Ed Mullen
If I look back at my career so far, one of the things that has been most helpful is my seeming inability to stick to the scope of the project at hand.
That doesn’t mean I’m a pushover when I’m prodded to deliver more than originally agreed upon. It means I pretty much always stick my nose where I haven’t been asked. Not forcefully, of course. Just out of inquisitiveness.
You know those moments, don’t you? When you feel that the thing that needs to be done isn’t exactly what you’ve been asked to do. It’s a bit beyond that. It’s the thing that others think isn’t really necessary. But you know, if you just did it, they’d see it’s value and it will make everything better. You can always just skip it, but sometimes it’s an opportunity.
Ed Mullen
Last summer, I was asked to join the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) team that was going to be building out HealthCare.gov—one of the earliest requirements of the Affordable Care Act—as Design Lead. How this came to be is pretty amazing.
In late January of 2010, I was walking to my office, stewing about something I had been listening to on the radio before I left home about the proposed Health Reform bill. At the time, there was still a question over whether or not it would be supported by those on the left advocating for a public option.
Ed Mullen
The practice of empathy seems to have been a central force in Barack Obama’s life for a very long time. It was certainly front and center from the moment he stepped onto the stage of the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
His capacity for empathy allowed him to connect with a broad range of people. His recognition of an empathy deficit, and the public’s unquenched desire for a more empathetic world, gave momentum to the movement that led to his Presidency. Edwin Rutsch from progressivespirit.com has compiled a collection of videos of Barack Obama speaking on the topic and value of Empathy.
Edwin Rutsch from progressivespirit.com has compiled a collection of videos of Barack Obama speaking on the topic and value of Empathy.
Ed Mullen
2010 has been very hard for many people. But for me, I’m incredibly thankful for a year filled with amazing collaborations.
From my work in D.C. on HealthCare.gov to the smallest updates for long-time clients, this has been a year when my goal of working with great people doing important work in the world has been fully realized. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunities I’ve had this year. I want to take a moment to thank the people I’ve had the good fortune to work with…
Ed Mullen
Chris Jordan’s amazing photographs of birds and the indigestible pieces of plastic that killed them are amazing in their efficient and potent storytelling.
Since I saw this series, I can not get them out of my head. Every time I see plastic in a gutter, I think about this. And that’s great.
Someone designed all those things. Someone used them. Some person lit dozens of cigarettes of that lighter. Someone took those caps of their soda. Maybe me.
View the full Midway: Message from the Gyre series.
Themes
Theme Spotlight
Telling Stories
Sharing Experience and Expressing Value
Storytelling is a tool used to share things we’ve learned and things we value with our community in order to increase common experience and advance our objectives.
Empathy
Seeing Value in the Experience of Others
Recognizing the value of the experiences of other people, and looking at a situation from their vantage point, helps us to define solutions more accurately and grow together.
Live / Work
Expectations and Responsibilities of Work
The role of work in our lives has changed, and with it our expectations for what we want out of it and a growing understanding of our responsibilities in it.
Constraints
The Structures We Operate Within
Looking at the positive and negative aspects of constraints helps to understand how they guide us and when they’re helpful and when they’re harmful.
The Long View
Sustainability and Role We Play in Tomorrow
Sustainability is about more than just the environment. It’s about the long-term impact of the decisions we make about a whole range of things.
A Visible Future
Expressing the Future as it Could Be Lived
Communicating a vision of a possible and preferable future provides both a map and destination to people weighing the costs and benefits of change.
Identifying Value
Perceiving Importance Where Others Have Not
Change begins when someone first perceives the value of something others overlooked and advocates for a realignment of our systems and structures to embrace it.