Ed Walker Commonwealth Capital Partners / ReGeneration Partners edwardbwalker@gmail.com
TRANSFORMATION and COMMONWEALTH
The 1970s..
Watergate 19% home mortgage interest rates 13% inflation A record high misery index
They were nobodies from nowhere creating something significant out of nothing at all, in their own way.
The remaining teenage years weren t interesting until I was introduced to transformational education. a room with a view
Nick Bragg
Why Is This So +!*#ing Hard?
$38.12 and An inadequate knowledge of how to use traditional and non-traditional power for public and private benefit
So the work continued.
.and I began to notice other vitally important power sources and deep elements of our culure, politics and national founding that were hidden in plain view and not used to full capacity by enough different kinds of people. A few worthwhile revelations:
The imperial power of real property Relationships and the alchemy of trust The deeper understanding and respect for other essential knowledge bases and perspectives. The mighty significance of digital The exponential decay of bad faith
Sir William Blackstone 1723-1780 Commentaries on the Laws of England "So great, moreover, is the regard of the law for private property, that it will not authorize the least violation of it; no, not even for the general good of the community." "There is nothing which so generally strikes the imagination, and engages the affections of mankind, as the right of property; or that sole and despotic dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in total exclusion of the right of any individuals in the universe."
Relationships
Relationships with: Yourself Other fields of specialized knowledge Family, friends, teachers and colleagues Direct colleagues that have extraordinary person quality
Nobody gets much accomplished
Not Jesus. Not Moses. Not Mohammed.
Relationships
Trust
Confidentiality
Transformation
1+1=3
Alchemy
But there s more to the chemistry of placemaking.
curiosity and respect for other fields.
Arts & Design, Good Government, Outdoors, Technology, Commerce, Education, Capital, Law, Public Health, Construction, and Leadership
The Mighty Significance of Digital
The biggest impediment to success to powering the transformation from weakness to strength and from impossible to impossible is a well known archetype. There are men and women from every background in the world who often avail themselves of its dark power. Part of our mission is to overcome them.
Everything is better with music.
We all know. Life is a creative endeavor, and it is wild and rare.
So, why are we doing our work? Where is it leading us?
Part of the answer for me is that
from Mayberry to Mayfair, from down the street and around the world, from cities and towns that are large and small,
there are literally millions of people from every imaginable discipline, background, and sphere of influence
using their passion to make the world better by expressing who they are and what they care about.
Somebodies from everywhere creating remarkable human moments, structures, and experiences.
If I could, I would sit down with each one of them and do whatever I could to assist. But that s not possible.
So, I will explore how technology might help.
I want to gather and share placemaking information, ideas and strategies between as many people as possible.
To share the exquisite joys of transformation:
from surviving to thriving from poverty to wealth from striving to arriving from danger to safety from instability to stability from mediocrity to excellence from fear to hope from indifference to caring
So that s a small part of my story and perspective, but before I finish I want to share this:
For millennia there was an extraordinary riddle, and many people in the world tried to solve it and failed.
Nobody in Rome or Athens or Florence could solve it. Nobody from Vinci or Menlo Park or Giza or Cupertino. No king, no queen, no religious leader. No president, prime minister or general.
No famous scientist, mathematician, daredevil or magician. Nobody from Washington DC, New York, or Boston. Nobody from Harvard, MIT, Oxford, or Cambridge.
No learned person from Ephesus, Petra, or Alexandria. Nobody from Jerusalem, Mecca, or any holy city.
All of the wealthiest, smartest, most blessed, and most powerful people in the world failed.
What magic what alchemy, transforms and transports these little boys
these nobodies from nowhere, to this moment?
Freeing themselves from the bounds of Earth and entering a parallel universe that was hidden in plain view. Safely leaving and safely returning.
To me, parts of the answer are wildly varied knowledge; ingenuity, perseverance, and audacity; and their relationships
their family, friends, teachers and colleagues.
The bet and investment I m making is that similar kinds of ascension, freedom, and achievement should be available to more people.
Ed Walker Commonwealth Capital Partners / ReGeneration Partners edwardbwalker@gmail.com