Experimental Innovation: Risking, Failing, and Trying Again
Experimental innovation isn’t just a concept—it’s a way of living. And if I’m honest, it’s also one of my greatest hurdles.
I can start out open-minded, accepting that something might not work. I tell myself it’s okay to fail. But somewhere along the way, I get attached. I want it to work. I invest time, energy, and heart. And when it doesn’t succeed, I turn inward. The blame game begins, and I know exactly who I hold responsible—myself.
Do I try to do too much? Accomplish the impossible? Absolutely. But my trip to Zimbabwe reminded me just how powerful experimental innovation can be when we dare to step outside the box.
I've mentioned the work of Dr. Dixon Chibanda before. He’s a psychiatrist in Zimbabwe who faced an impossible situation—far too many people struggling with mental health challenges and too few trained professionals to help. So, he stepped beyond the boundaries of Western medicine and into the heart of his own culture. He trained grandmothers in evidence-based talk therapy and seated them on park benches. The Friendship Bench was born—an elegant solution rooted in tradition, community, and storytelling.
That spirit of innovation doesn’t stop with mental health. In Zimbabwe—and in Ghana as well—trash is being transformed into art. Scrapyards have become resource centers. Creativity turns waste into beauty, survival into sustainability. In his TED Talk, Designer DK Osseo-Asare explains how experimental innovation took a pile of trash and transformed it into an African makerspace pioneering a grassroots circular economy.
While I was in Zimbabwe, I discovered something else about myself: When I meet resistance or experience a setback, I instinctively shift into experimental innovation. I immediately start trying to figure out what I can do to get around the obstacle—or even exploit it for good. Not everyone does that. Some people find it downright annoying. Because structure knows the “right” way to do something. It trusts what is tried and true. When innovation meets structure, there can be paralysis. Frustration. But the truth is, experimental innovation needs structure to be effective. Creativity doesn’t come from comfort. It comes from constraint. From bumping up against what doesn’t work and deciding to try anyway.
That’s a tension we’re all living in—individually and nationally. Our country was founded on experimental innovation. The Constitution itself is a radical experiment in self-governance, and more than 200 years later, we’re still figuring out whether it will work. Right now, many of us who believe we are meant to serve one another—especially those most marginalized—are watching with deep concern as legislation like the Big Beautiful Bill threatens to take food and medical care away from those who need it most.
If that happens, how will we respond?
Can we call on experimental innovation when we need it most—when lives depend on it?
At the Momentum Center, we are daring to answer that question. We’re leaning into alternative approaches that support healing and wholeness. Back at the Friendship Bench in Harare, participants also have access to Reiki, acupuncture, reflexology, dance therapy, breathing exercises—approaches not always embraced by mainstream mental health care, but which are deeply healing for many. These are the kinds of services we hope to expand at the Momentum Center. If you practice an alternative healing modality—or want to help us build a team exploring new approaches—I want to hear from you.
The only way to make things better is to try. To improvise. To be willing to be wrong. That’s what experimental innovation is all about: embracing uncertainty, challenging the status quo, and taking strategic risks. And if we fail, we learn something and we try again—because the cost of not trying is far greater.
So this Independence Day, let’s hold both truth and tension. Let’s acknowledge that unchecked innovation can be reckless, and unyielding structure can be stifling. But somewhere in between is the sweet spot where innovation and structure work together to create lasting positive change. That’s where democracy lives. That’s where compassion thrives.
Namaste,
Barbara Lee VanHorssen
Experi-Mentor
Barbara@MomentumCenterGH.org
