Do you ever feel like what you want to do goes against what society ‘wants’ you to do? Like, maybe you want to be a painter, but your parents and your school tell you that you’ll never make any money. Maybe you want to take a gap year after high school but your parents fear you’ll never go to college and, thus, never ‘amount to anything’. Maybe you are attracted to people of your same…
If you’re familiar with me or craft beer (or maybe both?) you may be familiar with the phrase, “The brewing industry is 99% asshole free”. This quote became famous when Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery published his book “Brewing Up a Business”. This book was an inspiration to my brewery and a big part of the craft beer explosion. The quote suggests that the beer business is more cooperative than competitive. It…
What matters to you? What is important? What do you value (Episode 46 Values)? We say things matter to us when we put energy into developing, protecting, and thinking about them. Our families matter. Our relationships matter. Things that matter have meaning to us. What is meaningful to me might not be meaningful to you. But as I have said before, I think there are some things that have universal meaning. They matter to us all. Life. Peace. Calm. Justice. Love. Integrity. Many would…
You’re probably not old enough to remember, but a commercial in the 70s reminds me of this episode. In the commercial, a woman who represented Earth informed the viewer, “‘It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.” I don’t know if this ad made an impression on me, but my adult self agrees with it. I don’t think we consult Mother Nature often enough. It might be my Evolutionary Ecology background showing, but I tend to…
Lately, I’ve been wondering about capitalism and competition. As I have mentioned in other episodes (links below), competition only occurs when resources are limited. Also, capitalism requires competition to protect consumers from monopolies. While I argue in older episodes that this protective feature often doesn’t work, the fact remains that capitalism requires competition. That competition is a requirement of capitalism is critical BECAUSE competition only occurs when resources are limited. When there are plenty of resources, there…
Much of our lives seem haphazard and disorganized. Sometimes doing our best simply means being able to get out of bed and go through the motions. As we gain awareness we learn how to better navigate life’s obstacles. We learn to see the obstacles as the way. It is possible – I am living proof. As my journey – specifically the work I am doing here on my podcast – evolves I go back and…
Knowledge + Experience = Wisdom 138 One of the most influential papers from my former career described the ‘River Continuum Concept’. Though quite basic, this paper revolutionized how we thought about streams and rivers. Specifically how freshwater systems changed from their springs where they began to the oceans into which they drained. This paper introduced me to systems thinking and changed how I think about the world and nearly everything in it. Generally, systems are comprised…
The words ‘leader’ and ‘narcissist’ bug me. I think these two words are overused. I also don’t think we really know what they mean anymore. Maybe we never did. Maybe the words have been usurped by the very people defined by them. Let’s start with leadership. What is this, exactly? If you look on LinkedIn (which I did, then I quit) you will see ‘leadership’ as being a top-tier achievement. The word is thrown around…
For the past twenty-some Episodes, I have been trying to figure out how to formulate my current question of interest. Generally, I am trying to make the case that Nature provides a wealth of information. Further, I am pleading with humankind to CONSULT nature when making decisions. Especially decisions that affect our species’ or planets’ health. I have used evolution and natural selection (with DNA being the mechanism) as filters, of sorts, that approve or…
I’m revisiting some of my favorite concepts in this episode. Awareness. Intent. Attention. Consciousness. Will. And how these things work together and facilitate growth. Being human. Underneath all of this, I believe that growing to be a ‘better’ human is a critical requirement of being alive. Or, if it is not a requirement, it is a meaningful element whose absence is a shame if not a failure. We are all humans, subject to the distractions…