Purpose and Passion

Can Innovation Solve the Opioid Crisis?

A few of us innovation coaches from Intuit had the opportunity to travel to West Virginia to help teach Marshall University students how to innovate. So we thought - why don’t we put together a real application of the innovation tools for the students? In other words, could we get the students together, pose real-world problems to them - problems they care about - that would serve both as motivation and a vehicle to practice and learn the innovation techniques?

But a fundamental question loomed large: If we presented these students, novice innovators, with large challenges to address, would we overwhelm them? The results were surprising.

We began working with our contacts at Marshall University to construct a two-day Boot Camp followed by a month-long innovation contest for teams of voluntary student innovators at Marshall. At the end of the month-long field exercise, the student teams reported out their progress to three experienced innovation coaches (who turned out to be Intuit CEO Brad Smith, actress Jennifer Garner, and NFL star/Marshall alum Chad Pennington!)

Our team of innovation coaches traveled out to West Virginia and met 45 students and faculty for the kick-off of our two-day Design for Delight (D4D) Boot Camp. We divided the students and faculty into seven teams, and each team was tasked with a grand challenge.

Pictured left to right: Kristen Lillvis (faculty), Rowan Robinson, Evan Robinson, Corey Tornes, Morgan Whitt, Katie Cowie and Olen York (faculty)

To get a deeper understanding of what the students did, I recently talked with the five students from one of the teams addressing the single toughest challenge issued: Eradicate the substance abuse problem plaguing the Appalachian area.

Jeff (Intuit): You addressed just about the most difficult challenge anyone could imagine, the issue of substance abuse. How did you tackle such a big challenge?

Morgan: It was difficult. We had to be very careful with what we did, and not to upset anyone, because many people around here are victims of addiction or have family members with addiction issues.

Katie: I remember when I first found out that I had been placed on one of the substance abuse teams- I was terrified. How could a few college students figure out a way to fight the monstrous, seemingly hopeless problem taking control of our friends and neighbors? Soon after beginning the challenge, I realized that addicts are capable of defeating their addictions, but not many people are willing to fight in the trenches, side by side with those struggling. People are more comfortable sweeping problems under the rug in an attempt to look “put together.” It’s hard to fight addiction alone, but when we fight together, THAT is when change happens. Addressing such a difficult challenge was definitely hard, but it taught me so much about community and the need to join together.

Rowan: Yes, I feel addressing addiction was a simultaneously humbling and empowering experience. It was difficult to see what some of our audience had gone through, but it was inspiring to see that there was hope if we asked the right questions, listened to feedback and approached the topic without judgment.

Evan: I feel like it wasn’t hard to tackle once we had the idea of using Virtual Reality (VR) to have people experience the damaging drug effects of mental capability, virtually. Having a solution like VR in mind gave this problem a glimmer of hope.

Jeff: What was this VR idea?

Corey: Through the design thinking coaching we got, we developed a very specific point of view, which later became a more measurable hypothesis: Allowing students to feel the effects of drug use without the euphoria of the experience will reduce their curiosity and prevent them from trying mind-altering substances.

Jeff: Ah, so the core idea was a VR experience to trigger a specific feeling and effect? Did you experience ups and downs doing this challenge?

Katie: My low point was hearing the stories of addicts - it broke my heart.

Rowan: Me too, it was difficult seeing seeing the people we were working to help in pain. But the lows were much fewer than the highs, since every mistake helped lead us in the right direction. The lows were typically followed by a high – where they would tell us how to reach others or what our efforts meant to them. In my experience, the low points often generate high points.

Evan: A peak for me was getting real feedback from students. Seeing that our scenarios were scary to them made it seem like it was something that was going to work. I remember as a highschool student hearing talk about drug abuse and shrugged the idea off. Because it was almost like a weekly problem you heard on the news. But students reacted to our idea the way we thought. Finally seeing light come to our idea and getting positive feedback was a high point for me.

Corey: A great point was after we finished our rehearsal on the day of the presentations. We had walked off stage and went back into the seating area and we were approached by one of the production team members. I remember seeing him walking through one of the rows of seats and I was thinking “Crap, we did something wrong and we are in trouble.” But that was not the case, he had heard our presentation during the rehearsal and had already called someone whom he thought we needed to talk to in order to get our proposed solution from an idea to a reality.

Jeff: Wow, so someone from industry made a connection to a partner who might join in building your solution?

Corey: Yes, and just based on seeing our rehearsal!

Morgan: Related to this, a peak high point for me and the team I believe would be discovering that if we targeted the younger people to work on the preventative side of addiction we could focus on prevention to eventually reduce the number of addicts.

Evan: I felt honored to be able to address something so big. It was an honor and a motivator to try and find a solution to drug addiction.

Jeff: What would you want others to know about fighting and solving addiction?

Katie: Instead of pointing fingers and saying only the poor do drugs, we should admit that anyone can become a slave to the drug epidemic. Addiction is not biased to a particular race, income level, age, or gender. It is not just a West Virginia problem either. It’s a worldwide issue that needs to be confronted now, by all people, before another brother, sister, father, mother, or child is taken by drugs.

Morgan: We won’t give up. The whole challenge was a fantastic experience that we are still slowly working on to achieve help for recovery and addiction in the beautiful state of West Virginia.

Rowan: A key challenge here has been making sure anyone we partner with is empathetic for our audience. We’ve also worked to perfect our scenarios by researching what prevention techniques work best.

Corey: Yes, it takes partnership. We sat in on one of the President’s Substance Abuse Coalition meetings. We also have been connected with one of the local Delegates for West Virginia and a production company who could assist in furthering our idea.

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In April, team Appalachian Action presented their solutions and experimental results in front of 500 people, four TV cameras and three celebrity coaches. Their team was chosen as one of three teams to be rewarded with extended encouragement and coaching to keep experimenting, plus a trip to Silicon Valley to visit Intuit, Google, Facebook, San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Although this Design for Delight Innovation Challenge was “just” a school project and students took their finals months ago, some of the teams are still moving their ideas forward and seeking solutions through partners. By taking on a large, seemingly insurmountable challenge, the Marshall students find themselves infused with new life and work skills, and above all else, new hope.

Our initial concern, that the students might be intimidated and paralyzed by seemingly insurmountable challenges, was essentially “blown out of the water.” To the contrary, we ultimately found the students were emboldened and motivated by the large challenges. Their actions spoke clearly: Big challenges required big and bold thinking. And they rose to the occasion. While a small challenge might generate small and “reasonable” ideas, the bold challenge created MORE energy, more passion, and a stronger connection to purpose of life.

Connected by this common purpose, and a passionate dedication to address a giant challenge, these students had the courage to innovate a solution to an enormous problem. That’s dedication. That’s what passion linked to purpose can do for this world.

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In our forthcoming book, Hugh Molotsi and I are writing about how companies can empower employees to solve big challenges. 

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Please read and view more about the Design for Delight Challenge at Marshall University -

Press and social media

• The Herald Dispatch - Marshall and Intuit Foster Solutions to Big Problems
• WV Metro News - Student and Faculty Innovate
• Storify - 2017 Innovate for Impact Design for Delight Challenge at Marshall U

Video coverage

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQnKY1WKyR0&feature=youtu.be
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqVpSErj_Bc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqVpSErj_Bc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkAhkgLxWAI