• Think differently
• Develop new links and networks
• Take action aligned with strengthening local economy

Submit / Suggest Content for the Cafe

The content for the “Practice of Change” cafe will come from real-world “change cases” in which P&B members participated, and we need your suggestion or, better yet, submissions.

The project or effort should have something to do with the local or regional economy. It could have succeeded or failed or done a little of both.

More on submitting a change case (plus, Robert's take) after the jump --->  

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Our longtime friend John Abrams has gotten off the island of Martha's Vineyard to talk to a full house at Providence & Beyond, our ongoing inquiry into Providence and the region. (For the record, we currently define the greater Providence region as extending from Provincetown, MA to Northampton or so.)

John is a founder of the South Mountain Company , a design/build firm on Martha's Vineyard that, as far as we knew this morning, didn't take any work off the island. He also wrote the book The Company We Keep about Somoco's employee-owned, cooperative structure.

Robert Leaver of New Commons asks the questions.

An old question raised a long time ago that shaped the way a career unfolded: How do you serve the world?

What I've actually done is to make a work environment that brings more meaning, esprit d'corp and excitement to people's lives.

More after the jump --->

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If there's one thing that the P&B crowd can do, it's drink coffee. I think we're through 5 or 6 pots so far, and there's more on the way.

Be that as it may, Robert's old friend Doug Hammond, whose new venture is called Alive Communities, is our guest. He's here to talk about local, living economies, which has been his work since the 1980's. Here's my bloggy, partial transcript of a recent conversation at the SERI Summit among Robert, Doug and John Abrams. 

Both Robert and Doug are telling stories about 'the old days' but they're circling around the question:

What is your work? How do you serve the world?

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Bad news this morning when we came to set up for Providence and Beyond with John Abrams - South Mountain Company offices were burglarized last night, and John must stay on Martha's Vineyard to deal with the police, insurance, etc.

We are soldiering on in his absence and with Robert, a longtime colleague, playing both roles in what was to have been an In the Actors Studio type interview. We'll shorten this portion considerably and add the time to the cafe. 

John and Robert worked together on the Martha's Vineyard 50-year plan. The Island sought to diversify its economy from just tourism. But the planners recognized the need to look at the ecology, the economy and the Island's culture _before_ examining the built environment.

We also hoped John would talk more about the cooperative structure of South Mountain. Rather than an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan), it's a true cooperative where a finite number of people are both employees and owners. At least two factors are driving an increasing popularity of this model:

1. Baby Boomers who have started businesses want to get out, but don't want to sell out
2. Many entrepreneurs want to stay connected to their companies after they step away from full time management

We were going to talk some about the counterintuitive business approach at SoMoCo. They insist on building high levels of affordable housing, and it is very difficult to determine which units are affordable and which are "market rate".  

Lastly, we were going to ask him about how SoMoCo is dealing with the current economic downturn, especially in the housing sector. They list six steps they will take, and none of them is layoffs. Never was it suggested that the newest employees be more vulnerable, nor was it suggested that they take the opportunity to "cull" the workforce, eliminating the least effective workers.

Instead, the crisis has served to unite the company even more strongly.  

Our current plan would reschedule John sometime in January or February 2010. We hope to announce it in a few days.

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