when I was 23 years old I thought I was
on top of the world I had a degree from
Harvard a great group of friends and
family and I didn’t exactly hate my job
but deep down I knew something was
missing sure I was making good money at
work but I wasn’t engaged and as a
result my weekend adventure started
getting more and more extreme I needed
these experiences so I could scrub off
the monotony of the week and really feel
alive again on Fridays I Drive all night
with friends and we’d bike surf or ski
we’d go hard all day party all night and
on Mondays I dragged myself back to the
office and hit repeat we were all doing
it so it felt almost normal but inside I
was breaking up I felt like I was one
person at work and another person after
work I don’t really like either person
and I realized that if I wanted to live
a meaningful life then I needed to
become whole so after faking it for way
too long I finally quit my job I started
waiting tables at night so I could step
out of the rat race but still make ends
meet looking back it was one of the best
decisions of my life but at the time it
was gut wrenching I felt like I was
letting people down I was a little
embarrassed I often felt lost but I kept
tuning in and following this little
flame that I could feel flickering in my
belly happily my girlfriend now wife was
getting a master’s in holistic health so
together we dove deep into meditation
and metaphysics we even made kombucha
gradually my mindset melted into a heart
set I started to trust my intuition more
and move away from that micro me that
was so focused on my own little self and
into the macro me where I felt most
alive and connected like most of us I
recognized that our culture is leading
us on a path that was not only soul
sapping but destroying life on the
planet so why then is it so hard so hard
for us to break away from this dominant
paradigm the so-called American Dream
and follow a path of wholeness for most
of the past century we focused
intensively on transforming our planet
through increased technology chemical
agriculture household goods and more at
the same time we’ve transformed human
culture through megacities internet fast
food and cell phones we use surgery to
change the way we look and fashion to
make us feel connected if despite this
mastery of our external environment this
industrial revolution leaves us feeling
overwhelmed and anxious depressed and
lonely clearly our focus on material
wealth traps us on a vicious cycle of
insatiable consumption where we keep
looking outside of ourselves to try and
feel complete inside and this external
focus leads us to destroy ecosystems and
cultures and leaves us on the brink of
extinction but it doesn’t have to be
this way what we need now is a
consciousness revolution where people
are enlightened by the power of their
connection to each other and natural
systems only once we feel fully alive
and connected can we heal ourselves in
this culture and create a new story
where humans are a force for
regenerating ecosystems and creating
vibrant communities for the first time
in history we have free access to the
teachers tools and technologies that
combine modern insights with ancient
wisdom from around the world with these
tools millions of people are discovering
therein
nature this enlightened nature’s one of
love and abundance where we all feel
connected and belong and know that we
all need each other
to thrive so we have these mindfulness
and communication tools but not enough
people are using them to really
accelerate this consciousness revolution
we all need environments where we can
learn and practice this is gonna sound
crazy but a corporation can be the
perfect place hear me out
as Americans we spend half our waking
hours at work so work becomes one of the
most prominent aspects in our lives not
only for our livelihoods but for our
social and emotional lives for many of
us we rely on our companies much like
people traditionally relied on their
tribe or their extended family and our
relationships at work become some of the
most important relationships we have
sadly though most corporate cultures are
toxic stats are alarming according to
Office vibe almost 50% of employees are
looking to leave their current jobs and
only 13% of employees worldwide are
engaged in their work that means almost
90% of people are not engaged in the
place where they spend half their time
not only is this tragic but it’s a huge
missed opportunity and the missing
ingredient is purpose if a company has a
life affirming purpose a living purpose
then all employees and stakeholders can
be fully alive and the company culture
itself can become a living culture that
places primary value on healthy
relationships in this way work can be
the place where we learn about ourselves
and how to collaborate and solve
problems together and organizations can
evolve into self-organizing structures
that operate much like living systems
personally we all want to feel whole and
work in environments where our
self-actualization is nourished and
culturally we desperately need these
living learning companies that can
unleash human potential these companies
will attract and retain the best talent
and they’re living cultures are a
