Together 2022
A note from Mark Eckhardt, CEO of COMON
I hope you found many ways to make the most of the holiday break, get some rest, and be with those you love.
We enjoyed quiet time on the farm, walks in snow-covered forests, reading books, watching odd movies, and being with close relatives. It was definitely hygge (cozy) by Danish standards.
I made good use of long stretches of alone time that afforded me the space to reflect on our relationship, COMMON, and what’s possible together. To that end, this note has three parts.
Part one is a summation of the last two years. Part two contains insights from research conducted throughout 2021 on structural crises. In part three, I share the core activities that COMMON will pursue in 2022 which will integrate the parts of our model more than ever before.
Part I: The Last Two Years
COVID swallowed up 2020 and 2021. The team and I essentially paused our plans for COMMON’s evolution and growth to help community members address vulnerabilities and respond to urgent threats due to the pandemic. We pursued very few outward-facing activities, even stopped paid advertising, prompting one person to inquire if COMMON was going out of business. The answer, definitively, is no.
[We did, humbly, welcome many new members during this time. Something we are deeply grateful for.]
While 2021 did not deliver the constant swings of the year prior, a good portion of our members experienced lingering mental and emotional fatigue. Regular routines and tasks took longer than usual to complete, questions about the value of their work surfaced, and people generally took stock of their lives. Even those stewards of social ventures and enterprises who reported being less disrupted could not ignore the connection between the dynamics affecting all of us and the fact that the majority of models used in business and by capitalism are extractive and do not account for externalities.
Overall, members who engaged with the community at regular cadences found support, solace, and, ultimately, solutions to their most pressing questions and needs. Most did well despite the external conditions. Here are a few:
Drew Weaver achieved legit influencer status for his episodes on Black Brilliance on TikTok. He also led the BLVCK$FUND to the point of investing in its first Black-owned business.
Kerrie Finch and her business partners at futurefactor ‘cracked on’ and added clients to their portfolio. They are doing some amazing work to help brands internationally live true to their commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Justin West masterfully led Thrive Lot through a very turbulent time and secured the capital needed to move to the next stage of business. He emerged devoted to helping other stewards of social enterprise navigate the hurdles of raising capital.
Robin Athey made significant progress on her upcoming book while navigating a surge in demand for her leadership and somatic services.
Heba Gibani joined Francene Chadwick and Todd Youngblood as a co-founder of Serve. They’ve launched their website — it’s impressive for a version I site, as is their commitment to make it easy for the 90% to grow and preserve wealth.
Keren Flavell interpreted the winds of change as a signal to move Kasaba’s operations from the US to Portugal, where she is now immersed in an international community of people who have embraced the potential of regenerative villages and forward-thinking models for collaborative investing and living.
The pandemic is certainly not over, but I am inspired by and proud of how the community stayed true to working together during the last two years. We are FearLess when we link arms — and it’s beautiful.
Part II: Structural Crisis
Despite so much goodness in the world, we stand at a point of structural crisis.
People have become the weapons, warriors, and contested territory in a war over fact, fiction, and our very future. Four interrelated crises are driving this:
(1) Capability crisis (we’ve built a complex society that changes faster than we can solve problems)
(2) Authority crisis (we no longer trust institutions as having the definitive word)
(3) Sense-making crisis (we no longer agree upon what constitutes the truth, or even reality)
(4) Meaning crisis (our identity and purpose as a species, community, nation, world)
Together these four crises fuel and reinforce:
- The destruction of the biosphere;
- The threat of exponential technology (AI, drones, CRISPR);
- The deterioration of the epistemic commons (agreed-upon truth); and
- The entrenchment of win/lose dynamics in politics and culture.
While we don’t anticipate an apocalyptic event, we do expect the future to include more frequent climate events, pandemics, and an escalation of the dynamics that fuel inequity and conflict. For example, we are more likely to experience regional system collapse and conflict over resources due to migration related to climate change than kinetic warfare between two or more large nation-states. Tech companies pushing the limits of AI have captured our culture, markets, and governments to the extent that we no longer have a shared sense of the world and reality.
