It's clear that if we bring together small to medium sized asset holdings into financially and legally connected networks we can compete with/protect against runaway corporatism and monopoly.
After a year of work on the subject, I'm pleased to see the incredibly positive response to Assets in Common: www.assetsincommon.org. What an immense privilege to add to the field of alternative economics with book that tells the story of people making it happen. This book isn't just an anthology though, it's a blueprint for infrastructure that safeguards against extraction.
📚 'This extensively researched book reveals a powerful strategy for transforming the U.S. economy through increasing connectivity between assets in shared ownership and steward-ownership. "Assets in Common" is filled with in-depth case studies and practical approaches, such as: innovative shared balance sheet structures, steward-owned holding companies, and shared services cooperatives.'
🪢 Throughout my career I've served as a builder and pragmatic strategist for visions which improve our world. As a serial entrepreneur in spaces of political economy and governance, I was excited when Derek and Zoe of Common Trust invited me to lead a research program last May. I have been in awe of their persistent effort to carve out real paths to a more just economy. This project wove together multiple long-term collaborations. Evan has been a creative thought partner over the years, with long conversations around "what's the next chicago school?", and his work with Justin led to generous financial backing of this project. So too with the team at Purpose Economy and Purpose US: I was involved in the founding days of Purpose in 2016 but it took til this effort to draw those threads all back together.
🎢 Designing the research in this book started a year ago in the territory of 'how might we expand the resilience and competitiveness of small to medium assets in a monopoly captured economy'. By August 23 we hired a team and dug deep into dozens and dozens of case studies of where this is already working. In January 24 I realized we had more material than any report could do justice. So I pitched a book and did more editing than I've ever done before, and produced a podcast to top it off 🧁 . A month ago we released the book. It's heavy too!
✨ Many hands made this possible. It takes a skilled and trusting team to inquire into the details of how other peoples' companies and communities operate without making anyone feel like a lab rat. The outcome is never just what's on paper, it's making sure people feel intact in relationship with the research. "I will say, the chapter on us, our founders said it’s probably one of the best captures of our organization that we’ve seen!" - Aaron from The Industrial Commons said at the book launch event. As we say in Aotearoa, "Ngā mihi nui" to Charity and Jay for rallying so many times over, and for crafting real quality outputs which respect the builders.
