Leaders from the worlds of business, culture, social action and more came together in Boulder, Colorado, in October 2014 for a 4-day conference to rethink success for the 21st century and beyond. The result is a series of fascinating talks. Here are excerpts from the opening event, including a consecratory prayer from Michael Bernard Beckwith, music from Michael Franti, and a conference kick-off preamble by Marc Gafni.In 1986, Michael Bernard Beckwith founded the Agape International Spiritual Center, a trans-denominational community of thousands of local members and global live streamers. Today, he is a sought-after meditation teacher, conference speaker, and seminar leader on the Life Visioning Process, which he originated.Michael Franti knows all about the power of music. He knows how it can inspire, uplift and make people want to dance or cry.Marc Gafni is a visionary thinker, social activist, passionate philosopher, wisdom teacher, and author of ten books. He is the co-initiator, with leading Integral philosopher Ken Wilber, of the Center for Integral Wisdom, an activist think tank dedicated to evolving and articulating a shared global framework of ethics, eros, and meaning.
We are evolving. John Mackey believes that life is about learning and growing. Not just individuals, but organizations, cultures and civilizations. Growth is not random, but tends to move in stages or waves. He traces human development through several of those stages, examining the values and pathologies of each stage. He begins with the earliest stage, where early humans were fully focused on survival, moving up through tribal and warrior, and so on. Humanity desperately needs to move higher in our consciousness if we are going to solve the problems and challenges that we are facing.John Mackey, co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, has led the natural and organic grocer to a $13 billion Fortune 500 company. While devoting his career to helping shoppers satisfy their lifestyle needs with quality natural and organic foods, Mackey has also focused on building a more conscious way of doing business.To view the continuation of this presentation, see John Mackey: The Upward Flow of Human Development – Part 2
Continuing his talk on human development, John Mackey follows the “awakenings” or memes in human history that have marked our evolution. He describes the “Modernist” stage, characterized by accumulating wealth and possessions, or Success 1.0. The “Postmodern” stage, or Success 2.0, is marked by the rejection of selfishness and greed, and characterized by non-profits and consensus building. But when solutions at this level don’t work out, Mackey suggests that now there’s a need to leap to the “second tier”: Integral, integrating the energy of the different memes.John Mackey, co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, has led the natural and organic grocer to a $13 billion Fortune 500 company. While devoting his career to helping shoppers satisfy their lifestyle needs with quality natural and organic foods, Mackey has also focused on building a more conscious way of doing business.
We need a new story. As we move past the stories and certainties told to us by religion and other traditional outlets, we find ourselves without a narrative. So, how can we articulate what it is we believe, stand far, and are passionate about? Marc Gafni explains that we need to weave a new story. We live in a world of outrageous pain (where, for example, 17,000 children die every day) and the narrative we need is a new outrageous love story.Marc Gafni is a visionary thinker, social activist, passionate philosopher, wisdom teacher, and author of ten books, including the award-winning Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment, the two-volume Radical Kabbalah, and the recently published Tears: Reclaiming Ritual, Integral Religion, and Rosh Hashana. He is the co-initiator, with leading Integral philosopher Ken Wilber, of the Center for Integral Wisdom, an activist think tank dedicated to evolving and articulating a shared global framework of ethics, eros, and meaning. The center is chaired by John Mackey and co-chaired by Kate Maloney.
The foundations for the integral framework have made an enormous impact on a number of disciplines, and Ken Wilber sees it as one of the best chances we have for creating an integrated, united, harmonious world system. In this talk, he runs through the fundamental components of the integral framework, touching on the essential elements.Ken Wilber is one of the most important philosophers in the world today. According to Jack Crittenden Ph.D., author of Beyond Individualism, "The twenty-first century literally has three choices: Aristotle, Nietzsche, or Ken Wilber." He is the originator of arguably the first truly comprehensive or integrative philosophy, aptly named "Integral Theory." Incorporating cultural studies, anthropology, systems theory, developmental psychology, biology, and spirituality, it has been applied in fields as diverse as ecology, sustainability, psychotherapy, psychiatry, education, business, medicine, politics, sports and art. Ken Wilber is also the founder of the Integral Institute which is the first organization fully dedicated to advancement and application of the Integral Approach in relation to contemporary global issues.
