Competitive advantage: Doing it differently

We have been doing things differently since the dawn of man, thats what makes us exceptional here on earth. In the last three months of school, we have learned about how things have been done in the past and are done today. We have also been exploring how we might do things in the future. I took a moment to explore some different areas of business through three different lenses; ownership, consumers and values. All three are essential to the success of any business. In asking how we can be more effective in business, we may also find larger implications for the whole of humanity.  

Ownership lense

Who owns this company? Who has the decision making power? Who has the highest utility? Throughout history, the answer to these questions have varied in their response. Today, we see ownership models diversifying from privately owned companies with a few percentage owners to publicly traded companies with thousands of shareholders to co-operatives with hundreds of co-owning stakeholders. How do we assess the ownership model that is right for our company & adjacent market?  I believe that we are going to be increasingly challenged through this ownership lense. If founders want to be as effective and prevalent as possible in their market, they need to consider the buy-in not only from their consumers but their labor force. Sustaining market presence, facilitating effective growth, maintaining a healthy moral and encouraging innovation simultaneously within a firm can be highly dependent on having an engaged, empowered and knowledgeable labor force. If employees feel they have a stake in something real, I believe it can further cultivate a positive working environment and enhance the overall value of the firm.

Consumer lense

What else do people do other than consume things? We produce things of course! Services, smiles, objects, ‘living things’, food, etc. For many years now, we have played out our human associative capabilities to draw connections between feelings and objects. It’s no secret that when I buy that ‘electronic command 1,000 drawer organizer’ I automatically feel more organized regardless if those drawers ever see any action. The issue that keeps plaguing me (and perhaps others) is that in the end I’m not really organized, the feeling of organization is fleeting. It comes down to me actually doing something real with my behavior to feel truly fulfilled. How can anyone truly fill this gap for themselves and have a sense of solid wholeness?

Value lense

The value you create is the glue that brings a well owned company together with its loyal ‘consumer’.  The value of something can be weighed in many ways as we have seen throughout the semester. Many firms calculate the value of something in monetary terms, others account for value in reputation or experience. If we want ‘the firm’ to make a real contribution to society, we must look at value and what constitutes their contribution. Are you willing to take less money in order to love your job? What creates that value for you if its not money directly? How can we account for values that cannot be monetized?  

In the event production world we see a lot of value creation and alternative means of exchange. I’ve seen folks jump at the opportunity to work with someone brilliant, learn from them and soak up some wisdom instead of taking a higher paying job. I’ve also seen people get paid in non-monetary ways like through an exchange of services, knowledge or employment opportunities.

Rethinking how we structure ownership and subsequent buy-in, deciding what’s most important- having things versus having relationships, and adding value to what was once valueless are all behaviors we’ve displayed for centuries and will continue to do. My hope is that we explore the deeper possibilities latent in these human behaviors and create something of true inalienable value.   

The sculpted masterpiece inside the rough chunk of marble

The Macro perspective

If you were to walk into a forest and ask, who is in charge here? Who would respond and what would they say?

“I am!” exclaims the mushroom.

“Noooohoh, its me!!” says the owl.

“Good luck breathing without us!” says the tree

Personification aside, there doesn’t seem to be an internal debate about what exactly or how much each part of the whole is contributing within the forest. Every actor within the system does what they do best like decompose things, hunting and eating things or turning carbon dioxide into oxygen. As each actor is contributing their unique skills, they also seem to understand a unifying purpose that informs each action. Their common purpose may be something simple like ‘maintaining a balance in the system’. If every action I take originates from this simple purpose, a self-organization can give way within each individual actor. Balance is struck as each self-organizing system interacts with one another while fulfilling the same purpose.

Humans do this as well, primarily through unspoken social agreements. Everyone knows adults shouldn’t throw tantrums in restaurants but how do we know? Is it written somewhere or is it against the law? Not explicitly, and yet we have the innate tendency to live according to a common understanding. While our social agreements have given way to a certain level of order, I believe we can achieve more with this innate ability.  Can we define or reveal our purpose in a deeper way?

As we dive into an increasingly global economy, I believe our greatest challenge, as a whole human system, will be to uncover a meaningful purpose with which everyone can work from.

