Launching Sufficiency

On the heels of my last post about the Pachamama Alliance, I want to share another powerful initiative that is launching a global conversation for "sufficiency."

It is called the Global Sufficiency Network and I am honored to serve on the Advisory Committee for the organization along with some incredible people. They include Lynn Twist - who I talked about in my last post.

The group's Managing Director is a good friend - Marilyn Levin - whose vision for creating a powerful conversation for sufficiency is very inspiring.

If you think about it - a belief in scarcity lives under practically every persistent issue we face as human beings. We say their is not enough money, enough resources, enough jobs, enough opportunity, enough time, enough effective and responsible government, enough personal responsibility, enough love, enough freedom and enough quality programming on television.

Most of us turn this promotion of scarcity on ourselves. We are not good enough, smart enough, compassionate enough or sufficiently skilled to have the lives we want.

But this is just a position we share, an agreement in our world view - and it has almost no basis in fact. We face many challenges - and they are real - but if the history of our species and for that matter life on this planet - proves not only that nothing is impossible - but that life always finds a way.

So with those facts in mind - we are launching a movement for sufficiency - one that has actually been building for years - and we invite you to participate.

Coming soon, on Wednesday, July 29, the Global Sufficiency Network will host launching events all over the country. People from all over the world will gather to celebrate the message, the promise, and the possibility of a world working on behalf of all beings - a world grounded in sufficiency instead of scarcity, accumulation and never enough.

Here in Texas, we will be hosting an event in Austin. I invite everyone to join us in creating a powerful new conversation that has the power to change the world. To find out how you can support this work and become involved - RSVP here.

There will also be a live streaming video event at all locations featuring Lynne Twist. So join us in launching this powerful new conversation. The events are free, but bring your checkbook. Sufficiency begins within each of us - and becoming a founder of the Global Sufficiency Network is a powerful way to declare your own sufficiency.

In the meantime, take a look at this video explanation by Lynn Twist of what sufficiency as a conversation is - and learn how you can shift your own view of life in a powerful way by creating a conversation for abundance.

Here is another video by Miriam Hawley - CEO of Enlignment Inc. - sharing her own take on the "Power of Enough."

As a final resource - I offer my own series of posts about changing the conversation of scarcity associated with the global economy - Transformational Economics.

Truehome Declaration of Values

I run a startup technology company called Nidiant Corporation. It is the corporate entity that is taking our approach to design and implementing it as an internet based technology at Truehome.net.

I met a venture banker recently who has a vision for positive social entrepreneurship. In our discussions - he discovered that we are a small group of people out to make a real difference in the world and were "hiding our light under a lampshade."

We have been avoiding making our "do-gooder tendencies" broadly public because we saw potential institutional investors - particularly VC's and most angel investors - as aversive to startup founders who are also social entrepreneurs.

But this guy - a 40+ year investment banker who had done a lot of venture banking - has launched an enterprise in which he intends to match sources of capital that are interested in making a difference with for profit enterprises with the same goals. He asked us to write a two page document describing our business goals and ethics.

We did so, and I must say, it feels good "coming out of the closet." We've decided our fears could keep us from finding investors that are actually compatible with what we are doing. Since we are just now starting to raise outside capital, we are thankful his correction was made just in time.

Here are Nidiant Corporation's Statement of Purpose and Declaration of Values.

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Nidiant Statement of Purpose

Nidiant means “about the nest.” A nest – like a home – is brought into being for an ancient purpose…the safety and survival of the young. The creation of shelter is an ancient and effective adaptive strategy throughout the animal kingdom. Thus, habitations that nurture the well-being of their inhabitants have essential value as a fact of nature.

We believe human beings can consciously design their experience of life in constructive ways. We believe environments can be built that support those life goals and values. Nidiant is committed to empowering that possibility.

We declare that buildings should be designed and built with those outcomes in mind. Built environments should fit, nurture and empower both the lives of people and the living ecosystems in which they are built.

We believe any viable sustainability ethos must include the physiological and psychological wellbeing of people.

We measure sustainable and “green” values not only by their impact on the non-human ecosystems of the planet, but by their value in the day to day lives of people and communities.

We define “home” as an ontological state – a state of being. “Being at home” is the experience of living in a physical and psychological place that inspires and empowers a sustainable and fulfilling experience of life. Creating a better “experience of home” for people and facilitating projects that fulfill that goal is the business of Nidiant Corporation.

