My Pantheon
I’ve got a very short list of people who’ve inspired me in ways that even I haven’t fully grasped yet. In that list is Evan Williams, co-founder of Blogger & Twitter.
I’m pretty sure that the first post of Ev’s I ever read was when he founded Obvious Corp in late 2006. I remember reading this post and thinking “I’m not alone.” That seems like an arrogant thing to say, comparing myself to the co-founder and CEO-to-be of Twitter, but remember this was in 2006. Twitter in 2006 was very different that Twitter in 2010. Ev had already sold Blogger to Google and was independently wealthy, but that’s not what I admired.
A few things about Ev have always struck me. He’s careful with his words, or at least seems to be from a distance. That deliberateness is interesting to me. His candidness in his observations of the world around him. An odd sense of self-awareness that seemed otherwise missing from most of the business leaders I’d been exposed to.
There’s a few excerpts from that first post that I’d read that have resonated with me for a very long time.
I’m very excited to announce something that I’ve wanted to do forever.
You can feel the giddiness of that sentence. I know that feeling now for myself.
The Obvious model goes something like this:
- Build things cheaply and rapidly by keeping teams small and self-organized.
- Leverage technology, know-how, and infrastructure across products (but brand them separately, so they’re focused and easy to understand)
- Use the aggregate attention and user base of the network to gain traction for new services faster than they could gain awareness independently
As services mature, the goal is to get them to profitability with advertising and/or subscriptions, so they can add to the network (and fund more building).When justified by growth, resource needs, and desire of the team, we will spin off growing properties to form their own entities (with outside investment). It’s not that we’re against investors and acquisitions. That model works great for some things—especially once the idea is proven. But we’re also not an incubator, with the goal of hatching companies from everything we build. Some things are perfectly worthwhile but don’t need to be a company.
You can find bits and pieces of this in almost every project I’ve worked on. Advertising model aside (since I know now how difficult and unrealistic that can be for most companies), the idea of building things out-of-silos and giving them the ability to spin off is at the core of Indy Hall. Indy Hall isn’t about Indy Hall, but about the things Indy Hall has enabled. And even some of those things that Indy Hall has enabled have enabled things of their own.
Recursion. It’s a helluva drug.
Lastly, for me, I just wanted to create a company that would be as much fun and as fulfilling as possible. Fun in work to me means a lot of freedom, and ton of creativity, working with people I respect and like, and pursuing ideas that are just crazy enough to work. I don’t want to have to worry about getting buy-in from executives or a board, raising money, worrying about investor’s perceptions, or cashing out.
At SXSW a couple of years ago, a friend asked me, “Alex, what’s your end game?” My response was almost a direct pull from this excerpt, again probably without realizing it. My goal in life is to work on things that I think are awesome with people that I think are awesome. Whatever it takes to get to that point is worth it.
If the first quarter of 2011 is any indication, Ev’s final point in his post from 2006 is a perfect representation of how I’m feeling right now.
It may be stupid. It may be naive. It may be selfish and undisciplined. And, frankly, it may not work. All I know is I’m more excited about work than I’ve been in a long time. And from excitement and bold moves, great things often happen.
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Coworking & Zones of Proximal Development
Quick repost from the coworking google group. This was too good not to share here.
A member of the Global Coworking Google Group named Garth posted the following:
I spent Earth Hour chatting with an old buddy about his passion, psychology. When I told him what we’re trying to achieve with coworking, he suggested I look up “zone of proximal development.” Any of you have enough psych background to assess whether there is some value in reviewing the literature on that? Could it be applied to coworking?
So I don’t have much of a psych “background” other than my armchair interest in it as Coworking (like most things) has become less about business and more about people for me. Here’s my response, with some minor edits for clarity from the original post to the Google Group:
I’ve spent a good amount of the last year reading more articles and books on psychology, sociology, and cognitive science for ideas and lessons to apply to coworking…chiefly for the purpose of finding terms like this that could lead to more study of the context. It’s so often that I observe a pattern and the main thing keeping me from understanding it more is not knowing what the pattern is called or means, so I can’t look up a study or research paper on it. Best I can do is write about it and hope somebody posts about it.
Interestingly enough, I think this concept is a meta explanation of exactly that experience. Here’s what I mean:
A quick skim of the concept makes me think there’s a lot of application here. It also reinforces some of my theories that coworking is most valuable when it’s not a room full of “likeminded people” doing the same thing (startups, law, technology, creative, communication, writing, art, business, science, education, etc) but instead a room full of “likeminded people” doing DIFFERENT things (startups, law, technology, creative, communication, writing, art, business, science, education, etc.).
That is to say, especially as adults, we’re less likely to learn from peers that are too similar. We spend too much time reinforcing each other’s existing habits and knowledge instead of creating space for new knowledge to be exchanged. That “space” isn’t physical space like a coworking space, but conceptual space, like the “zone of proximal development”.
