Causatives — Giving substance to shadows

Why’s, how’s and what’s and other things

Causatives is becoming this fantastic international and diverse group of people. Who knows what and where this will lead to, but let it be fun and valuable and rewarding. Every causative is a co-founder. So, let’s cause things!

A causative is a person that can give substance to shadows. In less poetic words: someone who can make things happen.

The goal is not to be a collective. But to have access to an informal group of nice people who share a similar mindset and have the ability and capacity to get something done. People first, and where they think, work, operate does not matter — the more diverse the group becomes, the better. Because you yourself can only view the world from your own eyes, eye height, culture, background, beliefs, skills and specialisms. Important: the group is not a fishing pond. It is great when fun, connections, stories, and projects that contribute to a nicer and better world come from it.

Once upon a time

Rewind. In 2004, I registered the domain name ‘causatives’. Jeroen van Erp (founder of Fabrique, a design agency) repeatedly called me ‘veroorzaker’, Dutch for ‘causer.’ My poor translation skills turned that into causatives, a word used in language to describe the characteristics of certain verbs. So-called causative verbs are verbs that imply action, verbs that encourage action, instead of proposing something like ‘let’, ‘make,’ ‘have,’ ‘get,’ ‘do.’ Ever since it has been lingering in the dusty corners of hard drives and the back of minds. To sometimes surface to maybe use for something. Jeroen referred to the ability to consciously collaboratively direct things to get out of hand: initiating something, to then make it up along the way with the power and energy of many to concrete and tangible results. Lesson learned was, amongst other things, when a group of like-minded people collectively focus on something, all with their individual qualities, knowledge, skills, personality, expertise, and energy, seemingly impossible projects can shift from idea to reality, from shadow to substance.

Fast forward. Infinite conversations with Dennis followed. Dennis has worked at Havas Lemz, an ‘creativity as a force for good’ agency in Amsterdam. He worked on projects like ‘Sweetie’ for Terre des Hommes to develop a creative solution that police everywhere could adopt to end this terrible phenomenon. Online predators are being arrested based on the evidence collected, and child victims are being rescued. Pretty amazing to experience how creativity can change the world.

This lead to the thought: ‘What if we could address and identify people that have ‘causative’ traits? Like being able to start something? To create access? To make the intangible tangible? People that give substance to shadows? To make something happen, on any scale? Imagine what then could be possible.’

So, we wrote a kind of definition, a fluffy description — a working draft, to describe a causative. The text below is the best attempt to describe it better, what an ideal causative would look like. Like it would be for an audition of a next Marvel movie. What the characteristics and superpowers of The Causatives should be. Here we go:

Causatives shift paradigms, change thinking, create both movement and movements, inspire others, make sense, the complex clear, things happen, the invisible visible and realize seemingly impossible projects.

Causatives have a mindset that embraces instability, tolerates — and even enjoys — recalibrating assumptions, perspectives, views, ideas, careers, systems and (business) models.

What all causatives share is the urge to do; to connect different worlds, to create new realities. They all give substance to shadows in their own specific way.

Causatives are passionately curious people. They wander from place to place, from discipline to discipline, and feel at home anywhere. Together, causatives cause movement for urgent issues that matter.

Causatives are foremost independent and autonomous — they can work for themselves as independent professionals but just as well work within an organisation and fulfil a role there — it is the mentality that distinguishes a causative from others.

Principles and characteristics

Additionally, we also collected principles, characteristics, traits, or values to complement the above text:

• We postpone judgment — We first really want to know, understand from different perspectives. We need and have to since we work with and for other people.
• We listen and see instead of hear and look — We pay careful attention and ask questions to clarify further. We look again to see better. We know that by listening better, we will see better.
• Journeys beat destinations — We, of course, enjoy realizing the goal and reaching the destination, but the road towards it is where learning, meeting new people, new possibilities are.
• We don’t make maps; we carry a compass — We understand that discovery works best when you don’t know the way and follow a strict path, as long as we have some sense of direction.
• We see the unknown as an invitation to learn — Most things we don’t know. Knowing that opens up worlds of possibility.
• We always show up — Even when you can’t. There is always a way. Together only works together.
• We leave space and understand that imperfections are perfect — Yes, we also hear John Legend singing ‘All of me’ in the background :) Open space, imperfections, impermanence, and incompleteness make humans relatable and allow others to join in. It creates personality. The Japanese made it into an art form as wabi-sabi, repairing cracks with gold as kintsugi — and if there are any cracks left, Leonard Cohen is the best inspiration: “There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
• We share what we think and feel (stay vulnerable, humble) — Working with people means working with the most difficult material in the world. The only way to successfully get somewhere is through radical openness, honesty, and not disregarding the other.
• We share and gain knowledge voraciously/we are our own school — Curiosity brings us to new worlds. In these worlds, we’re Sponge Bob; we soak up everything, so we can squeeze it back out when required.
• We have more in common than we think — Above all, we’re all human. Having talked with over 900 people for Happyplaces in 1:1 conversations, I have learned that we have far more in common than we think. And as most people are good (according to the journalist/writer Rutger Bregman) — imagine what we could achieve together.
• We find grip in movement — Learned from Peter Rombouts. Dancing is continuously falling forward. When you’re able to control and steer it, the result might be a beautiful dance. Since everything is in constant change and motion, that is also something that we embrace and hold on to.
• We never underestimate what we can not see — There isn’t a single truth. There are only truths. Everything has multiple realities at the same time. By being continuously context conscious, we can weigh and consider decisions carefully.
• We focus on the timeless, act on the timely — Learned from Paul Hughes. The worth and value is in the timeless, but we always find ways to make things useful today.
• We do.

Through these lenses, we started to invite people to join. People who are first of all nice and kind have deep knowledge and skills that cause things to happen daily. Imagine what could be possible together.

Marcel & Dennis