Photos by Tammy Brice Photography

Hadassah stats:

Full Name: Hadassah Marie DuRegger
Born: 7:35am, January 25, 2012
Weight: 7lbs 8.3oz
Length: 20.5″
Head: 14″

Hair like her daddy, feet like her momma.

1. One month equals a quarter and one year seems like five.
2. The spokes-person or the spokes-people.
3. Gen-Flux: are you bracing for upheaval

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1. One month equals a quarter and one year seems like five.

This may be of no surprise to you… but, in the start-up world everything is urgent. This urgency is not bad or good… it just is.

“…for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
- Hamlet, speaking to Rosencrant

I think what Shakespeare was saying in this iambic pentameter prose, is this: only in looking back do we have the space to judge whether an action can be categorized as good or bad. In the moment judgement is given no quarter, only action and progress.

In the start-up world nothing is more truthful than this sentiment. As the future of the company leans on the progress of today. Yes, we can look back on last week and learn. Realizing which decision and subsequent action was a good play, and critiquing the bad ones, always learning, always implementing, always moving. And in this movement we look up every once and a while and realize the work that has been done equates to months of productivity mashed into the confines of a 30-day cycle. Then in a moment of celebration we sigh, one of those contented after a good meal sighs, take off our headphones and share a pint of barley. Crashing down on our pillows we dream of API integrations and organic user growth strategies… Only to be awoken at 5:30am to the smooth sound of Jack Johnson’s “Anything But the Truth” from our Alarm Clock Pro app on our iPhone, allowing his acoustics to propel us again, into the urgency that is Dwolla.

2. The spokes-person or the spokes-people.

My buddy Tony spurred some thinking this morning, with this post on brand influence. It seems in a pre-social media (read: social empowered) world the norm was to restrict brand engagement to the requisite spokesperson, thereby vaulting (as Tony states) the brand, the organization or the spokesperson themselves (usually the CEO or President), above the minions who actually run the show. But in a era of participation, where each cog now has a voice of their own, we are seeing varying degrees of response from said corporations accustomed to controlling the voice.

Some have responded with ignorance, others with 1984-ish brutish regulations in which employees are punished or in the least reprimanded for speaking out (in any form) about the company. Personal antidote: After signing a 3-month contract with a large corporation in Pella, IA, I innocently tweeted out something to the effect of adulation for getting to work with such a well respected corporation. That very day, before I had even stepped foot into the building and begun work, I received no less than three emails of reprimand for tweeting about the corporation. As they had employee regulations in place, stipulating the “appropriate social network behavior” which is basically… don’t.

This would be an example of a corporation that doesn’t embrace the reality of today… that is, each member of the organization is a conduit of information about the company. This is scary to most organizations, because they are worried about the negative PR that a disgruntled employee may create. So. Instead of solving the problem of disgruntled employees they attack the symptom by putting a employee regulation in place.

But if we look at this from another perspective… embracing the employees of the organization as people with vested interest in the success of the company, we can empower our teammates to be positive voices, vaulting the perceived image of the company to something tangible rather than a boilerplate image manufactured for the big screen.

Newsflash. There is no longer a big screen. Just as there is no longer room for just one voice, one builder. We are all builders, and if treated well… each of us will also be the best evangelists the company could ask for. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship, keeping the integrity of management intact, by giving a voice to the cogs.

3. Gen-Flux: are you bracing for upheaval

I was reading an article in Fast Company, on the Gen-Flux… And I’m now pretty convinced, people groups as defined by genographic norms are being replaced by more psychographic traits. That is, the new paradigm, as influenced by globalization and the internets, is based on flexibility, instability, and adaptability. Gone are the broad strokes defining a culture by its birthdate, rather we can be defined by our model of phone, and whether or not you are bi-lingual… not in language but in code type. Those of us labeled Gen-Flux do quite a few things very well, we are flexible to the environment albeit corporate, non-profit, start-up or small business. We are comfortable with instability, that is, we do not need a label to be productive and work well in the unknown. We are adaptable and can be dropped into new teams and projects at a moments notice, we can learn on the fly and don’t need months of educational prep to be productive.

