I really enjoyed this week’s uncomfortable collision with reality with colleague Gene Tunny. We covered a lot of ground talking about the use and abuse of the wellbeing agenda.
Where does it come from? Why is it taking off as an approach to policymaking?
How do we make the most of this as authorisation to improve our world?
By avoiding the pitfalls!
I argue that the main pitfall is imagining ourselves to be part of some grand new way of thinking. Bureaucrats and think tanks reach for frameworks and schematic diagrams. But if they’re the wrong kinds — if they’re schematic rather than built to aid action — those frameworks simply give us new labels with which to dress up the same old same old and the iron law of business-as-usual takes hold again. Until the next new fad, the next new vocabulary.
But done well, we could really address some big problems at the same time as improving the health and prosperity of our communities. If you prefer it, the audio is here.