Becoming The Dreamer

I used to be an optimist. Fueled by the belief that so many people — not dissimilar to myself — were out there working in some way towards a better future, and that there was no way that our collective efforts wouldn’t find each other, and have an impact.

Over the years I became jaded. Overwhelmed with the inertia of systems that fail to change; bashed back by crises that in big sweeps take us back years as power systems expand their boundaries or undo incremental wins; and disillusioned by systems that incentivise box ticking and division.

2020 started for me by being invited to participate in a panel discussion on the Talking Transformation podcast. I was to play the role of “The Dreamer”. I panicked a bit — it’s been hard for me to give optimistic predictions in my sector. I see a rise in gangsterism, climate change, inequality, heartless politics and fractured institutions. And now we’ve been set back by Covid.

Or have we?

Earlier this year I wrote about how COVID might change things. I think a few of these scenarios are playing out — I remain concerned about the expansion of gang control, for example.

This year I leant in to the Covid response in different capacities; personal, professional and voluntary. Like many, I am exhausted, and as we enter the second wave I’m not sure how we find the energy for this round. But I’ve learnt a few things that give me optimism, for the first time in a long time.

We have more resources than we think we do

A lot of people will stop reading here — how naïve is this chick! We are bankrupt! And what little we have has been looted! The South African narrative is that we are bankrupt or near to it. And if we look at specific indicators we can tell this story — our ratings, our debt (although presented against the global picture, not that bad), and our tax ratios. There are certainly limits to our resources, and damage has been done by corruption, which is not yet “over” (side note: here’s a good short read on rooting it out).

We have resources sitting in private hands: A big part of “Ramaphoria” was the notion that private wealth sat waiting behind flood gates, ready for a confidence trigger to release it. The solidarity fund, the GDP (and other leading indicators) bounce back, the rapid turnover from one restaurant owner to another, are all signals of this wealth. (Not without valid problematising in terms of its distribution and whether a crisis aids distribution or further accumulation, but its there — alone, this is not enough, so keep reading).

We have resources sitting in our cities: an untold story is that some of our metros and larger municipalities are sitting on resources — both cash and assets, that they are not leveraging. They report underspend — I.e. actual budgeted cash they are unable to spend each year — before they’ve even started to look at borrowing or sweating. Yes, many municipalities need help. But that’s only a part of the story. An optimist will look at the balance sheets and untapped value in the metros, and help them build their capacity to leverage and spend for a more inclusive recovery.

We have very smart people, exactly where they need to be — distributed across networks, and with close proximity to the ground and close proximity to power

Whether that’s people launching bicycle care services in townships, or people building data tools to keep health systems running (who knows what legacy or spin-offs either of these will have). I witnessed and was a part of a lot this year that are not my stories to tell, and hopefully one day will be stories I am able to share, but characteristic to some of this was:

• people who were able to pivot and apply their skills and networks almost instantly to a crisis. We’ve taken giant leaps in how to apply data and technology; in how to connect across communities, in how organise social safety nets
• people who were able to stay the course on longer term objectives that are just as critical, so that as we all emerge from this pandemic, we haven’t stood still. We’ve seen some big announcements this year — PRASA trains getting back on track (I hope I don’t take these words back), Municipalities permitted to procure energy directly, and Amazon investing in its own energy. And more of that to come!
• a willingness to reinterpret rules, process and teaming for the sake of outcome and impact
• Covid forced us to communicate and seek intelligence about what was happening in different parts of society, despite very challenging stakeholder engagement conditions — I believe that this offers interesting lessons for how we might connect these well distributed smart people going forward

When working for a common cause people must work through their differences — and people will do that work

I’ve often “preached” about the importance of a common goal.

A nuance I learnt this year was that the common goal does not just let people put aside our differences and get into action, but actually includes actions on working through our differences.

I’ve had more “hard” conversations this year than in any I can recall — digging in to the “why” and the “impact” and the “who” and the “where do I think you might go wrong” (and vica versa). This is without a doubt a big part of why I am exhausted. It’s emotional and challenging work. But it’s a profound learning for what it takes, and also how we will know when we are on the right path, for working on some of our other challenges.

So, what might go right?

2021 is an election year. Politics will heat up, we’re far from out of the pandemic, and all the other big scary challenges are still there — inequality, the persistence of apartheid, climate change, global migration, global forces to divide, technological disruption etc.

Some things that could go right:

1. New term focus (new IDPs) of metros can leverage the lessons learnt during Covid (and other recent crisis, such as the drought in Cape Town) and take some bold moves on how to use their balance sheets, community and business networks and very smart people to finally get cracking on a South African cause greater than basic services and political nicknacks. We’ve laid the foundations for this by starting to change the narrative that we have scarce resources, having the hard conversations, connecting the smart people, investing in capacity of project managers, supply chain and alternative enabling and regulative functions.
2. Individuals bringing the way Covid has changed *us* into our work — the importance of family, community and country *feels* far more prominent than it has in years. Boardrooms are made up of us as individuals, and now more than ever include our whole selves (pets, kids, home administration etc). We’ve learnt to have the hard conversations in our teams and in our homes, and we’ve learnt that there are resources and reserves and opportunities. Leaning in to recovery will mean more than just CSI. It will mean more hard conversations about transformation, commercial models, and investment in pathways to longer term complexity and resilience.
3. A reigniting of civil society. Our governance systems, our social safety and our rights/justice systems are strengthened by strong courts, media and by strong civil society organisations. Post apartheid has seen a slow dwindling of civil society apart from in a few issues/sectors. Covid brought to existence many new networks and vehicles through which to engage, connect, contribute and learn. I’d like to believe that people can’t unsee what is seen (about the needs of others, about the weaknesses in our representatives) and will remain engaged and even grow these new efforts.

You may say I’m a dreamer, but 2020 has taught me that I’m not the only one.