Some personality types thrive in this new environment, as it seems the job security of our professional fathers has been shown for what it is… white collar factory work. Jobs dependent upon escalating GDP and unlimited access to natural resources. But in this new world — financial stability of large organizations is tied to the markets of Asia and Europe. We are no longer an autonomous economy, this utopia has been replaced with an incestuous interconnectivity which rises and falls based on the turmoil of the day (no matter where the disturbance propagates).

So. Are you ready? Are you a Renaissance Man or Woman… Or are you a stalwart? Bemoaning the bygone days of corporate retirement packages and social security paybacks.

At the meetup, we are going to give away a 20-30 Dwolla t-shirts to the first arrivals and showoff the features of the app at 6pm. If you’re in OKC and want to learn about an app that is killing credit cards… you should come, I’ll even give you a dollar if you do.

Here are the details: Facebook Event — RSVP

Dwolla Meetup at Elemental Coffee Roasters.

5:30-7:30pm
815 N. Hudson
Oklahoma City

http://dwolla.com/

It’s been a year since going national, and what better way to celebrate than holding a meetup in another Oklahoma City! Come by Elemental Coffee and try out Dwolla by purchasing a latte or espresso. And learn more about the up and coming start-up that is building the ideal payment network… or as Forbes calls it “Cashflow for the NetGen”

Full Forbes article: http://onforb.es/u7OoNq

“…well my company will pay for it, so why wouldn’t I get my MBA.”

“…I have to take a test to get in, right?”

Frack. This post is going to be a rabbit’s trail type of rant, so get ready.

Over the past few years, I’ve become disgusted at my MBA. Not my experience or takeaway knowledge, but the dilution of my degree’s worth in terms of perceived value. Truth be told, it seems in the current times, an advanced degree, specifically the MBA, has lost its value. As cracker box MBA programs have popped up across the nation, and top ranked schools have shifted emphasis from top-teir education to revenue growth strategies. The cracker box programs promise an graduate degree with little effort and not much sacrifice. Seriously, just google MBA and see where it takes you… the page is full of ads and paid placements of MBA programs that offer convenient MBA degree programs, from the comfort of your home.

Even my alma mater has fallen out of the graces of the Rankings as it pursued the part-time MBA offering. This fall is just ridiculous, as OU Price College of Business was a well respected program, ranked among the top 25 schools in the nation when I received my MBA (2004-2006). The classes… kicked my ass. I’ve never studied as much, read so much, and worked so hard. I was a full-time student, I didn’t have a side job, because school was so demanding. It was how I envisioned graduate school to be — competitive, collaborative, and fully engaging.

So. What happened?

It seems the school decided to push into the part-time MBA space by offering classes and degree paths outside of the Norman campus, spinning up satellite campuses in downtown Oklahoma City. Great for revenue, terrible for rankings… and I would argue terrible for everyone who’d received the degree circa 2006.

It’s like learning to tie a windsor knot online… sure you’ll be able to get it done. But you won’t have the story. The memory of when your dad took you aside when you were 14 and taught you the reason why the Windsor was his favorite knot, and how it’s differentiated from the Half Windsor and the Four-in-hand knot. I’d argue it’s always the context that makes the story memorable, and without it you’ll probably look up the directions on “how to tie a tie” from your iPhone every time formal attire is required.

My are my panties in a bunch? Well, call it graduate school arrogance and higher learning pride. I’m of the guild who believes degrees stand for something… hard work, dedication, mastery of a subject, and a certain elitist status (in that you where of the few who completed the degree). I believe a Master’s degree is more than just a paper certificate or a hall pass to get you past the glut of middle management in corporate America. To me it is it was an avenue to higher earning potential and an overall understanding of the macronomics of globalized business… something you could not get at the neighborhood community college.

Ok, forgive my pedantic ramblings. I agree with your contrarian sentiment — What you do is what matters, as knowledge and certificates can never trump hustle and the habit of shipping.

So. What’s the solution?

Well, for starters… The General Assembly with early round investor Tom Vander Ark have been developing a fantastic alternative to Higher-Ed (more here). And with growing incubators like Startup City Des Moines, in my backyard. It is evident the next generation of learners place more value on the do of entrepreneurship than on the aging knowledge of academia.