competitive advantage because they
utilize resources very efficiently and
employees are connected so they can
adapt to change quickly and take on new
opportunities so we need to create
thousands of these companies that
operate like living systems filled with
thriving people that are all aligned
with purpose what I’d call a living
purpose company and my first exposure to
a living purpose company came right here
in San Luis Obispo over 20 years ago I
reconnected with two high school friends
who were starting a vegan restaurant
called natural flavors natural flavors
began as a Cal Poly senior project and I
was super excited to jump in they’d
formed a cooperative group of humans
that were collaborating with nature to
create a small economy that existed to
feed people while stewarding the soil
water and I know that’s a mouthful and
most people just call it a restaurant
but it was so much more it was truly a
small economy that existed to feed
people while stewarding the soil water
and air we worked with over 60 local
farmers producing 99% organic plant
based food all made by hand we were a
team of revolutionaries growing edible
food forests harvesting sea vegetables
and baking bread we even took our
compost to the Cal Poly experimental
farm and we delivered it on bicycles now
we weren’t making much money but we were
so driven by our passion and so aligned
with the company purpose that we were a
hundred percent engaged unfortunately it
was 1995 and the community wasn’t yet
ready or at least we didn’t execute the
right model at the right time in the
right place but it was a seed pod and
then exploded and those seeds spread
sprout many new ventures and adventures
from natural flavours we learned that a
group of passionate people could
collaborate on a business model that
could steward the environment and drive
social justice we also learned that if
it wasn’t profitable it wouldn’t survive
for me my next adventure was Guayaquil
vomit a another Cal Poly senior project
I first met Alex prior and David car
through the restaurant they were both
students at Cal Poly and they were
packaging this crazy caffeinated leaf
called yerba mate a alex is a native of
argentina where everybody drinks mate’
for those that don’t know rain for Mata
is a rainforest tree whose leaves can be
brewed in hot or cold water to create a
beverage that has the strength of coffee
the health benefits of tea and the
euphoria of chocolate
[Applause]
even better it’s a national drink in
southern South America where it’s
traditionally consumed in a gourd or a
hollowed-out squash where you fill it
with Ma Tei and you drink through a
straw called a bomba and you share it in
a mop a circle it’s literally the symbol
of hospitality where people sit from for
hours and share mate’ passing the gourd
as they connect with each other imagine
that I heard used to always say you
Americans you just go go go and you
never take time to connect and he was
right how much of my life had I’ve been
just running on a treadmill checking off
boxes living next to neighbors I barely
knew and bragging bragging that I was
too busy too busy to connect when I
first sat on a mop day circle I was
hooked
the Ma Tei the ritual the connection I
felt like I truly belonged
so in South America virtually everybody
drinks your vomit a
but it’s typically a really low quality
product that’s grown on plantations in
full Sun yet nate natively monty grows
in the rain forest meanwhile rain force
is being astonished is being destroyed
at an astonishing rate and forest
communities are struggling to survive or
even being displaced or murdered as oil
and gold extractors move in or forest is
cleared for cattle and cattle food we
realized that with the right business
model we could begin to address these
massive problems what if we grew your
amate and its native rainforest habitat
instead of on stronger implantations and
partnered with indigenous communities
and small family farms so the euro mater
could become an economic driver for
stewarding and restoring rainforests and
local communities could earn a
sustainable income while living and
working in their native rainforest with
that we knew we had the foundation for a
truly sustainable business and then we
could prove that money does grow on
trees now it also crystallized for us
that the organization itself needed to
operate like a living system our job is
to feed it physically spiritually
emotionally we’re the stewards of the
whole organization the company the brand
the stakeholders and those include
employees customers financial partners
growers the community at large even the
year of amate itself and for it all to
work we all need to be aligned in our
purpose and practices acquire key our
purpose is to come to life which for us
means sharing the spirit of yerba mate a
which brings deep shared understanding
and relationship among all living things
this implies a high degree of equity and
democratic process where all people are
involved and with clear communication
systems so that we can all embrace
change resolve conflict and learn
together the key elements we
incorporated are a living purpose
which drives the vision and is aligned
with the mission the business model and
