Fall is my favorite time of the year. Dark greens give way to goldenrod. The insect’s cadence slows. The wind shifts slightly to the east and the sun fades into tolerance. Flipflops give way to boots, and nature’s reminder that our period of rest is approaching before Springtime blooms in epiphany. The days are growing shorter at Firefly Farm. The stem-flowers aren’t quite as strong as they were. The hayfields have been cut and rolled - ready to feed the area livestock during the harsher days...

Fall is my favorite time of the year. Dark greens give way to goldenrod. The insect’s cadence slows. The wind shifts slightly to the east and the sun fades into tolerance. Flipflops give way to boots, and nature’s reminder that our period of rest is approaching before Springtime blooms in epiphany. The days are growing shorter at Firefly Farm. The stem-flowers aren’t quite as strong as they were. The hayfields have been cut and rolled - ready to feed the area livestock during the harsher days...

We don’t have to go far to get bombarded with discussions about AI. Ethics, efficacy, products, research, use cases - it’s everywhere. Investing for the sake of investing and FOMO are evident in almost every corporate think-tank and startup I’ve worked with this year, and they’re all taking the Big Wall approach to protecting their ‘idea.’ Let me let you in on a little secret: There are no new ideas. “Wait - don’t you run an Open Innovation workshop based on new ideas?” Sure do - but it’s not...

We don’t have to go far to get bombarded with discussions about AI. Ethics, efficacy, products, research, use cases - it’s everywhere. Investing for the sake of investing and FOMO are evident in almost every corporate think-tank and startup I’ve worked with this year, and they’re all taking the Big Wall approach to protecting their ‘idea.’ Let me let you in on a little secret: There are no new ideas. “Wait - don’t you run an Open Innovation workshop based on new ideas?” Sure do - but it’s not...

A basis agreed to by all parties for reaching a mutual understanding. That’s the webster’s definition. Here’s mine: The foundation for sustainable living, where diverse perspectives converge to ensure a balanced, curious, thriving world. The birth of words slowly continues. I hosted an Environmental Literacy workshop last week with about 30 attendees. To get everyone thinking along the same lines, I broke down the words: Environmental means relating to the natural world and the impact of huma...

A basis agreed to by all parties for reaching a mutual understanding. That’s the webster’s definition. Here’s mine: The foundation for sustainable living, where diverse perspectives converge to ensure a balanced, curious, thriving world. The birth of words slowly continues. I hosted an Environmental Literacy workshop last week with about 30 attendees. To get everyone thinking along the same lines, I broke down the words: Environmental means relating to the natural world and the impact of huma...

This morning, I skimmed through the first ‘it’s working’ article on climate change. Here we go. No, it’s not. Listen, we’ve really only been abusing the planet for the last 150 years. I’m talking about punishing abuse…..changing earth science kind of stuff. PFAS, Neonincontinoides, Monoculture, Mass Extraction. These human practices and robotic processes are advancing beyond the pace of human thought. Read Watchman’s Rattle Wonder why you can’t ever get caught up? Wonder why you feel like eve...

This morning, I skimmed through the first ‘it’s working’ article on climate change. Here we go. No, it’s not. Listen, we’ve really only been abusing the planet for the last 150 years. I’m talking about punishing abuse…..changing earth science kind of stuff. PFAS, Neonincontinoides, Monoculture, Mass Extraction. These human practices and robotic processes are advancing beyond the pace of human thought. Read Watchman’s Rattle Wonder why you can’t ever get caught up? Wonder why you feel like eve...

In part 1 of this 2-part series, we broke the word sustainability down into its parts. The word ‘sustain’ is a verb meaning to support, hold, or bear up from below. This is something we actively do - not something we are or something we have. When we shift that word to a noun - sustainability - it takes on a whole different meaning and carries a political vibe. Foundational and supportive transforms from functional and necessary to polarizing and subjective. That’s the crossroads that needs e...

In part 1 of this 2-part series, we broke the word sustainability down into its parts. The word ‘sustain’ is a verb meaning to support, hold, or bear up from below. This is something we actively do - not something we are or something we have. When we shift that word to a noun - sustainability - it takes on a whole different meaning and carries a political vibe. Foundational and supportive transforms from functional and necessary to polarizing and subjective. That’s the crossroads that needs e...

It’s no coincidence the Orion Growth logo is a series of intertwined circles. Back in 2009 when we designed it - the purpose of the company was to break down the vertical silos of commercial real estate and introduce circular, regenerative thinking to a traditional, linear process. We were slightly ahead of the market, but things have taken off lately. It turns out that circular processes and sustainable design mean something now. Circularity is becoming a regulatory requirement for our large...

It’s no coincidence the Orion Growth logo is a series of intertwined circles. Back in 2009 when we designed it - the purpose of the company was to break down the vertical silos of commercial real estate and introduce circular, regenerative thinking to a traditional, linear process. We were slightly ahead of the market, but things have taken off lately. It turns out that circular processes and sustainable design mean something now. Circularity is becoming a regulatory requirement for our large...

