I have actually had several conversations like the ones I am about to describe...
My friend
How’s that new job going?
Me
Great thanks. People very nice. Carpeting very green.
My friend
Remind me, what does the RSA do exactly. Insurance right?
Me
No. that’s the RSA. We are the RSA. Very different. We do cool things.
My friend
Like?
Me
We kind of invented the brush for sweeping chimneys sometime in the 1800s.
My friend
Chim-chimmeny, chim-chimmeny-
Me
Chim-Chim-cheroo! And I think we kind of invented the public examinations system, plus offered rewards for the reduction of smoke emissions as early as 1770.
My friend
So what does RSA do then?
Me
Kind of a think tank.
My friend
Like IPPR?
Me
Hmmm, sort of, but with 27,000 Fellows.
My friend
Oh right, so you’re more like a small Avaaz then, or Amnesty?
Me
Not really, no. Er, we have a great building and do cool videos.
My friend
Ah, so you’re a members’ club, like Soho House?
Me
No. Hmmm. Look, you’ve obviously heard of the City Growth Commission, right?
My friend
No. But anyway, cool job mate.
That’s genuinely inspired by several conversations that I’ve had over the past few weeks. When I talked about things that the RSA has done in the past - chimneys and tree planting etc - I found that everyone could relate to them (although I didn’t muddy the waters by calling them ‘Premiums’). But I found that drawing together all the more modern things was much more tricky. I realised I had to find a new way of describing it. I did, and so now conversations go a little like this:
My friend
I heard that you got a job at the Royal Society – awesome!
Me
No, the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.
My friend
Manufacturing.
Me
No, Manufactures. As in ‘Prithee good sir, dost thou work in the manufactures?’
My friend
Er… So what does the RSA do then?
Me
(Proudly)
Aha! Think of it like a festival.
(Pause)
My friend
Glastonbury, or Hay-on-Wye?
Me
Hey?
My friend
Burning Man, or Edinburgh Fringe?
Me
This is an analogy, OK? At its early stages. Just think of a festival.
My friend
Ok. Glastonbury-
Me
Whatever. Look, what is a festival? It’s a whole load of different but cool things brought together in one experience, with a buzz about it. There’s a main stage; multiple other stages; side events; people milling around; meeting others, dancing, doing their own thing.
My friend
Yeah, I can see that. So what about the Fellows then?
Me
Sure. It wouldn’t be a festival without them. They might come along; they might be running one of the stages; or be on the stages; or dancing or whatever. Or maybe they watch the festival from their comfy chair at home. The point of it is to give people an experience – no one tells people how to dance or what to wear or who to speak to. The Festival plays the bangin’ tunes and the rest just happens
My friend
-I never thought I’d hear you say “Bangin’ tunes”-
Me
Yeah, and I’ll say it twice. We put on bangin’ tunes that, no matter how complex, always have a melody that makes people want to dance: a melody that they’ll still be humming after the festival, that they’ll think of when they get back to work, that they might share with their friends, do a cover version of, or remember snippets of when they write more music of their own.
My friend
OK, you’re starting to stretch this analogy now
Me
OK, I’ll stop
My friend
Anyway. Cool job mate.
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Thanks very much for your comments Dave, Matthew and Mike.
I agree with you Matthew that it's about making the world a better place - maybe the next iteration of my analogy can draw that in!
MIke - I agree with you about 'doing' and am a fan of the "thinking and Doing" / "Action and Research" approach, and I hope that my new team can help take that forward.
I care little for the building as I don't live in London and if I were you I'd tone that down....but I care a lot more about the Fellows and how the RSA works with them to achieve real world breakthroughs - which is to say that for me the RSA isn't a think tank- it's a 'doing tank' if that isn't too clunky a phrase! And its the doing that makes it very different to the very crowded and over heated Westminster 'think tank' bubble.
Hi Mark. I like this even if I am a bit old for festivals (well, other than those kind of ad ones celebrating forgotten pop starts of the seventies). You are right that the whole of the RSA should be greater than the sum of its parts. But let's remember it's a festival with a purpose. In the end we judge ourselves not by how much dancing happens but by whether the folk at the festival make the world a better place.
Nice blog! Great analogy... Cool Job mate!
Thanks Lorna!