Mackey, Bono, Casheesh and Fun Stuff
Posted on May 11th, 2006
by 
Brian
Brian
Just sent this out as an update email, thought I'd blog it, too! (even though some of it is a bit redundant from prior blog posts I'm too busy to make it all perty and want to keep you updated so please forgive! :)
Hey guys:
A lot of exciting news to share. Wanted to give you a quick update.
Just got back in town after a week and a half in Texas. Spent a weekend at John Mackey's (CEO of Whole Foods) ranch where I met some amazing people and enjoyed seeing John cruise around wearing his Zaadz t-shirt! :)
Then headed to Austin where I taught a class on entrepreneurialism with John and Michael Strong (the co-founders of the non-profit, FLOW), and others. The theme: Working for Good: "Liberating the entrepreneurial spirit for good." You can learn more and check out the webcasts at workingforgood.com.
John and Whole Foods epitomize the integral/conscious entrepreneurship we strive to embody so it was an honor and a lot of fun to lead the class with him (he led the second day discussing the role of the corporation and I led the third day discussing the role of the entrepreneur in a conscious capitalism framework). And, we're in the process of collaborating on a chapter for his upcoming book, which is quite cool.
After the class, I went from Austin to Dallas where Christiana and I met Bono on Friday night before he gave a speech on his ONE campaign initiatives. Just a quick "Hi!" and a handshake and a photo, but fun (oh yah, and we got him a Zaadz postcard, of course. ;) His speech is amazing. (You can view a similar version here.)
Followed that up with a great meeting with our lead investors from the last round as well as a new investor (and friend!) who actually found us by reading our ad in "What is Enlightenment?" magazine. Amazing.
Meetings couldn't have gone better and we're in the process of bringing in some more casheesh to allow us to do things like hire ~C4Chaos (yes, it's true, we've lost our minds and hired him! How cool is that?!? Love you, bud. :) and roll out some more cool marketing stuff and develop some really cool stuff over the next few months.
Speaking of "What is Enlightenment?"...VERY exciting news! We're on the cover of their upcoming issue. They did a phenomenal article on us. (Check out the red "Beyond MySpace: Zaadz.com is an online community with a purpose" Beautiful, eh?!?)
Enough from me.
Trust you're doing great and looking forward to sharing an exciting summer
with you!
Cheers,
-bri
P.S. I can't resist sharing some other Mackey goodness I think you guys will enjoy (these are pulled from the FLOW newsletter which I highly recommend). This stuff has been formative in my own evolution as I get the language to frame the challenges we face in telling the story of conscious/integral capitalism:
- Excerpts from a (GENIUS!) conversation with Ken Wilber on Integral Business,
available for free on the FLOW website here.
And an edited version available at Integral Naked (a BRILLIANT source for Integral conversations)
(and, check out a little snippet from the interview where John mentions me as a young entrepreneur learning from him/Whole Foods to create an Integral Business. hehe. Too fun :)
- The Upward Flow of Human Development from John's speech at the annual Whole Foods Tribal Gathering, posted at John's blog at the Whole Foods Market website. John provided a great introduction to the principles of Spiral Dynamics, which provides a point of reference for his conversation with Ken Wilber.
- Winning the Battle for Freedom and Prosperity: the text of a speech that John presented at FreedomFest in 2004, currently running in the June 2006 issue of Liberty Unbound.
- The Role of the Corporation, John's debate with Milton Friedman, and Cypress Semiconductor's T.J. Rodgers that originally ran in Reason magazine in October of 2005, available at the FLOW website.
Access: Public
bono
August 2008 
Congratulations on such an exciting and highly successful trip. I can't imagine how you must feel to see your thoughts and dreams become a reality. Brian, you are an amazing and inspiring individual. Thank you for keeping us updated on your progress and the great things you are doing out there. I think I can speak for most (if not all) of us Zaadzsters when I say that you're extraordinary.
Whole Foods is to be commended for their integrity in the food industry and for standing up for what they believe in. I have a few comments about the food industry in my blog and how you can facilitate a change merely by having dinner at a restaurant.
Anyway, kudos to you Brian!! I am in awe.
I'm certainly looking forward to reading that issue of What Is Enlightenment!
Keep flowin' bro!
I am continually amazed and inspired by the things you are doing!! Keep it up ;)
Thanks for sharing this news, Brian.
Tell your friends from flowproject that I am presenting them in Europe on my website ;-)
Namaste,
Diana
Great cover of WIE! I posted it at the London Integral Circle. Brian, you push the merger of emerging entrepreneurialism and innovovative evolutionary Nexus. Will be good to give energy and attention to a strong, bright and healthy blue fundament of Zaadz too. All floors of this building deserve equal focus in order to provide greatest span,depth and purpose simultaneously…
Co-evolving,
Albert
Of course all this is awesome…….but I am going to have a total selfish moment and say…………..”Hey John Mackey has a Zaadz t-shirt? Where's my cool ambassador stuff?”