Moral. The dilution of the MBA is based upon perceived value of the knowledge. If middle managers across the country accumulate MBA’s, yet don’t accomplish anything with the knowledge… the value is lost. Make something easy and it will no longer attract those who are drawn to build great things. Make something difficult, requiring sacrifice and hard work, and you will have found the sieve that filters out mediocrity.

Good luck @GA & @startupcitydsm. Go get ‘em.

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thanks to Sam Mahlstadt for the impetus this AM on twitter.

It has been a whirlwind of a year, with Baby D on the way and Candace stepping down from her Executive Director position at Pella Teen Challenge Women’s Home, and a new Charming Beard office on the town square in Pella, one would assume we’d be digging in for a long winter. But life has a way of opening doors when you least expect it. Such is the case with Dwolla.

Ever since I moved back to Iowa, I’ve been acutely aware of this small start-up with a big vision. I met Ben Milne at Ted-X Des Moines, in May of 2010, back then Dwolla was a scrappy start-up only licensed to operate in Iowa and California, but still garnishing a lot of regional attention. Over the next few months Ben and Shane Neuerburg successfully led the company through a series A funding of $1MM and partnership with Veridian Credit Union and TMG, a subsidiary of the Iowa Credit Union League. A couple weeks later the two-man team launched a mobile “cash-sharing” integration and announced it’s entrance into the National market at Mars Cafe in Des Moines. I was at this event, and was stunned at the attendance… as all of us were smashed into the tiny Mars Cafe space, with beers in our hands and a free Dwolla t-shirt draped around our shoulders. It was an electric event, one that vaulted Dwolla into the national spotlight.

Fast forward a year. Dwolla is fast approaching another big announcement and the team has expanded from it’s initial founders to a rabble-rouse of smart and scrappy techies. Without going into the details, I was brought on just shy of the big announcement to handle a variety of things from Business Development to Site Integration and Customer Support. It is a move that Candace and I are ecstatic about, and probably one of the only jobs that could have taken me away from Charming Beard Productions, as it combines my love of all things tech with a real entrepreneurial spirit (read: market disruption).

I couldn’t be more happy, last Thursday night, standing on this stage… As I join a team of exceptional talent, each of which are helping to build “the ideal payment network” for the next generation.

Don’t have a Dwolla account? Text 515.650.4583 and I’ll give you a dollar for your thoughts.

What is Dwolla?

Dwolla was created to help eliminate credit card fees, and make it quicker and easier for businesses to get paid. With free micro-transactions, and a flat 25 cents for everything else, Dwolla is the nation’s cheapest payment network.

No mystery fees, no sign up costs
Free online and mobile tools to make mobile payments work
Socially and locally connected for maximum exposure

Since I’m the new Business Development guy… I thought I’d better end this blog post with my first true pitch.

For clarity sake, when I speak of equality, I am speaking on the basis of opportunities, not rights… I believe we all should have equal rights, in the sense that we are created equal in our humanness and because of this we are to be treated in fairness and with justice. But the notion of meritocracy has, at its foundation, a dichotomy of equality — though we have equal rights, we do not have equal opportunity — for opportunity is born into, bred into, and educated into each individual on this earth.

Meritocracy - a ruling or influential class of educated or skilled people; Government or the holding of power by people selected on the basis of ability.

We cannot escape the reality we are born into, once our lungs fill with air and our cries ricochet against the bleached walls of the hospital room — we are labeled. You are the son of a truck driver, the daughter of an aristocrat, or a child of drunkard. We take on the history of our parents, genetic and socio-economic. Adoption is a disrupter in this scenario, as a child of an unwed urban mother, can be placed with a suburban Doctor and raised with a duality — brought up in much brighter surroundings than her biological mother could ever provide, but still carrying the genetic remnants of her parents… A history she cannot escape. It is inevitable, the influence of our guardians, the genetics of our parents, and even the placement of our education. The schools in which you were taught, the teachers who did or did not take time to help you learn, the coaches who encouraged your strengths and demanded you work on your weaknesses.

