Our techno-scientific world is a historical novelty, and it’s complex. We humans did not evolve for this new world. We have not experienced the magnitude of it’s consequences (unintended or otherwise) and their harms. I’m talking about things like environmental toxins, industrial pollutants, gamma radiation, and so on. I’m also talking about things we can […]

It’s 30 years in the future. Imagine that you are walking into work… no wait… imagine that your home is also your where you work. (“familiar enough” you might say, “what’s so crazy about that?”) Because Artificial Intelligences (AIs) have so thoroughly taken over “the boring stuff” your “working” role is to help facilitate productive […]

Beyond the salaried masses of 20th century bureaucracies and corporations… beyond the precarious moonlighters of the 21st century gig economy… lies the cooperative, an old answer with a new ring to it. Cooperatives are typically founded on seven basic principles set out in 1844: Voluntary and open membership Democratic member control Member economic participation Autonomy and […]

What is the contemporary? How do we build and inhabit our city in a way that gels with who we are, and who we’re becoming? How do we grow and work together as a community, without stepping on each others’ toes in haste, without getting slowed down and frustrated with red tape and liability? Episode 16 […]

What is the contemporary? How do we build and inhabit our city in a way that gels with who we are, and who we’re becoming? How do we grow and work together as a community, without stepping on each others’ toes in haste, without getting slowed down and frustrated with red tape and liability? Episode 15 of […]

This is for anyone who is trying to create something. This is for the artist who is trying to develop his body of work and share it with the world. This is for the program director at a non-profit who is trying to create an innovative program to address an unmet need in her community. […]

Is Design Thinking becoming more about thinking than design? Management by post-its? As I’ve argued in previous blog posts, and in episode #8 of the Working Together Podcast, the cargo cult versions of design thinking (i.e. “post-it design”) tend to become polite, facilitated conversations around a table, but miss what the field of design itself […]

Theatre is more than just a form of live entertainment. When theatre is applied–to education, social justice and social change, community building efforts, conflict, disaster relief, and so on–the power of its technique and its content can transform our social relationships for the better. This is Applied Theatre. Usually coming in the form of participatory theatre created […]

As you can guess, I’m fascinated with what happens when you bring a diverse group of people together to solve problems. Think of the model of the work party, the barn raising, the “talkoot”, and apply it to deliberative democratic practice–whether at work or in your community. Working Together is all about this kind of […]

On the 10th episode of the Working Together Podcast, I take a break from our regular programming and harvest some of the best bits of previous episodes! Although the conversations are diverse, some key themes emerge, and I’ve tried my best to curate like-with-like in this show. Whether you want to learn how to build awesome […]