Sunday Open Thread – July 22, 2007

Posted on July 22, 2007 by Dave Pollard
boathouse at dawn fiji ron romanosky
Boathouse at Dawn, Fiji, photo by Ron Romanosky, at webshots

What I’m thinking about, and planning on writing (and podcasting) about soon:

I’m working furiously on completing the manuscript for my book on Natural Enterprise, which is due at the publisher in three weeks. Until then, articles here will continue to be short, focused and relatively unambitious.

More Thoughts on Complexity: The two articles from this week’s New Yorker that I referred to in yesterday’s post have got me thinking about coping with complexity, since that is what they’re really about. If it is true that the choices we make for ourselves in an unregulated environment (‘safe’ gas-gulping cars) are radically different from the choices we would make for our society in a regulated environment (no big or gas-gulping cars allowed at all), what does this mean for the future of our political processes and systems? And if investigative journalism shows us facts so damning that we are baffled about our failure to act (or perhaps more accurately, our impotence to act) does this explain today’s whiny, do-nothing political echo chambers and our cynicism about activism, and if so, what can we do about this?

Vignettes: Coming up soon, vignette #5.

Blog-Hosted Conversations: Plan is for 30-minute conversations, once a week, on the subject of identifying and acquiring the essential skills and relationships we need to be models of a better way to live, and what those models might look like. They will happen, but not until the book is into the publishers.

Open Thread Question:

Why is it that, despite the relatively low survival rate of sole proprietorships, most people who decide to start their own business doit alone?
This entry was posted in Our Culture / Ourselves. Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to Sunday Open Thread – July 22, 2007

  1. laodan says:
    July 22, 2007 at 12:59

    About complexity.There is complexity at the global level and complexity within each sub-ensemble of the whole. In “More thoughts about complexity” you speak about humanity’s complexity (the complexity within the sub-ensemble constituted by the human specie). Did it ever occur to you that the working of each unity (each ensemble) is characterized by the interactions between the polarities of that unity?Let’s apply that to the human specie. It’s polarities are on one side the individuals (positive, active force) and on the other society (negative, conserving force). The contact (interactions) between those polarities generates a burst of energy fueling changes that transform the situation itself as well as the charge of both of the polarities.Since its inception (7 – 9 centuries earlier) modernity has relentlessly boosted the individual polarity while weakening the societal polarity and today in late modernity the individual polarity has overtaken the entire sphere of activity of the human specie. So it comes as no surprise that late-modern individuals should be baffled at their “failure to act” at the societal level. The individuals act for themselves and their close circle of relatives without feeling bound any longer with their fellow citizens in their societies. In earlier times the sharing of a “worldview” was binding, gluing, the individuals together in their societies but that has totally disappeared in late modernity. Late modern individuals are acting as if they were the whole story of their specie. Try to imagine the atoms of a glass of water deciding to go it their own way. They would dissipate in hydrogen and oxygen and the glass would be empty. That’s where late modernity has evolved; into societal emptiness. The only way out of this atomization is to find a glue (worldview)that will bind the individuals anew so generating a societal re-birth. That is, I believe, the adventure into which you, me and many others are engaged blindfolded by ignorance…

  2. Ed says:
    July 22, 2007 at 13:20

    I think the following are the reasons why people go into business alone:1) It is hard to find someone you know well enough that you know you can partner with them through the good and the bad.2) It is harder to find such a person with the right set of skills to complement yours.3) It is yet harder to find such a person who has the same entrepreneurial spirit as you do.I personally have this problem as well. It is actually ironic that you asked this because lately I’ve been thinking about how I could put together a team of people to work together and create products that will add value to other people’s lives and put money in our pockets without having to work for a corporation and create value for that corporation while we don’t get to benefit from what we create indefinitely (as the corporation does). I am thinking about going back to school (grad school), finding people with similar interests, developing face-to-face relationships and going from there. Outside of a college setting, I found people to be way too settled with their mortgages, kids and Sunday football…This may not be the best way, but I am open to other ideas if you have any (the post has my email).I often hear people working together across the globe through blogs, wikis, email and IM and I admire it. I don’t know how they find each other and make it work. Any plans to interview such people (or introduce them on your blog) who have done this -namely, put together a local or global team, created a product and successfully sold it for a profit?

  3. Joseph McCluskey says:
    July 28, 2007 at 12:18

    Hi, I was searching for quotes related to this statement: “we create with our words” when I came across Dave Pollard’s blog entitled “How To Save The World”. One reason people don’t start businesses with partners is that building long term relationships that lay the proper foundation for business partnerships is uncommon in modern times. We are moved, split, relocated, etc and start fresh with new people. I agree with what you wrote and add that it is best for the leader to take action, begin the business and then move to an LLC and then add managing or non managing partners as the opportunities arise. Best regards, Joseph in Seattle

Comments are closed.