this is the first blog post i have ever made.

i probably would not have started if not for it becoming a "job requirement" of my new employer Zaadz Inc.  Altho I start this hesitantly it is not disgruntedly.  If left to my own devices i am usually kind of introverted by default without having something to respond to.  So now I am going to experience blogging because I "have to".   And for that I am grateful.

i'm really stoked to be working here at Zaadz.  in many ways it feels like somehow i was able to put in an order for exactly the kind of company i wanted to work for with the kind of people i would most want to work with using the tools i most wanted to use.  

i've been getting more and more excited about the Zaadz  intention and the direction we are going with it.   This has been mostly from reading all Brians writing on it in either his blogs are responses to the questions of others.

Some of my favorites excerpts from all over (sorry they aren't cited):

I believe that the best businesses are those that are built from a personal passion and a desire to create and serve.

"we’ll create value as a company to the extent we create value for the  people we serve."

I personally believe that if I can do a little to help change the world then I can do a lot.
it fires me up to create a company that can, with authenticity and embodying the highest ideals, create the most significant positive effect in the world.

Imagine a local, “Conscious” Yellow Pages—a place where you can find all
the individuals in the business of helping you  optimize your life (from
life coaches to acupuncturists to therapists) as well as general businesses
that share your values (from a plumber who goes to your yoga studio or the
accountant who eats at your favorite vegan restaurant). The idea is to combine
social networking and online yellow pages to help our members more consciously
circulate wealth through their community, embracing the idea that we vote with
every dollar we spend.

The bottom line (from our vantage point) is that capitalism is not going anywhere
in the near term and unless you pay your rent with conch shells, then money is
important and we need to quit rejecting capitalism outright and see how we can
engage in it constructively. I like to say that capitalism is NOT inherently
evil and being poor is not cool.

Let's create something worth creating and show what's possible.

Great stuff, Brian!

Overjoyed to be on the team!

Recently on Zaadz we've been having some discussions regarding our vision and how it relates to Radical Free Expression the way many of the Burning Man community define it..

The discussions with certain members center around whether or not we support freedom of expression and to what limit is this freedom allowed to be exercised through member profiles and comment posting. The tricky part seems to be discovering the balance between celebrating the diversity of humanity and staying true to the values and intentions we are trying to build as a community and a company.

What seems to be the case here as in life is that there is such a thing as degrees of diversity that work well together and others that do not. If we want to empower people to their highest potential through encouraging positive open expression it's difficult to do this with "radical free expressionists" posting images of decomposing carasses or mocking what some might consider a "fluffy/flakey" but sincerely heart felt expression of another.

At a place like Burning Man there is room on the Esplanade for the Lumerian Temple of Enlightening and the Death Guild Thunderdome. This model only works as long as each respects what the other is doing. It doesn't work though if the death guild decided to rip shit up in the temple or if the Lumerians decide that the fighting at the Thunderdome must end.

To me it's about allowing people to express themselves freely to the point where it does not take away from what others are trying to create.

There is room in the world for all of us to find our home and respect what each are doing in it. To this end Zaadz does have an intention and an objective and only asks that those who choose to engage the site respect that.

If there is somebody who, knowing what Zaadz is all about, doesn't resonate with what we are trying to do and chooses to refrain from contributing to it that is certainly their perogative.

Just some thoughts on this.

Sometimes it's a tricky thing to know what level of consciousness myself or someone I am dealing with is coming from.   Try as we might to act from our highest truth we are complex beings with so many variables and natural tendencies towards previous levels of the spiral when triggered.

For anyone that doesn't know what I am talking about check out the theory of Spiral Dynamics and how it describes the evolution of human consciousness.

To help in recognizing the 2nd tier I decided to transcribe what is for me a highlight from the Spiral Dynamics book by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan.   According to them (and they are the experts) these are the characteristics that someone operating from a 2nd tier center of gravity wiill likely display.

It's essientially what I like to use as a checklist to see how 2nd tier "Yellow"  any given decision or tendency is.     here goes...

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When it is in charge, the person/group:

1. is disinclined to spend much energy on perfunctory niceties unless they are important to others present
2. will not waste time on interpersonal gamesmanship or pointless interpretations or contrived layers of meaning or semantic trivia
3. values good content, clean information, open channels for finding out more on their own terms, and an attitude of open questioning and discovery
4. favors appropriate technology, minimal consumption, and a deliberate effort to avoid waste and clutter
5. Has no need for status, exhibitionism, or displays of power unless power is demanded by the Life Conditions
6. enjoys human appetites but does not become a compulsive slave to any of them
7. is concerned with the long run of time rather than his or her own life or those of other humans
8. fully expresses anger, or even hostility, but the emotions are intellectually used rather than emotionally driven or manipulatively applied
9. sees life as an up-and-down journey from problem to solution, so both chaos and order are accepted as normal
10. replaces anything artificial or contrived with spontaneity, simplicity, and ethics that “make sense”
11. seeks after a variety of interests and will elect to do what he or she likes whether or not it is trendy, popular, or valued by others
12. cannot be coerced, bribed, or intimidated since there is no compulsion to control or desire to be controlled by others
13. will run the gamut of being gentle or ruthless, a conformist or nonconformist, based on the factors involved in a circumstance and the overall interests of life itself
14. locates his or her core motivation and evaluative systems within his- or herself, thus becoming relatively immune to external pressure or judgment.

----

how did you do?  ;-)

Another SD related post..  

I was thinking recenly about how it seems so easy for an ideology that otherwise stands for very positive things can often be so challenging to work with.   things like equality, inclusion, freedom of expression.  things we all can agree are good.  but how often do we find people who otherwise seems to stand for these things to be able to get aggressive or show disrespect towards others while standing up for compassion, respect, free expression and equality?

In the Spiral Dynamics theory of psychology/anthropology this egalitarian level of the spiral is said to be GREEN.   Most all civil liberties and anti-establishment movements tend to have what they call a GREEN center of gravity.

But if this ideology is all about standing up for human rights and wanting every voice to be heard how does it begin to go wrong?

this is lifted from the Spiral Dynamics article that was published in wie. 

 

 

What this negative version of GREEN does is destroy the capacity of ORANGE and BLUE social and economic systems to actually address the gaps that GREEN itself has identified.  It destroys ORANGE economic structures.  And it also destroys BLUE authoritarian systems, which are necessary to control RED…  It therefore becomes counterproductive.  It makes things worse.  It relieves RED of the responsibility to learn discipline and purpose in BLUE-ORANGE…   And in destroying the authoritarian, purifying systems in BLUE and ORANGE, there’s the flooding of RED undisciplined, egocentric, impulsive behavior into the GREEN zone, both in one’s self and in societies.  And it is this unhealthy meshing of RED and GREEN, in which strong egocentric narcissism combines with pontification about humanity and equality that becomes the breeding ground for what some are beginning to call the “Mean Green Meme”…

whoa.   seems kind of harsh.  

i think that's kind of the point though.  they say later in the article (which is really more of an interview) that this concept is meant to "uncap" GREEN.  to encourage it to rise above what is described in order to release the block from second tier YELLOW.  I feel many times i've seen this "mean green" rear it's head in my life and those around me.

Just thought I'd share this as the analysis does pose a challenge to keep the ego in check while trying to hold true to what we value.