You can watch, listen, or skim, and join the next one! Our next Town Talk is on Culture. The 3rd Tuesday of every month. You can add that to your calendar here. Here's the call flowgenda, so you know if you'd like to join us next time. - Welcoming and Grounding - Brief Story - why this topic - Share on the topic - experiential talking - Breakout rooms - members share with each other with guided questions - Come back together - talk more about the topic as a full group - Close - final shares before concluding I talked about being a reluctant leader and how there are not many who talk about leadership in relation to entrepreneurship. The foundation that holds all of it together though... is how we show up as leaders for the people we're building with and for. I then shared two polarities in relation to leadership. Polarity 1: Eager vs. Reluctant Some people are naturally comfortable stepping into the spotlight, leading from visibility and authority. Others are more reluctant, more comfortable behind the scenes, aligning with existing leaders. Neither is wrong. The invitation is to know your default and balance it with the other side. Polarity 2: Self-Referential vs. Others-Referential Do you get your sense of value from what you know about yourself, or from what others perceive of you? Again, it's both, but which one is more prominent? Leadership asks you to go first, which requires being a bit more self-referential even if that's not your natural comfort zone. And then there's this shift happening in leadership itself... From command and control (old dynamic) to trust and inspire (new dynamic). Here were our reflection questions, you can contemplate them too. -What are you going first in so others have an easier path behind you? -What are you willing to be uncomfortable with so others can be more comfortable? -What's the hard work you're willing to do that makes the journey easier for people who follow?

Our community is coming together. There are connections, bonds, and relationships unfolding. I love being in these spaces and seeing and feeling these connections between aligned people. And because the community is meant to grow on its own, I also love just “hearing” about how members are really getting to know each other and are even beginning to collaborate. As wonderful as all of this is in beginning to come together… I admit that sometimes I’m a bit impatient with this question… “How can we connect more?” I sometimes “overthink” “overfeel” and “overdo” when it comes to how to make the next thing happen. I’d also say that impatience is one of these “patterns” that have a lesson or message. And sometimes it’s not always easy to receive the message on our own. It’s also why connections and community can be so valuable for not just learning “things” but learning about ourselves and additional perspectives for what’s going on. @Karen Falkenberg on our Town Square Gathering call, shared that creating a community and relationships is a lot like gardening. It takes time. It requires patience. You have to create the fertile soil, you plant the seeds, you nurture, and things don’t always go the way you planned, but you learn and you keep growing, and you keep tending to the garden. @Chris Brandwein, I had a call with her yesterday about how to continue to grow our community. And I asked my question… “How can we connect more of our people?” With warmth and insight she interrupted my tangent after I asked. “That’s your impatience talking.” I received that. I knew it was true. The “impatience” that comes when you’re excited about what’s being created and what’s coming, rather than just being patient and allowing. Chris even said that there is already very fertile ground for connections to happen and that she’s already connected with 3 amazing individuals that she didn’t know before. I felt myself relax after hearing this from her.

"How do we create environments where people naturally become more connected, more authentic, more collaborative, and more prosperous together?" This question came to me after a chat with @Chris Brandwein. I asked her if she had heard or read the story, "The Gathering of the Tribe." She said no, but when I sent it to her... she said "Ah Charles Eisenstein! Of course!" Questions lead to answers. How do we create a better online community for entrepreneurs supporting entrepreneurs? It's the same question. So how do we? Well... we are figuring it out together by gathering together. P.S. If you haven't heard or read the short story "The Gathering of the Tribe" yet... let me know, glad to share it and send it to you. You can just comment below. Energetically... it's kind of what we're doing. Gathering "aligned" entrepreneurs.

Watch the video below for what this is all about. This is also an update on how things are taking shape. And there are details on what the final membership will be like. And/or if you prefer to reading, click here for the text version, but I really recommend watching. The main question is... What is the problem we are solving? The problem is lots of surface-level connections in lots of groups without real depth, belonging, or support. When you belong, you become more of the person you're meant to be. ➡️ Add the Next Town Hall Gathering to your calendar if you can make it. Two times available for our last call before launch. Thursday the 28th at 10am EST / 3pm UK or 8pm EST / 10am AEST (Friday the 29th) (replay and recap available if you can't make it) On this call we'll go over the final details of the Town Square membership and how you will benefit from being a part of it. 📫 P.S. I'll also be reaching out to each of you before the launch on June 1st, so if you feel there's a lot to keep up with. It's all good. I'll keep you in the loop with the final details before we launch, so you can decide if you'd like to join. Thoughts? Questions? Feel free to comment below. 📫 P.P.S. If you'd like to facilitate a call for members, fill out this form here. There's also a lengthier update about how this is all coming together in this post here, but it's not necessary. It also goes more into why we are focusing on facilitator-led calls and not expert-led calls yet. Feel free to check out that post though for the replay of our last Live call and community design documents.

(👀 🎧 read or listen) Add the event to your calendar here. We already have 25 members! That tells me we're onto something worth building with intention. So this is your official invite to our first LIVE Town Hall Gathering, where we are co-creating the experience, the benefits of being a member, and the overall vibe together. Here's the question I want us to answer together... What would the BEST community of entrepreneurs supporting entrepreneurs actually look like? What would it be like if the value and the benefit of the membership IS the members? Sure, every entrepreneur needs business strategy, but what about a more foundational layer? What about just having peers, allies, and colleagues that hang out, talk about things, and offer feedback and other kinds of support? I've also been collecting ideas and notes from our conversations in the posts and comments. We've been throwing around a lot of ideas for what this community could be like. -Co-working hours. -Writing hours for content creation. -Challenges. Games. -Feedback Fridays. All of that is very doable. And those ideas are just from comments and posts. What can we brainstorm and co-create on an actual Live call with each other? Here are the eight core design principles for successful cooperation that will help guide how we put this all together. Thank you @Des Cooke for sharing these principles with me. 1. Shared Identity and Purpose - one collective identity, one meaningful mission. 2. Equitable Contribution and Benefit - everyone brings value, everyone receives it. 3. Inclusive Decision-Making - those affected by decisions have a voice in them. 4. Transparency and Accountability - expectations are visible, and we hold each other to them. 5. Adaptive Feedback - helpful behavior is reinforced, unhelpful behavior is addressed. 6. Fast and Fair Conflict Resolution - tensions get resolved directly and efficiently. 7. Self-Governance and Autonomy - we uphold and evolve our principles (1-6). 8. Aligned External Collaboration - partnerships are built on the same foundations (1-7).