Cassie Robinson - The Futures Interview - all that we are (fka the future is beautiful)

Cassie is co-founder and collaborator at The Point People. This is a network of people committed to and active in building, connecting and catalysing the social innovation system. What Cassie does is constantly emerging and shifting. and she holds a portfolio of social innovation projects. Cassie is also a sessional teacher at Ravensbourne, teaching Innovation & Entrepreneurship across their design disciplines as well as a guest lecturer at the University of East London on the MAPP course, teaching about the relationship between Social Innovation and Positive Psychology. Within the last decade, before starting her path on social innovation, Cassie was selected and awarded the NESTA Creative Pioneer, was the Director of an international fashion company, worked at Marie Claire magazine in New York, trained as a co-active coach with the CTI, and ran voluntary groups for young women developing knowledge of their sexual selves.

?!X: What’s the Future You Choose?

CR: The future that I choose is one where the ways in which we are interconnected are more visible, so that empathy can thrive and a sense of collective responsibility and compassion cannot be ignored. It’s a future where we can really connect with each other in very human ways, love would be at the centre of that. It is a world where we look after one another, not through services, but through human connection, people will be creating together, sharing together, solving problems together, overcoming adversity together, believing in one another, trusting one another. A future where people are able to see possibility, have hope and cultivate what they are talented at, If we were all able to do that then I believe so many other things would just fall in to place.

?!X: What’s a ‘think’ to create this future?

CR: Brene Browne‘s work about vulnerability is central to my hopes for the future. Without creating space for vulnerability we keep parts of us closed off from connecting with others, with the world. By being open, which can feel vulnerable at times, we open ourselves up to new experiences, to other views, to new possibilities. By showing our vulnerabilities we let others in, we make space for connecting more widely, more deeply, more meaningfully. We expose ourselves as being fully human.

?!X: What’s an ‘act’ to create the future you choose

CR: Ask yourself the question, what makes me feel vulnerable?

Explore that, and try to understand what feels scary about it and then take a step to feel vulnerable and notice what you feel, what you experience. Share with others what it felt like, what you discovered and see if you can start a mini-movement of vulnerability being seen as something that gives strength, rather than a sign of weakness.

?!X: What’s a ‘vote’ to create the future you choose?

CR: Rather than support a campaign or donate to a charity, why not pledge to support a person today. Someone that you know who may need some of your time, or someone to champion them, or to listen to them, or to bounce ideas off, to be a comrade. Think of somebody that you believe in, that you think is amazing and ask them what you can do for them, but make a commitment to do it for a period of time.

?!X: Future Soundtrack – What song would you take with you into the future?

CR: One of my favourite songs is Last by the Unthanks. I love that the Unthanks are sisters, that they’ve grown up in the wilds of Nortumberland and that their lyrics and melodies really capture the essence of that landscape.