The Micro perspective

Lets say that “maintaining the global system balance” is where all human behavior originates and a common purpose has been established. Where do we go from here? I believe that the tools we have for measurement and execution, especially in business, are insufficient if we are to fulfill our purpose.

At the end of the day, all business is driven by money or capital. Marjorie Kelly says we need to make a “shift from capital-ism”, the belief that maximizing capital matters more than anything else. I’m not sure that this is the most effective shift we can make, I see a greater value in re-defining what we mean by ‘capital’. I feel that the true issue lies in how we account and value components both ‘outside’ and ‘within’ the system. Externalities are not a new concept to economists but truly accounting for their value is an exciting emerging science.  

Enter Ecosystem Services. David Holzman’s exploration of accounting for natures benefits did an excellent job of explaining some of todays top ecosystem accountants. This is an amazing opportunity for us to value the goods that have been inherently free of charge for so long. Its happening today on a varying scale of complexity. Vietnam for example, invested $1.1 million in mangrove plantings to protect their coastline instead of an annual $7.3 million expense in maintaining man made dykes. Ecosystem services are valued by how much human welfare they can provide and human welfare is directly dependent on the balance within the ecosystem. If this truth was accurately reflected in our capital exchanges, we would be living in a very different world. There is the issue of integrating such an expansive definition of capital, which brings us to the issue of measurement.

“That which can be measured can be monitored”

How are we to value something like fertile soil? by how many crops are yielded from it? by how much life is flourishing with it? by how it protects against erosion? Its hard to quantify things that have such a complex utility but its easy to feel that there is value in something like fertile soil.

Enter Intuitive thinking and the teachings of Roger Martin in the Rotman Design Challenge. He talks about analytical versus intuitive thinking. This is where things get really challenging. Governing between analytical facts and deductive reasoning versus intuitive choices and abductive logic is incredibly difficult. These are not things that have a crystal clear, definitively drawn definition. It becomes an issue of social agreement once again, the unwritten and unspoken yet clearly understood rules that dictate our everyday lives. This inherently brings us back to the macro perspective and our greater motivational purpose of balance.

And round and round we go.

Self-Evident Truths

Chris Martenson lays out three distinct phases of truth: 

1. Ridicule.

2. Violent Opposition.

3. Accepted as being self-evident. 

Truth: We are all fucked. 

In what phase would you place this truth?  

I would claim it to be self-evident, especially after re-visiting the study of economics. 

The name of this blog is a pie-lovers take on the English proverb, "You can't have your cake and eat it too". Literally meaning that one cannot both possess a cake AND eat it, for by choosing to eat the cake they will forgo possessing it.  The metaphoric sense of the proverb has troubled me since learning more about our economic system. I believe the intention is that there are things in life that simply cannot co-exist when choices are made with respect to those things. Our modern way of life has found some ingenious and deceiving ways around this 'fact'. A good example of this would be our monetary system.

When one puts their money in the bank for saving you could say that they chose to have pie. The banking institution that 'keeps' their money is in the business of having that same pie and offering it to others with their choice of having or eating that same pie. It seems that our modern monetary system has found a way to forgo its opportunity costs by being able to take advantage of some previously separate decisions; saving, spending & loaning. In this sense, we are most certainly having our pie and eating it too.

There may be some additional reasons why this truth is self-evident but I don't care to write much more about it here. What struck me more was my undying devotion to live a different truth. I want to learn everything I can in life, I want to be present and seize each moment. I want to contribute to things that are positive and self-sustaining. No matter how ineffectual my life may be, I cant shake the fact that I care. I care deeply about leading a meaningful life, considering others and challenging the universe to be better. Despite the fact that we are heading in a dark direction, I cannot turn my curiosity off. My heart, body and soul are forever hungry for an elevated sense of self, a deep truth pushing my spirit into each and every moment. My truth demands that I accept the futility of my life and enjoy creating the meaningful moments of it too*.

*that's how I have my pie and eat it too.

First Intensive: a review

I write today from a little town called Downtown Texas, Texas (seriously). I arrived here in a flurry post-intensive on tuesday of this past week and amidst the chaos of working on-site at Art Outside, I have done some reflection and decompression on my first experience at a BGI Intensive. 

