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Newsletters began as channels to communicate periodic news to subscribers. Over time, they became well suited for businesses to market products/services, measure clicks and build sales funnels.
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Here at Insomanywords, we return to the original spirit of Newsletters.
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We are an impact first for-profit business, working on interesting and exciting projects that enable positive change among the marginalised in humans and beyond humans. Through this diverse work, we gather deep insights about human behaviours, culture, systems that bend (or not) for change in the margins, about art, design or technology as tools for change, impact assessment and about what it really takes to run a good business. We believe these insights should not belong to us alone. Knowledge becomes more powerful when it is shared, and facilitates conversations.
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So, non-negotiably, the Insomanywords Newsletter will not be a catalogue. But a vessel in which we bring our learnings to you, whether you’re working in the field with communities, running an organisation that drives positive impact, working at the edge of knowledge and innovation through academic research, or simply curious about building a better world.
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Mindfully, each quarter, we’ll structure this newsletter content around three sections: 1) Quarter Learnings; 2) Work Highlights that led to these learnings; 3) Upcoming Work to look out for/reach out to
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What makes a business—or any initiative—built to last?
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It’s not scale or number of customers/community members.
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It’s not even profit, valuation or investment.
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All these metrics signal is the positive growth trajectory of the venture/initiative at this moment. They are not indicative of the venture/initiative’s endurance and durability.
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It’s the foundational values. Values that are not mere statements on a board, but values that are practiced with determination. Values that not just serve self, but also positively impact the society and the planet.
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“When you align your thoughts, words, and actions with your highest values, you become a force for integrity.” — Fred Kofman, Conscious Business
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When the daily actions that build and grow the venture/initiative reflect its deepest values, it hones the entity or collective’s ability to defend itself or hold its ground in complex circumstances. It becomes capable to hold shape through uncertainty, adapt with resilience, and serve with purpose.
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In the years since the making (2018) of Insomanywords and its official inception in 2022, one profound learning has been that: values aren’t just an internal compass for an entity, but are a public offering.
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At Insomanywords, values shape how we work, collaborate, serve, respond and choose to grow. For us that means, maintaining a process-driven approach to deliver effective outputs, even in the face of fast paced or stressed environments; offering flexibility when things are uncertain; choosing empathy, always, and especially during difficult conversations; and embracing respectful collaboration. It also means allowing for slow productivity and slow business - not to join the growing bandwagon, but as a conscious commitment to depth by testing, obsession with quality, and resilient sustenance. Like soil, strong ecosystems need time to become fertile.
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A year ago, we put our philosophy to the test. We brought together three distinct brands Auom, Pudhir & Vayasu—each with their own identity and focus, but all rooted in the same values, under one banner: Insomanywords. Rather than rush toward visibility or scale, we focused on coherence. We wanted to see if staying aligned to our values while practicing diverse operations could quietly strengthen our foundations.
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And something is beginning to take shape: We see rising interest in our varied offerings and stronger validations of our diverse work in one. Those who join us, desire to continue with us. We hear reflections from collaborators and clients who feel at home in our values, and our revenue continues to grow—gradually, but steadily. Slowly, we are beginning to feel the strength of our model in our bones. And maybe—just maybe—it’s also strengthening our hope that we’re here to stay. Not just for the present, but for generations to come.
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We share about our hope with you not to celebrate, thinking we’ve “made it”. But to share with you that, this hope and strength we feel today is the result of holding on to our values. For it has helped us endure—financial uncertainty, slow growth, and the choice to stay small and deliberate in a fast-paced world that consistently looking scale wide. Our values have given us clarity in ambiguity, strength in collaboration, and quiet confidence (with anxious hope) in our path. While we’re still early in our journey, these signals feel like the beginning of something built to last.
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Values-led model isn’t naïve—it’s necessary.
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So far in practice, we believe this is the strongest foundation any business, initiative or movement can build on.
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“If you live consciously, you will develop the strength and integrity to make difficult decisions—ones that align with your purpose, even when they come at a cost.” — Fred Kofman, Conscious Business
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So we ask you:
- The social impact initiative you’re working on—was it built to last?
- Is it rooted in values?
- Has your approach made your initiative stronger, more resilient, and more capable of change?
- If yes, you’re already doing it right.
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Participatory Art for Social Impact (PASI) Framework: Art has the power to carry community stories across boundaries and generations. Purpose India has long used participatory art to amplify voices of those in the margins. Recognizing its power when widely used, they joined hands with Auom, to co-develop the PASI Framework—an offering for social impact practitioners, artists, educators, and funders alike.
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In building the PASI framework, we saw how deeply held values—of shared power, ethics and collaboration—can shape not just the outcomes, but the very soul of an initiative/collective. It reminded us: when values lead, impact sustains beyond funding.
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SVHPS is a project led by WRI India, in consortium with local partners in Jaipur and Bhubaneshwar, with Auom as the Learning Partner, under the Healthy Cities for Adolescents (HCA) initiative supported by Fondation Botnar.
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Youthopia 2024 - Inaugural Learning Event of the Safe, Vibrant and Healthy Public Spaces (SVHPS) project: The learning event, hosted by Auom, along with WRI India, brought together adolescents, civil society, city officials, and urban practitioners from Jaipur and Bhubaneswar. Anchored in the project’s participatory values, the event created space for adolescents to cross-learn, represent their needs, and directly engage decision-makers.
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The impact was immediate—after an 11-year-old voiced safety concerns, Bhubaneswar officials acted within three days to restore streetlights. The event also sparked meaningful dialogue between city officials across cities, reinforcing how values like collaboration and representation can build truly responsive public spaces.
Explore Youthopia 2024: It's a Wrap | Public Spaces | Design by Age | Co-Solutions | Beyond Learnings
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Assessing Behavioural Change to Sustainable Farming: Auom was engaged for a Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) study, to assess impact among farmer behaviours towards sustainable farming. Rooted in the Capability(C), Opportunity(O), Motivation(M) - Behaviour(B) model for behavioural change, what stood out was the client’s value-led approach: rejecting shame or penalties as behavioural levers, and instead fostering pride, aspiration, and positive reinforcement. This core value was interesting for us to anchor to. It led to novel recommendations that were empathy-centred—like gamified training modules, establishing in-group norms, and peer-led social proof—that empowered farmers through encouragement, not coercion. The result was a strategy that aligned behavioural science with ethical intent, reaffirming our learning that when values guide the process, change becomes both effective and meaningful.
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Reachout for conversations and collaborations:
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