Nidiant Corporation Declaration of Values

Nidiant Corporation, its officers, stockholders and employees uphold the following tenets.

All human beings share one planet. Myriad other living organisms share it with us and human activity impacts our mutual survival. With power comes responsibility. We declare ourselves responsible for the wellbeing of this living planet. We will partner with those who respect it and stand in opposition to those who exploit it. We take this position in defense of our selves, our children, our families and our communities.

All human beings can choose collaboration and partnership - or predation and parasitism. Nidiant chooses partnership and collaboration and will partner with those who value constructive relationships.

We declare peace and reconciliation provide the best path to a planet that works for everyone – so we will seek peace before confrontation. We will avoid those who prey upon others and exploit people or the planet without concern and when necessary, will stand in opposition to their actions.

A corporation is an interdependent assembly of human beings - a partnership between stockholders, employees, vendors and customers. We declare Nidiant products and services will be most successful when all partners experience well-being and success through cooperation, shared values and hard work.

In order to accomplish this, Nidiant Corporation must serve those who serve the Company – its employees, partners and customers. Nidiant Corporation resolves that it is dedicated to creating and delivering products and services that serve this core partnership – and the greater good.

All partners are responsible for maintaining this balance in a way that enhances the well-being of all other partners – and the planet as a whole.

Just as the Company serves those who purchase its products and services, it must serve the partners who create and provide them, those who invest in its efforts, the communities in which they live and the planet all share.
The Company has the right to expect investment, effort, responsibility and service from its partners in return.

Management is responsible for maintaining a fair parity in value between all partners in that relationship – a balance between return on investment, acknowledgement of contributions, price and quality of products, the work experience of those within the Company and the planet as a whole.

Nidiant is a “family company.” Management is responsible for finding a successful balance between service to those outside the organization and the wellbeing and work experience of families within it. We declare our commitment to a flexible, constructive, compassionate and highly productive workspace. We value excellence and are committed to rewarding it.

With these principles and tenets in mind, the stockholders and Board of Directors of Nidiant Corporation declare the following:

• Nidiant Corporation hereby commits ten per cent of the Company’s pre-tax net profit to be dedicated to well-being of the planet and all that share its living environment.


• Nidiant Corporation commits itself to the success and wellbeing of all partners in its endeavors.


• Nidiant Corporation commits itself to the creation and delivery of products that make a real difference in the lives of people and the planet.


• Nidiant Corporation declares that its corporate integrity is founded in the tenets of this Declaration of Values and commits itself to their fulfillment.

Sustainability Posters from Davos Summit

It is fashionable to paint all corporate leaders as anti-environment, greedy and insensitive to the impact of their operations of their enterprises on environmental and sustainability issues.

But as I pointed out in my series of posts entitled Transforming the Global Economy, "we the people" need to stop painting all corporate and government leaders with the same cynical brush. The truth is that there are many champions of the environment, of economic fairness and sustainable technologies in the top tiers of the global economy and world governments.

Those of us who support these issues must separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to corporate and government leaders if our vision is to be fulfilled - and take action ourselves.

The concept maps shown on this post were presented at the Davos World Economic Forum to the CEOs of some fifty global corporations on January 29th, 2009. They were created by Professor M. P. Ranjan and collaborators at India's National Institute of Design and will soon be available for download on his blog - Design for India - in a printable format. Computer readable versions are on the blog now.

The top leaders of the Coca-Cola Company, Unilever, Land O'Lakes Inc., Nestlé SA, Monsanto Company, Young & Rubicam Inc., METRO Group, Best Buy Co. Inc., Yara International ASA, IDEO Inc., The Olayan Group, nGenera, The Reitan Group, S. C. Johnson & Son Inc., Kraft Foods Inc., General Mills Inc. and Dow Jones & Company Inc., amongst others saw the presentation.

Here is what Marcello Mastioni. the Associate Director, Head or Retail and Consumer Goods Industries and a Global Leadership Fellow of the World Economic Forum had to say about the quality of these concept maps.

"Everybody here expressed wonder and admiration on the work done. You have been very courageous to tackle such a complex systemic issue as Sustainability with an open universal approach, and then go through the immense task of distilling the discussions into meaningful conclusions and relevant visuals. You had success at your mission and you can proud of that. "

The visionary posters are entitled to illustrate the initiatives they propose:

Rethink Core Business Models (Essence Making)

Collaborate Along the Value Chain (Innovating Value Chains)

Meaningfully Engage Consumers (Co-Creation)

Innovate Out of Stuff Into Value (Dematerialize the Economy)

Explore Emergent Technology (Emergent Technology)

I strongly recommend anyone interested in these subjects review these concept maps as they represent some of the best thinking on the subject of transforming the global economy I have seen.

