That sounds way too sensationalistic, and it probably is. But the drama of that statement is certainly rooted in truth.

Allow me to explain.

Several years ago, I got enamored with the concept of ‘innovation’.

So much so, in fact, that it became a personal buzzword, advocacy, unifying battle-cry.

I read all the books and delved into all of the websites. Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The Innovator’s Dilemma. Innovation : The Five Disciplines. Closing the Innovation Gap. Innovation to the Core. Open Innovation. Innovation Nation. Innovation X. If the book had the word ‘innovation’ in its title (even the sub-title), it had a 90% chance of ending up on my bookshelf. I would get indoctrinated in the religion of IDEO (the Shopping Cart video and the innovation bibles, The Art of Innovation and The Ten Faces of Innovation).

For a time, some really cool friends and I put up Kolektib – an Innovation Hub in the creative hustle-and-bustle of Cubao X. We did Innovation Workshops internally and externally. It was an exquisitely fun time.

Even social entrepreneurship, for me, was a form of innovation – albeit social innovation. Hapinoy and Rags2Riches are expressions of melding social development with business models, a rather revolutionary approach which would certainly qualify as innovating.

I eventually synthesized my knowledge. I wound up conceptualizing, creating, and teaching a class in Ateneo on Innovation. It would tackle the why’s, the what’s, the how’s of the topic. I wanted to transmit the spirit to a next generation of innovators which would try to conquer and/or change the world.

The one line i always wanted my students to remember : Innovate or Die.

But beginning last year, my innovation lens would slowly shift. Not on a different tangent, but rather on a different depth.

I’m significantly more experienced and quite wiser. For all intents and purposes, I’ve changed. But more importantly, the world has changed at a mind-spinning rate – far outstripping my own evolution.

The first decade of the 21st Century was characterized by dizzying change, hyper-competition, unbridled growth – all of the factors that led to an innovation explosion. Globalization was at full-swing, the Internet began to fulfill its promise of changing everything.

And everything seemed possible. Growth was so palpable and reachable, and so businesses began pouncing on the massiveness of the opportunity. Driven by sheer momentum, they just plowed full steam ahead.

An innovation avalanche would ensue.

Innovation and Design consultancies would have a field day. So many new products, services, processes, and business models would emerge. I should know – it’s what I taught :

How Zara had reinvented the supply chain, allowing them to launch new fashion lines at lightning speed.

How the Wii would tackle the Blue Ocean of game consoles, beating the higher-performing Xbox 360 and Playstations by going on a different tangent and tackling non-gamers.

How Procter & Gamble used Open Innovation and launched connect + develop, unleashing a torrent of growth for their brands under AG Lafley’s watch.

More consumers were opening their wallets, and companies were feasting.

But towards the end of the decade, the world would undergo yet another step-change, perhaps an even larger one than the last.

Crises of global proportions would enter the lexicon.

A financial crisis would infect the world over, leading to national economies teetering on the brink. It was a full-blown meltdown and it washed over countries like a worldwide tsunami.

And speaking of tsunamis, the world became a real-life disaster movie. Environmentalists have been banging the alarm bells on the planet for so long, but it’s certainly only in the past few years that climate change has become real to the person on the street. When Typhoon Ondoy hit the Philippines, it was a shock to the system – it dumped one month’s worth of rain in half a day, causing floods in areas we never imagined were possible.

This climate change crisis is of course linked to to the energy crisis – our over-dependence on carbon-based fuels. Generations ago it wasn’t tangible, but now we see just how finite non-renewable energy is. It’s like we’ve got lung cancer and yet ironically still need two packs of smokes a day just to keep on moving.

And while all this was happening, the gap between the rich and the poor continued to widen. The proportion of the world’s population that survives under $2 a day still goes between a third to one-half of the total human race! (depending on which statistics you look at). Without a doubt, the population and poverty crisis continues to rear its ugly head.

And so in the span of a decade, we went from an age of seemingly unbridled growth … and plummeted into an age of uncertainty. An Age of Massively Complex Problems.

