The attack was senseless, and I don’t know why I was picked.  There was no provocation, and it seemed that the four guys that attacked were not after money, only violence.

During the interim it has deeply touched my heart to see the outpouring of people that have reached out to me. Thank you for doing so, for this has really meant something to me.

In between taking care of my health, dealing with a criminal case, and doing what I love- helping entrepreneurs through building their businesses at the Tech Ranch Austin, I might not be able to get back to you really quick.  I do look forward to connecting with you soon.

Here’s the KVUE news story on what happened.

We’re going to be rallying the community around some new ways of making Austin safer. If you are interested in being a part of making Austin safer, please let me know.

I’ll blog some more about what happened in a coming blog post.

Thanks,
Kevin

Complementary currency is, as the name suggest, a monetary system for conducting business between individuals that can live along side a nation backed currency system (e.g. the US Dollar).  Complementary currency systems allow individuals to conduct trade / business without having to use money backed by a central government.  That is, as an example, I could do business with a graphic artist who in turn does business with an engineer with in turn does business back with me.  Instead of just “bartering” between us, the complementary currency system allows me (like when using dollars) to not have to intimately know who I am doing business with, for the currency (whether dollars or complementary currency) tracks the transaction.

It seems, that with the current economic conditions that the US and the world has been facing that there is even greater interest than before in this method of conducting business by a more general crowd than I had previously found when I was looking into complementary currency in 2006/7.  This article by Kevin Kelleher on the Gigaom blogging network speaks to how a wider crowd of individuals might be looking to use complementary currency in the coming year(s).   Kevin writes:

[Chris Anderson, writer of The Long Tail,] imagined this excess ability expanding as unemployed workers engage in labors of love for free, if only to do something valuable with their time and/or advertise their skills.

…

I wonder what kind of creativity could be unleashed by workers who, though deprived of a steady paycheck, are freed from such tedious tasks. Some could come up with new ideas that help vault the web to a more advanced stage. Others may make micro-contributions that are equally powerful in aggregate. Such creativity could then foster an entirely new generation of startups, which would eventually lure away some of those who had remained at steady jobs all along.

I believe that complementary currency has the chance of expanding something that ends up being much more resilient than just filling the gap in an under-employed market.  I believe that we could see the rise of not just a reputation system that tracks who did what, but a deepening of the currency system in general, where we have an environment that makes it possible for more former employees become entrepreneurs, exploring their capabilities, talents, and passions… ending up not just looking for a job for when the economy recovers, but in establishing themselves in businesses that the traditional monetary cost of capital would have been a barrier to them before.

So, for the Austinites following my blog- what became of this local complementary currency system?  Although it did not take off in the direction that we all expected, there is notable work being done here locally… led by one of the guys that taught me about it in the first place- Tom Brown.  Tom and Rich Vazquez are writing about these concepts at the Open Source Currency Blog, and have a full blown complementary currency system running at the Austin Time Exchange.  In fact, they just had a meeting talking about the “Next Economy”.

Its uncertain about what will be happening with the US and world economies- but it is good to know that there are alternatives that are being explored for entrepreneurs here in Austin.  Keep me appraised of what you are seeing out there as well, and I will do the same through this blog.

Austin Business District’s Open4Business Conference- November 11- with five high impact tracks including Sales & Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, Business Law, Sustainability

UT Austin’s Ready to Commercialize event November 17th and 18th- reviewing technologies that are coming out of the University of Texas System.

I will be at both events representing TechRanchAustin as we continue to look for tech entrepreneurs to join us on the ranch.  Please let me know if you will be there- I look forward to connecting.

“…the most significant factor was the state of a nation’s Social Technology. The rule of law, the existance of property rights, a well organized banking system, economic transparency, a lack of corruption, and other social and institutional factors played a far greater role in determining national economic success than did any other category of factors. Even countries with few resources and incompetent governments did reasonably well if they had a strong, well-developed Social Technologies. On the flip side, no countries with poor Social Technologies performed well, no matter how well endowed they were with resources or how disciplined their macroeconomic policies were.”

What community leaders of all stripes (local, state, government) should see in this statement is that the opportunity for using social networking technologies can have an even more profound effect for amplifying more general social technologies for supporting entrepreneurs. Clearly community leaders that embrace the adoption of these new tools for supporting their entrepreneurs will win. The entrepreneurs (and communities!) whose leaders ignore these trends will lose out.

Thank you to my colleague Greg Hennessy for bringing Beinhocker’s work to my attention.

“O.K., but how are loosely organized workers going to replace and compete with companies like Dell? Can hundreds of I-build/support-PCs-in-my-bedroom companies make it in Austin? What other things are these people going to do?”

