Discipline makes Daring possible.

Musings from The Disappearing Boss on People, Process and Responsible Autonomy for small-business employers.

Month: December 2022

Trespassing
December 5, 2022

Trespassing

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been intrigued by the use of the word ‘trespass’ in the King James version of the Lord’s prayer – “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us”.

Why not ‘sin’, ‘wrongdoing’, ‘misbehaviour’, ‘offence’, ‘crime’?

The word ‘trespass’ has a very specific meaning – to cross a boundary into a space that belongs to someone else.   So why pick this word?

Perhaps because, in 1611, at the very dawn of capitalism, the authors wanted to remind us of the mutuality of our existence.   The fact that any rights we have as individuals must be bounded by the rights of others.

I am free to do whatever I like, as long as that doesn’t impinge on anyone else’s right to do whatever they like.   Which means in practice, that I must constantly consider others, present and future, in everything I do.

It seems to me that’s as true of a business or organisation just as much as an individual.

Ephemeral, permanent
December 2, 2022

Ephemeral, permanent

There is something glorious about ephemeral art – elaborate and carefully worked sandcastles, pavement art, papier-mâché effigies. 

All the love and care that goes into creating them, just to be burnt or washed away.    As if we are celebrating our unique human ability to imagine and build a new world within our world every day.

We don’t necessarily think of our businesses as temporary.  We build the version of the world we’d like to see, assuming that we will be around tomorrow to repair or tweak.  Until suddenly, we’re gone.  And all too often our creations die with us, or not long after.

We forget that we too are ephemeral.

Maybe this is how it should be.  But it takes more than one lifetime to change the world.  So if that’s what you’re trying to achieve, you need to build your business around something more permanent than you.

Luckily, it’s possible to retro-fit the framework you need.

Discipline makes permanence possible.

Ask me how.

The politics of value
December 1, 2022

The politics of value

“The ultimate stakes of politics, … is not the struggle to appropriate value; it is the struggle to establish what value is. 

Similarly, the ultimate freedom is not to create or accumulate value, but the freedom to decide (collectively or individually) what makes life worth living. 

In the end then, politics is about the meaning of life.” David Graeber*

 

When you start your own business, you get to decide what value is.  And as long as you can find enough people who agree with you, you can grow.

That’s how we small businesses change the world, without even realising it.

Imagine what we could do if we did it on purpose!

 

*from ‘Toward an anthropological theory of value – the false coin of our own dreams.’