Though we are born into a label, being an American offers opportunity beyond our birthright. As Americans, we have a been given a gift in our social structure that allows us the opportunity to change, adapt, and overcome our genetic or socio-economic restraints… to a point. But, even with these opportunities, I’m wondering if we have focused too much on the exceptions to the rule, those that shattered the stereotypes and overcame adversity to accomplish something great? We laude those who find success after overcoming a troubled childhood, a meek upbringing, and a below average physicality… as heros and role models. We put them on a pedestal as examples to follow, a hidden curriculum which states you to can overcome anything and be what you want to be. Yet reality isn’t so kind, as the stark truth is they are but exceptions to the rule.

We are products of our own TREE — tradition, reason, experience and emotion — of which we have very little margin to diverge into. However, we live in America, the “Land of Opportunity.” Which means our margin of opportunity has a lot more wiggle room than the impoverished nations and developing countries. The allure of America is based on this reality, as immigrants flock to the United States because of it’s foundation of equality and it’s diversity of opportunity. Where hard work and diligence can open doors of opportunity, which can literally change the course of generations. A true meritocracy, where everyone deserves the success or failure they receive, ie: the best rise to the top and the worst fall to the bottom. To someone who comes from a caste system or an impoverished country this is extremely freeing. It is also the reason many love our political structure, in which all people have a voice in the election of the officials that represent them. We the people, in theory, have control of our governing institutions. And when the people embrace a democratic meritocracy, that is, a government ruled by the elected elite (those with the education, status, and abilities to lead), it has the potential to thrive in prosperity and freedom.

But when the ruling elite gain the upper hand, and take the power away from the people to elect our governing officials… we will have ourselves a recipe for societal suicide, that is, we have neutered the voice of the people, and instead given control to those who have more, and inevitably want more.

In a democratic meritocracy, the voice of the people is the great balancer, as tyranny rules when the marginalized are not given representation. That said, we must be aware of becoming a socialized democracy, in which the government doles out bread, perscriptions and mortgage payments to those that can no longer provide for themselves.

At this juncture meritocracy shows it’s most redeeming quality — the ability for the educated elite to act with justice and fairness to all — a characteristic we too often disregard in election campaigns. Now, it is true, the educated class will have an disproportionate influence on culture and government. But, why is this a bad thing. We allow the best to rise to the top, giving them the ability and permission to push our culture forward. But not without checks and balances… the hope has always been that the democratic majority would have the final say. If a artist, educator, or politician ever overstepped the bounds of their influence, it is up to the majority to settle the score. A attentive democracy must have the ability to sniff out the bullshit and respond accordingly — ie have and act upon their common sense.

When a true meritocratic democracy is in effect, the result should be a quorum of educated, competent, and caring elected officials. A government made up of those holding the good of the people in mind when making tough decisions. Not as we have now, officials who care more about the implications to their stock portfolio than the blue collar workers in their district.

This current system, in which the good of the people is being forfeited for short-term corporate gains is in need of a proper rebellion. But the one thing that concerns me about “Occupy Wallstreet” is it’s peaceable premise. It is a bastardization of a true revolution, which is by definition a forcible overthrow against the status quo. I don’t dislike their stance, ie: “occupiers” demanding a more equitable government. That is good. We should have a more equitable government, by the people for the people, but when I hear some of their rhetoric I wince… Are they demanding entitlement or equity? It seems, from my viewpoint, the main tenet of the tenants in this toy box revolution is their anger towards the Governments disproportionate hand-out policy — their displeasure in not receiving an equitable handout during the generous banking bailout of 2009.

Now, I’m in agreement that our democratic government has been co-opted by corporatized greed, driven by the largest legalized gambling institution in the world — the stock market. And the banking bail-out of 2009 was a travesty and maybe even a tyrannical move by our government. Nevertheless, it can be argued, because of the frenzy over short-term shareholder profit, many corporations have sacrificed long-term gains by shortchanging ethical integrity — whether we are talking about shoddy “throw-away” products built by slave-labor in developing countries or the accounting and finance shenanigans deployed by large financial firms on Wall Street. Make no mistake ethical integrity is attacked in the greed driven world of short-term gains. This is good to speak out against, as the banks should have been allowed to fail, just as those that signed shitty mortgages should have been foreclosed on. The problem is systemic, but asking for equity of financial support is not the proper inoculation.