You guys rock. Thanks for your kind words and support.
Hart: hehe. Funny. Your ambassador kit has grown and grown. What started out as a t-shirt, manifesto and a couple of books for 100 people now has that plus a bunch of cool zaadz post cards, an extra surprise book and a free copy of Utne, Ode, WIE, Plenty, VegNews, Yoga Journal, and a 1/2 year free Shambhala Sun certificate…
Plus, we had such an overwhelming response that my place wound up getting stuffed with boxes so we set up a deal with a friend of mine who runs a nutrition company with a 20,000 foot warehouse to do drop shipping for us for our first 400 ambassadors and the 10,000+we plan to have by end of '06! Fun.
Oh yah. So they're shipping early next week. Thanks for your patience. :)
Brian, you're such an amazing positive powerhouse - very inspiring!!
Zaadz to me really is the long wished for connection with geographically far but like- mindedly close spirits that I was afraid would not occur in my 'this time around lifetime'.
On a down to earth practical capitalist level - great that we're closer to shipping cos I want to WEAR THAT T-SHIRT this Summer, haha!!!
And to sow a seed - any New Yorkers that read this and are not aware of it yet, the New York City pod is growing and will lead to get-togethers in our great city in the future!
Keep up the good work - as I know you will!
SIRoynreally makes me feel like
Brian………..Yaye!!!!! Does that include the new copy of the WIE mag with Zaadz on the front cover? You know I love books, but I am also loving these new mags that you guys have enlightened me with…………………
Girls like mags with more than just beauty tips!!!!!! Hey Hey
Thanks to the Mag guys for offering us better stuff to read :-)
Heidi
Brian,
I'm sure you hear this all the time, but I think what you're doing here is so cool and damn glad to be part Zaadz!
I wanted to share some news with you…. I have decided to return to college, so that I can sharpen my Entreprenuer skills…Not too mention the fact that Uncle Sam promised a G.I. Bill.
Congrats on the new investor and the new hire - C4Chaos. Looking forward to making a difference together.
Regards,
John Salcedo
HAZTEK, Inc.
CounterTerrorism
are we also shipping the Zaadz uber-mesh t-shirts? it's not my style, but who knows. some people might dig it :)
sweeetness! and def looks like a *juicy* issue of WIE as well =)
Interesting stuff Brian.Thanks for sharing :)
I particularly enjoyed the talk between Ken Wilber and Mackey, currently on my second listen through, so thanks for sharing that as well.Although some of the terminology was new to me, and I'm currently googling to find out what the hell a 'turquoise libertarian' is, I feel that I very much got the gist of the convo, and I like what I heard very much.Certainly interesting! As I spent most of my time at school asleep and quite nearly died of boredom on several occasions, I'd certainly want as soon as possible for people to get a much fuller education.Or to put it another way “actually have an education” as opposed to a Prussian style cannon fodder preparation school, thought (?) up by pissants! who thought they knew best.
And I hear they mentioned the one and only Brian Johnson, and rightly so.You go bro! :D
I loved the moment near the end of the convo where Mackey says: “And integral businesses are going to spread like wildflower (corrects himself), er, wildfire”
hehe, you know I wish he hadn't corrected himself, because I prefer the term 'wildflower.'Afterall we're planting seeds here, but isn't the ultimate to have these 'flowers' growing in the wild.Essentially everything returning to their natural states of freedom and prosperity, beyond any outside guidance.Growing from within, ya know like everythings awake and fully conscious of themselves :)
As Ken said when asked if he'd met Brian Johnson: YOU BET!
Cheers!
PS: Can't wait for the Ambassador stuff.Hope it gets all the way over here soon!
just listened to the linked conversation between mackey and wilber. awesome! join john and ken and others here at offering up a big “high-five” to our mr. johnson!
thanks brother!
The more I'm a part of this, the more my life changes! This blog has SOOO much in it Brian…your head must be spinning from experiencing it all! Congratulations on everything…this little seed you've planted sure has grown. I'm so excited for you…and for all of us!
Plus, I'm sorry, but you met BONO! I guess I'm going to have to be the goofy, awestruck girl who is totally blown away by that. So cool! Plus, he's got a Zaadz postcard…just think, someday he'll be talking to the UN or something and say, “Yes, I remember when I met Brian Johnson. As you all know, he is the Ambassador to the UN special branch of Peace, Love, and Changing the World…..”
Rock on Brian! :)
Hey Brian - I found Zaadz in the new issue of WIE last night. The double whammy of advertisement, then article got my attention in the sea of juicy Ken Wilber stuff, so I checked you out this morning. Now I'm here and sooooo tickled with what you are doing! Looking forward to some cool relationships with people who get what Servant Entrepreneurship is all about!
Take great care,
Julia Stewart
Brian, great article on Zaadz in WIE. I'm going to direct all my friends to it! AND, I love the ad in the front too. It was cool to see familiar faces as I opened this magazine. Keep up the good work! Mary_C