Week 4 #sequoia “Mutual Enrollment at the Speed of Trust”
“Enrollment means that the person you’re with wants to get on the bus that you’re on, with full knowledge of where you intend to go.” This week want to express my gratitude for our last month together. Thank you Jennifer, Felipe, Elizabeth, Todd and Phil and members of our Shared Ownership Compadres (SOC)! I wouldContinue reading “Week 4 #sequoia “Mutual Enrollment at the Speed of Trust””
My Deepest Darkest Fear Around Shared Ownership
Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen A friend of mine is fond of saying that when you start a business, everything has to go right. You don’t have any capital, you can’t get credit, and you don’t have any customers. The conditions have to be perfect for a new venture to work. The same isContinue reading “My Deepest Darkest Fear Around Shared Ownership”
A Plan That Weaves Us In
Dear participants, co-curators & friends, It’s all been on our mind this week. What happens when this workshop is over? What do we do next? Where do we go from here? How do we continue to weave these new relationships into our life and work and how do we weave ourselves into something bigger thanContinue reading “A Plan That Weaves Us In”
Empathy Warriors
In Octavia Butler’s “The Parable of the Sower,” the protagonist Lauren Olamina has what is called “hyperempathy syndrome.” In this dystopian future society, many people have this condition caused by their mothers being addicted to a certain drug when they were in utero. The symptoms are that Lauren can literally, physically feel what other peopleContinue reading “Empathy Warriors”
Without empathy, can there be a sixth principal?
In this last post of the workshop, I will mix a little of the personal and professional as I ponder the three different kinds of empathy and how they might apply to the cooperative community within the context of the sixth cooperative principle: “cooperation among cooperatives.” I grew up on a farm in Iowa whereContinue reading “Without empathy, can there be a sixth principal?”
3 Reasons Why Our Employee Ownership Center Will Fail
Several years ago I read about Jack Dorsey’s strategy for pitching his new startup Square. Although he had already founded Twitter, a unicorn social media app, Square was a fintech company and Dorsey had no background in finance. It was an issue that potential funders raised repeatedly. In response to this opposition, Dorsey explained “WeContinue reading “3 Reasons Why Our Employee Ownership Center Will Fail”
Towards Anti-Racist Enrollment
Enrollment isn’t easy. But I love the work of enrollment. I see it as patient work that grows over time. It’s the art of the relational connection and the invitation to dream and fall in love with a different vision of the future… together. I love enrolling people in co-ops, in heterodox economics, in theContinue reading “Towards Anti-Racist Enrollment”
Learn to See the Matrix
There are maybe 10 early stage entrepreneurs in a room with the CEO of one of the biggest tech “startups” in the world. (Which company? Let’s just say, if I tweeted about this encounter, it would be very meta.) One of the entrepreneurs asks the CEO “how do you get your software engineers to reallyContinue reading “Learn to See the Matrix”
Why is There a White Man in the Break Room? (And Why is He Eyeballing My Oreos?)
By the time I landed in Charlotte, rented a car, and made my way to Opportunity Threads, I was bleary-eyed and famished. Not only that, I was early. So I rolled my suitcase (in that awkward way where your bag is actually at your side because of the swivel wheels, not behind you like aContinue reading “Why is There a White Man in the Break Room? (And Why is He Eyeballing My Oreos?)”
The University Cooperative: A 4th Industrial Revolution Solution
The projected skills gap resulting from the unique demands of the 4th Industrial Revolution, distinctive characteristics of Gen Z students, and complications related to the global COVID-19 crisis represent major factors putting universities in a battle for relevancy and survival. Employers are struggling to find employees with the requisite skills and competencies they need. GenContinue reading “The University Cooperative: A 4th Industrial Revolution Solution”
Change is inevitable…and so is resistance
Being at a juncture in my life where I am listening for the”what next”, I’m having a hard time knowing how to implement this prompt. So I’m going to use it as a time to reflect upon a couple of examples of what worked/didn’t work in the past to create change. I remember when IContinue reading “Change is inevitable…and so is resistance”
Mail Order Empathy
I knew the conversation I needed to have when I read the assignment. I put in a call and expect to have a hear back today, it might be a repeat of a conversation I have had before but I will try to be more intentional and take a small leap. Change is possible. SoContinue reading “Mail Order Empathy”
A Path Forward
When I think about who might serve as a point of resistance to the shared ownership work that I am trying to achieve, I first think of my colleagues. There are 11 of us total at the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. Of those 11, four are part of our senior leadership team and hold the mostContinue reading “A Path Forward”
Economy as Community of Communities
Read for an invitation, then a day in the neighborhood Dear partner in community economy, We are a Portland Catholic Worker community inviting you to share a guiding vision with us – economic society as a community of communities, gathered by shared commitments, equipped with the cooperative economic apparatus to realize them. For us inContinue reading “Economy as Community of Communities”
Co-ops Are In My DNA
This photo is taken from my hometown in NW Pennsylvania. My great-grandparents owned land across the road from where this historic marker is located. I grew up on the dairy farm they created with my grandparents. The lights that REA poles powered helped me read at night as a young girl. Today, this photo remindsContinue reading “Co-ops Are In My DNA”
a vision for a shared economy
things fell apart and the center did not hold at least that’s how grandpa talks about the olden days days where capital was holier than spirit man dominated (and subsequently) destroyed nature and growth was the ultimate god those days long gone — almost all but forgotten ……now we just are. living breathing and being,Continue reading “a vision for a shared economy”
Rinse and Repeat
It’s 8:00 a.m. August 18th 2030 and I’m checking my email. Yet another offer in my inbox to sell us their food company and convert it into a co-op. Of course they want to sell to us. We can pay well for their business and it’s in the seller’s interest to get a good exit. Continue reading “Rinse and Repeat”
Wildfire
Starting a business isn’t considered impossible. You think of an idea, you build a simple website, you go to town. Success certainly involves a lot more; assessing your market competition, testing your pricing, having a good pitch, having a lot of luck along the way. But we take it as a given that anyone shouldContinue reading “Wildfire”
For the Culture
She walked down 7th St. towards her rehearsal at the West Oakland Cultural Arts Center. On the way, she popped into the cafe for a tea. She stopped to chat with her buddy J sitting at one of the tables. J was prepping for a meeting about the design of an outdoor exhibition on theContinue reading “For the Culture”
The BS of the Fed – Where the Magic Happens
(updated 8/19/2020 3:30am PT) How can we Structure the Financial System to be Compatible with a Shared Ownership Economy? (Part 4) The balance sheet of the Fed will give you clues as to the health of the economy and of society as a whole. In the prior post I mentioned the Great Decoupling – theContinue reading “The BS of the Fed – Where the Magic Happens”
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