POSITVE DEVIANCE I

Patenoster, South Africa

August 28, 2009

It was in the market in Patenoster, South Africa that Skye called out, ‘hey, papa come look at this cool thing!’ Fully expecting a troll, trinket, or other tacky tourist item to maneuver my 11 year old away from, I was surprised to find colorful boxes made out of the bottoms of 1 liter coke bottles. Instead of recycling, or throwing them away, this woman had masterfully cut the the bottles in such a way that they would close. In order to make them pretty, she had taken napkins and glued them on in such a way as to make them sturdy and translucent so the light could shine through. And at 12 Rand – approximately $1.50 USD – they weren’t expensive.

She did a brisk business, so we were lucky to get one. She’ll make more tonight and be back tomorrow at 11am next to the dried fish, shell mobiles and other brickabrack.

Holding this thing, which I don’t know exactly what we’ll do with as we continue our road trip north into places wild and unknown, I started to think about principles. What are the common elements of projects that might make up an instance of positive deviance?

• Sustainable Value – it adds demonstrable value to multiple stakeholders – including the shareholder – and importantly, doesn’t take away value from other people, communities and nature. In simple terms, an instance of positive deviance should do no harm and bring value to many. In the case of the little box, she was making decent money on a ubiquitous item that was heading to a landfill, incinerator or energy intensive recycling plant.
• Cost Effective – the economics must make sense at scale within the communities in which they operate. In other words, it could work at scale and isn’t simply for the wealthy or extreme niche. If ‘sustainable’ cotton (or pick your commodity) can’t compete with ‘conventionally’ grown cotton, it won’t make a difference. At 12 Rand, these sturdy boxes were accessible even to the local fishermen, and were an absolute bargain to tourists. I could easily imagine thousands of these being made all over the world.
• Beauty – the direct outcomes and unintended impacts of the product or service should somehow enhance the richness and diversity of nature and society. If things add economic value and do no harm, but they detract systematically from diversity or beauty, then in the long run they won’t make the cut. My market entrepreneur didn’t need to add the napkins to the coke bottle boxes. They would work have worked without them just fine. But it was that extra move to thoughtfully bring beauty along with the practical innovation that make it appealing, and led to its being snapped up like hot cakes.

These may not be right, but it’s a good northstar to start.