Organisations as revolutions.
On the urgency and necessity of dreaming post-capitalist alternatives.
Editor’s note: It’s gonna be a long one this week, folks. I told you I had big things planned for this year, and they start now.
Those that have been following along during the "Future of Wellness" series will be familiar with my belief in an Interwoven, post-capitalist future for the Wellness Industry. "The Future of Wellness" was a concept that I dreamed in 2020, began writing in 2021, had some level of finality in 2022, and I will continue to update in the Spring of this year. It leaned heavily on my experience with cultural change, organisation-building, and abstract, paradigm thinking (sounds weird to say, but I couldn't think of a better way to say it).
My focus on Wellness was twofold: knowing enough about it, I believed it long overdue a revolution, and it gave me a proving ground to write and flesh out my understanding of social change more broadly. Three years of research, thought, and dreaming, and I am still learning and updating my beliefs about what a generative future looks like. Some of the content today comes from the treatise, covered in parts 6 and 7.
My mental model for now, is that organisations must become acts of revolution.
Not the only one, but the one I can bend my will towards, and where I can have the most impact upon. I'm called to embrace radical ways to organise, work, and distribute wealth. To re-purpose what I’ve learned in my career to equip others with the knowledge and tools to make their own contributions to necessary and viable post-capitalist alternatives.
With that in mind, here's what today's read is going to look like:
💡 Some questions to inspire you to dream about what your city would look like if it was an ecosystem of purposeful, inclusive, generative organisations
🌱 An intro about the necessity and urgency of dreaming post-capitalist alternatives
✊🏼 My beliefs about what these organisations could look like in principle
📖 Some select links for further reading
❤️🔥 All the stuff you know and love at the bottom
Some questions to reflect on, in your own time
May these inspire you to dream. May they illuminate your personal beliefs and galvanise you to challenge them. May they support you to envision your own acts of revolution.
When you think about "capitalism" as a concept, what do you feel in your body? Which parts of capitalism, specifically, trigger a response?
What images are conjured up by the word "organisation"? How about "business"? What's the difference between the two?
Which relationships in your life feel truly equitable? In which you're treated as a peer with equal decision-making power and didn't feel coerced. What would product advertising look like if every relationship was like this?
Who do you believe is responsible for (re)solving societal problems or inequality? Why? Without donating money, what are some ways a local business (e.g grocery store, gym, garden centre) could contribute to solving such problems?
How would your work-life/career be different if hierarchies didn't exist, and decisions were made collectively?
Name 5 for-profit organisations that feel ethical and transparent ? How would your city look if every organisation in it acted this way?
On the urgency and necessity of dreaming post-capitalist alternatives
The world's changing, and we can all feel it in our bones. Whether it's the erosion of the "hustle and grind" veneer, the (not-so) slow decay of climate change, the effects of the pandemic, social injustice in its myriad forms, the rising cost of living (it's becoming more expensive just to live?), food crises, housing crises, global conflict, arms races, billionaires, fast-fashion, my crumbling mental health, whatever. It feels like every second person I've spoken to over the last 4 years has had major upheaval in their own lives. Everyone is struggling.
I'm not going to pin all our problems on capitalism and empire. Buuuut, they are responsible for most of the ensemble of ongoing forms of domination over people in society.
Understandably, there's an increasingly rising tide of voices calling to revolt against the current Paradigm; that it's not only preferable, but necessary for survival. There's a sense of urgency, that we're hurtling towards the point of no return in so many ways and it's at once exhausting and horrific.
I feel the pace of our lives has us on the hamster wheel of "react" mode. We're consuming unsustainable and unceasing streams of media detailing how grim things are, and not leaving any space to percolate on it. To consider what to do about it, or dream alternatives.
As Tricia Hersey (one of many inspirations) framed it, "our DreamSpace has been stolen".
On her advice, the two statements I sat and dreamed with most to get here were these:
What does a long-term transition to different organisations, relationships, economic models, and values in society as a whole look like?
How can we create a generative, post-capitalist paradigm that sustains and evolves over time to meet the needs of those within its ecology?
In brief, I believe that to sustain a Paradigm change from neo-liberal capitalism to post-capitalist alternatives, we must re-imagine and broaden our understanding of how organisations are created and run.
If we do not reclaim the time and energy to dream these alternatives for ourselves, no bank, economist, politician, or business is going to create the kinds of alternatives we need. And I'm not going to give them a chance to try.
If this sounds out there, it should. A new ecosystem cannot be built upon the same foundations that were laid for capitalism. We each of us have a responsibility to our descendants to define and role-model alternatives to what is, lest they have to fix more of our broken Earth.
So gee up, and let's get to it.
How could that look?
Organisations are revolutions.
I believe that we must create sustainable and dynamic structures that have the power to replace existing institutions on a global scale.
This requires a fundamental re-imagining of what we believe about Organisations, how we operate with and in them, and our ability to generate and distribute wealth by and through them. Doing so means a revolution that divests from the structures and economic system that created (and maintain) social ills, and creates novel structures in their place.
None of this hinges on reaching a point in time, or a technological or social breakthrough. We can create the world we want to see along the way; what anarchists would call "prefigurative politics".
For my part, I envision post-capitalist organisations to share the following characteristics:
🕸 Organisation-agnostic
I use “Organisation” in revolt against the saturation of only “businesses". When I say "Organisation", then, it could be: a self-employed person, a businesses, community, grassroots initiative, co-operative, NFP/NGO, and more. Where the current Paradigm is ruled by "businesses" (a narrow definition of one type of organisation designed to make a profit), we need an ecosystem of many organisations, all generating social value first and foremost.
