Entrepreneurs

I t’s not unusual for a Development Entrepreneur to hit a wall.   There are times when reforms are just not happening and interventions are, for one reason or another, not working. When this happens, there are several things a DE can do. Instead of trying to do everything at once, you can try to break down your work into more manageable parts. Focus on one part at a time and do each part better. Little improvements in the way you accomplish each work segment can have a synergistic effect on the whole effort, help you achieve a breakthrough. You can also explore other modes of intervention. It has been said that insanity is doing the same thing and expecting other results. So stop doing what you’re doing, and try something else. In practical terms this means adopting a new behavior, which might require different capabilities. The new thing might also have to be done in a different time, place or context. In other words, it might challenge you to go out of your comfort zone...

W hen I was learning to write BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) I was told to make “vivid descriptions” of the desired outcomes. When I learned to write Wholly Formed Outcomes I was also told to write about what I wanted to achieve “in sensory terms”. Someday somebody could explain to me the difference between vivid descriptions and sensory descriptions. For now I can see their similarity: they both mean describing what I want to achieve in a way that I can see, feel, hear or touch. I find that when I ask people to describe “what they want to see” within a planning period, they respond in two ways. Some respond in abstractions, such as “I want financial independence.” Others describe specific, observable (and measurable) conditions - “I have 25,000.00 US dollars in the bank and zero debts.” When I ask the guys who give the abstract answers exactly what they mean, some of them think for a while, others take only a second - and they all explain what they mean in sensory terms....