The Fertile Unknown

Peace Through Commerce Conference in DC ~ Nov 13-15

I am excited to be involved with the upcoming Peace Through Commerce conference!

"Representatives from academia, civil society, and public policy think tanks will convene with business and political leaders at George Washington University for this event, designed to illuminate and celebrate the powerful role ethical commerce plays in promoting peace, and to expand an emerging multi-sector alliance to advance the theory and practice of Peace Through Commerce. Increased economic freedom enhances the climate for business, leading to opportunities for local entrepreneurs, higher rates of job creation, and greater prosperity....Research has proven peace is good for business, thus promoting a virtuous cycle of investment and enterprise advancing peace, and peace advancing investment and enterprise."

Come connect with innovative thought leaders in various fields; learn more about the framework and pioneering practices and that are changing the business landscape to one that serves people, profit and planet; and stimulate creative ideas for your own work or business; and explore collaboration. Leave inspired and part of something larger than yourself - generative and gaining momentum!

For more information go to http://www.peacethroughcommerce.com
To register go to http://peacethroughcommerce.eventbrite.com

Hope to see you there!

Integral Life and Creative Emergence

Some of the Principles of Creative Emergence include:

• The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
• It contains surprises and can seem like magic when they come      together at a new level of coherence
• It is an evolutionary unfolding
• It "yes ands" - transcends and includes that which came before
   it; ever increasing in inclusivity
• The known emerges form the unknown (the void) by a creative,
   evolutionary impulse
• It increase in depth, complexity and purposefulness
• It is conscious and always seeking more life

An article on the web site, Integral Life, called "Exploring the Technium" that focuses on artificial intelligence and emergence of "conscious" technology speaks to these principles and others. To read the whole article, which is written by Corey W. deVos - about a dialogue between philosopher Ken Wilber and Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick at Wired Magazine  - click here. While I enjoyed the entire article and it's focus on intelligent machines, for spacial limitations on this blog, I have extracted the following parts particularly focused on emergence in general (which can be applied to all human systems):

The universe is evolving. From atoms to molecules, to simple single-cell organisms, to multi-cellular critters with increasingly complex nervous systems—evolution is a story of emergence, as new forms and new realities spring into being, new wholes that are themselves greater than the sum of
their parts. But emergence is a mysterious affair, as noted by Mark Bedau, Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Reed College: "...logically possible, it is uncomfortably like magic."

...While humanity can be currently seen as the pinnacle of evolution in this corner of the universe, we are by no means the final word in this extraordinary story, and will one day be inevitably subsumed by something greater than ourselves—something that will undoubtedly emerge through us, while becoming something much more than us. Humanity represents a process of evolution becoming self-aware, which means that we are now actively participating with evolution, midwives to a future that simultaneously transcends and includes the entire human condition...

...In the beginning, there is nothing. There is nothing at all. There are no stars, no moon, no mountains or ocean or sky. There isn't even nothingness, not even the absence of absence. There is only pure reality—infinite, boundless, and silent.  There is only pure unobstructed Awareness...

...A tiny point of light, impossibly bright, pierces through the Void. It is barely a pinprick, a pixel of light that somehow contains all space, all time, and all possibility...A universe is being born...

...Armed with creativity, curiosity, and conscience, man begins to fashion tools for himself—technological systems that evolve from foraging to horticulture, to agriculture, to industry, to informational, and beyond. These technologies pull worldviews up through increasing waves of depth, meaning, and inclusivity, growing from archaic to magic, to mythic, to rational, to pluralistic, to integral, and on into the future...

...Slowly mankind begins to understand its role in this evolutionary unfolding...mankind feels this very same creative force smoldering in his mortal heart...

...And so the evolutionary impulse continues to surge into the future, following the inherent tilt of the universe toward creative novelty...

Creativity as the Key Driver for Profit

At the next gathering of the Capitol Creativity Network: 

Two significant forces are coming together that represent a challenge to traditional business thinking. These two forces are a massive opportunity for the "creative class" to become mission-critical members of any team. On the one hand, we have the forces of outsourcing and globalization. On the other, the arrival of the billion-channel "attention economy." To get noticed, build relationships, and justify non-commodity pricing, your creativity - at every level of the product/service development cycle - will decide your enterprise's success...or failure.

Join "Marketing Navigator" Jeremy Epstein in an energizing and interactive session that will focus on how to inject creativity into seemingly mundane elements of business to create remarkable customer and client interactions (which form the core of high-value sales), authentically differentiate yourself and your business (which help you get noticed), help you become more "recession proof" and enhance your marketability - whether inside an organization or as an entrepreneur. You'll leave with a framework for understanding the role and value of creativity in ROI terms.

About he presenter, Jeremy Eptein: Over the course of an almost 6 year career at Microsoft, Jeremy implemented numerous scalable community building and revenue generating programs. His efforts were frequently recognized as US-wide best practices, and he authored one of Microsoft's most successful marketing blogs. Since leaving Microsoft and "hanging out the shingle," he has signed contracts with multiple clients including Johnson & Johnson and NYT best-selling author, Dan Pink. A passionate technologist, Jeremy prides himself as early adopter. His career highlights include a start-up with his brother and award-winning interactive marketing in Tokyo. You can read his blog and more at www.ignitingtherevolution.com.

When: November 12, 7:00-9:30om
Location &  Directions: at www.capitolcreativitynetwork.com
Registration: $20 at the door
RSVP: [email protected]

"When You Stand for Something" by Seth Godin

I liked this blog post so much I wanted to share the whole thing here. For me it goes beyond branding to meaning, purpose and having a voice...and having something alive in you around which to wrap your attention and unfold your creativity...something that serves your self, others and the whole:

When You Stand for Something

Posted by Seth Godin on his blog on October 02, 2008. 
His blog is http://sethgodin.typepad.com

People and brands and organizations that stand for something benefit as a result. Standing for something helps you build trust, makes it easier to manage expectations and aids in daily decision making. Standing for something also makes it more fun to do your gig, because you're on a mission, doing something that matters. Of course, there's a cost. You can't get something for nothing.

It's frustrating to watch marketers, politicians and individuals fall into the obvious trap of trying to stand for something at the same time they try to please everyone or do everything.

You can't be the low-price, high-value, wide-selection, convenient, green, all-in-one corner market. Sorry.

You also can't be the high-ethics CEO who just this one time lets an accounting fraud slide. "Because it's urgent."

You can't be the big-government-fighting, low-taxes-for-everyone, high-services-for-everyone, safety-net, pro-science, faith-based, anti-deficit candidate either.

You can't be the work-smart, life-in-balance, available-at-all-hours, high-output, do-what-you're-told employee.

To really stand for something, you must make difficult decisions, mostly about what you don't do. We don't ship products like that, we don't stand for employees like that ("you're fired"), we don't fix problems like that.

It's so hard to stand up, to not compromise, to give up an account or lose a vote or not tell a journalist what they want to hear.

But those are the only moments where standing for something actually counts, the only times that people will actually come to believe that you in fact actually stand for something.

If you have to change your story because your audience is different (oh, I'm on national TV today!) (oh, this big customer wants me to cut some key corners) you're going to get caught. That's because the audience is now unknown to you, everything is public sooner or later, and if you want to build a brand for the ages, you need to stand for something today and tomorrow and every day.