Essentially, we share what we know. We don’t share what we don’t know. And we don’t know what we don’t know. Coworking can help break down those barriers.
Coworking, in its best forms, creates a zone where we’re surrounded by people aren’t limited by knowing what we don’t know (or know what we do know) and it can be shared in loose contexts and formats that we’re all increasingly comfortable with.
Cool shit. Thanks for sharing, Garth.
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Random Acts of DiMasi
Indy Hall has brought literally thousands of amazing people into my life, but the most important of them to me turns 40 today.
In Geoff DiMasi’s honor, I invite you to participate in his birthday by choosing any of the “Random Acts of DiMasi” below and performing them. You can also add suggestions of your own in the comments and I’ll add the good ones to the list.
- Hug your wife and kids
- Listen to Fugazi
- Speak with thoughtfulness and brevity (reference: Yoda)
- Ask a waitress what she suggests to eat (between two choice you already have made)
- Drink a Jameson and Ginger Ale
- Plant a tree
- Take a risk on a punk kid like me
Thanks Geoff. Happy 40th. To many more. 
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This Is Not A Business Book
I just scrapped a 3,000 word essay on The Thank You Economy, Gary Vaynerchuck’s newest book.
I was going to give you all sorts of background on our friendship, how we became friends, what it’s meant to me, blah blah blah. The I remembered that you probably wouldn’t care.
What’s important is why Gary and I became friends, and why we’ve stayed friends. We have a commonality. We’re both wired to make the world a better place, whatever it takes.
In 2009, Gary released his 1st book. “Crush It!” was a fun read, but it was like talking to Gary circa 2009. It was manic and excited, often inspirational, but otherwise was phoning it in. Gary and I haven’t talked about it, but I think even he knows that “Crush It!” wasn’t a book that was going to change the world.
Today (well, yesterday by now), “The Thank You Economy” is on bookshelves. But I’m not going to review Gary’s new book, in spite of having had a galley copy for the last week. The fact that I’m writing about it at all should tell you that you might want to go pick up a copy and read it for yourself.
Instead, I’m going to suggest a trick to employ while reading “The Thank You Economy”.
Remember, Gary’s a make the world a better place, whatever it takes kind of guy. Which is why I think that “The Thank You Economy” is actually a trojan horse carefully placed in the business section.
While the message appears to be about how to succeed at business, I’m going to challenge you to read the book as a guide of how to succeed at life.
“The Thank You Economy” isn’t a business book, in spite of the section of the bookstore you found it or even the name of the publisher on the spine. It’s a sneak attack on a broken business world, with a mission to make the world a better place, whatever it takes.
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The Lost Value of Coworking: Wellness
When we scored the coworking.com domain early last year, my personal goal was to have a digital placeholder for the word “coworking” and tie it to the shared core values of the community: collaboration, openness, community, accessibility, and sustainability.
As I watch announcements of new coworking spaces pour in, and the beginnings of another of my predictions being fulfilled at an equally alarming rate, I’m seeing yet another pattern emerge.
Among the top “reasons” cited, at least in a completely non-scientific study of my own perception, is “cost savings”. It’s a bum economy, so I get why, but that bum economy isn’t going to be lifted out of it’s own sorrows by the graces of coworking.
The shame is, every coworking space that’s selling itself on cost-effectiveness is founding themselves on a short term value for their members. At some point, there’s a good chance that they’re not going to be able to sustain being “cost effective” and will return their rates to something that makes commercial sense. Alternatively, as the economy bounces back and priorities shift, cost effectiveness will sink in the hierarchy of needs, rendering the primary offering less attractive.
I’ve often harped on the importance of remembering the history of coworking. Not just the historical facts, like names and dates, but the historical purpose and intent.
In 2005, Brad Neuberg’s “Spiral Muse” based coworking arrangement was anything but practical, but it had a purpose for Brad and the other participants: improving quality of life and wellness. Part of the communal workday at the Spiral Muse included some forms of meditation and yoga.
Nearly 5 years later, I propose that we should push ourselves ahead of the curve and remember the long term value of coworking: wellness, in a richer, more sustainable working lifestyle. Indy Hall was, very personally, founded in a need for separation of work and life. Today, when I work at Indy Hall, I’m happier. If that’s not the most critical form of wellness we could stand to improve in our workforce, I don’t know what is.
I’m not necessarily proposing that every coworking space institute a yoga or meditation practice into their regiment, unless of course members are the ones driving that forward. Instead, I’m proposing a shift in focus. Don’t drop your rates because members want cheap membership, create sustainable rates for them and you, so that they can receive a benefit to their overall wellness.
There’s 10 month left in 2011. That’s a lot of time left to bring wellness back into the message of coworking. We’re doing our part by inviting a yoga instructor who is developing a program specifically for office exercising to Indy Hall next month. More ideas will be discussed at tomorrow night’s Town Hall, as well.
I propose we introduce “wellness” back into the core values of coworking.com as well.
Coworking comrades, how will you help?
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