Michael Beckwith tells the story of his transformation from political radicalism, atheism and drug dealing. In his very inspirational way, he offers modes of personal evolution that allow each one to contribute to a higher common human destiny.Dr. Beckwith is a sought after meditation teacher, conference speaker, and seminar leader on the Life Visioning Process, which he originated. Three of his most recent books—Life Visioning, Spiritual Liberation, and TranscenDance Expanded – are recipients of the prestigious Nautilus Award. He has appeared on the OWN’s Help Desk, Dr. Oz, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, Tavis Smiley, and in his own PBS Special, The Answer Is You. Every Friday, thousands tune into his radio show on KPFK, Wake Up: The Sound of Transformation.
A great brand is a story that never stops unfolding. So says Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay), and he brings that belief to his brand, his company and his community. Always looking to accelerate learning and innovation, he describes his company’s move to downtown Las Vegas and the community-building efforts created by his Downtown Project. He brings a deeply refreshing approach to success.Tony Hsieh is the author of the #1 NYT Bestseller "Delivering Happiness" and the CEO of Zappos. He joined Zappos as an advisor and investor, and eventually became CEO, where he helped Zappos grow from almost no sales to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually, while simultaneously making Fortune Magazine's annual "Best Companies to Work For" list. In addition to his responsibilities as CEO of Zappos.com, Tony is leading the "Downtown Project," a group committed to transforming downtown Las Vegas into the most community-focused large city in the world.
Zubin Damania, MD, is an internist and founder of Turntable Health, an innovative healthcare startup that’s part of an ambitious urban revitalization movement spearheaded by Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh. During a 10-year hospitalist career at Stanford, Dr. Damania won clinical teaching awards while simultaneously maintaining a shadow career performing stand-up comedy for medical audiences worldwide. His videos, created under the pseudonym ZDoggMD, have gone epidemically viral, educating patients and providers while mercilessly satirizing our dysfunctional healthcare system.In Las Vegas, Dr. Damania is making the leap from satire to actionable change by implementing an innovative model of healthcare delivery that promotes wellness at both the individual and community level. Turntable Health, a membership model primary care clinic formed in partnership with Cambridge, Massachusetts, startup Iora Health, is a ground-up effort to get healthcare right…for everyone.
Tom Chi has worked in a wide range of roles from astrophysical researcher to Fortune 500 consultant to corporate executive developing new hardware/software products and services, including key designs and implementation at Microsoft, Yahoo and Google, and many others. His current focus is delving into human development issues with social entrepreneurs around the globe.To best find solutions to the problems that confront the neediest populations, he’s developed a process of analyzing the flaws in old ways of thinking and instead figuring out what does work. He refers to this technique as “mental de-bugs,” and he shares some examples in his riveting talk.
The subject is true love, and why it is integral and so important to success and why it’s necessary for creating a future that works for all of us. Annie believes that to live your entire lifetime without ever experiencing true love is to miss out on the most profound and exquisite aspect of being a human being. She doesn’t think you can know who you really are until you fall in love, because your partner is your shiniest mirror for your glory and your darkness. True Love is real, and you must believe in it to achieve it.Annie Lalla and Eben Pagan are married. Annie has spent her life studying and mapping the subtleties of relationships and the complexities of communication. A philosopher and thought leader, Annie is known as the “Cartographer of Love.” She has created a suite of practical tools that help lovers resolve toxic patterns, develop romantic esteem, diffuse conflict, assuage shame/blame and cultivate deep, resilient relationships that last a lifetime. Eben Pagan launched his first online business from his bedroom in 2001. Beginning with an ebook of dating advice, his company grew to over 10 brands, selling more than $100 million worth of trainings and information products. Today, he teaches entrepreneurs around the world to grow their businesses through his online training courses.
From childhood, Sally Ranney has spent a lot of her time in nature – the creator’s cathedral. She discovered that everything in nature has a purpose. Married to a rancher in Colorado, she only became aware of the threats to the environment when a clear-cut was proposed for a nearby forest. She ended up trading her cowboy boots for high heels, and trading the Colorado mountains for the halls of Congress. In a heart-felt talk, she highlights the importance and methods of activism for achieving sustainability.Sally Ranney has forty years of experience in the environmental arena. She is Co-Founder and President of the American Renewable Energy Institute (AREI); Co- Founder of the International Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), CEO of Stillwater Preservation, LLC, a wetlands mitigation banking company and a Patron of Nature for the IUCN. As a Resource Policy Analyst for The Wilderness Society, she co-founded American Wildlands and served as the President for twenty years. Ranney is Chairman of eraGlobal Alliance and an anchor for A Matter of Degree, an internet series on climate change.