And after all, why leave all the fun (and the co-creation) to corporate leaders. We all need to re-create the economy by starting that revitalization in our conversations, homes and businesses.

Revelatory Christmas – New Vision of Economic Value

This is the first post in a series called "Transformational Economics".

I no longer live in a world with a collapsing economy. I am creating a new one.

This Christmas our family decided to give non-material gifts to the adults in our family.

The week before the big day, I sat down at my computer and wrote letters to everyone in my family.

I have a big family and by the time I was done, I had worked fourteen hours crafting the words that would truly express why I love the people I love, who they are for me and why I find them special.

When I was done, I found a new and unexpected peace. This struck me as strange at first because I am a man who acknowledges those he loves. After some thought, I realized I had never once spent that much time in one sitting, thinking about the people I care about. I saw my new found peace had always been available to me. My obsession with my "agenda" in life had merely obscured it.

I had enrolled my family in a "new kind of gift giving" in advance. When we gathered to celebrate it was like no Christmas in our past. My family is an intimate and loving group. We have had many wonderful times together in the past, but by removing ourselves from commercial culture and expressing our love directly instead of by purchasing (let’s be honest) unwanted gifts, we discovered a new and profound intimacy.

The experience changed me and helped me create a new conversation I had been crafting, a conversation designed to be shared.

The Myth of the Collapsing Global Economy:

Falling down is not always a bad thing. Waterfalls do it with abandon and are one of the most beautiful phenomena on earth.

Like almost everyone on the planet, I wasted a lot of energy in the Fall of 2008 locked in fear about the financial markets and how their collapse would impact me, my family, my businesses and my life. Every day the news reports seemed to add to my internal experience of failure and helplessness.

But I found a way out of that morass. I realized in early December that the “collapsing global economy” is just a story; a repetitive, debilitating conversation that lives in fear and insufficiency. It is a "created reality" like all other realities.

I am not saying it is a myth without power. That disturbing drama has its impact on the real world. Self-destructive conversations have consequences not only for individuals, but also for nations and economic systems. People are hurting and afraid.

But though its effects are real, the sad and pitiable tale we are telling about the global economy is also a self-fulfilling prophesy. At its core is a commonly held bad attitude, an anxiety-addicted belief in scarcity.

At our house, our finances are stretched. We have had to give up things we care about…but really, we are just fine. We are healthy. Our children and grandchildren are well and happy. We are not starving. The sun rises every morning. Most of us in this country have what I often refer to as “rich people’s problems.”

Billions of people in the world – and some here in the U. S. - really live on the edge of survival. They would laugh at our self-pity. They face much worse every day and have dealt with it their entire lives.

So I am no longer going to play that game. On Christmas day I made my stand. I will no longer meekly engage in that economic melodrama like a sheep being led to slaughter. I choose not to live like I am powerless. Living in fear, buying the spin so eagerly promoted by Fox and CNN is not putting money in my pocket, supporting my family, making me more effective or enhancing my life in any way.

To the contrary, it has exactly the opposite effect.

A New Conversation:

In 2009 I am creating a conversation that is more powerful, more fulfilling and more workable. I am creating hope and abundance. I am creating a world in which anything is possible, a world in which people all over this planet make the impossible possible every day. I am creating a life for me and my family in the new paradigm I see building all around me.

You may think I am a pie in the sky idealist, but I argue I am a pragmatist. Think about it. How is that negative story working for you? How do you feel when you wake up in the morning? How do you feel after you finish watching the news? Is something good happening in your life because you are sure things are bad?

I doubt it. Why don’t you give a new story a try?

The tale I am telling is that the changes going on in our world are the collapse of a tired old way of being and the genesis of a new one that will transform our lives for the better. I am creating a conversation about a new "bottom up" economy in which all are included, one already being built all over the planet by the young and the visionary.

I am creating a system of exchange and value that recognizes our interdependence and is endlessly innovative. I am building an economy of infinite possibility, of sufficiency and abundance…an economy that works for everyone.

The conversation I am having is that the old is falling away and the new is born. I am telling the story of a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, its wings unfolding…a story of the glory of flight.