The implications of the structural crisis as it relates to being a steward of a social venture or enterprise are profound.
For a while now, we have sensed that the field of social ventures and enterprise has entered a new phase. The first phase was sustainability, think brands like Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, Newman’s Own. Phase two ushered in the Buy-One-Give-One model and lifted the likes of TOMS and Warby Parker to great success. The rise of the benefit corporation as a legal entity, BCorp certification, measurement, ESG, etc., marks the third phase.
Each phase has informed its successor, made significant contributions to business, and inspired hope. Yet, one can argue that our problems seem to be growing exponentially, as is the division between people. From the climate crisis, to racial and ethnic divides, to breakdowns in geopolitics, etc., it is nearly impossible to introduce an idea for positive social change at scale in this day and age without meeting with fierce opposition and blowback.
We have never faced the convergence and acceleration of so many crises before.
Social ventures and enterprises are vehicles for problem-solving and therefore carry the heightened obligation of self-scrutiny. To this day, many of the models thought to be good for people and the planet unintentionally generate negative externalities. A campaign to raise awareness about depression increased suicide rates in China and Japan. A solution to the use of commercial pesticides led to toxic runoff that negatively affected crucial water systems. The climate crisis has been co-opted by the alt-right and used to justify anti-immigration and a race war.
All of us must reevaluate our models and make determinations about which solutions, vendors, partners we work with. There are many schools of thought spanning ‘do not advertise on social media platforms,’ to ‘the asymmetries of the tech make it virtually impossible to exit those platforms and remain connected and relevant to your communities.’ Some argue that you must take a stand on politics as a steward of a social enterprise, others insist that you do not. These choices are complex. There are many. None are easy.
Let me be clear: Our problem-solving methods must evolve. Designing models with full awareness of the four interrelated crises is now a requisite as is fostering increased capacity for rational thinking, sense-making, people coordination, and participatory governance. How you steward your communities and stakeholders and the attitudes they adopt matters more than ever. These principles must be baked into the DNA of your enterprise, and we must challenge ourselves, constantly, to align our actions with the ongoing efforts to protect and restore the processes by which society arrives at a shared reality and lifts people up.
Welcome to the fourth phase in the evolution of social ventures and enterprises!
Part III: Together
2022 marks the beginning of COMMON’s 11th year in existence.
How can we leverage the knowledge gained from working with people and organizations in 23 countries and 28 industries for more than a decade? How can we scale new solutions to the world’s biggest problems and increase the $60 Billion in organizational value that we’ve helped people generate? And how can we ensure our work addresses the structural crises that mark the 4th phase of our movement to transform business?
For starters, we are poised to integrate all three parts of COMMON more than ever. Take a moment to re-acquaint yourself with the COMMON Story Video. It has always been the blueprint for our brand, our community, and why we exist.
Here are the core activities we are committed to in 2022:
Our Brand.
COMMON is a unique brand with a unique voice in a space that tends (and rightly so) to be very serious. Few groups can build and nurture a global community, advise and accelerate individuals, startups, publicly-traded corporations, consult top thought leaders, NGOs, and brands, and do it all under the banner “Do Shit That Matters.” We intend to express ourselves a whole lot more this year. A brand refresh and a new website are on the list of things that will help us do just that.
Shared Value.
By mid-2022, we will have launched an MVP version of COMMON Cents that honors each person’s innate contribution, engagement with the community, and the value we create together. We will begin with simple functionality, test adoption, and evolve. In later phases, we intend to introduce distributions of fiat currency and avenues for members to commit different forms of liquidity and value to a shared pool. The calculations we have performed reveal that it is within our reach to grow this program to a point where the benefit to all of our members is significant. If all of our members embrace this program, in time it could enable those who aspire to earn a living solely through their engagement with our community to do so — i.e., maintaining their sovereignty, using their gifts to serve their fellow COMMONers, and earning a living.
Revenue Sharing.
Effective October 1st, 2022. COMMON will set aside up to 3% of monthly revenues from community operations to fund our program and platform for creating and sharing value. [COMMON’s management team will determine the amount allocated based on operational needs and performance.]
