Hello #smartcommunity friends and welcome back to #mobilitymarch! All of this month we are talking all things Mobility, which by now you probably know is one of my favourite topics. In this episode I have a fascinating conversation with Priscilla Radice, the CEO of the Infrastructure Association of Queensland (IAQ) and CoFounder of Contribute Consulting. Priscilla and I have a brilliant chat about so many things, and it’s not a strictly transport based mobility conversation, although we touch on that, but it is about the mobility of our societies and Smart Communities as we move into the future. We talk about using technology as an enabler and tool rather than a driver, and the importance of digital literacy in overcoming the cultural and behavioural barriers that lead to the Digital divide. Priscilla tells us how she sees Australia embracing these Smart concepts, and the need for brave and informed leadership to see further shifts in this space. We talk a lot about the power of language and leadership in making sure events and conversations are inclusive and informed, and how trust and transparency are key to integrating across disciplines, industries and sectors. We discuss the emerging trends of systemic social issues and civil unrest leading to democracies under threat, as well as the opportunities in emerging industries such as the circular economy. Finally Priscilla shares with us why it’s so important that we are proactive about closing the gaps between the old jobs lost and the new jobs not yet created as technology and the rate of change continues to increase. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.  

Listen here: 

What we cover in this episode:

• Priscilla’s background in sociology and a range of industries, both public and private
• Her passion for family, fairness and running the world better
• What sparked her interest in the Smart Community Space
• What a Smart Community is to her
• Using technology as an enabler and a tool, rather than the driver
• The importance of digital literacy in overcoming the cultural and behavioural barriers that lead to the Digital divide
• How Priscilla sees Australia embracing these Smart concepts
• The need for brave and inform leadership to see further shifts in this space
• The power of language and leadership in making sure events and conversations are inclusive and informed
• Projects Priscilla works on with IAQ and as a consultant 
• How trust and transparency are key to integrating across disciplines, industries and sectors
• The emerging trends of systemic social issues and civil unrest leading to democracies under threat
• Addressing the extreme stress so many people are under so that better decisions can be made for and by all of us 
• The opportunities in emerging industries, such as the circular economy
• Why we must be proactive about closing gaps between old jobs lost and new jobs not yet created by technology

Quotes:

“I’m pretty passionate about fairness and honesty, and looking at new ways to run the world, because I’m not sure that we’re doing a great job at the moment, going through a massive pace of accelerated change. And I think that we are looking far more to the past than is relevant for where our future is.”

“We can’t have a conversation about a smart community if we don’t have digital literacy. What parts of our community—whether it’s gender, ethnicity, class, cultural background, economic background—[need support] to ensure that everybody has equality of access.”

“It comes back to leadership. So I think where you’ve got really strong leaders who are engaging really strongly and they’re willing to be a bit brave, then you’re seeing some great [Smart Community] stuff come out of that. But I think there’s certainly room to move…if you’re looking at this from your perspective, and not talking to the actual infrastructure, asset owners and operators, let alone anyone from the community, how do we make the right decisions?”

“Language is really, really important and powerful. You could have a massive kind of new strategy in a company, and you have a whole change management to go with that. But if you haven’t adapted your language and your messages and what is important, or what is the hook point, for all the different segments of your company [it won’t work.]”

“I’m not against the tech, I just think the tech will come. Smart people are doing amazing stuff, and it’s changing in leaps and bounds.”

“The world we live in now will be almost unrecognisable in 20 years’ time, because the pace of change is just accelerating constantly. And so, as part of that, though, how do you bring people together? And I think what is that conversation about? Well, actually, it’s about a vision, because if you’re not talking about the tech, or the mobility, or all these little elements, you actually bring people together to go, what do we want for our community? Where do we want to be?”

“Until we have a safety net for our planet, and a safety net for people, we will not achieve sustainability. And if we don’t have a safety net for people first, I think that the planet will come an easy second. So social exclusion is the biggest issue of our time.”

“Is it culture or is it a process? And is it technical or is it people? It’s actually the intersections and how they come together to make those good decisions, to make it easier, but no one makes good decisions under stress.”

Connect:

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community 

Connect with Priscilla on LinkedIn or via the IAQ website 

Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community 

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital.