Sacred Systems

Sacred Systems

In his classic book The E-Myth, Michael Gerber outlines one of the fundamental misconceptions of how an entrepreneur runs a business. It is easy to assume that if you are good at something – baking, graphic design, programming – you can start your own...
Stolen Tomatoes

Stolen Tomatoes

The Harvest Squirrels ate all of my mother’s home-grown tomatoes this year. My parents have always kept a garden, and my mother had to learn to do all of the work herself after my father died. It hasn’t been easy. After months of struggling with bird nets and...
Load-sharing Vulnerability

Load-sharing Vulnerability

Several Ministry Incubators staff and I are working on a multi-pronged assessment as an initial step of launching an innovation lab with a client. I have been honored and struck by their transparency. They sent us raw data from user surveys, allowed us to interview...
Trash and Treasure

Trash and Treasure

In Brooklyn, San Francisco, and Berkeley, you can get your name on the list for a sixteen-seat, pop-up, high-end dinner… served in a dumpster.  The admittedly eye-roll-inducing hipster concept dinners, called the Salvage Supperclub, are not just a show of form;...
Three Games for an Honest Conversation

Three Games for an Honest Conversation

We’ve all been in a council meeting, team huddle, or quarterly review where it seems like everyone is so afraid of having a real conversation that nothing gets said. Platitudes and polite deference can keep us from making real progress by glossing over points of...