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“Watch them, watch this”, Kenya kept saying to my great annoyance.

I am certain I was saying something incredibly important that demanded her whole attention. Finally, I conceded and glanced over the balcony. We were seated on Mel’s back porch and below us two guys were moving out from one of the lower apartments.

“Watch this”, Kenya repeated with a sense of awe and revelation. “They open the back gate, then they open the truck, so they have to put down the couch and then lift it up again. Now they are closing the truck and closing the front gate.”

I watched and sure enough each time the guys transported an item they chose to lock/close the gate and truck door, costing them time and effort. Obviously they could have made some radically different decisions such as not closing doors.

“This is perfect”, Kenya mused.

I still didn’t get it.

“Why are these guys doing all this extra work”, she reflected. “What?…do they think someone is just gonna run up into this alley and steal their couch off the truck? Or maybe they are afraid of their neighbors getting upset if the gate which is supposed to protect them is left open.”

Then I got it.

She had found confirmation of the prudence of not placing any artificial barriers in the way of those involved in our joint efforts to manifest abundance.

So, the universe is great. As so happens the very next day, I step onto Mel’s balcony to discover her next door neighbors being moved by a professional company. Five moving guys busily and elegantly traversed the space between the open truck doors and the gate propped open by a brick.

Lesson Learned:

Fear promotes costly extra steps.
Unfettered co-creation manifests intention.

For years, I stayed away from politics of any sort. I grew up watching very intelligent professional politicians on both sides abuse a flawed system that does not have the ability to honor this country’s courageous experiment in democracy and plurality. Then I started paying attention to the buzz around Obama and I was intrigued. I watched and waited for him to buckle under the pressure to play politics as usual. But as I watched I started seeing some remarkable things. Young people of all demographics were responding enthusiastically to his message of hope. Without pandering to big check writers, his campaign remained financially viable. He responded to his detractors firmly but with dignity and aplomb. Then came the Reverend Wright matter and I watched the way he handled a very tricky situation. I watched him deliver one of the most candid and sincere redress of historical racial tensions in a manner that honored everyone involved. On that day I understood Obama’s place in America’s pantheon of social innovators. The issues facing our world will not be solved by sable rattling or political convenience. Rather, we need thoughtful, sincere, courageous leadership. Whether Obama wins or not, the example he is setting for all those watching will raise the bar and resound globally. Obama supporters should support this process by honoring the concerns of those who struggle to see the benefit of his brand of leadership.

Be Well

Abel Henry
Santa Monica, CA

Most of us can recall being mildly interested if not outright excited when presented as children with products that were “New and Improved”. We soon discovered that these items were hardly new and hardly improved. We grew to accept that marketers prey on our natural desire for variety and change. A declaration of “New” always draw us out to take a peek.

Now, we are being asked to focus on something frightfully more critical then shiny bouncing hair or powerful sudsing action. We are being asked to consider the fate of our world.

It’s tempting to simply order a new and improved product. However, courage demands that we remember to trust established natural conventions. A seed in fertile soil grows. Water filters through natural ecosystems and resolve into fresh pools.  Happy children are raised in safe environments.

Nothing new about what works

People are responding to the clarion call to address a mounting global environmental crisis. In fact recent aggressive actions by certain nations and companies seeking to benefit as early adopters of “sustainable” resource paradigms have triggered a “green wash” of the public discourse.

I position my consultancy at the nexus of academic and media based industries. This strategy allows me to provide solutions that leverage the integrated contributions of academics and artists. Many industries are still enamored by the quantity of data gleaned from data mining efforts. However, some companies are quickly realizing that traditional demographic indicators no longer best predict the purchasing behavior of consumers.

Qualitative analysis (storytelling) is better equipped to paint a complete and robust picture of the characteristics and behavior of increasingly diverse and fragmented populations.

Renaissance: a space and time in which able men and women emerge regardless of socioeconomic status in a manner that transforms (renews) society.

The precursor for renaissance includes:

• (1) a relative collapse of social borders that allows individuals of various economic segments to interact
• (2) new cultural, artistic and intellectual expressions funded by a nouveau rich class interested in reshaping society in its own image
• (3) technological advancements that reduces the barriers of entry to otherwise protected domains.

The collapse of the Soviet Union, the spending potential of a suddenly affluent Chinese middle class, the increasing proliferation of digital technology, are some of the current factors that create a need and opportunity for a global renaissance. However, the widely divergent and voluminous nature of global trends strains one’s capacity to predict its course and characteristic.

In the late 1960s, Walter Landor culminated his prodigious rise as a design consultant by pioneering a broad range of services that became known as corporate identity. Landor’s success stemmed in part from his ability to orientate men of steel and cement (industrialists) to the power of design (brand). He once said, “Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind.”

Presently, shifts in society and corporation are realigning how identity supports capital development. Key factors to consider include: (1) The increasing power of the individual as a brand (Oprah, Trump, Gates, Buffet) (2) digital media superseding print media as primary delivery mechanism of brands (3) alignments with diverse populations that remain free of the conflicts that may exist among these groups.

As society increases in complexity so does the role that each individual plays in society. However, the present rate of social evolution threatens to out-pace our ability to adapt, which leaves us feeling fractured and isolated. More and more, the pressure mounts to take a giant leap of faith to embrace this period of unprecedented peril and opportunity. Yet, most of us are paralyzed by the magnitude of the issues at hand. When we finally do move, we take tiny tentative steps that we second guess at every turn. How do we construct a healthy notion of ourselves when our foundational beliefs are in a severe state of flux? How do we push past simply surviving to secure a life of substance and beauty?

Hello WORLD!