The only certainty in life is change.
And change, when designed for, becomes stability.
Change is not something we wait out. It is something we learn to work with, shape, and use to build better futures.
a quiet revolution is a strategy and skills design studio that helps purpose-driven organizations and their communities thrive in the face of continuous change.
We believe that the only certainty in life is change, and that change, when designed for rather than reacted to, becomes stability. For us this isn’t philosophical, but our practical approach to strategy and change we call Transient Design.
Who We Collaborate With
What matters most: You have a defined community you serve and a genuine commitment to their well-being.
We partner with organizations across sectors that share our commitment to community impact and our values.
We aim to work with purpose driven organizations that share our commitments to human dignity, community impact, and a sustainable future for all.
Maybe that language isn’t how you see your business or organization so another way to frame who we want to serve is simple:
good people, doing good work, that doesn’t harm or take away from others.
We also have a soft spot for the arts and culture organizations and practitioners.
See this post for some of our ideal collaborators we’d love to work with today and how we hope to build a community of our own.
B-Corps & Social Enterprises
Business balancing profit with purpose
Educational Institutions
Preparing people for evolving futures
Nonprofits &
NGOs
Mission driven organizations creating social impact
Professional Organizations
Member-based organizations serving their communities
Progressive Businesses
Companies committed to stakeholder capitalism
The Public Sector
Municipalities and government agencies serving diverse communities
Who We Do Not Work With:
We have zero tolerance for organizations involved in fossil fuels/climate change denial, weapons, or any organization or individual that would otherwise counter our No Hate/No Harm commitment.
Learn more about our standards ->
Rob MacArthur
Strategist,
FutureMaker,
Studio Co-Founder
Quick take: Proud papa / Lucky husband / Insatiably curious /
Auto-didactic / Music fanatic / Nature lover
Mandy MacArthur
Educator,
Instructional Designer, Studio Co-Founder
With a science degree in psychology, an artist’s optimism for what’s possible and a long running entrepreneurial streak – ‘a quiet revolution’ blends my love of science, creativity, business, and people into a platform for designing change that benefits communities.
A decade of management experience leading teams in a unionized environment in training, software support, and operations provides the practical counter-weight to my artistic optimism.
My general approach to problems is characterized by deep research driven by an insatiable curiosity and the ability to connect seemingly disparate ideas into coherent strategies or wholes.
My team management philosophy is simple, and has paid dividends: individuals respect the team, and the team respects the individual.
Combining skill sets of instructional design, life-long teaching and learning, and a holistic approach to addressing cultural contexts.
With over a decade’s experience in higher education, as both an educator and instructional designer, my focus centers on equitable and accessible design across all learning environments. Certification in Instructional Skills and Facilitator Skills have also taught me to strategically adapt and tailor learning experiences to meet the various needs of stakeholders.
Bachelor and Master’s degrees in the study of religion, along with teaching in the field for the past decade, have also afforded me the opportunity to explore how issues of social justice, environmental ethics, and cultural traditions intersect with people’s strong-held belief systems that are not held in a vacuum – recognizing people are coming from diverse backgrounds and exploring personal identities is the first step in providing strong design and learning opportunities.
Transient Design
Traditional strategic planning assumes a stable future you can plan towards. We believe that is an outdated idea.
Transient Design – it is strategy built for change.
Transient Design treats continuous change as the foundation, not the exception. Built on principles of anti-fragility, futures thinking, systems thinking, and open strategy, our approach aims to develop organizations that strengthen through change rather than despite it.
The way physical fitness keeps us as individuals fit for the future, we believe Transient Design can help keep your organization Future Fit.
Key Principles:
- People centred: every strategy serves people with real needs
- Future focused: we design for adaptability, not prediction
- Community driven: Solutions emerge from collaboration, not dictation
- Evidenced based: We experiment, measure, and iterate continuously
Studio Goals
Raise awareness of the value of better change.
Show how thoughtful change can improve services, organizations, and communities.
Celebrate examples of positive transformation.
Highlight people and organizations that have created meaningful, lasting improvement.
Shift the mindset from reacting to designing change.
Help clients move from short-term fixes to intentional, strategic change.
Build a supportive ecosystem for change-makers.
Connect leaders, teams, and partners who can help turn good intentions into action.
Provide practical support people can actually use.
Speak in clear, grounded language and offer tools, guidance, and structures that make change manageable.
Increase access to better change for people of all backgrounds.
Make transformation more inclusive by helping different kinds of organizations and communities move forward.
We speak truth to power – we are not yes people
change is life, thus stability
when it comes to the future, nobody knows anything
the future is unwritten
we say “I don’t know” a lot but we do know how to find the answers
everything is figureoutable
there are no dumb questions
we’re inspired by pirates and punks
no egos, no assholes
big on accountability
we love the idea of liquid expectations
people, values, standards, and truth truly matter to us
Some of What Makes Us Different
We facilitate rather than dictate.
By helping your team design the solutions, you get better buy-in upfront, and solutions built to work.
We involve as many members of your team and community as possible, and appropriate, throughout the process.
Small teams and direct collaboration on our end. You deal with the people doing the work improving the process.
We’re agnostic to frameworks (though we have some favs). We adapt to where you are, and do not force you into our preferred methods.
We are driven by curiosity but at the end of the day ideas need to ship.
We make ideas real.
Strategy & implementation available together + skills development & support* to continue on your own.
(*you become part of our community).
Our Values
People + Change + The Future = (for) The Greater Good
The above is the summary version.
The long version was deemed a bit much, but if you’re curious…
Team
We function with a core team, supplemented by a network of on-demand experts, and partners we can collaborate with, or recommend, when necessary. Every project team is assembled based on the project needs with one constant: diversity of perspective.
Our team spans generations, cultures, religions (and atheism), includes LGBTQ+ members, and brings immigrants and long-time locals together.
None of this was intentional. We simply sought out good people capable of doing excellent work and the diversity emerged naturally.
Better strategies emerge from diverse thinking. Everyone we work with is multi-talented, delivering unique perspectives, cultural insights, and expertise. When teams include people with genuinely different life experiences, cultural contexts, and ways of seeing the world, blind spots shrink and solutions improve.
Join Our Community
We’re building a community of like-minded organizations working to create better futures by design. If you share our values and are challenged with navigating continuous change, we’d love to explore how we can support your mission and your community.