The WorldBlu Blog

Greetings all! I’ve been doing a ton of travel recently and wanted to share some of the cool stuff, cool people and very cool democratic ideas I’ve encountered as of late.

First, Cool People:

Recently Bill Taylor, founding editor of Fast Company magazine was here in Atlanta to give a speech at the Maximum Impact conference which was broadcast to people in 400 cities around the world. Bill is a member of the WorldBlu Global Advisory Group, will be speaking at WorldBlu LIVE 2008 and is a good friend, so it was very fun to get to him talk about why the future of business is all about originality, freedom and authenticity. If you haven’t read the bestselling book he co-authored (with Polly LaBarre) called Mavericks at Work, you need to check it out. And come here Bill speak at WorldBlu LIVE in NYC this Oct. 16-17th!

Second cool people interaction – I was just in Austin, Texas, and got to meet one of the key people who has inspired my work – John Mackey, Founder and CEO of Whole Foods. The reason I got to meet Mackey is because I am a part of a group of five female entrepreneurs called The Billionaire Girls Club. The idea behind the B-Girls (which was inspired by my good friend Jon Bischke, CEO of EduFire and the founder of the Billionaire Boys and Girls Club of LA) is not so much about money as it is a METAPHOR for big ideas, big dreams and making a big difference in the world.

So the B-Girls met in Austin with several cool folks including Mackey who carved out two hours to meet with the five of us to share this story of trials and triumphs, what motivates the democratic operating philosophy behind Whole Foods – LOVE! – and how to grow your business while embracing the principles of conscious capitalism.

Mackey has recently started a very cool non-profit called FLOW. I’ve interacted with FLOW and their great team and they’re doing really fantastic work. Check them out!

As you can imagine meeting Mackey was very cool for the B-Girls. Here’s the picture of all of us! (L-R: Ingrid Vanderveldt, CEO of Club E Network and host of “American Made” on CNBC, Carrie Silver, CEO of Girls with Dreams, Sarah Endline, CEO of sweetriot, John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, yours truly and Nicole Casanova, CEO of Shift The Game.)

And Now, Cool Happenings:

Later this month I’m off to speak at the Reboot conference happening June 26-27th in Copenhagen, Denmark. Thomas Madsen-Mygdal, a whiz entrepreneur who spoke at WorldBlu LIVE 2005 is the founder of the event with a theme this year of “Free.” Hmmmm. . . Can you guess what I’ll be speaking about?

Later this summer I’m also speaking at the North American EO conference (former YEO, Young Entrepreneurs Organization) in Boston happening July 24-26th. If you’re in the area come on by!

Last Up - Cool Democratic Ideas:

So many fun ideas come my way that I can hardly keep up! Thanks to all of you who send them to me (you know who you are!). Let me share a few of those ideas with you here:

The Mistake Bank

The Mistake Bank is the result of consultant and blogger John Caddell’s vision to have a place where people can talk constructively about their mistakes at work in an effort to help others. Talk about radical transparency! Check out the Mistake Bank and join the network here.

OpenTeams.com

Open Teams is a very cool online platform that allows companies to function more democratically. It got to meet founder and CEO Tory Gattis while I was in Austin. Great guy and a great tool, check it out here.

My Football Club

Yes, we’re seeing the democratization of everything these days — including sports! If you haven’t heard about it yet, check out myfootballclub.co.uk which was started by Will Brooks. (Thanks Greg Scott for letting me know about this!) Portfolio magazine has a great article about Brooks’ vision entitled, “User Generated Soccer.” His isn’t the only democratic sports model out there. Learn about others by clicking here.

Beyond Borders

What I love about the democratic organizations on the WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces is that not only do they operate democratically they’re ALSO going beyond the organizational boundary to make the world a better place. Enter Beyond Borders, a two-time WorldBlu List awardee working to make a positive social impact in Haiti. If you’re like me and want to help change the world for the better, I invite you to watch this short YouTube video about their important work.

Calling all Ricardo Semler Fans!

If you’re a fan of Ricardo Semler’s work like I am, I always love to know about videos and clips where I can learn more about his company called Semco, an incredible model of organizational democracy located in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I recently found out about a talk he gave at MIT, which you can watch by clicking here.

The Democratization of Design

For those of you, who care about design and the larger trends in consumer democratization, check out the article entitled, “Secretary to the Mob” on metropolismag.com.

The Democratization of Media + Films + The Pen

There are so many great examples out there but here are a few more for you to know about — Our Stage (democratizing movies and music), Divine Caroline (everybody can be a somebody and have a voice) and Ground Report (citizen journalism). Via la power to the people!

Bring More Democracy to Your Workplace

We all know that democracy is only as good as the quality of our conversations, so why not work to improve the conversations you’re having? Over a year ago I learned about Will Bowen and his campaign to stop complaining in the world. His book on the topic is entitled, A Complaint-Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted.

I didn’t think I complained much before, but I decided to take the 21-day challenge and it’s made a huge impact on the quality of my conversations – and my life! So much so that I’ve continued the commitment for over a year now. I’m not perfect yet but I enjoy the overall discipline and the challenge.

I invite you to consider this simply exercise for yourself – no complaining, criticizing, gossiping or using sarcasm — and just watch how it elevates the quality of interactions you have with people. I think it’s a great and simply way to bring more meaningful conversations to the workplace and your life!

So that’s the latest — let me know what you think or if you know of any great ideas I should share!