My expectations were the metaphoric equivalent of a blank page... waiting to be written. I knew that it would be an energetically intense time and my expectation was very much met in that way. I learned quickly that we have an incredibly diverse group of beings at BGI. Folks from design, organizational development, operations, non profit, management, finance and everything in between. In entering such a learning environment, I found my excitement finally set foot on solid ground with which to run free.

A quote rang in the back of my mind all weekend, “My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?” (David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas). Throughout the weekend the relationship between individual and collective 'gain' emerged as a major leverage point for me. A relationship often at odds in economic systems suddenly entered into a transformative space in my mind. I reference a transformative space only because I was flooded at the idea of attempting to begin to make sense of how these two complex 'stakeholding' bodies currently interact and could potentially interact. I recognize that as humans we have an inherent self interest that cannot be avoided. I also recognize that in cases such as the tragedy of the commons, we should have a vested interest in the greater social collective in order to not diminish our individual ability to thrive. One of my key reflections throughout the weekend was on further recognizing the depth, points of influence and challenges associated with this perpetual balancing act. 

In an effort to better understand the perspectives around me, I gained a lot from learning more about Empathic Listening. I understand it to mean listening from the speakers perspective rather than listening from your perspective as is the tendency with selective listening or even active listening. I attempted to do this in a challenging situation that arose on the Sunday night upon my return from BGI. I first recognized that I didn't know how I felt in the situation, which in turn made it easier to listen and understand how others felt. One could say that this was an unfair advantage in the practice of empathic listening but in essence, if one cannot understand the perspectives at play then that person is not fully able to understand the situation. As the communication played out I continued to take in the feelings conveyed by the players around me and responded with a reflection on those feelings.  I realized that a big part of empathic listening is not in how you listen but how you respond to what your hearing. With each reflective response those around me opened up and shared more. In the 'end' we all seemed to have a deep understanding of each others perspective which brought an inherent calm to an otherwise confusing and tense situation.

Overall I was struck by the high level of integrity, enthusiasm, accountability, curiosity and respect our co-hort and the greater BGI community brought during the intensive. It was relieving to feel like although things are not perfect, the best intentions are always present. There were times when I felt like structure, execution or content needed to be examined and usually the space for reflection was allowed. Im excited by the co-creation process and I look forward to helping the community grow and improve throughout my time as a BGI member. 

Introduction

Greetings Bloggers!

My name is Tatianna Olsen Pavich. I currently live in Portland,  Oregon and grew up in the arid desert of Arizona. My professional career is rooted in my early years working on my fathers organic table grape farm in central California and Arizona. Once I was 'legally' old enough to work, I had jobs in both the retail and restaurant sectors. I was always fascinated with architecture as well as sustainability which lead me to my first internship at an architectural firm in New Mexico. At my internship I was responsible for developing the training program for LEED Accreditation for selected employees as well as building a firm-wide sustainable resource library. I continued to nourish my hunger for sustainability, anthropology and environmentalism throughout my time as an undergraduate at Lewis and Clark College. After graduation I worked on various sustainability aspects within the built environment. My experience included working for a LEED and green building consulting firm, a progressive LEED homes contractor as well as a commercial & residential solar installation company. 

After a few years of working, saving money and learning about sustainability within the built environment, I decided to go out into the world and see what else was happening. I built a self-propelled curriculum of different places and people I wanted to visit around the world. I collected information into one map full of eco-villages, organic & biodynamic farms, non-profit projects, cultural centers and technological incubators.  After nearly two years of traveling I had visited three continents, over 45 projects and met a whole host of fascinating individuals and communities doing amazing things with regards to sustainability. I had also learned a great deal about myself and my place in the world. 

Upon returning home from my journey, I joined forces with my partner, Peter, to start our own company. We started Solamor Event Services officially in 2010. We provide production services primarily to outside events such as music & arts festivals, gourmet food festivals, educational fairs and non-profit community or municipal events. We specialize in providing renewable on-site power for these events. In order to provide clean power on-site, we own, operate and rent solar, wind, bio-fuel and hybrid generators. 

After working in the field of green events for nearly 5 years I felt that I was ready for a masters program. My expectations for this course at BGI are to learn all that I can, I wish to explore every subject with an open-minded curiosity. I hope to be challenged in my current thinking, educated in the things I do not know I don't know and opened to the opportunities and possibilities of the future.