Sex, drugs and… social innovation in San Sebastian

If you think conferences are always boring, you’ve never been to the International Summer School on Social Innovation (http://www.socialinnovationexchange.org/node/711). I was there last week and it was great fun. Social innovators are all crazy.

Without even mentioning myself – The Mad Italian or The Son of a Bitch as I came to be known – the event attracted an infinite variety of very funny characters.

First of all, I should mention the master of the event: The Guru of Social Innovation. Even though he had some very interesting ideas I was constantly distracted by his floral shirts . He looked like a middle-aged Californian film producer relaxing next to a pool, surrounded by sexy girls in bikinis. I’d love to see his collection of shirts in his wardrobe. It would resemble the parade of hats on Ladies’ Day at the Ascot races.

The Guru was escorted by an army of kids. My favourite was Blondie, aka Pretty Girl. She saved my mate Rugby Boy when on the first night the somewhat hostile guardian of the college where we were staying refused to let him in because he didn’t have a reservation. Thanks to Blondie and Ms Whip’s powers of persuasion, the guardian let him sleep in my room. Poor lad. Blondy took care of him the following night, so he was alright. 50/50. Fair’s fair.

I should clarify that Ms Whip was the head of The Guru’s army. She organised everything behind the scenes and hung around, armed with a bell and a whip. She used the first one to keep the time and the second one to punish whoever was late. I still feel the pain of those well-deserved punishments.

The summer school also had two guardian angels – or rather, just guardians: Mr Big and Miss Marple.

Mr Big chaired every session and smoked a cigarette at every break. Sometimes he called a break just to smoke a cigarette. He talked to hardly anyone but I forced him to surrender under the force of my questioning at least once. Although he didn’t speak much he always had a joke ready to shut his interlocutor up. By the end of the conference every delegate felt like Carrie in front of her beloved Big. See any episode of Sex and the City for details.

Miss Marple was exactly the opposite… at least, on the surface. She was chatty and
friendly. But it was just another way to keep the others under control. Later I discovered that her ancestors were linked to Churchill, with whom she shared a steely determination and Machiavelli, from whom she inherited cunning Indeed. She was able to avoid my repeated networking attacks until the very end of the event, when she pinned me against the wall, made me say what I had been trying to say for two days, and swapped business cards before disappearing again. That’s effectiveness!

I’d love to describe everybody in details but I have limited space. However, I can’t forget some of the other delegates. The Three Musketeers from Portugal were entertaining. Then there was The Sexy Daddy – with a wife, 2 kids and a body like a model out of a soft porn film; The Confused Prince who alternated between hugging women and men; and The Resolute Kid with whom I risked getting into trouble because he thought I was a paedophile.

Fortunately the Brits are relaxed about sex. The best example of British tolerance at the conference was Elvis, a native from the United Kingdom who has been confined to Oslo because his dubious deeds in various London bars specialized in sexual innovation and the elderly. Now  has he rehabilitated himself by becoming a devoted husband and soon-to-be father who works for one of the most prestigious British cultural organisations. He had the best line of the event, which I will use to make new friends in the field: “do you want to come and see my value collection?” We discussed partnership for a project on urban cultural innovation in the men’s toilets, sharing our ideas with the other delegates, who were truly fascinated.

I can’t forget the social Hezbollah of the conference. She couldn’t restrain herself from blowing-up jokes that I’m not sure everybody understood. Anyway, I had to face an interrogation about my sexual habits and my Muslim rosary from her. It was a tough time – I will go to see her again in Beirut.

My favourite group of delegates was the Basque gang. They are brilliant entrepreneurs; proud and stubborn but open to new ideas. They lead one of the best companies in Spain – one of the two largest cooperative groups in Europe – managing to combine Swiss order with Sicilian ambience. I’m going to clone them and export them to London!

The conference was genuinely international and we had the opportunity to exchange with social innovators from North America, Asia and Oceania. It was also cross sectoral. However, one choice of delegate left me speechless when I discovered that our bankers were a Brazilian and an Italian. Would you give your money to one of them? For the next conference I’ve already suggested a German policeman, British lover and French civil servant!

As any other special event our conference ended with a rousing speech. Father Charlie was recruited to raise our awareness that we social innovators are all…. communists! He gave other metaphors inspired by the British history of the 17th century: the diggers, the levellers… and some other obscure sects. In Italy he would have attracted a catholic-communist audience. Anyway, he ended by stressing that all these groups ended pretty badly – even worse than the communists – because they didn’t have a business plan. I won’t go on about this too much but I want to draw attention to his final recommendation taken from Japan. The secret of innovation of Japan is in the common habit of workers of going to drink together after work, get drunk and take off their shirts.

I’m not sure I fully understood the recommendation but I followed it immediately. Unfortunately it was midday. I went to the beach, got drunk, took off my shirt and jumped in the sea. The lifeguard then had to save me. I’m not sure that this could be called innovation in the specific Japanese sense but it was definitely an experience for the 20-year-old lifeguard who had to save me. You know what I mean!

Anyway, the conference was a great experience and as The Guru reminds us all the time, there is nothing better than such a conference for cross-pollination. Networking should become part of your core business because it stimulates your creativity through peer-learning across borders and boundaries combining different disciplines and experiences – i.e: read my blog religiously.

By the way, don’t miss the website
http://www.socialinnovationexchange.org – you might recognize my characters – and you’ll be able to find out about the international summer school next year!