And that’s why a nagging feeling in my gut gradually snowballed, until my lens shifted.

I remember some of the projects that were conceptualized in my Innovation Class. A better kind of toothpaste. Refillable packaging for laundry detergents. Heck, even an innovative cigarette that would light without matches. Of course there were some that were more interesting – especially those who were in the social innovation track.

But with all due respect to my former students, it was the teacher who was at fault. We were thinking too small. We were throwing our energies at the wrong things. (just look at my slides)

Power is useless, if misdirected. Same goes for Innovation.

Innovation is good at tackling any problem, but it can be so much greater if it tackled the right ones.

And so I’m drawing a line on the sand, demarcating where my old thinking ends and my new perspective begins :

The only problems worth solving, worth investing your life in, are meaningful ones.

In an Age of Massively Complex Problems, do we really need to design a better toothbrush?

Do we still want to use innovation to drive unbridled growth and overconsumption, for things that people don’t really need but we’d just want them to buy?

Do we want to continue ransacking the planet with novel products that don’t really add anything extraordinary to people’s lives?

I say, that may have its place in the world, but certainly not in mine.

I will invest my time, my resources, my life, in innovation that, frankly, matters.

Meaningful innovation that adds real value to people’s lives, that tackles real problems plaguing individuals, society, and the world.

A lot of Big Problems. A lot of Big Opportunities. A lot of Big Innovations needed.

I call this new evolution of my definition, Innovation(+). Innovation plus, Innovation positive, Innovation with meaning.

The time has come for us to put collective energies into innovations that can create positive differences in people’s lives, for society, and the world at large.

We need platforms for participation; Heck let’s take it a step further as Platforms for Activation – where people are actively engaged in helping things move not just onwards, but upwards.

And so it’s in these specific challenges that I will be investing my energies on :

1. Social Innovations at the Base-of-the-Pyramid
- How can we co-create business models, products, and services that serve essential needs for those that live under $2/day?
- How can we make the poor active participants and co-creators in the common drive to get them out of poverty?

2. Development of Technologies, Products, and Services that Positively Advance the Human Condition
- How can we create new innovations in education, healthcare, energy, and communications that sustainably serve the needs of this generation and the next?
- How do we use innovation and design thinking to tackle everyday problems of society – traffic gridlock, transportation, crime as some examples? (in fact, IDEO has evolved Design Thinking into tackling Big Problems – just look at Open IDEO).
- How can the Big Brands, Big Products, and Big Services reinvent themselves into positively advancing the human condition?

3. Harnessing the Web for Massive Connection, Collaboration, and Change
- As I mentioned earlier – how do we create Platforms for Activation? I can think of no better example than how Iceland recently engaged its citizens to write the constitution.
- How can we use web to either rebuild or create new institutions? Financial institutions, Educational Institutions, Healthcare Institutions, even Governments?

4. A New Kind of Society
- How do we transition a paradigm shift from the traditional economics of GDP into one that measures happiness and prosperity?
- How do we go from unbridled production-consumption-growth into true, sustainable living?
- How do we balance the currents of globalization, localization, and community?

5. Innovating for The Planet
- There’s just no way getting around tackling the Climate Crisis head-on, it’s quite simply the biggest problem that we as a collective species have to contend with.
- In fact, I love what Al Gore writes in his new book/app ‘Our Choice’. In addressing the Climate Crisis, he wants ‘to make the rescue of civilization the central organizing principle of our politics, economics, and action.’

So there. A new personal roadmap, a clearer direction, a manifesto on where I wish Innovation+ will go. Where it will take us, or where we can drive it towards.

One of my all-time favorite quotes is by technologist Alan Kay – “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Such wise words in an Age of Massively Complex Problems, an age which needs more and more of us to do Innovation(+).

DARE TO ASK “WHY NOT?”

By Iya P. Joson

It is the simplest of ideas that spark the greatest of revolutions.

