[TT 030] nutritious movement, godless god, design philosophy, regenerative pollination, bird games
Hey there Thrivers,
This past week I spun up on thinking about mental health as an industry. Specifically, I'm reading about and reaching out to folks to find structural inefficiencies and undifferentiated markets that may be ripe for innovation. The hypothesis I'm exploring is that practitioners and patients / clients can be better served with a roll-up of private practices. I'll share what I find along the way.
Also, I had the absolute joy of seeing Yo-Yo Ma and Chris Thile play on stage together in a Not Our First Goat Rodeo concert. My wife and I enjoyed the stunning virtuosity of the group and especially Yo-Yo Ma's warm and endearing facial expressions. Just wow.
With that, let's fiddle our way into this week's Thriving Thursday.
On a nutritious diet of movement
One of my intelligent and thoughtful friends has been singing the praises of Katy Bowman for a while, and now I understand why. Katy is a world-famous biomechanist with a spunky, clear-eyed take on movement's impact on our health. Note: movement includes, but is so much more than, exercise.
This friend gifted me Katy's book Movement Matters, a collection of her essays about movement. These essays are a witty, well-researched, and deeply thought-provoking commentary on our modern-day relationship to movement (or the lack thereof) and practical ways to address that today. I don't agree with every single moral edict Katy espouses, but her contrarian take is frankly brilliant and is making me reconsider some of my own daily movement choices.
I'm almost done with the book and I'm looking forward to reading the even more practical Move Your DNA. And I can't wait to create some form of "nature school" for my own children when the time is right.
As movement is one of the five core branches of UTT's Physiological Health, I'll be digging deeper into Katy's work in the years to come. Maybe, just maybe, one day I'll get to meet her as well.
On the atheist chaplain at Harvard
I'm surprised, but not really, by this recent article in the New York Times about Harvard's new chaplain.
In the US, in the last two decades, religious affiliation is on a sharp decline whereas an amorphous "spirituality" is on the incline. Frankly, I am one of these statics in the flesh.
So for the first time, a historically Christian university appointed a humanist chaplain that wrote a book titled "Good without God". Apparently, Greg Epstein is known for organizing secular sermons and building bridges between the 40+ religious communities on Harvard's campus. I really appreciated his quote:
“We don’t look to a god for answers. We are each other’s answers.”
Congratulations to Mr. Epstein, and I look forward to learning more about his work bringing peace and understanding to many faiths in the years to come.
On human-centered design philosophy
A lot of my time at the Stanford Graduate School of Business is spent thinking about the best entry point to start the Global Institute for Thriving (GIFT). Where is the most immediate, highest valued need within the UTT where I can make a sustainable (dare I say Thriving?) living for my family?
The social entrepreneurship counselor turned me on to IDEO's human-centered design guidebook. IDEO is arguably the most famous design firm in the US and they are widely respected for how their processes facilitate innovative and impactful designs.
I love the idea behind human-centered design, and for my purposes I'll be thinking about ways to incorporate their various interview methodologies to understand the values and challenges of key stakeholders. As I learn the people, problems, and processes, I'll crystalize a vision for where there is space for valuable innovation.
On the busy bees of the pollination approach to psychedelics
The emerging market for psychedelic-assisted therapies requires A LOT of rethinking existing institutions and infrastructures. The invariable cash glut coming for some, already being called the "shroom boom", is prompting some to ask what's an ethical and effective allocation of financial, human, and social capital in the psychedelic industry.
I was recently turned on to Bennet Zelner, a regenerative economist at the University of Maryland Smith School of Business, and his work on the Pollination Approach. This article resonates deeply with me and provides a succinct and articulate rationale and vision for how I'd like to run many aspects of GIFT. Many of these concepts are high level and I wonder if any organizations are making them work in practice. I'll be sure to ask Bennet when we connect later this month.
For whatever it's worth, there is nothing here that I see that is unique to the psychedelic industry. I think these ideas are just as valid in a wide array of socially focused or impact-oriented enterprises. Moreover, I recognize some of the financial vehicles and organizational considerations echo the Dr. Bronner's article back in TT 019. I'm hoping to learn a lot more about impact investing and various new formats that align investor, operator, and community incentives.
OK, and let's be honest - the title of "regenerative economist" is really freaking cool!
On the ornithology of board games
Dan Kois at Slate recently published a long, reflective article on the board game Wingspan and its creator Elizabeth Hargrave.
For those that don't know, Wingspan is a beautiful, enjoyable engine-building board game focused on creating bird habitats. Yup, it's a board game about birds that hardcore tabletop gamers love. If you enjoy strategy board games, this is a great one to add to your library.
The article talks a lot about Elizabeth, her vision, and how she's changing the board game industry. Some really interesting call outs and I'm excited to see what games come out in her wake.
To be fair, when I sat down to "solve" Wingspan with my most brilliant gamer friend, we found a winning strategy that worked most of the time. That said, as the article points out, this game is enjoyable in more dimensions than the raw computational win path. And it's relatively accessible and fun for casual gamers (like my parents-in-law).
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May your wings carry you to the bee's knees of movement and play. Until next week,
~Henry