This is a good question, and there is no simple answer. No, I am not recommending that a number of loosely connected entrepreneurs try to go head to head in the computer assembly business with Dell. What is needed, is creating whole new types of connections and organizations of companies, to create and release whole new levels of value through innovation. A very timely article just came in from Fast Company, called The World’s Most Innovative Companies:

[P&G created the] Connect Develop program, which allows outside developers to get their concepts and designs into P&G’s product pipeline. An applicator developed by Cardinal Health (now Catalent), for example, helped P&G launch Olay Regenerist Eye Derma-Pods, now its top-selling skin-care item. Today, 42% of P&G products have an externally sourced component. And this giant is growing: Revenues rose 8%, to $78 billion, last fiscal year, while profits climbed 14%, to $11 billion.

P&G is showing that it has learned the need for leveraging a knowledge ecology around its business- they are leveraging the brains outside of their corporate walls…. with profits climbing.

The opportunity for entrepreneurs in the future is not just in “sourcing of components” but also the sourcing of new ideas, and creating even higher value add activities than what they might have previously done at former employers. Over this past weekend, I had the opportunity to talk with a P&G executive- who is actively exploring how to enhance P&G’s marketing programs- by identifying companies that are (1) sourcing of ideas, (2) placements of advertising or (3) media outlets… with one unique strategy: engage companies that are one or two of these types, but not companies that are trying to be all three (which by the way, allows smaller companies to play a part in P&G’s go-forward marketing strategies).  For the sake of this blog post, the key thing to glean from this article is that what I am talking about- moving to ecology strategies of organizing work- is already happening. This article about P&G confirms that this is already happening.
As a community (whether that community is Austin, or Texas, or the US, or the world), we need to support the timely transition from employee/former employee to entrepreneur, and supporting companies like Dell transition from command-and-control strategies to “ecology” strategies as quickly and smoothly as possible.  No, this won’t be easy, but the reality of massive layoffs are not creating many other choices…. but in the end, it is my belief that this transition will lead to healthier workplaces, with more direct control over one’s own work, resulting in people actually doing what they love.

First and foremost, I recognize that this is a business decision, that Dell is making in order to survive…. Yet recognize, how is it that Dell has had to make such a drastic decision- when there could have been other options previous to this choice?

What options? This is where the opportunity to transition from a “knowledge economy to a knowledge ecology” is happening… if not by strategists at Dell, certainly by some of the disaffected workers that are losing their jobs today. Some number of these former employees are going to recognize the false illusion of the stability of the “job” of the past, and start transitioning to becoming entrepreneurs- making their own employment. And in the end, this will benefit both Dell and Dell’s former employers- for the ecology of work will become much more resilient…. (right now, as an example, 900 workers hitting the unemployment lines at the exact same time. This will make finding the next job for each one of them very, very difficult. Moreover, many of these workers will not have yet developed the skills to become entrepreneurs yet )

And to the former employees that just lost their jobs… make sure that you wake up when you read the word opportunity in the line above “We believe we have a $3 billion opportunity to drive both productivity and efficiency“. When a former employer looks at cutting your job as an opportunity, it is time to change your outlook on the idea of a job.
What needs to happen is we, the Austin community, need to start working together at a level that we have not done before- and fight the recession that we are in head on. I am hopeful, that although this economic downturn will be very hard on the workers that are displaced, that through the shattering of the idea of long term employment, better entrepreneurial outcomes will come for all.

Moreover, it is time to stop coddling companies like Dell. From the article above:

Dell also received almost $280 million in incentives from the state of North Carolina to build the plant, which is not operating at full capacity.

This is a shame…. If you remember that over 50% of the jobs created in the US last year were created in firms of 10 people or less. It is time that US economic policies start promoting our entrepreneurs to create resilient business ecologies. $280 million dollars would have gone a long way to create opportunity for entrepreneurs, whether through the programs that we are doing through Bootstrap Austin or Door64 here in Central Texas. 900 people lost their jobs today. Let’s do something to ensure that we support our entrepreneurs into the future to create resilience in our job marketplace, and to fight this recession that we are in.

To take advantage of the conceptual shifts that I have written about my forthcoming book, a number of Austin entrepreneur support organizations are meeting together at the University of Texas’ IC2 Institute. I will be facilitating the session, following the design of some of the meetings that we used while I was in Chile- focused on facilitating dialogue between entrepreneurs. Here is a map to the location.

Please sign up here and join us in making Austin’s community of entrepreneurs stronger.

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind – the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

The issue I would like to raise in terms of the environment is to show further evidence how a group of people are becoming “super-empowered” to put important issues into the minds of the world- Issues that have previously languished. No matter where you stand on the environment- one thing is for certain- the issue will cross your desk today one way or another…. and for the purposes of what I am pointing out- recognize that this is happening outside the sphere of the “traditional media” of TV, radio, and newspapers. Some group of concerned citizens put together a website, promoted the event, and now have tens of thousands of bloggers writing about it, and even more reading about it.