For Efren Peñaflorida, it was as modest as taking out run-of-the-mill pushcarts, filling them with school supplies and wheeling them out to cemeteries and trash dumps. For Barack Obama, it was as basic as reaching out to community grassroots, carrying with him the honest word of “change” and showing that real leadership wasn’t steered by skin color.
For social entrepreneurs Mark Ruiz, Bam Aquino and four of their friends, it isn’t any different. They said: if we wanted to fix the educational system of this country, end poverty in 20 years and get rid of bad governance once and for all, complexities weren’t needed.

The solution is simple—all we have to do is look around and ask, “Why not?”

Nothing like word of mouth

Talk isn’t cheap, especially when priceless ideas are on the line.

In a nutshell, this is what WhyNot? is about—Filipinos gathering together through an organized forum, sharing ideas, acting on them and inspiring each other with their own ingenuity. “We started on September of 2007, [and] it was inspired by TED at that time,” WhyNot? pioneer Mark Ruiz says. TED or Technology Entertainment and Design, is an American-based institution that similarly organizes global conferences to share “ideas worth spreading.”

The problem with TED, however, was a lack of Pinoy presence. And this is where WhyNot? swoops in “It was as simple as: ‘We should have a Filipino version of TED,’” says Ruiz. “I knew that the Filipino had so much to offer, had a lot of great ideas, and had done a lot of great things, but wasn’t given a platform to really broadcast [them].”

Three years and seven WhyNot? talks later, the forum has found an even stronger following with the help of the World Wide Web. Videos of the talks are uploaded on the WhyNot? website for hoards of Filipinos with Internet access to view. But even with the kick of technology, the core of the WhyNot? spirit remains the same. “It’s really a passion project,” Ruiz says. “Our intention is in the tagline—‘inspiring Filipino ingenuity.”

Wanted: A little bit of crazy

They call themselves, the WhyNuts.

Maybe because having the passion to get a project like this started, requires a little more than good ol’ sanity; maybe because trusting that the answer we’re looking comes in the form of a question—“Why not?”—is as strange as it is believable.

“We were just a group of friends that got together,” Mark says in reference to his partners—WhyNuts Bam Aquino, Carlo Calimon, Timi Gomez and Angeli Ko. “No applications involved, none of that sort,” he shares. After the third WhyNot? talk, the group welcomed their sixth and final WhyNut: Jan Chavez-Arceo, a businessman with a background in events management. “[Jan] was really the one who helped us take it to a new level,” Ruiz says. “She puts up a big show, a really big show,” he continues on with a proud smile.

Now motivated by six very strong, passionate individuals, one can’t help but wonder how the WhyNot? team chemistry works. Of this, Ko, the youngest of the group speaks up, “I love the WhyNuts!” she says. “We don’t meet very often, but when we do, it stretches on for hours.”

Calimon agrees. “We keep laughing every time we meet,” he says. “You [can] say everyone fits this team like a puzzle.” Power trips and catfights are strangers to the WhyNot? team. “We all recognize each other’s expertise so there isn’t much conflict on that front,” Aquino says. “Everyone trusts each other to do the role that each has chosen for himself or herself.”

Aquino, for example, “usually hosts and writes spiels that explain the themes and the talks.” Gomez is in-charge of briefing the speakers and Calimon is the Finance Guy. Ko keeps track of the registration and the ticket sales, while Arceo revamps everything to a big-scale production. Laying the heart of everything, as everyone agrees, is Ruiz.

Despite their different functions in the team, everyone plays a huge part in coming up with the Why Not? theme. For Gomez, this is the most exciting part of the Why Not? process. “It’s always a stimulating debate to get the perfect mix!” she says.

‘Thinkers, dreamers and doers’

Every single Why Not? forum theme is perfectly calculated. “It’s a brainstorming session,” Ruiz says. “First, we agree on the theme, and it’s really a discussion we have as a group.”