The shared value platform/program and revenue sharing commitment will enhance the flow of value between the core parts of COMMON (Community, Incubator, and Brand), transforming them from somewhat independent parts to one integrated whole.
The COMMON Community.
Among those who are flourishing in the current environment are communities that have embraced shared values and goals across multiple stakeholders. Given the times, it is essential that our community remains a thriving destination for people of all walks of life, ideas, expertise, and dreams.
In quarter 4 of last year, we proactively reached out to members whose relationship with COMMON had become transactional and solely a matter of collecting monthly dues–i.e., very little engagement with the community and the COMMON team, and thus not in alignment with our values.
Anyone who COMMON was no longer serving was invited to consider whether stepping out of the community would be in their best interest. These conversations were had with the utmost integrity, respect, and appreciation. Many people opted to seek other avenues, knowing that we genuinely care for them. [The door is always open for their return.]
Membership
We are fortunate to have such a wide range of people and enterprises in the community. The diversity of experience, resources, and preparedness for stewardship, however, can be a challenge. To better serve all of our members we have made changes to our membership offerings. We have done so to provide more room for those who don’t identify as entrepreneurs or enterprise builders but have offerings that they want to bring to the world. For our members who prefer much deeper involvement by COMMON, we have evolved our model for incubation and sharpened its focus.
Basic Membership now centers on our schedule of group virtual work and planning sessions (Monday Planning, Retrospectives, Sensing), additional programming and content. We have also restructured our advisory framework to increase consistency and efficacy. Members are granted access to the community on Slack and will continue to have the option of scheduling up to four quarterly advisory sessions per year. The membership fee remains the same.
Incubator. For the first time ever, we have taken steps to build an in-house growth team. The team is tasked with leveraging COMMON’s marketing and advertising expertise to validate business models and identify the data and analytics necessary to scale. The incubator also serves as a qualifier to become a COMMON Co.
At this time, the incubator is limited to social ventures and enterprises in these areas: e-commerce, services, online communities. Please contact me for incubator details and requirements for acceptance at itmatters@common.is
COMMON Ventures.
Based on a successful experiment with micro-investments we have grown our portfolio to nine ventures/enterprises. Now, we are expanding our model and will increase the number of COMMON COs by investing in those ventures and enterprises that generate success in our incubator.
As part of our portfolio, COMMON Ventures will receive the next level of branding, marketing, and advertising support to scale.
COMMON will allocate a percentage of ownership in ventures to the community, thereby giving members a stake in the portfolio. [The timing of this, and specific details are contingent on the evolution and success of our program for sharing value.]
Imagine the world better served by thousands of ventures and enterprises that inspire all of humanity to fearlessly pursue fairness and balance. Everything I have laid out in this note is inspired by that vision and intended to harness untapped potential in COMMON and unleash collaboration at a level demanded by the times.
Conclusion
“Together” — the first word in Together We Can Be FearLess — could not better reflect the call and challenge before us and the 4th phase of social ventures and enterprises. “Together” can take on new meaning in 2022 and propel us in ways we have yet to imagine. In that spirit, I will share one thing I have learned through my years with COMMON. Perhaps you might find it helpful at some point in your journey.
You will never lose from serving people in the long run. It takes great patience, great courage, and great imagination to serve other human beings.
Create the space for people to be themselves with you. Acknowledge their strength, resiliency, contributions, and their goodness. Embrace their sadness and grief when they are hurting or cannot see the way. Be generous. Be an advocate. Be love. We are at a novel point in human history, and these things are needed more than ever. You are needed more than ever!
We have the ingredients for an incredible year. Let’s make it just that.
Reach out to me at itmatters@common.is if you have questions and/or want to get involved.
Don’t ever forget: We Can Be FearLess Together!
Happy New Year……
Love,
Mark
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COMMON is a creative accelerator and community for socially responsible businesses and projects. We make entrepreneurs famous by helping them build, launch, and promote wildly successful products and ideas that take care of the planet and all the creatures on it.
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