Whether they are creating livelihoods for people or not (e.g “jobs”), by their existence and structure, they all contribute to a generative and reciprocal ecosystem.
📪 Post-capitalist
A no-brainer, this relies on a mental shift from extracting economic value, towards generating social value. Organisations will exist to meet social needs.
Where neo-liberal capitalism is centred on maximising “economic value” (from exploiting labour or extracting resources), “social value” is at the heart of alternatives. Currently, profit is seen as a private resource ("You work for me, I make more money"). A broader view understands that profit can be a social resource.
How any kind of “resource” (knowledge, time, effort, money, etc) is used, distributed, and who it benefits comes to the fore as our focus shifts to co-operative peer relationships that redistribute - rather than hoard - value.
⛰ Purpose-driven
In all ways, Organisations will be oriented towards a transcendent purpose, maximising impact towards it, rather than maximising profit. Our current Paradigm taught us that businesses (one kind of organisation) are the only way to make a profit (one kind of value). An organisation that exists to make a few people wealthy is no longer good enough; profit cannot be the sole reason for existence.
Whether it's a framed as a Purpose, Vision, Mission, Guiding Belief, etc, rather than producing what the market demands, they're animated by meeting the needs of the ecosystem.
🤝 Alternative ownership models
Organisations will use alternative ownership models that ensure power, decision-making ability, and resources are shared equitably.
These embrace communal self-governance to ensure that Organisations are not ruled by the loudest, highest paid, or longest-serving voices. This requires a mental shift from individual ownership to collective ownership. We will see generations of steward-ownership, co-ops, communities, non-profits, and self-employed people - changemakers all.
However, if we fail to create alternatives for traditional “businesses”, progress will be much slower. I propose that steward ownership (most recently in global news from Patagonia’s announcement) become the norm for Organisations at scale.
🌈 Non-domination
“Domination” is an umbrella concept for the various systemic features of a society where groups and people are controlled, coerced, exploited, humiliated, or discriminated against.
As alternatives to capitalist Organisation models, these are very intentionally not built on the same practices. They follow the principal of non-domination to be inclusive, de-colonial, ethical, transparent, etc.
Further reading
If all these shifts are considered radical, then it’s time for us to evaluate the society we want to leave for our descendants. There is much more of this to come, but for now, dear reader here is some more food for thought.
Short takes 🎬
Every year, I re-watch the extended cuts of “The Lord of the Rings”, and most of the lengthy bonus features. I’m a massive LoTR nerd (book and film), and will talk AT LENGTH to any and everyone about what a miracle and marvel of cinema the LoTR films were (I’m also a film nerd). Recently, I finished reading “Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth” which solidified these opinions.
Suffice to say, this week I began my yearly pilgrimage to Middle Earth, and it’s been resplendent. It’s one of the few times I give myself true freedom to nourish myself and not feel guilty. Over three, 4-hour journeys, I can blob out and immerse myself in another world.
I’m not going to try to sell you on why LoTR is relevant, timeless, and a rollicking good time. I will say that Polygon wrote a stack of thoughtful and entertaining articles in 2021 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the film’s release, and that might pique your interest. Two I would recommend are how “the trilogy sold a brotherly kiss to an audience allergic to male intimacy” and on Aragorn’s enduring hotness 🔥
Anyone who knows me (or has been following along for a while) knows I share a deep bond with Aragorn, song of Arathorn. It’s part kinship, part role model, part past-life bleed-through, and part crushing on Mortensen as a tremendous actor and all-round fascinating person. Part of the re-watch is to re-inspire me to strive towards the kind of person Aragorn is (book and film versions). One brave enough to share his doubts, to hold others close, to see and be seen in turn.
What I'm crushing on ❤️🔥
Imby, Imby, Imby! 🌱 I’m jazzed to be a part of the virtual community center that does an excellent job of nourishing its members, inviting conversations, sharing struggles, and co-creating a more just future. Imby has loads of events, guest speakers, and weekly “Unworking”; a virtual common room to do whatever in, while sharing the space with other members.
We decided to trial an additional timeslot for Unworking last week, so I was finally able to join! I rolled out of bed at 7am and was greeted by other members, spending the next 2 hours updating my website. I essentially did the work I had planned for the whole day in (just over) 2 hours. It was a thrill.
Soooo, here’s some upcoming public events - and a peek at our recurring member events. Our free Bookclub (co-hosted by Ashley and I in March) will be exploring “Who is Wellness for?”. Would love to see you there if the timezone works 🤓
What I'm wrangling 🧶
Since pursuing self-employment in 2021, I have shied away from some aspects of my previous work experience. I wanted to leave my "old" career behind. But, I've come to realise it's more valuable to re-purpose what mastery I've built in my craft towards what the world needs right now. To seek adjacencies which broaden my learning and scope of work, and do it in a way that's imbued with all I am. This is the place where this writing is coming from now.
“Despite comprehensive regulations, around 60 percent of Europe's surface water and a quarter of its groundwater do not meet "good" standards. Agriculture bears most of the responsibility.”
This multi-part reportage from Vox describes the worsening conditions of the EU’s water supply, from pesticides, nitrate leakage, and the circle-jerk of finger pointing between member states. It paints a grim picture of the regulation, reporting, and capacity for change - a troubling future if measures are not taken soon.
In France, a study from 2015 estimated that, every year, a total of €260–360 million is spent on treatment linked to cleaning drinking water of pesticides. Money that should and could definitely be better spent elsewhere.