Crystallization - Beauty Built On Imperfection

Things are never right. That's what ultimately creates order and beauty with a system. The story of crystallization is a remarkably accurate metaphor for how that happens in a natural system that an Active Investor can readily apply to understanding social systems such as their business.

The orderliness of a crystal begins with the random movements found in liquids. Crystals are created when molecules of a substance, normally solid at room temperature, are dissolved in a solution. These molecules will sometimes be attracted to each other for short periods, only to become attracted away by other molecules over time. Everything remains chaotic and fluid until a "seed", a point of imperfection, is introduced into the solution. The seed has a slightly higher attraction to nearby molecules, so they are drawn to it. If this initial attraction is strong enough, the group grows until its size is such that the group becomes consistently more attractive to other molecules than the surrounding solution. This is the "critical size" and when reached the protocrystal is now "in business" and continues to grow.

All of this is similar to a business during its start-up phase. For a business, the solution is not a liquid, it's the answer to a market need. A good business solution can be replicated and the company providing it begins to experience some repetition of sales. Orders will be slow and random at first; but they will grow with greater consistency over time.

This is not the end of the story. There is another step in the crystallization process. The protocrystal continues to grow ; but eventually it gets to a point it can no longer remain "dissolved" and it falls out of solution. Now the original imperfection appears to have been transformed into the beauty, order, and attractiveness of a visible crystal. The visible crystal continues to grow, gaining more molecules from the solution, until it reaches an equilibrium with its environment.

A growing business will face a second step as well. Meeting more market needs will begin to overwhelm the founding staff and another decision, as difficult as the one to initially start, has to be made. An investment must be made in building internal systems and structures if continued growth is to be nurtured. This is hard for the financially struggling team who have sacrificed for the sake of building their solutions; but out of the internal systems and structures come the power to sustain long term growth.

It's now a different business, one that is building lasting values.  Those values will allow it to reach far beyond its initial products and services that brought it to life. A visible legacy drops out of solution.

Image credit: wlodi

Entrainment - Power in Prayer and Meditation

An emerging theme in this blog is identifying key drivers of value by recognizing 3 necessary characteristics. Value Drivers of lasting consequence can be recognized because they are always Repetitive, Powerful, and Gentle (RPG). Certainly prayer and meditation are candidates. They are Repetitive and Gentle; but what about Powerful? A part of their Power may lie within an effect scientists have called entrainment.

Entrainment is the stuff of scientific legend. That legend goes back to 1666. The noted Dutch physicist, Christiaan Huygens, had to adjust the clock in his study each day because it ran about a minute slower than the one in his living room. Both were governed by swinging pendulums. One day he moved them side-by-side. With no other adjustments, the clocks began to keep synchronized time. Any discrepancies disappeared. This observation lead Huygens to the discovery or labeling of entrainment, which is the tendency for adjacent oscillating systems to synchronize.

Where ever there are cycles (Repetitions) there is the potential for the effects of entrainment. The clocks are an example of entrainment in a mechanical system. A striking example in natural systems is the synchronization of menstrual cycles among women who live or work together.

Entrainment is a Powerful effect. Can that power be accessed by prayer and mediation? For one oscillator to affect another, the entrainment has to operate through some medium. Call it the universe, God, or the Zero Point Field, we all must be connected for this scientific effect to occur.

Now consider the processes of prayer and mediation to be bringing yourself side-by-side with God. As you repeat these processes entrainment begins it's subtle work which ultimately results in the changes we call answered prayer. Was the change in the universe, or was it inside of us? Entrainment leads us to the possibility it could be either or both.

Jesus instructed the we should ask to receive (Matt 7:7). His half-brother James later wrote that we can ask but not receive because of our motives (James 4:2). Apparently asking works, but only when a level of entrainment with God has synchronized our motives.

Active Investors have very busy schedules. Repetitive prayer and mediation takes away available time; but if ignored, what will our lives synchronize toward?

Image credit: theilr

Intention and the Cooperative Universe

A new discipline has emerged this century, the study of Intention. It's often discussed as the Attraction Principle which asserts we attract into our lives those things we dwell on. Examples include if our thoughts are about physical ailments, or poor finances, or an unsatisfactory performance, we will attract poor health, lack of funds, and below standard performances. Alternatively if we genuinely intend good health, abundant finances, and superior performance, these will be what is attracted to us. By itself, the Attraction Principle might be just a sophisticated form of self-delusion; however, in literature such as The Field by Lynne McTaggart evidence is being assembled from advances in quantum physics that provide a scientific basis for its validity.