The first three Why Not? talks were a smorgasbord of different ideas, but the four succeeding ones were themed to answer whatever environment was brewing in the country at that time. The most recent one was called “reimagination,” a Why Not? theme created in response to Corazon Aquino’s death. “There was this air of uncertainty in the country—uncertainty about where we were headed,” Ruiz says. “And so we took a point of view and said, let’s ‘reimagine’ the country.”

After settling on a theme, the WhyNuts talk about getting the appropriate speaker—the person who they believe, can best fulfill the theme. And it’s vital to the WhyNuts that they get someone who not only thinks and dreams, but also does. “If you look at the roster of those who’ve spoken [for WhyNot], all of them have done something.” According to Ruiz, not one of their speakers comes up on the platform to say “I plan to do this”; rather they say, “I’ve already done this.”

Pragmatic idealism is what it’s called  and it’s usually WhyNot’s first step to getting the Filipino to break out of his mold—by showing him that others have dared ask the question, and he can too.

‘Let a thousand flowers bloom’

It’s difficult to measure the extent of WhyNot’s impact, especially since every forum is uploaded online for everyone with Internet access to take a look at. “Once you put it out on the Internet, you cannot track it. [When] we factor it being on the web, we never really know.” Ruiz says. “So our philosophy is, let’s just put it out there—let a thousand flowers bloom.”

But basing it from the feedback of the talks, both online and offline, it’s safe to say that WhyNot? works. Filipinos, especially those residing abroad, e-mail the WhyNuts to speak praise of their videos. There are “a lot of good things happening [in the Philippines],” they say—a lot of good that they no longer see on the news or in the papers.

All of this goes back to what WhyNot? strives to showcase: the good, and the great things Filipinos can accomplish.

Finding beauty in the bad

Does the Philippines in general lack people who ask “Why not?”
“Yes,” Ruiz says. “And that’s why we really put this up also. Filipinos like the status quo. [But] we want people to be unhappy with the status quo. And that’s what WhyNot is about—it’s about ideas that break, push the envelope and move things forward.”

Most Pinoys believe that an air of negativity hangs thick around this country. But WhyNot? makes it clear—it’s what you do about this negativity and cynicism that makes all the difference. “We see the bad, bur rather than settling on it, we ask ‘Why not?’” Ruiz shares, fervor and passion lining tone.
Children may be lining up on the streets, begging for food, and thousands of people may be out of work, but Ruiz calls this “the starting point.” He says, “You don’t ask ‘Why not?’ when things are perfect. You ask ‘Why not?’ because there’s a certain discomfort with the status quo.”

We would all love to witness the day when every Filipino is properly sheltered, schooled and fed; when jobs can be found inside the country, and families are no longer separated by limiting, financial opportunities in these islands. When hope and pride isn’t something we have to search deep in our hearts for, because we see it all around us—in beautiful infrastructure, in clean streets, in good governance.

But until that moment comes, and we’re still living at a present where corruption is common fare, and poverty is an everyday reality—we can find strength and solace in a simple question.
—“Why not?”

It’s absolutely amazing how one year can change an entire nation’s complexion.

Last August 22, 2009, we at WN?F felt that we needed to paint a picture of what can be rather than what is.

At that time, the country was mired in uncertainty given the shaky political climate, the elections just under a year away. We literally didn’t know what was going to happen.

It was also at this period that an emotional wellspring erupted across the country after the passing of the ‘mother’ of our democratic nation, Tita Cory.

And so we at Why Not? Forum then asked, Why Not a ReimagiNATION?

We basically wanted to take a point of view in reimagining the New Filipino. Where we could go, not where we’re stuck :

Now, one year later, nobody could have predicted that our country would be in this state – a new President, a new administration, a new spirit of optimism, a renewed sense of people power.

And while most of the Why Nuts are obviously also involved in the political sphere, the Why Not? Forum as an entity still wanted to take a different perspective outside of the new government.

We wanted to take a stance that this new sense of hope and optimism is not going to magically translate into change by virtue of having a new administration alone. All of us in the private sector will have to get roaring and do our part.

