Achieving Lasting Impact at Scale - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

8
EVERETT ROGERS, Sociologist and author of Diffusion of Innovations
There was a ghost in the room for the Seattle convening. Sociologist Everett Rogers died
in 2004, but his ideas, first and famously set out in his 1962 book Diffusion of
Innovations, continue to influence.
Rogers is best known for classifying people’s responses to innovation, showing how our
awareness, interest, testing and adoption lead us to be, for example, “early adopters” of
some new ideas but “laggards” when it comes to others.
Diffusion of Innovations is one of the most widely cited books in academia, and while
there was no reference at the convening to Rogers personally, his words
(“dissemination” and “diffusion,” for example) and propositions (such as the “S” curve
that predicts the speed with which a new product will be adopted) were common
parlance.
After the convening, prompted to look at Rogers’ work afresh, I was struck by how useful
his theories have been to successful scaling, particularly in the field of technology. I was
surprised to find that his broad‐ranging interests had extended to public health in the
Global South: he contributed to a radio drama that sought to improve family health in
Tanzania.
I also had a moment of reflection about what would be occupying Rogers if he were still
working today. Influenced, no doubt, by his farming background, he devoted his life to
understanding how individuals respond to innovation. I suspect that, given a longer life,
he might have shifted his gaze to the way in which groups – families, communities,
villages and townships, organizations and governments – react to innovation.
Had he been in Seattle, I feel sure Rogers would be urging us to look closer at the role of
intermediary organizations. He worked at Ohio State University where the “agricultural
extension” service, which sat between the scientists in the laboratory and the farmer,
helped to boost the rural economy. Rogers attributed the success of the extension
service to its social structure; the people who met with the farmers were a lot more like
farmers than scientists, and so farmers trusted them. Which organizations are ready to
take this role in scaling impact on family health?
From Everett M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, 5th Ed. New York: Free Press,
2003 [1962].
| Achieving Lasting Impact at Scale
behalf of Rotary International. Bill Gates
stares out of the poster and tells us, “We
are this close to ending polio.” His thumb
and forefinger are placed either side of the
words “this close.”
The Gates Foundation is making a huge
contribution to this dream, as, no doubt,
are Rotary International. But it was the
pronoun “We” that caught my eye.
Eradicating polio demands that a lot of
people do many things differently.
There was an impressive “We” at the
Gates convening. Experts in child health
sat alongside business leaders. Politicians
and policy makers shared the platform
with media experts. Many branches of
academia were represented, and
participants came from all corners of the
globe.
But more important, the convening
brought to prominence some interesting
ideas about how best to exploit the
diversity of “We.” It became plain that
people who have been successful at scale
understand that the solution to my
problem can be informed by the solution
to your problem. The scale maestros have
come to understand that talking to you
about how to address your challenges will
help them to address their challenges. In
this case, listening to others is not a
matter of being nice or respectful. It’s a
matter of getting the best solution. This
way of thinking has a name. It is referred
to as “solution leverage.”
Solution leverage is closely linked to the
prospect of “integrated innovation.”
Integrated innovation acknowledges that,
on the supply chain running from initial
invention to impact at scale, what I do at
point A has consequences for people
working at points B, C, and D in the same
process. Integrating the innovation means
a possible win at each of these points.
At the convening, there were many
examples of actions at one stage of the
innovation-to-scale journey spilling over
into consequences for others later on. For
example, philanthropy can pursue
integrated innovation when it does more
Starting the conversation