There is a strange outcome to the Heisenberg Uncertainty measurement problem that results in energy remaining after temperatures reach absolute zero. I was taught absolute zero meant no atomic motion and therefore no energy and scientists of the last century "normalized" their calculations by simply subtracting this away as "background noise". This may have been an over-simplification. When some physicists keep this energy, now called the Zero Point Field (ZPF), in their equations, it appears the discrepancies between classic and quantum physics are resolved. After further study, it appears the ZPF may be a source of abundant, ever-present energy our advancing civilization will surely require. One estimate is that the ZPF energy in one cubic meter of "empty" space would be sufficient to boil all the oceans on our planet. For Stargate Atlantis fans, this is the energy source behind their Zero Point Modules (ZPMs).

This ever-present field appears to be influenced by everything within it and in turns is an influence on everything in the universe. Scientists are now trying to study how one or more individual's Intentions can be "transmitted" through the ZPF. In many of these studies, the universe responds to the changes in the ZPF and appears to cooperate with the Intention.

The science of Intention does not fit well with mainstream paradigms and is currently relegated to the fringes of the scientific community. Yet the research continues and evidence that the universe cooperates with deeply held Intentions continues to accumulate. The research itself has been attractive to physicists, theologians, philosophers, healers, the military, and many others. It ought to be of interest to the Active Investor as well.

The forces around us shape our destinies, yet from this research we learn that we also shape those very forces. Since we see Intention also has all the characteristics of a force to build lasting value, it's repetitive, powerful, and gentle. The Active Investor should be a student in learning to harnessing its potential.

Photo Credit: EraPhernalia Vintage

Related articles by Zemanta

• Is Quantum Mechanics Controlling Your Thoughts? (discovermagazine.com)
• Uniting light and matter (shankee.com)

Fruitful Decision Making

Image via Wikipedia

If you're not already familiar with the Franklin or Balance Sheet close it's an old sales technique that should be out of favor with today's business decision makers. The story is when Benjamin Franklin had trouble making a decision he would make a written list of all the pros and cons. Doing this would help lead him to the best decision. The gimmick behind it us while there are usually many pros in a sales proposition, a prospect is generally only facing a couple of cons, typically risk and/or affordability. It's a manipulative scheme because it leads a prospect to consider the quantity of items on the pro and con lists as opposed to their importance. One significant risk can easily outweigh a hundred minor advantages.

Like all really great lies, it's appealing because there are truthful elements inside. Putting your thoughts on paper is a powerful method of clarifying thinking. It's use should be encouraged; but with an orientation toward what's important. I'm proposing a modification to the Franklin close we can call the Fruitful close for your personal decisions.

Create a list of what's important to you. This is the really hard part and since it may be time consuming needs to be done in advance. Personally, I started with the Roles I developed from the time management disciplines found in The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. Later I found a much more useful list. The logic behind its use was if I made my decisions in alignment with the characteristics of the Creator, the results would be in alignment with Creation - a very desirable result. These characteristics are listed in the Bible in Galatians 5:22 as the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. They are: love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I've come to see the list as operating from the last item (self-control) backwards to the first as one develops into greater alignment with Creation. With a list of importance established, it's now time to create the Balance Sheet.

In Column One, Titled "Important", write down the elements of your list. Now consider all the alternatives to your decision and make a subsequent column for each with an appropriate label. Assign a weight (I use the numbers 1 to 5) that represents how each alternative might contribute toward each result. There may be no effect in many cases. Large effects should be given higher weights. In the end, one column should outweigh the others.

Test this result. Does it make sense that this alternative really is the most fruitful choice? It may not turn-out that way because something was missed during the first analysis (this is normal). Keep repeating the process. Eventually an alternative emerges that that makes sense and we know why. Now its time to become fruitful.

Properties of Value - Powerful, Gentle, and Repetitive

Image via Wikipedia

The forces that create commercial value in a business have the same properties as those that create natural wonders. We find them to be Powerful, Gentle, and Repetitive. Erosion from the Colorado river is is neither loud nor threatening, yet it created the Grand Canyon.

There is no doubt that Bonnie and Clyde created cash flow with their business; however, it was cash flow without any Value for others. Contrast that to to their contemporary, Henry Ford. He neither invented the automobile nor forced the public to buy them. His genius was understanding how industrial-age forces could make them affordable. Year-by-year, model-by-model, plant-by-plant he built an organization that produced at lower and lower unit cost. It was powerful, gentle, and repetitive. Today this organization may become the last solvent US automotive manufacturer.

This is the kind of Value every Active Investor seeks in their business or profession. It starts with a sense of something that is Powerful. The Value to others (which translates as the real value of ownership) is directly related to where this sense of Power is located. Personal power produces cash, but not lasting (or salable) Value. Process or Organizational power produces both. Real power that addresses real needs doesn't require Force to permeate a market. It can be Gentle, as long as it's Repetitive.

Consider the activity of closing a sale. Is your product or service Powerful, that is does it use a proven process that will surely address a prospect's core need? If it does, getting to a close is a matter of communicating that value. This may take some repetition. It's not forceful; but its probably going to take several "messages". Here are the properties of value forming a powerful, gentle, repetitive closing process. Every really valuable business process will be similar in nature.