the daily practices a living instinct I
think we’re all familiar with the killer
instinct where you kick someone when
they’re down with a living instinct we
all lift each other up
utilizing compound interest you’ve
probably heard that if you take a penny
and you double it every day after just
30 days it magically becomes five
million dollars that’s compound interest
and Einstein called it the most powerful
force in the universe
so let’s compound integrity gratitude
and well-being so that even small acts
of kindness and sharing can compound
over time to drive massive change
developing our hard and soft skills and
enlighten workforce plays together and
moves more seamlessly and when conflict
does emerge we have the tools and
processes so we can move through that
friction and into creative outcomes you
know it’s just as easy to treat people
with respect and kindness as it is a
treat people poorly it’s just a choice
that we all make and with practice it
becomes second nature
finally we tie it all together with
shared rituals and practices of course
our favorite ritual is a latte circle
and it’s become the center of our
company culture Monte circles can bring
people together from around the world in
a spirit of reciprocity and just two
weeks ago thousands of people gathered
to share and connect they were in
Paraguay and they set a new world record
for the largest mate’ circle ever
actually a 10 at a circle as they call
it in Paraguay when you sit in a Mont a
circle the person that shares the mate’
and keeps it all flowing it’s called a
Cepheid or we realized that all of us at
Guayaquil r7o days we’re here to protect
forests and serve humanity and we take
our responsibilities so seriously
who even have a badge our greatest
opportunity is to create living purpose
companies because business is the only
force that can provide the fertile
ground for mass human awakening and then
catalyze that energy to drive the change
needed so that humans can thrive with
other species on this planet
indefinitely all we need is us your
livelihood is an embodiment of who you
are because it’s a result of how you
choose to invest your time and energy we
need you to create living purpose
companies to vote with your dollars for
products that value well-being and to
vote with your energy to work for and
invest in living purpose companies most
importantly we all need to bring our
whole selves into every moment keep
following our hearts listen to that
little flame that glows in all of our
bellies because we all need to be the
change that we want to see in the world
thank you
[Applause]
on top of the world I had a degree from
Harvard a great group of friends and
family and I didn’t exactly hate my job
but deep down I knew something was
missing sure I was making good money at
work but I wasn’t engaged and as a
result my weekend adventure started
getting more and more extreme I needed
these experiences so I could scrub off
the monotony of the week and really feel
alive again on Fridays I Drive all night
with friends and we’d bike surf or ski
we’d go hard all day party all night and
on Mondays I dragged myself back to the
office and hit repeat we were all doing
it so it felt almost normal but inside I
was breaking up I felt like I was one
person at work and another person after
work I don’t really like either person
and I realized that if I wanted to live
a meaningful life then I needed to
become whole so after faking it for way
too long I finally quit my job I started
waiting tables at night so I could step
out of the rat race but still make ends
meet looking back it was one of the best
decisions of my life but at the time it
was gut wrenching I felt like I was
letting people down I was a little
embarrassed I often felt lost but I kept
tuning in and following this little
flame that I could feel flickering in my
belly happily my girlfriend now wife was
getting a master’s in holistic health so
together we dove deep into meditation
and metaphysics we even made kombucha
gradually my mindset melted into a heart
set I started to trust my intuition more
and move away from that micro me that
was so focused on my own little self and
into the macro me where I felt most
alive and connected like most of us I
recognized that our culture is leading
us on a path that was not only soul
sapping but destroying life on the
planet so why then is it so hard so hard
for us to break away from this dominant
paradigm the so-called American Dream
and follow a path of wholeness for most
of the past century we focused
intensively on transforming our planet
through increased technology chemical
agriculture household goods and more at
the same time we’ve transformed human
culture through megacities internet fast
food and cell phones we use surgery to
change the way we look and fashion to
make us feel connected if despite this
mastery of our external environment this
industrial revolution leaves us feeling
overwhelmed and anxious depressed and
lonely clearly our focus on material
wealth traps us on a vicious cycle of
insatiable consumption where we keep
looking outside of ourselves to try and
feel complete inside and this external
focus leads us to destroy ecosystems and
