Creating pathways to better futures

Welcome to pocketknife

CREATING PATHWAYS TO BETTER FUTURES

 

Pocketknife is a small advisory and contracting firm, working in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, and sometimes globally.

We offer pragmatic and creative guidance to people navigating change.

 

What we do, and how we do it…

Imagination

Shifting thinking, fostering new narratives, and creating a sense of agency, through:

  • Research & insight

  • Sense-making

  • Thought-leadership

  • Provocations

Orientation

Preparing, story-building, and organising for change, through:

  • Path finding

  • Convening cross-sector cooperation & partnerships

  • Connecting & mobilising

  • Strengthening capability

Action

Creating conditions for innovation and action, through:

  • Design of enabling infrastructures

  • Governance

  • Capital arrangements

  • Learning systems

 

Our principles

  • Driven to do things better

  • Resourceful and proactive

  • Discreet and independent

  • Candid and pragmatic

In our practice, we focus on

  • Taking care and strengthening capability

  • Holding things lightly

  • Knowing when to bring in specific expertise

  • Maintaining our trusted networks

Without new visions, we don’t know what to build, only what to knock down. We not only end up confused, rudderless, and cynical, but we forget that making a revolution is not a series of clever manoeuvres and tactics, but a process that can and must transform us
— Robin Kelley
 

Writing and thought pieces

 

More…

Systemic Investing for Social Change - Alex Hannant (co-authored with The TransCapital Initiative and MIT)

Shaping Innovation Futures - Alex Hannant and Hélène Malandain (co-authored with the Centre for Systems Innovation)

Moving systems capital from concept to practice: An opportunity to walk alongside - Alex Hannant (co-authored with the Centre for Systems Innovation and Regen Melbourne)

Design Foundations for Systems Capital - Alex Hannant (co-authored while at the Centre for Systems Innovation)

Perspectives, provocations & sense-making for strategy (Social Enterprise National Strategy) - Alex Hannant (co-authored while at the Centre for Systems Innovation)

Direction of strategy (Social Enterprise National Strategy) - Alex Hannant (co-authored while at the Centre for Systems Innovation)

‘SDGs… a ‘mission-led’ approach’ - Alex Hannant (co-authored while at the Centre for Systems Innovation)

B Lab Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, ‘Governing the pursuit of purpose - Alex Hannant (co-authored with B Lab board members)

Roadmap to Recovery and Regeneration - Alex Hannant (co-authored while at the Centre for Systems Innovation)

Provocations on Impact Investment - Alex Hannant (co-authored while at the Centre for Systems Innovation)

Introducing the Impact Economy - Alex Hannant (co-authored while at the Centre for Systems Innovation)

A Guide to Impact Enterprise - Alex Hannant (co-authored while at the Centre for Systems Innovation)

Towards an Impact Economy - Alex Hannant (co-authored while at the Centre for Systems Innovation)

What is it about Unconferences? - Alex Hannant

The Future of Finance - Alex Hannant (co-authored with Pure Advantage)