Our job, as Active Investors, is to be continually aligning with these powerful, gentle, and repetitive forces as they apply to our situation. The degree of our ultimate success is based on it.

Crossing a Mental Divide

Image via Wikipedia

A traveler crossing the Rocky Mountains passes the Continental Divide. If they straddle this imaginary line they have an enormous, yet unseen power. Water poured on to the ground on one side will ultimately flow into the Pacific. Water poured inches away will flow into the Gulf of Mexico. This seemingly insignificant change will mandate the end result, regardless of all that happens to the water on its long journey.

This sensitivity to initial conditions is a common characteristic of natural systems. We are used to thinking about systems in more simplistic ways. A pendulum will ultimately come to rest at its lowest point, regardless of where the motion is started. There is no sensitivity to the initial conditions. It's an esy system to understand.

Because the motion of a pendulum always ends at a point, its dynamics have been called that of a point attractor. The end point doesn't attract like a magnet; but it acts that way. Next in complexity are two dimensional periodic attractors that don't end in a point, yet always repeat the same cycle. The rotation of the earth around its axis creates a daily periodic attractor. Adding a third dimension increases complexity again. The additional rotation of the earth around the sun is expressed as a torus (doughnut) attractor, which is what it looks like.

Those are the easy ones. What happens if more than 3 forces (dimensions) are in play? For most of history, these were called chaotic. They seemed to be beyond pattern or properties because of their complexity. Recent advancements in computers have enabled mathematicians to demonstrate this was a bad term. These systems do have properties, although some, like sensitivity to initial conditions, seemed strange at first. They have been called strange attractors and although they are extremely hard to visualize, understanding their emergent properties help us understand how the world really works.

Learning to appreciate both the order and the complexity of natural and social systems takes you across a mental Continental Divide. It is the single difference between developing a simple business solution versus a simplistic failure. An Active Investor develops a sense of caution and mental red lights begin to flash when any answer appear to be too quick and easy.

The Acorn and Divine Intention

the oak sleeps in the acorn
Originally uploaded by Norma Desmond

An acorn will always become an oak tree. It will never grow into a tulip, a WhatABurger, or anything else. There is an inescapable destiny evident in nature, which we'll label Divine Intention.

An unavoidable aspect of Divine Intention is that it cannot be completely known in advance. Look at any number of acorns. You'll never find a tiny oak tree inside. The oak tree "emerges" out of the acorn and a fertile environment.

With or without a religious background, this sense of Divine Intention can be felt. How do we learn to co-operate with it? To carry the metaphor further, our efforts cannot be focused on planning to be a tree. At any point in time we're an acorn without a clear picture of what an oak might be. Our focus has to be on finding the fertile environment where we can grow into our Divine Intention.

The conventional word for environment in business is "market." Active Investors are obsessed with their markets. They are concerned more about them than anything else. Free time isn't spent on process improvement, that's allocated time. It's spent imagining how roots can grow deeper into the environment. There is a simple trust that our "oak" will happen if we can just develop the roots.

This is the primary drive of the successful business owner or professional. There's nothing wrong with a primary passion for your craft instead; however, that's an employee, not an Active Investor.

1+1+1=4 Emergent Properties and Exit Planning

Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen all have their own characteristics. A certain atomic number, atomic weight, isotopes, etc. Put 12 Carbons, 22 Hydrogens, and 11 Oxygens together in a certain way and there is a sugar molecule. Sugar has a dominate characteristic that creates economic value; it's sweet. None of the elements have a taste. This is an emergent property and it is the most sought-out component of any business. 

Other business elements like inventory, equipment, and brand names are generally quickly available for the right price. But the magic of what happens when an active investor combines those takes time and insight. Business relationships and deals emerge out of combinations of capabilities and experience.

When a business is sold, it's owner wants its worth to be more than just the components on the Balance Sheet. On the date of purchase, accountants record that additional dollar amount as Goodwill. A business plan is all about how the Goodwill emerges from the investor's dollars and management's plans. The asking price of the business on the exit side of that plan will be a multiple of it's historical cash flow. The multiple represents the risk and difficulty a new investor will have in maintaining or even increasing the cash flow. The easier it is to keep the emergent properties growing, the more the business is worth. 

Business owner are unique kinds of artists. Not only do they creatively combine markets, facilities, and services to create economic value; they do so in a way the "canvas" can be passed to another artist (new business owner). No other art form makes this demand on its practitioners. 

It's hard enough for an owner to manage the business successfully. This second art is frequently ignored until the last moment. However, business owners who recognize they are not just operators, they are active investors, take stock of their progress periodically with an exit plan update. It's time to look at what happened and see the emergent properties of your work, understand their value, and find a way to codify what happened as a business process.  

A sense of satisfaction and a well earned retirement will both emerge.