And so for this round, Why Not? asks our beloved followers ‘NOW WHAT?’.

Now that we’ve got this energy, this spirit, this new pulse – what are we going to do about it?

So join us on August 22, 2pm at the Ayala Museum, as our speakers answer this question with us :

Bill Luz – Now What for Philippine Business?
Rico Hizon – Now What for the Global Pinoy?
Noel Cabangon – Now What para sa mga Mabubuting Pinoy?
Reese Fernandez – Now What for Social Development?
Alex Lacson – Now What for Good Citizenship?
Ogie Alcasid – Now What for the Pinoy Entertainment Industry?

for reservations, email whynotforum@gmail.com; you can also confirm via facebook http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116268368424975

http://www.whynotforum.com

TED, our inspiration behind putting up the WhyNot?Forum, is coming to Manila!

This particular event is called TEDx Manila, and is being organized by Filipino UP Professor and education advocate Rom Feria (himself a TED Fellow).

TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is call TEDx (place), where x=independently organized TED event. At our TEDx (place) event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group.

TEDxManila is going to be held on December 5, 2009, in UP Diliman’s Malcolm Hall (College of Law). For more details, especially on how to apply — check out their official website here.

Shameless plug, I’ve also been invited to speak

Here are some pictures from the Y4IT event.

I just had to repost this – Rapa Lopa’s talk from the recent WhyNot?Forum 7.0 – Why Not a ReimagiNATION? It is absolutely moving :

In a heart-wrenching talk, Benigno Aquino S. Foundation Executive Director Rapa Lopa narrates how the love story of his Auntie Cory and Tito Ninoy translated into a love story for the Filipino people. He then talks about how their heroic influence has inspired him in his different advocacies in helping others – whether that be in social business enterprise or philanthropic work. NOT to be missed.

For more videos on Inspiring Filipino Ingenuity, visit the WhyNot?Forum website.

Coming off the heels of our 6th WhyNot?Forum — Why Not Be True? Tribute to Pinoy Subculture Tribes, the WhyNuts thought through the theme for 7.0. Our minds were swimming around science, futurism, and heroism – until we decided to coincide our schedule with the August 21 death anniversary of national hero Ninoy Aquino. That decision settled it. From a back-to-the-roots journey into geek-dom and subculture, we were ready to unashamedly wear our nationalistic hearts on our sleeves again.

Bam melded our thoughts and proposed to talk about ‘the Filipino for the 21st Century’ – a Reimagined Filipino if you will – and it was a theme that the group gravitated towards immediately. To deepen our thinking, we underwent a process to discuss the theme in length, inviting Rapa Lopa (who would eventually be a speaker), Lino Rivera, and former WhyNot? speaker Floy Quintos to brainstorm. The output of that session eventually gave birth to WhyNot?Forum 7.0 :

—

Fast forward to August 22 : WhyNot?Forum 7.0 becomes another memorable milestone in the history of WhyNot?Forums.

In true WN?F fashion, we looked for a venue that could be a statement on the theme itself. Thus, we looked for a space that was rich in Filipino heritage and culture, and yet at the same time was progressive and forward-looking. For us, the Ayala Museum was the perfect space. And thankfully, with the help of Bill Luz from the Ayala Foundation, we were able to get it.

WhyNot?Forum 7.0 @ the Ayala Museum Lobby

As early as 2:30pm, people promptly started trickling in. By 3pm, the venue had been filled-up and more seats needed to be provided. The crowd would eventually balloon to more than 200 – composed of  young professionals, students, academicians, business leaders, development workers, NGO’s, executives, even children – taking up the entire floor area venue.

Bam Aquino, WhyNut and our in-house host, then introduced WhyNot?Forum 7.0′s theme, explaining how the WhyNuts had decided to coincide this special WN?F with the death anniversary of his uncle, National Hero Ninoy Aquino. He shared that it was our own way to also contribute to the conversation on positive change for the country.

WhyNut Bam Aquino introduces ReimagiNATION to a Jampacked Crowd @ the Ayala Museum

After the snappy introduction, the program immediately dove into action. Paco Sandejas – Stanford PhD holder, Venture Capitalist, and Brain Gain Network founder – took to the stage to give the first talk of the forum. He proceeded to talk about his topic – a question on Why Outbound, Not Homebound; or in his own words, “Should I Stay Or Should I Go?”.

Paco narrated his experiences of taking higher studies in the US, but eventually deciding to make a bid to go back to the Philippines and set-up shop, despite the unideal local situation. He explains possible reasons for returning – whether it be economics, family, even opportunity (Being a Small Fish in a Big Pond vs Being a Big Fish vs a Small Pond).

He also shares his view that we should understand Filipinos who decide to go abroad and try their luck out in the great blue yonder. Aside from the fact that we don’t understand his or her personal circumstances, it’s also good for the country because Filipinos out there are learning and working at a global level. After all, the reality of the world today is that competition for jobs is across geographies and nationalities, and not just with fellow Filipinos.

He then ends by sharing his online platform for collaboration across all Filipinos — whether they be based in the Philippines or abroad. This is the aptly-named Brain Gain Network which can hopefully be an engine to build, in his own words, Philippines 2.0.

Paco Sandejas, PhD of BrainGain Network of NarraVC

Speaker #2 is a first for WhyNot?Forum. A military officer, Major Dennis Eclarin of the Philippine Army captivated the audience by showing up in full uniform. Armed with the topic Renegades, Not Robots – Major Eclarin debunks all stereotypes and biases we  normally have towards military officers. Military should not be a concern at all, he explains; the Philippine Army now simply works behind the scenes – quietly under the radar – in order to serve the general citizenry.

A progressive nationalist, Dennis relayed that his experiences in military service — even in the frontlines of actual battle and conflict — have made him seek  better ways to help move the country forward. This better way, he then posits, can be fueled by a new kind of renegade-ism, which he then redefines by contrasting it against robot-ism (Nation-Building vs Managing Systems; Leaders of Characters vs Soul-less Machines; Free Thinkers vs Mindless Followers). For him, renegade-ism is not rebellion; On the contrary,  it is nation-building by working with stakeholders and negotiating within the system.

He then gives a twist to Why Not by sharing snippets of a new book that he’s currently authoring, entitled “What If?”. Instead of the usual Why Not? Questions, he asks What If”s? These ‘What If”s would be : fighting for a middle force, championing unity of effort, building a strong (democratic) state, crafting a distinctively pro-business vision (yes, a capitalist-friendly soldier!), tapping Filipinos abroad, and forming a corps of dynamic leaders.

Major Dennis Eclarin of the Philippine Army

After the incendiary talk of Major Eclarin, Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel provides a tangential perspective, asking “Why Not A Nation of Activists and an Activist State?”.

In her calm yet firm manner, Risa shares her thoughts on how a new take on activism (not simply the traditional association of take-to-the-streets rallying) can provide hope in effecting true change in the country. In fact, the moment one wonders if things ‘can be better’, that person becomes what Risa calls “a closet advocate”. If this ‘closet advocacy’ is then taken collectively and acted upon – transitioning from advocacy into activism – then perhaps this can result in a true revolution from below. And as this revolution builds, so too does the empowerment of the citizenry.

But this does not only apply to a revolution from below. Being in government, Risa also shares how activism can play a role from that perspective. For her, activists within government working on empowering policies will lead into societal transformation. The change this effects can be both systemic and institutional.

Ultimately, she shares a vision of a nation of activists, building an activist state.

Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel

Rapa Lopa – Executive Director of the Benigno Aquino Foundation, Chairman of MicroVentures, and Executive Assistant to as well as nephew of President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino – became an emotional high-point for the forum.