What the occupiers are fighting against is a symptom of a larger global pandemic… Their intuition is right, in that they realize something is amiss and in need of a proper fix. But what they are missing is the larger picture of a meritocracy that has become imbalanced… We are living in a democracy that looks more like a aristocracy, as the ruling elite are now able to influence the government in ways the founding fathers desperately tried to prevent.

When the culture of a meritocracy is eliminated, history shows that it leads to fewer benefits for everyone, not more.

Chuck Bentley

We do not need the 1% to dispense of their equity, we need the 99% to give the 1% reasons to invest in the people. We need an uprising of entrepreneurs to fix the problems in the market. Entrepreneurs whose goals are to right the market, not capitalize the system. We need less regulation and more meritocracy… let the risk takers fail, let the cream rise to the top, let the market play out, and we will see true American democracy — a playground of people with differing abilities and traditions striving to provide opportunities for their children they themselves never had.

If we do not embrace our meritocratic roots we may become a nation that capsizes like a ship whose top-heavy 1% carries more weight than the 99% below the water line.

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*Featured photo can be purchased… here.

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“Short Film Friday” focuses on films & music videos that are 1 – 5 minutes in duration.

When I was in graduate school at The University of Oklahoma, I found myself very disenchanted with organized religion and found for the first time in my life an aversion to Sunday services as I had known. During this time I became friends with a pastor of a missional church and began a dialogue with him about discipleship, church hierarchy, and theology. His name was Ken Primrose and the church was Norman Community Church. At that time the church met the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month as a corporate body, which they called, “Celebration Sunday.” During the week they met in smaller missional communities, located in a house or a dorm room. These small groups or house churches had structure, accountability, and leadership but felt organic, relational and very missional. House churches were centered around a mission or purpose, and were also put in a cluster (a collection of house churches that had similar missional demographics). The house churches then met as a larger cluster on the other Sundays throughout the month.

Confusing… maybe if you were on the outside. The beauty of the system was that a new person would not normally be invited to Celebration Sunday, it would be to forward and ask. Instead they were invited to house church and if they became a regular, they were invited to cluster and if they loved that, they were invited to Celebration Sunday, which gave them a complete glimpse of the Body of Christ… families, boomers, collegers, and other members of the body that were not particularized to the missional house church that first brought them into Norman Community Church.

Sunday was not meant to be attractional… it was meant to be celebratory. Cluster was not meant to be attractional… it was meant to be motivational. House Church was not meant to be attractional… it was meant to be missional.

Missional communities collecting people of common interest and passions; Clusters bringing together a larger network of missional communities to motivate and encourage each community in mission; Sunday worship which celebrated all of the communities and clusters while also inviting everyone into the larger mission of the church… which was to empower leaders to view ministry Up, In and Out:

UP, our relationship with God. IN, our relationships within the church, and OUT, our relationships with those who have not encountered the love and truth of Jesus physically, emotionally, relationally, or spiritually. [more here]

And what about accountability? In this particular structure the leaders of missional communities met together along with the lead pastor to communicate vision, talk through struggles, pray for the church, and identify new leaders. The last of which was very important as new missional communities sprung out of house churches that had grown too large. Multiplication was very important to the structure as the familial fellowship is lost when a house church grew too large to accommodate transparent interaction.

This example, is one of many healthy expressions of churches of small groups. And even in my very high level presentation of Norman Community, there are holes in which a longer post would better serve. But I want to make sure we have some room for conversation. Have you experienced a church of small groups? If so, how has it looked, felt, operated?

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Small Groups and the Church series posts:

Introduction

Church with Small Groups

Church is Small Groups

Church of Small Groups

*design by Brandon Jones

To celebrate with the team, I wanted to put up some infographs that highlight some of the milestones over the past few years, including recently breaking ’30 million installs’ barrier! So check those infographs below (click on the thumbnails to see the full infograph). Also, be sure to check out the special webcast scheduled for November 30th — http://youversion.com/webcast — which will highlight the global YouVersion community and share some new developments coming in future updates… be sure to mark your calendar and check out more by clicking the banner below… I hear they are giving away some Beats by Dr. Dre and an iPad 2.

*From L to R: 30MM installs of the Bible App, Bookmark Behavior in the Bible App.