Matt Nock

PI Consulting Team, PI Contributor

Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Office of University Provost

My curiosity about Principled Innovation began when I heard Dean Carole Basile ask the question, “Yes we can innovate, but should we?” This question resonated with me as a sociologist and sustainability scholar interested in understanding social paradigms like ‘progress’. My first partnership with the Principled Innovation team involved creating a series of stories about how student leaders and teacher education professionals experienced character and values in their work. Since then I have continued to further the development of PI, most recently as part of the team documenting PI initiatives across the university that are supported by ASU’s new Practice Principled Innovation design aspiration.

In his book The Sociological Imagination published in 1959, C.W. Mills advocated for an idea that, at the time, was somewhat provocative: A clear-eyed sociologist integrates their work and personal lives so they can move between their research and their lived experiences. It is a dance where each helps to clarify the other. Principled Innovation encourages a similar kind of reflexivity. It provides me with ways to pause, to reflect, to connect with others, and to consider the wider consequences of action or inaction. In this way, it has become a valuable helpmate in both my life and my work.