So what is the environmental issue that I am promoting on this blog? I say that it is the most fundamental one- that you, the reader, are empowered to change the world… See something that does not make sense- wasted energy, pollution, an innovative product, or something that just is not right? You can take action on it in a way that never was possible before, for the dynamics of social software are shifting the tides that one person can engage a few thousand others, and make a difference.
But that is not all… Given that this blog is about entrepreneurship, not just community organizing, recognize the sheer amount of awareness that is being built today around green issues… Opportunities abound for starting up companies, whether they are large or small, bootstrapped or venture capital financed. the amount of press and awareness driven by this day of “doing good” is also creating a great customer appetite… whether your business and your passion be about alternative fuels, green roofs, buying a efficient car (like the Prius that we have that gets 54 miles to the gallon!), or saving energy with LED lights, opportunities abound in nascent green markets – opportunities that entrepreneurs are uniquely suited to target- for entrepreneurs create the new businesses that reshape the existing marketplace with their disruptive innovations.  So… do something for the environment- and have your voice heard on this Blog Action Day- build a green business! Don’t just make a difference, make a profit while making a difference!

Bootstrap Web and a few bcc’ed friends,

As some of you know I have been working on a book over the last six weeks. I have been pretty silent during that time.  I am back.  (Imagine hearing Jack Nicholson say “Here’s Johnny!” when I say this). After all of the writing, I am getting prepared to set out implementing some of the ideas that have been bouncing around in my head…. and I have a question that I would like to pose to the community at large to get your input on this… both on choices of technology and philosophy.

In the time that I was away, I received numerous invites to a number of social networks.  Eight in total, with 6 of them being from this continent, and most of them being from the Austin and Dallas areas.  What I find striking about each one of these new sites is they are all walled gardens- sites that are private “toll roads”, but at least at this time, do not have any notion of being publicly connected.  Even Facebook, which is a favorite of mine because of its API, is still a walled garden.

My concern is that some of these walled gardens will fail. Some of the owners of these walled gardens will eventually charge rents- or might take their networks in directions that do not align with the work that I am doing and or perhaps with my values.  I too, want to have a social network, but I too, see the problem with having Kevin’s walled garden.  It will be really pretty, and I am certain that great value will be afforded to the entrepreneurs that interact in this social network… but I feel that right now as a community builder that I should be talking with you guys to see what you think- what can we do together to build public thoroughfares?  Is it possible with the technologies that are out there?  I have looked at OpenID, and I am a fan… I do not see yet how to build the network on it…. only how to create single source logins. I have also looked briefly at Plaxo’s Pulse network.  I don’t see yet it really connecting people, but it feels like it could be interesting.  But doesn’t it all feel like there is something missing on these sites?  Doesn’t this all feel like sites like the very limited sites like Tripod.com or Angelfire.com of 1997?  Doesn’t this feel like those friends that have AOL.com addresses (back then, and especially today) that are kinda stuck- dependent on some company that might change their policies, making those addresses a servere liability?

My questions to you are this- what is the proper way to go forward building public thoroughfares, but still having “my corner” of the internet where I conduct my business, and where you and other entrepreneurs can conduct your affairs… Just like down on 2nd Street here in Austin.  How do we make sure that there are not ten gazzilion freaking logins, limited connectivity to the different sites?  Or should I just forget about it right now, and build out my own private Idaho (my own private social network) and connect into other sites at some point in the future when the technology is here?

What are your thoughts?

I am going to post this as well at my blog. Given that this is going to Bootstrap-Web, we can interact there, although some of you will be bcc’ed on this conversation.  If you want, please come make public comment on this on my website. I intend to be out in the open on this, for this is how I think that we can together build a stronger community.  Here is the url where this is being posted: (this blog post)

Thank you for your thoughts.  Now let’s go build our community together.

Kevin

One of my premises of my work is for a business to be truly successful (in a climate of increasing competition) it needs to be well connected to the outside world. In fact, I write about being “open, but not vulnerable” in the book. The following article published in Time Magazine verifies this. In this article, they say:

The idea that the power of the group comes primarily from the group itself is as outdated as the rotary dial

Deborah Ancona from MIT has recently written a book called X-Teams: Teams get extroverted which goes further into the premise that I have been talking about for the last four years- to build robust ventures we need to get “the experts” out of the way, and get our organizations (and entrepreneurs) better connected. Deborah Ancona’s work verifies this.

Oh… and one note to MIT… thank you for the research you guys do. Whether Peter Senge, Deborah Ancona, Rosalin Picard, Nicholas Negroponte, or one of the many other researchers and educators that I read at MIT that shares their cutting edge insight, thank you.

