Engineering Generosity
Collection to inspire the book
Engineering Generosity
Kindness has unlimited upside.”
James Clear • 3 Ideas, 2 Quotes, 1 Question (December 26, 2019) | James Clear
More proof of ideas
scarce systems do what is most likely to succeed right now, because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. Abundant systems assume that tomorrow will be there, so it’s ok to focus on longer term goals.
Introduction to Abundant Systems
System timelines - short-term scarcity vs long-term abundance
They value me as a resource, someone who GSD and makes things happen.
They value that I know how to do stuff, so they don’t have to.
But they don’t actually value who I am, what I stand for, or my potential to change the world.
They value that I know how to do stuff, so they don’t have to.
But they don’t actually value who I am, what I stand for, or my potential to change the world.
Alicia Bonner • Why do you work?
They valued the wrong things.
Reciprocity is not merely generosity; giving away a surplus is an investment, insurance that others will help in your own time of need
Kathleen DuVal • A 600-Year-Old Blueprint for Weathering Climate Change
Insurance
In practice, a startup nonprofit has several important distinctions from traditional nonprofits: 1) it begins with a large goal and works backwards to identify incremental steps to achieve that goal, 2) it has an iterative, experimental mindset, and 3) it is an internet first organization.
marklutter.com • Startup Nonprofits
interesting framing. I’d been focused on the concept of eliminating the distinction between for-profit and non-profit, but this is an alternative way to examine the same problem, looking like it could have similar outcomes.
However, if we truly aim at discussing the economy at a level where we can start to grasp it in its broadest sense we need to add the “invisible” economy, or what is more often called the non-monetary economy. This is a system of economies typically embedded in a monetary economy yet it undertakes tasks that benefit society by means that the... See more
Jenny Grettve • economicspaces
Money is a captured subset of human value created. For people with plenty, it’s the default, because it’s easy to use. But for people without, that value is captured in ways like status, privileges, perks, etc.
An abundant system is a system in which any individual in a system acting to achieve their own goals does not negatively impact the other participants’ pursuit of their goals. Another way of saying this is that the system isn’t a zero-sum game.
Introduction to Abundant Systems
“Your generosity is more important than your perfection.”
–Seth Godin
–Seth Godin
Curtis Ogden • Principles for Network Thinking and Action
Kindness isn’t always easy or obvious, because the urgent race to the bottom, to easily measured metrics and to scarcity, can distract us. But bending the arc toward justice, toward dignity and toward connection is our best way forward.
Seth Godin • Three types of kindness
Seth has a lot of good ideas on this. Should tie in to his ideas more.