The tale I am creating is not one of soft-hearted idealism. It lives in the material, in the brains and words of human beings. It is a story of hard science, corporate and political realities, a pragmatic evolution forged in technology and human cultural evolution that has been growing for many years. It is a new interpretation of reality that is available to everyone all the time. Real people can act on it in their lives at any moment. It is a conversation that makes things work where they do not, like all new technologies that have value.

We are going home, home to our better selves, home to new relationships, new systems of behavior, new technologies and new societal and economic structures. Given the state of the world we have had in the past, that is a good thing.

But before we can move forward, we have to see the debilitating conversation that prevails around us for what it is. We must turn negativity into possibility. We must make our stands for a world that works and act upon them. We must quiet the cruel wind of fear that fills the tattered sails of the sinking ship of excess, failure, scarcity, corruption, partisanship, self-interest and greed that has plagued our country and our world.

Sounds too big and too hard? It’s not. All we have to do is change the subject. All we have to do is notice the "glass half full" rather than the "glass half empty" and share what we see with those we meet. After all, positive interpretations are no less real than negative ones. There is ample evidence for both and I would assert that positivism is more practical and effective.

Perhaps you are convinced the world really is going to Hell in a handbasket and there is nothing you can do about it. Well think about this.

Throughout your life, neurons and other nerve tissues in your brain grow in response to your environment. The process is called neurogenesis. New synapses and whole new neurons are actually being added into the circuitry of your brain in response to the world around you. Metaphorically, they grow a lot like muscle tissue. If you use your muscles, they grow and get stronger. If you sit on the couch all day and watch TV, they atrophy.

Something (roughly) similar happens in your brain. Everything you think, feel and experience is a result how those nerve tissues respond to your experience. Experience grows new neurons and creates new neural networks.

The more often a particular neural pathway is reinforced by environmental cues, the stronger it gets and the more embedded in your memory. So the behavior, attitudes and values with which you approach life – and the nature and context of your relationships with others – are built into your nervous system. They are not just ethereal ideas or attitudes. They are aspects of your physiology.

How you see the world and how the world sees you is built into your brain. But because your brain is constantly changing and growing, over time you can change that hard wiring simply by altering your thoughts, actions or your environment. Attitudes and values are not casual things. They are physical and the source of your everyday experience of life.

That means your words have power. Speaking is an act of creation. Over time, the way you describe the world creates your world. If you want a "better world," all you have to do is "cast your vote" each day for the world that is already working.

Ever notice who is always around when your life doesn’t work? You are. You can blame it on your circumstances if you want to, but all that does is make it persist. You can blame others, but all that does is make you suffer. Maybe you should consider an alternative.

I invite you to join me in a new conversation. We can create it together in the days and months to come…and before you know it, a new and vibrant economy will emerge.

GO TO SECOND POST - Transformational Economics II

Designing and Building a Nation IV

Obama's Vision vs Clinton's "How To"

(Part of a series of related posts - First One here)

Much has changed in the race for the Presidency since my last post .

Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama are now neck and neck in the delegate race...and the fickle but much desired "momentum" seems to be shifting to the candidate who is touting change and "vision," and away from the candidate who is promoting experience.

Which gives me the perfect chance to talk about the advantages of beginning a design process by seeking to understand the "vision" of a prospective client.

Though it may be presumptuous, I would suggest that the approach to architecture and interior design promoted on this blog in some ways suggests how "Barack Obama" might approach designing a home if he were to switch careers.

The methods I suggest are subject to many of the same criticisms made by Hilary Clinton and her supporters against Obama, and exhibit many of the same strengths of the ideology and tone of Mr. Obama's campaign for President.

For instance, Hilary points out fairly that Barack does not have her experience in national and international affairs. She implies he is naive and does not have the "how to" skills to get the job done properly.

Needless to say, there are many who suggest that the practice of seeking design criteria from the heads and hearts of your clients - particularly from their subconscious or emotional response - is similarly untested.

Hilary rightly warns that designing and building a nation is a project of profound importance - that it is complex, fraught with difficulty and full of risk - and therefore that sticking to tried and true methods is the best course.

Similarly, making major changes to a home involves critically important decisions, for many people the most important financial decisions of their lives. Such projects are often very complicated, and there is no question that the experience of those who "lead" the process matters a great deal.

Further, there are plenty of "tried and true" methods used in everyday architectural practice, and despite their limitations (and there are many), they do indeed have a proven track record.

So in both cases, there are legitimate arguments against the ideas of the agents of change.