Make Peace

Nonviolence is the first article of my faith.  It is also the last article of my creed.
Mahatma Gandhi

Anger is the wind which blows out the lamp of the mind.
Robert Ingersoll

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Mathew 5:9

Henceforth the adequacy of any military establishment will be tested by its ability to preserve the peace.
Henry Kissinger

All anger is an attempt to make someone feel guilty.
A Course in Miracles

We train in hopes of being of some use, however small our role may be, in the task of bringing peace to mankind around the world.
Morihei Ueshiba
Founder of Aikido

Wilth malice toward none, with charity for all…  let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.
Abraham Lincoln

When women have a voice in national and international affairs, war will cease forever.
Augusta Stowe-Gullen

When faced with angry conflict, it is easy to get lost in the issues and lose sight of the fact that any form of peacemaking is a commitment to a self-inquiring process of communication.  How I / you / we relate to the issues is the deeper issue when faced with conflict.  Within this process, I am discovering that my own anger can be transmuted into passion when I reframe my relationship with the issues- from what I am fighting against to what I am prepared to stand up for.  And what I am willing to stand up (and speak out) for is my faith in the innate goodness in human beings, our willingness and desire to srive toward a peaceful coexistence and our infite capacity for growth.
Julie Knowles

I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Peace, like freedom, is no original state which existed from the start;  we shall have to make it, in the truest sense of the word.
Willy Brandt

Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents.  Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace in the world.
Mother Teresa

Take care,
Kevin

Imagine what happens when ten million or more young, inspired entrepreneurs get access to basic knowledge that allows them to improve their worlds! KICK ASS!

Here is a link to a TED Talk about the One Laptop Per Child project. Interesting and inspirational as well. We live in interesting times.

After living and working in the US, Mexico, and Chile, and especially for the ideas that I learned from Leonardo and his colleagues while I was in Chile, I totally get what he is saying about “Gringos”…. I believe that I see this especially because living in Austin is so different than other parts of the USA.

Humans that focus on getting transactional value only out of their relationships (“using or getting used”) leave me to want to run away… the notion that I am just a “consumer” or “provider” in someone else’s eyes, which at times is an “American” (as in USA) attitude that gets in the way of having long term lasting relationships.

In the video that Leonardo is writing about in his post- the speaker says get started at LinkedIn, MySpace, and Facebook. Each one of these sites has only the concept of a “social connection” versus a “trust relationship“. The number of social connections a person has might describe how many opportunities that they might have available (google the power of weak ties to read about this)…. but what gives us as humans real meaning (in my opinion) is trust relationships.

Moreover… I am not sure how a “trust relationship” could ever be incorporated into a mechanical system (a website, etc)… for part of trust is in the gut, not in the head. This lack of “trust relationship” and seeing each person in a network as an opportunity to get a house, job, or money is exactly what I think that Leonardo is saying… each person is being treated as an opportunity for transaction, not relation. This is what he, and I, consider to be the “Gringo” attitude of seeing a person with a dollar sign on their forehead, versus as a person with whom to have relationship. We (the USA and the whole world) should focus on creating deep relationships not just creating transactions. Through this, the world will become a better place in which to live.

[Carl Rogers:]“How can I treat, or cure, or change this person?”

Despite his best intentions, it didn’t work.

Ultimately, Rogers changed his approach, asking,

“How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his or her own personal growth?”

I think that Rogers’ experience speaks to the heart of Enterprise Facilitation.

The effective Facilitator asks:

“How can my relationships with others encourage them to grow in self-confidence, passion, skill and clarity of purpose?”

And from Mike Chitty’s signature, again: “The future of every community lies in capturing the passion, imagination, and resources of its people.” There is no way to push people/ entrepreneurs into healthily growing their businesses. Healthy businesses emerge by engaging entrepreneurs’ passion, removing road blocks, and supporting each other side by side.
Carl Rogers work in psychology, which provides us with a powerful blueprint of how to build community (and therefore successful business marketplaces) is echoed loud and clear in another more recent book by Ron Kurtz, called Body-Centered Psychotherapy: The Hakomi Method where Kurtz states:

We [Hakomi trained psychologists] are there to help them: first as they reach out towards what they might achieve, then as they struggle and work for their full humanity, and finally, when they come to it. This is very special work. In this process, violence is not only useless, it is inevitably harmful.

Why might you ask am I looking to psychology for models to support social networks of entrepreneurs? It is my belief that as we entrepreneurs begin to organize at interesting levels of scale (say in the ten thousands to hundred thousands) that non-violent ways of interacting in our social networks will be essential for building a stronger network, stronger business connections, and a stronger marketplace. Market control will shift naturally away from dominiate bullies towards businesses and entrepreneurs that know and embody the skills of playing fair… for there will be no place to hide bad manners or poor business practices in the coming business Internet marketplace.

I will write more about social networks, and how I see them being employed to build strong businesses (and other civic initiatives), especially with these psychological and philosophical ideas for interaction in coming post.