What if we were in business to be pro-planet? Imagine if we used ‘sustainable’ as a baseline rather than a goal. What if we applied this approach to agriculture, land management, and urban planning - where the focus shifts from minimizing harm to actively enhancing the capacity of the land to sustain us? What if the bottom line was breakeven - and the top line was better AND profitable? Is this an adjustment to a more accurate true north or do we need to blow it up and start over? Let’s dive ...

What if we were in business to be pro-planet? Imagine if we used ‘sustainable’ as a baseline rather than a goal. What if we applied this approach to agriculture, land management, and urban planning - where the focus shifts from minimizing harm to actively enhancing the capacity of the land to sustain us? What if the bottom line was breakeven - and the top line was better AND profitable? Is this an adjustment to a more accurate true north or do we need to blow it up and start over? Let’s dive ...

Crypto scams totaled $5.6B in 2023. That's up 45% according to the news. 700,000 complaints were taken by the FBI - proving it's an "attractive vehicle for criminals while creating challenges to recover stolen funds." At the risk of sounding, erm, practical - let's look at a couple of other places people 'may' have lost some money along the way last year. CMBS - another $1.2T of CMBS loans will be due by EOY'25. The key word: another. This marks the 5th year of d...

Crypto scams totaled $5.6B in 2023. That's up 45% according to the news. 700,000 complaints were taken by the FBI - proving it's an "attractive vehicle for criminals while creating challenges to recover stolen funds." At the risk of sounding, erm, practical - let's look at a couple of other places people 'may' have lost some money along the way last year. CMBS - another $1.2T of CMBS loans will be due by EOY'25. The key word: another. This marks the 5th year of d...

It’s amazing to watch what happens when the whole world grabs onto something. General-purpose technologies have widespread applications and influence across a multitude of industries. This is causing innovation and economic growth by enabling new processes, products, and services. Our biggest challenge….bullshit. Bullshit is a very technical term for an inaccurate prompt response. LLM’s are notorious bullshitters. They use neural nets and training as their underlying mechanisms. Just like hum...

It’s amazing to watch what happens when the whole world grabs onto something. General-purpose technologies have widespread applications and influence across a multitude of industries. This is causing innovation and economic growth by enabling new processes, products, and services. Our biggest challenge….bullshit. Bullshit is a very technical term for an inaccurate prompt response. LLM’s are notorious bullshitters. They use neural nets and training as their underlying mechanisms. Just like hum...

Right now. That’s when things happen. Every second, every minute, every hour of the day. For those of us who are blessed with thought-perspective, we can set time aside and dive into thoughtful dialogue, experiment with different ideas, and explore. There are no tasks in exploration, only creative ideation followed by intense research. There’s truth in knowledge and chasing down the truth is a virtuous endeavor. It happens slowly at first, then all at once. This has been an extraordinary week...

Right now. That’s when things happen. Every second, every minute, every hour of the day. For those of us who are blessed with thought-perspective, we can set time aside and dive into thoughtful dialogue, experiment with different ideas, and explore. There are no tasks in exploration, only creative ideation followed by intense research. There’s truth in knowledge and chasing down the truth is a virtuous endeavor. It happens slowly at first, then all at once. This has been an extraordinary week...

In August of last year, I was given the opportunity to open a conference in San Francisco. We were on a biotech campus in Santa Clara and the theme was sustainability. To me, sustainability starts with the foundation. Like buildings, organizations need a stable base. Post covid, most organizations were knocked off their base. This is about reorganizing back to stable. This is about people getting back to a stable platform. This is about the organization as organizing. “Organizing is a deep im...

In August of last year, I was given the opportunity to open a conference in San Francisco. We were on a biotech campus in Santa Clara and the theme was sustainability. To me, sustainability starts with the foundation. Like buildings, organizations need a stable base. Post covid, most organizations were knocked off their base. This is about reorganizing back to stable. This is about people getting back to a stable platform. This is about the organization as organizing. “Organizing is a deep im...

Since the Biden Administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act, I’ve been paying close attention to how and where those funds are being apportioned. When we think about infrastructure, our mind takes us straight to rail, road, and bridges. While that’s part of it, that’s not where these funds focus. They focus on dependencies - alternatives to the brick-and-mortar infrastructure that we see every day. These investments are considered transition investments and they provide alternatives and...

Since the Biden Administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act, I’ve been paying close attention to how and where those funds are being apportioned. When we think about infrastructure, our mind takes us straight to rail, road, and bridges. While that’s part of it, that’s not where these funds focus. They focus on dependencies - alternatives to the brick-and-mortar infrastructure that we see every day. These investments are considered transition investments and they provide alternatives and...