Change is risky. Change can cause upheaval and disruption. Change requires people to learn new things, take chances, alter the habits with which they have grown comfortable, and in the end...change does not necessarily guarantee a better result.

So given that, why do so many people in America seem so eager for it?

Because they are not happy with the status quo.

The pundits always have a ready list of labels for why not - the state of the economy, the state of our various military adventures, the state of the environment, the state of social and religious values, the state of our civil liberties - but in truth, it is mostly about the state of our "feelings."

People simply don't feel happy, safe and secure. They are in a state of dissatisfaction because they feel anxious and threatened by how they perceive the state of the nation.

So these united "states" of being are making them feel uncomfortable - and when people feel uncomfortable for long periods of time - they get restless and want change.

The same thing happens to homeowners.

Americans in particular have always had a bad case of "greener pastures" syndrome when it comes to their homes. And when asked why - they also have a list of reasons why - but the real reasons often come down to they are just restless in their lives and want change.

And they make those changes in incredible numbers. Real estate, residential construction and home improvement constitute the biggest sector of the national economy outside of government. Just follow the money if you want to see where our priorities lie.

The entire sub-prime mortgage crisis is a testament to the fact that people will take almost any risk to acquire or upgrade a home.

And why? Because they think if they change their living circumstances, it will change their lives for the better.

And how will they know when that happens?

By how they feel. They know their lives are better when they feel that way. And changing your living space can make you feel better simply because your environment is different...at least, for a while.

But Hilary would say creating lasting change requires knowing "how to" design and built a nation. She would say vision is all well and good, but if you don't know how to implement it, your efforts will be for naught.

So let's talk vision...and its ingredients.

Barack Obama's vision is one of hope. But the version of "hope" he is promoting "will not be easy." His definition of hope is not some insubstantial "dream," but a compass for action over time.

What he is selling is not just the possibility of a better America, but the truth that is will take sacrifice, intention and communal will applied consistently for years and years.

That is what makes his message so powerful.

After paying a lot of attention to him over the last few months I have come to the opinion that he could not have accomplished the near impossible task of bringing his "hope" of becoming President so close to fruition if his vision was not sincere.

People can smell insincerity in their politicians these days. We are cynical and suspicious. We assume anyone running for office is at the least, self interested...and possibly corrupt.

So Barack Obama is a surprise. He introduces new phenomena in the design and building project we call America - vision tinged with frankness - and we are starved for it.

It also suggests that he has mastered a lot of the "how to" of politics.

So what can we learn from Barack's incredible rise that you and I can apply to our own projects?

First, that you must begin with a clear vision. If you do not know your destination, you are likely to get lost in your campaign for a fitting home when things get tough.

Second, that "dreams" are always attacked by the status quo. If you are a design professional, you will have to overcome the cynicism and attacks of those in your own profession.

If you are someone intent on creating a house that "feels like a home," you must overcome the uninformed voices of of the status quo posturing as rationality and reason.

Those voices might be coming from your mate, the professionals you might hire, your friends and neighbors, or the pundits of real estate and home improvement - but one thing is for sure - your vision must withstand them. And you must have the determination and will to turn your vision into reality.

No one else will supply it.

Now let us look at the same issue from Hilary's point of view. I like Hilary and think like most people whose political views are to the left of Genghis Khan, that she would make an effective president.

But she has a "how to" approach to government. She is trapped by her own competence and experience. Despite her progressive agenda, she is an agent of the status quo.

And with that as her tool kit, she cannot possibly set a new course for America except in the context of the sad legacy of last administration.

And "different and smarter than last bunch of idiots" is not a recipe for transformational change.

It is not "outside the box." It is a reaction against, not an action for...

The same is true when you decide to change your living space. Yet almost everyone comes to a project thinking "how to."

When they should be asking questions like "...who are we now, and who do we want to become?"

"How do we live, and how do we translate the complexities of our lives into a criteria for a home that fits?"

"How can my home environment empower my relationships, my values and my life goals?"

Asking those questions seriously requires an underlying view of reality. They require that you consider it possible that changing your home can change your life.

They require you to believe in yourself. They require that you accept that you are valuable enough to deserve such a living space.

And that you can do anything you put your mind to...if you work hard enough, and keep your eye on your goal.

And when you stand in that place, you stand in the realm of visions that come true.

And best of all, you don't need to know "how to" do it.

You just have to believe it is possible...and take one step after another until you get there.

Click here to read the first post in this series.