Too often, I find myself unclear on what makes great leaders. And how I can help great leaders work well as a team. This is a big problem for me, especially with the appetite I have to make change. If you’re building an organization, a movement, or care about making change in your school, community, […]
carbon offsets are problematic on a number of levels, but what else can we do? what are they, what are the critiques, and should we buy them?
Shifting our investments to local, direct investing is really about buying “livable future insurance”. The concept is basically that we’re dramatically under-calculating the devastating impacts of super storms, heat waves, hurricanes, & all climate related disruptions over the next 20-40 years. The interesting thing is that many of us will be drawing down our retirement […]
“Imagine a monopoly game with 8 people. Then imagine 4 of the people are forced to leave the room until all the properties are purchased. Those 4 people are invited back in and asked to keep playing. How do you think they’ll do?” “That’s what it’s like to be black.” Geraud Staton tells a story […]
I believe you have a hunch about your most important project. The one that if it really succeeds could really make a difference. It could contribute to something extraordinary. I’m writing because I want to invite you into a caring community that has also glimpsed this part of themselves and knows they need more support […]
I believe our economics can embody a greater democracy. I believe our economic institutions can be more democratic and fair. I believe the plurality of thought in economics would bring great benefit to society. I believe in culture and that our culture is the sum of the ideas floating around inside of it. We […]
Together with my co-founder, Merald Holloway, I have been gradually building the basis for a buying co-op here in Durham & beyond. On Thursday at 6pm, Merald and I will join some really remarkable entrepreneurs: Geraud Staton (Helius Foundation) – watch the first 2 minutes of this video and you’ll be blown away by the inequity in black business […]
When I think about what’s happening in our world, I see wealth consolidation, growing inequality, I see more homeless folks. Do my investments in corporate America and all the publicly traded companies that are part of the S&P 500 have anything to do with that? 1. I feel trapped. I’m stuck in the mainstream retirement […]
Five years ago, I started the Community Purchasing Alliance Cooperative with a Steering Team of church leaders, a community organizer, and a few generous lawyers. Today, we are 75 member-owner community institutions. We collaborate on $15,000,000+ in contracts each year. Yet the most important thing we’ve created doesn’t show up in the numbers. It’s trust. […]
Michael Schrage’s insight about how innovative companies change their customers has stuck with me. And it’s changed the way I understand the work my organization does. Successful innovations go beyond the quid pro quo; they’re targeted investments in the customer’s future value. Most customers believe that “the market” sets the terms of engagement for service […]