Change AGEnts

LF56 | The most effective longevity innovators combine systems change and behavior change. Here are eight of the best.

Transforming society into one in which healthy longevity is the norm relies on two types of transformational shift: behavior change and systems change. These are, on the surface, quite different ‘disciplines’ that intersect around longevity.

Making change happen will require experts, connectors and intermediaries - the middle men and women, not just startups - that see the big picture, are mission driven and are comfortable at inhabiting both worlds. I’m looking for these rare systems innovators and below is a curated list of eight of the best I’ve come across so far.

Transforming Individuals: Behavior change

Behavior change inhabits the realm of psychology, social psychology, population health and increasingly ‘heterodox’ (i.e. non-mainstream) economics.

McKinsey’s analysis suggests that of the 23 factors that drive healthy longevity, 19 of them are non-clinical and modifiable; i.e. lifestyle factors. When so much of an individual’s longevity trajectory is under their own control, the ability to change behavior is crucial.

But it’s more than just individuals eating well and doing exercise, we also need to change the behaviors of individual policy makers to adopt new policies, insurance executives to fund long-term health, academic researchers to genuinely collaborate, funders to invest for real change not just financial returns, startup founders to work on meaningful problems, caregivers to take care of themselves… the list goes on. A common theme is mindset shift and new mental models - and the experts at making this happen are the behaviour change experts.

Transforming Societies: Systems Change

Systems change emerged out of physics, biology, complexity science, and the environmental movement with 1972’s Limits to Growth introducing these ideas and frameworks to a larger (and largely sceptical) public. The field of systems change is massive, complex and top down.

One of the defining features of complex systems - a core building block of systems change - is that you can’t really tell what the eventual outcome of any individual intervention will be. That butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil really can cause a tsunami in Japan, but you can’t predict it.

As such these approaches seem potentially at odds, but are in fact two different tools that can be used in concert. For example, getting people to do more exercise relies on both - behavior change via social pressure or putting your gym kit by the door to have less of an excuse, and systems change to e.g. reduce car dependency, reward people for being healthy and change our lived environments to make exercise easier.

Large scale population health projects such as improved longevity requires a ‘winning coalition’ to ensure policy and regulations, business models and research line up.

Recognising intermediaries as the ‘connective tissue’

Much of the attention around innovation is naturally on startups. However, albeit with a few exceptions, the story of systems change (particularly in health) is generally one about the middlemen and women who live in the gaps between the startups, the investors, the researchers and the end users. These tend to be consultancies, accelerators, practical think-tanks, hands-on foundations and mission-driven funders who act as weavers and enablers, architects of coalitions for change.

Based on recent conversations and explorations, here are eight of the most interesting I’ve seen recently. This curated list may be updated as I meet others.

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BeSci.io

Location: US (network).
Link: https://besci.io/
Looking Forward interviewee: Matt Wallaert, Founder

A US-based global network or behavior change expert practitioners who work together on a break-even basis to bring behavior change skills and mindset change to a broader audience. 

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Market Shaping Accelerator

Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Link: https://marketshaping.uchicago.edu/
Key contact: Leah Rosenzweig, Director

A just-launched $2m accelerator program at University of Chicago to nurture new systems change ideas targeting pandemics and climate change. It’s backed by several top Nobel prize-winning economists, and the team has built successful ‘advanced market commitments’ that create financial demand for new vaccines.

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Griffiths Center for Systems Innovation

Location: Queensland, Australia
Link: Griffiths.edu
Key contact: Alex Hannant, Executive in Residence

The Griffith Centre for Systems Innovation are “pathfinders, capability builders, convenors, and critical friends pushing the boundaries of impact innovation”. Their recent report, ‘Design Foundations for Systems Capital’ lays out a blueprint for aligning investment dollars to generate systems shifts, centered on behavior change.

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Nudgeathon

Location: Warwich UK and global events.
Link: https://www.nudgeathon.co.uk/
Key contact: Umar Taj, Co-founder

A UK-based behavior change hackathon, founded by Warwick University Professor Tal Amar, that aims to rapidly educate people around behavior change to drive outcomes change and co-create practical solutions. They’ve worked on a number of population health efforts, in particular in the Middle East.

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Curiosity Incubator

Location: Cambridge, UK
Link: https://www.linkedin.com/company/curiosity-incubator/
Key contact: Bridget Gildea, Founder

A UK-based behaviour change accelerator program, based out of (my alma mater) Jesus College, Cambridge. They host focused, practical courses to deliver behaviour change for corporate settings, and have recently been diving into health and care changes with the NHS.

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The Holding Co

Location: San Francisco, CA
Link: https://www.theholding.co/
Key contact: Patrice Martin, Cofounder & CEO

The Holding Co. are like the McKinsey for the care sector - a sharp team of big-thinking, mission-driven consultants, the group was formed out of a year-long research exploration on caregiving in collaboration with Pivotal Ventures, Melinda French Gates’s investment company. Behavior change is not as explicit, but the founders, from IDEO, have a close relative - deisgn-thinking - in their DNA.

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VAL Health

Location: New York, NY & Philadelphia, PA
Link: https://valhealth.com/
Key contact: Karen Horgan, CEO

A health-care focused behavior change consultancy that helps corporates deliver novel behaviour change programs. Developed out of research from University of Pennsylvania Professors Kevin Volpi and David Asch, the company has helped double preventive screening rates and tripled disease management program completion.  

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Zinc

Location: London, UK.
Link: https://www.zinc.vc
Key contact: Rachel Carey, Chief Scientist

A UK-based early stage venture builder and fund, focused on mission-driven systems change, have a Chief Scientist with a PhD in behavior change. They help all of their startups develop behavior change models and theories of change.  Their 2019 cohort was focused on transforming ageing.

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Who’s missing and needs to be on this list?

I’ll be posting more in-depth profiles of these change agents in the coming weeks. If this topic interests you let me know -in the comments or Substack chat - if you have questions for them and / or rate others who should be added.