My mission in life is to Nurture an Ecosystem of Mutual Flourishing.

I've taken many circuitous routes that all keep bringing me back to this one big dream.

Over the years I've worked as a pastor, community leader, non-profit leader, life coach, entrepreneur, business owner and business coach. I've always been pointed in the direction of building the environment that helps people flourish. I am especially drawn to the metaphor of an Ecosystem. It inspires me to know that we are all connected and it humbles me when I remember that this is all much bigger than me. The best I can do is to nurture my little corner and work to connect with the good things others are doing in theirs.

I created this space to share my experience, imagination and some of the tools I've learned or created to make the mission possible. My hope is that it will stir conversation and connection with others who share a vision for the world where every person, community and the natural environment is flourishing.

Why Business, Community and the Inner Life?

The short answer is because these are the things I care about.

The longer answer has something to do with the way systems work: parts and wholes that are part of a part and a whole all working in relationship to each other. This holds endless possibilities and puzzles to solve in my mind. I am fascinated by the fact that an individual in relationship to itself is an ecosystem of its own! Put those individual humans in relationship and a community ecosystem forms. Add in other communities and you have the building blocks for another ecosystem: an economy. Business and entrepreneurship is an economic as well as artistic expression of how individuals and communities relate and interact. From my view, these are the arenas where Flourishing is nurtured. They're not the only things necessary for Flourishing, but without them, I'm not sure Mutual Flourishing can exist. And because I care about these things, this is what I'm going to write about.

A Note about the language of Mutual Flourishing Ecosystems

I'm not the only or first person to talk about Mutual Flourishing. My fascination with this metaphor started in the early 2010's when I became increasingly disenfranchised by the "metric" model for business and life. It all seemed to be about "success" and "winning" and "bigger". Frankly, I felt more like a big 'ole failure in that world. And increasingly, unable to predict or control the outcomes of my work. I began to meditate on how nature works and the concept of an Ecosystem gave me a lot of comfort. The Ecosystem just is; and it mostly operates on its own. It certainly doesn't depend on ME! But Ecosystems can also be disrupted and destroyed. Maybe my job isn't to control, but to tend and nurture. Remarkably...redemptively...Ecosystems are also resilient and self healing after experiencing trauma. I experience both feelings of deep meaning alongside the freedom that it will all continue whether or not I can offer anything to the system. I am both a nurturer and one being nurtured.

The metaphor lends itself easily to the idea of Mutual Flourishing. When a friend gave me the book The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer, I immediately resonated with her assertion that "all flourishing is mutual." I began to incorporate the language of Mutual Flourishing into my purpose statement and feel like Robin gave me the words to describe the thing my heart had been trying to say for many years. I'm deeply grateful for that gift and in return, I am eager to share what I have received in this Ecosystem of Mutual Flourishing.

Maybe something in here will resonate with you, too? If it does, I hope you'll stick around, contribute your thoughts to the conversation and maybe we can Nurture something in the Ecosystem together!