cultures and leaves us on the brink of
extinction but it doesn’t have to be
this way what we need now is a
consciousness revolution where people
are enlightened by the power of their
connection to each other and natural
systems only once we feel fully alive
and connected can we heal ourselves in
this culture and create a new story
where humans are a force for
regenerating ecosystems and creating
vibrant communities for the first time
in history we have free access to the
teachers tools and technologies that
combine modern insights with ancient
wisdom from around the world with these
tools millions of people are discovering
therein
nature this enlightened nature’s one of
love and abundance where we all feel
connected and belong and know that we
all need each other
to thrive so we have these mindfulness
and communication tools but not enough
people are using them to really
accelerate this consciousness revolution
we all need environments where we can
learn and practice this is gonna sound
crazy but a corporation can be the
perfect place hear me out
as Americans we spend half our waking
hours at work so work becomes one of the
most prominent aspects in our lives not
only for our livelihoods but for our
social and emotional lives for many of
us we rely on our companies much like
people traditionally relied on their
tribe or their extended family and our
relationships at work become some of the
most important relationships we have
sadly though most corporate cultures are
toxic stats are alarming according to
Office vibe almost 50% of employees are
looking to leave their current jobs and
only 13% of employees worldwide are
engaged in their work that means almost
90% of people are not engaged in the
place where they spend half their time
not only is this tragic but it’s a huge
missed opportunity and the missing
ingredient is purpose if a company has a
life affirming purpose a living purpose
then all employees and stakeholders can
be fully alive and the company culture
itself can become a living culture that
places primary value on healthy
relationships in this way work can be
the place where we learn about ourselves
and how to collaborate and solve
problems together and organizations can
evolve into self-organizing structures
that operate much like living systems
personally we all want to feel whole and
work in environments where our
self-actualization is nourished and
culturally we desperately need these
living learning companies that can
unleash human potential these companies
will attract and retain the best talent
and they’re living cultures are a
competitive advantage because they
utilize resources very efficiently and
employees are connected so they can
adapt to change quickly and take on new
opportunities so we need to create
thousands of these companies that
operate like living systems filled with
thriving people that are all aligned
with purpose what I’d call a living
purpose company and my first exposure to
a living purpose company came right here
in San Luis Obispo over 20 years ago I
reconnected with two high school friends
who were starting a vegan restaurant
called natural flavors natural flavors
began as a Cal Poly senior project and I
was super excited to jump in they’d
formed a cooperative group of humans
that were collaborating with nature to
create a small economy that existed to
feed people while stewarding the soil
water and I know that’s a mouthful and
most people just call it a restaurant
but it was so much more it was truly a
small economy that existed to feed
people while stewarding the soil water
and air we worked with over 60 local
farmers producing 99% organic plant
based food all made by hand we were a
team of revolutionaries growing edible
food forests harvesting sea vegetables
and baking bread we even took our
compost to the Cal Poly experimental
farm and we delivered it on bicycles now
we weren’t making much money but we were
so driven by our passion and so aligned
with the company purpose that we were a
hundred percent engaged unfortunately it
was 1995 and the community wasn’t yet
ready or at least we didn’t execute the
right model at the right time in the
right place but it was a seed pod and
then exploded and those seeds spread
sprout many new ventures and adventures
from natural flavours we learned that a
group of passionate people could
collaborate on a business model that
could steward the environment and drive
social justice we also learned that if
it wasn’t profitable it wouldn’t survive
for me my next adventure was Guayaquil
vomit a another Cal Poly senior project
I first met Alex prior and David car
through the restaurant they were both
students at Cal Poly and they were
packaging this crazy caffeinated leaf
called yerba mate a alex is a native of
argentina where everybody drinks mate’
for those that don’t know rain for Mata
is a rainforest tree whose leaves can be
brewed in hot or cold water to create a
beverage that has the strength of coffee
the health benefits of tea and the
euphoria of chocolate
[Applause]
even better it’s a national drink in
southern South America where it’s
traditionally consumed in a gourd or a
hollowed-out squash where you fill it
with Ma Tei and you drink through a