With his beloved Auntie Cory’s passing just a few weeks earlier – an event that would dramatically envelop the whole Philippines in mourning, respect, and love – Rapa shared his thoughts and reflections on her life. Rapa talks about his belief that the story of Tita Cory is interwoven with the story of his Tito Ninoy; In fact, it’s not just any story, but rather a very powerful and moving love story. The couple became each other’s pillars of strength, allowing them to endure trials such as Tito Ninoy’s unlawful imprisonment, and eventually his ultimate sacrifice of dying for the country.

But Rapa’s insight is this : LOVE was the central theme that fueled his Tito Ninoy and Tita Cory. It was love for each other. It was love for God. And this love became real – as it translated into love for country, for the Philippines, for the Filipino. As Rapa asked early on in his talk : Is the Filipino Worth Living and Dying For? And the lives of his uncle and his aunt were testaments that the answer is a resounding yes.

He then shares how working with his Tita Cory has moved him into working for a better country, and that has shaped the people he has chosen to work with today; MicroVentures, a microfinancing business development services company working with the poorest of the poor; iamninoy runners; Philippine Stagers Association (for Ako Si Ninoy musical); and his efforts on “giving multiplied” – harnessing the power of the internet to find help for those who need it.

With a solemn silence not heard since Mr. Pagsi’s talk in WhyNot?Forum 3.0, Rapa then ends by asking young children from the audience what their dreams were, what they wanted to be when they grew up. And he parts by saying that these children are the future – they are the Filipinos that are worth living and dying for.

Benigno Aquino Foundation Executive Director, MicroVentures Chairman, and Tita Cory’s Nephew Rapa Lopa

The last speaker for WhyNot?Forum was another new addition to the mix.

Howie Severino – renowned journalist – shared his thoughts not with a prepared speech, but rather with an extemporaneous spiel, as a reactor.

Able to simultaneously juggle insight, humor, and heart, he provided a sharp recap of the key points of each speaker – at times distilling and enriching what each speaker had tackled in his or her respective talk.

It would prove to be a fruitful exercise, as Howie was able to provide a unity of perspective across the different topics tackled, painting a distinct yet unified picture of what had transpired that afternoon. One particular theme that Howie captured is that the speakers provide us a glimpse of who the Filipino can be, not just who he is.

A First for WhyNot : A Reactor c/o Journalist Howie Severino

All-in-all, it was another powerful and moving WhyNot?Forum — filled with several a-ha! ideas, points of laughter, and heart-rending moments.

In a conversation on reimagining the new Filipino, we realized that we may indeed be a ‘work-in-progress’, but a clear vision of who we can still be is what should capture our imagination. To echo Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, “reimagination is the beginning of hope.”

WhyNuts L-R : Timi Gomez, Bam Aquino, Carlo Calimon, Rapa Lopa, Jan Chavez-Arceo, Angeli Ko, Mark Ruiz, Lino Rivera

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As we wait for the official videos to be up in a few weeks, here is a teaser video on some highlights of 7.0 :

To end, WhyNot?Forum would like to give a very special thanks to its partners : OneAsiaTouchpoint, DVTech, and HavocDigital; and special sponsors for WhyNot?Forum 7.0 Ayala Museum, Signum, Yakult, and Rene Barbier.

Think New Thoughts. Share Big Dreams. Do Brave Things
The WhyNot?Forum : Inspiring Filipino Ingenuity
www.whynotforum.com

WhyNot?Forum 7.0 Teaser

Why Not A ReimagiNATION?

Imagine the New Filipino : Homebound, not Outbound. Competitive, not Complacent. Global Perspective, not Regional Mindset. Renegades, not Robots

Paco Sandejas, Brain Gain Network
Major Dennis Eclarin, Philippine Army
Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel
Howie Severino, Journalist
and Rapa Lopa, Executive Director of Benigno Aquino Foundation on his Tita Cory’s reimagination of the New Filipino through her work and advocacies

August 22, 3pm to 6pm @ the Ayala Museum. Tickets at P200 each.
Please email whynotforum@gmail.com for reservations