Alex + Boulder + Common = Miracles

What if....!

Blessings

Yay!

Great initiative. They same energy as I get get from The new capitalist Manifesto from Umair Hague!

Hey, I think I just came up with a great slogan: It's the New Communism! "community designed, community owned, and community directed."

If it catches on, I hereby reserve all right . . . oh crap. Can't do that anymore. Okay, feel free to use it for the good of the brand. Other slogans:
Common: It's like Communism, without the blood purges.
Common: Like Ayn Rand, except we say "Who is John Galt?" to be funny and ironic.
Common: Brought to you by Dow Chemical Company. --- Just Kiddin'

Just to be clear - I love the idea. I'm just a skeptical old ba$tard.

As a former business partner once said, and quite beautifully I might add, "Lawyers are tools. Use them for what you want to accomplish. Don't let them stand in your way."

w00t! This is seriously unreal.

Big thinking. I wonder if there's still another level up -- time. I wonder if we can ever increase total love & prosperity in the world without a healthier disregard for growth & the calcified, synaptic impulses that have already pushed us toward our physical & emotional limits. Should a sick world & a sick population still see growth, even a Common growth, as a solution? I don't know. Maybe we need to do a better job now of accepting the limitations of the world (mostly) (ie, the edges of the bucket) & the limitations of our bodies (ie, slow down, eat better, exercise, relax & dare I say it, work less). Maybe we should allow people & businesses to just be. Get them collaborative & transparent & aligned beyond price & profit, but don't force them to grow or scale. Maybe Pie Lab is good enough. More Pie Labs, please. I know that's one of the big goals here & I applaud it. I just worry that we see good ideas take hold on a small scale & want to grow them beyond their usefulness. Stay focused on that as the platform develops.

Working harder on anything -- Common or otherwise -- may be only an interim solution. We need to figure out how to be more fully human, full of love & the potential for prosperity, within capitalism & then we need to move quickly beyond it. It's okay to work 30 hours a week & raise a family. & volunteer. & do nothing but think. & get sick. & be scared. & be middle class. & pursue profitless dreams. We need some big thinking around time management & it's intersection with work & capitalism to really address some of the sickness we all now carry.

That's not to say this isn't awesome & inspiring. Good luck. Just remember that time is another bucket edge & it's not going anywhere. France seems to remember it at times. Maybe they can help us figure it out.

Brilliant! I can't wait to get invloved.

Is this like Adbuster.org's black dot sneaker?

Really interesting and ambitious. And what's wrong with that?

Marc,

There most certainly is a level up from here. It is where miracles are a habit! Yes, we are going to reach that level in our lifetime. Cheers and.....

Blessings

Placing "confidential and proprietary" on every slide of a deck (about an open source project) that you have placed for public consumption on the web seems a little ... um ... odd on two levels.

Alex and team:

This is pretty remarkable. Thinking that leads anyone willing to follow and inspires anyone smart enough to accept the invitation. We are seeing this happen already in many places, from entrepreneurs like Jules Pieri and Sheena Matheiken, to Mesh companies including Zipcar and Upthread. Whether or not this will be best accomplished by big companies that agree to try new things or from the emergence of lots of startups remains to be seen. As does whether or not it can be achieved by a collaborative community rather than the by visionary entrepreneur with a more modern purposeful mindset. But no doubt this initiative will take this to a new level, generating attention, excitement and ideally participation. You are to be encouraged for being fearless and liberating others to be the same.

I love this. And in keeping with Osho's words, "we're all born creative." so basically anyone can participate in molding this new capitalism. I'm in.

YES. Time for a new economic model. Not a growth (rollercoaster model that DEPENDS on losers) but a stable model, sustainable cooperative, collaborative one.

I have a plan but must I take a bullet to present it?.

Capitalism is a brand that needs REbranding a name that invites and one that separates it from wall st greed and evil competition.

This is so so awesome!!!!! Common! I just pray I could contribute big sitting here in India...Hope it goes global in the truest sense... All the very best... Feel like am already a part of it:). Definitely the way forward...

jeez, couldn't you edit the video?

Overall, I really like this idea! I think it's innovative and inspiring. The presentation was very clear in explaining what in some ways is a very complex idea and I am looking forward to watching everything unfold.

While watching the video, my brain moved to thoughts and questions about how the Common process will evolve and play out. The word "community" has several definitions and really is open for interpretation. For product-based companies born out of the three-part Common process (pie-chart), the community may simply mean of the employees and the consumers of the products.

Unfortunately, not all problems can be solved with a product. It seems likely that several Common ventures could take the form of services, campaigns, or systems that try to solve local social issues. For these projects, the community must include those being affected by the identified problem. To have long term sustainability and success in these projects, it is vital that the local community is involved in the discussion and visioning section (community & out-cubator) of the Common process. Only the community affected by a problem can really understand its complexities and breadth of all of the systems that play into it. Without their involvement, one also risks solving one problem at the expense of making another worse. It's important to work as an ally to the local community to solve issues versus instructing them on how to do so.

Creativity and solutions have the ability to come from the most unexpected places, and I hope the large and diverse group of people are interested in joining the Common community!

Great point, Amy.

Not only would you need to encourage the affected communities to be involved, but there should be a way to give them accessibility to membership (which they may not be able to afford).

Common ground is sacred ground.

Blessings

Very inspiring and I look forward to joining the common community. Great start!

Marvelous!!! Can't wait to see how the COMMON brand will evolve. And I love the name - COMMON as well.