straw called a bomba and you share it in
a mop a circle it’s literally the symbol
of hospitality where people sit from for
hours and share mate’ passing the gourd
as they connect with each other imagine
that I heard used to always say you
Americans you just go go go and you
never take time to connect and he was
right how much of my life had I’ve been
just running on a treadmill checking off
boxes living next to neighbors I barely
knew and bragging bragging that I was
too busy too busy to connect when I
first sat on a mop day circle I was
hooked
the Ma Tei the ritual the connection I
felt like I truly belonged
so in South America virtually everybody
drinks your vomit a
but it’s typically a really low quality
product that’s grown on plantations in
full Sun yet nate natively monty grows
in the rain forest meanwhile rain force
is being astonished is being destroyed
at an astonishing rate and forest
communities are struggling to survive or
even being displaced or murdered as oil
and gold extractors move in or forest is
cleared for cattle and cattle food we
realized that with the right business
model we could begin to address these
massive problems what if we grew your
amate and its native rainforest habitat
instead of on stronger implantations and
partnered with indigenous communities
and small family farms so the euro mater
could become an economic driver for
stewarding and restoring rainforests and
local communities could earn a
sustainable income while living and
working in their native rainforest with
that we knew we had the foundation for a
truly sustainable business and then we
could prove that money does grow on
trees now it also crystallized for us
that the organization itself needed to
operate like a living system our job is
to feed it physically spiritually
emotionally we’re the stewards of the
whole organization the company the brand
the stakeholders and those include
employees customers financial partners
growers the community at large even the
year of amate itself and for it all to
work we all need to be aligned in our
purpose and practices acquire key our
purpose is to come to life which for us
means sharing the spirit of yerba mate a
which brings deep shared understanding
and relationship among all living things
this implies a high degree of equity and
democratic process where all people are
involved and with clear communication
systems so that we can all embrace
change resolve conflict and learn
together the key elements we
incorporated are a living purpose
which drives the vision and is aligned
with the mission the business model and
the daily practices a living instinct I
think we’re all familiar with the killer
instinct where you kick someone when
they’re down with a living instinct we
all lift each other up
utilizing compound interest you’ve
probably heard that if you take a penny
and you double it every day after just
30 days it magically becomes five
million dollars that’s compound interest
and Einstein called it the most powerful
force in the universe
so let’s compound integrity gratitude
and well-being so that even small acts
of kindness and sharing can compound
over time to drive massive change
developing our hard and soft skills and
enlighten workforce plays together and
moves more seamlessly and when conflict
does emerge we have the tools and
processes so we can move through that
friction and into creative outcomes you
know it’s just as easy to treat people
with respect and kindness as it is a
treat people poorly it’s just a choice
that we all make and with practice it
becomes second nature
finally we tie it all together with
shared rituals and practices of course
our favorite ritual is a latte circle
and it’s become the center of our
company culture Monte circles can bring
people together from around the world in
a spirit of reciprocity and just two
weeks ago thousands of people gathered
to share and connect they were in
Paraguay and they set a new world record
for the largest mate’ circle ever
actually a 10 at a circle as they call
it in Paraguay when you sit in a Mont a
circle the person that shares the mate’
and keeps it all flowing it’s called a
Cepheid or we realized that all of us at
Guayaquil r7o days we’re here to protect
forests and serve humanity and we take
our responsibilities so seriously
who even have a badge our greatest
opportunity is to create living purpose
companies because business is the only
force that can provide the fertile
ground for mass human awakening and then
catalyze that energy to drive the change
needed so that humans can thrive with
other species on this planet
indefinitely all we need is us your
livelihood is an embodiment of who you
are because it’s a result of how you
choose to invest your time and energy we
need you to create living purpose
companies to vote with your dollars for
products that value well-being and to
vote with your energy to work for and
invest in living purpose companies most
importantly we all need to bring our
whole selves into every moment keep
following our hearts listen to that
little flame that glows in all of our
bellies because we all need to be the
change that we want to see in the world
thank you
[Applause]
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