The Power of Joining Forces

Scientists who specialize in abiogenesis study how life arises from inorganic matter. These folks who study the origin of life will tell you that the "building blocks of life" are amino acids. What's amazing is that amino acids can form through natural chemical reactions that are unrelated to life. Amino acids organize into proteins which are essential to all living organisms. To put things very simply, life itself arises through the very basic act of joining forces.

The power of joining forces is on display when we examine the differences between single cell organisms and multicellular organisms. Multicellular organisms are larger in size so they are safer from predators. Differentiation of cells within the population of a multicellular organism increases its chances for survival. Another advantage of being more than just single-celled is that networks can form, complexity is permitted, and cool things happen.

When I worked alone in Boston, I was like a single cell. Jason and Evan were thousands of miles away in San Francisco. We joined forces to work on Blogger at Google—the multicellular adventure had begun. When we worked with Jack Dorsey and others, the organism grew more complex and cool things happened. Twitter was a cool thing. Twitter allows people all over the world to join forces and make amazing things happen.

A new study from the University of Washington puts forward that Twitter played a central role leading to the successful overthrow of oppressive dictators in Tunisia and Egypt. Make no mistake, people are the driving force behind positive change. However, when we work together to build tools and give them to people, then it becomes possible to positively impact millions of lives. Technology that helps people work together is the most powerful kind.

For a company called Obvious, we are admittedly enigmatic—lots of great stuff is happening but it's not easy to discern. Maybe Obvious is just a multicellular organism bent on making big ideas happen by whatever means necessary. Ev recently wrote, "We write code and write checks, make calls and make coffee, push paper and pull strings. We bring people together and help them do more than they thought possible." I'm glad we joined forces.

Maybe you're a single cell right now. If you are, you should seriously consider expanding your operation. Life is a wondrous thing and it came about because of joining forces. Twitter came about in the same way and it's being used to make even better things happen. If you can't find someone to join forces with, then join us. We've already got a pretty awesome multicellular operation going and we're interested in growing even more.

Cultural Neuroscience and Startups

Henry David Thoreau said, "As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives." The emerging interdisciplinary field of cultural neuroscience deals with daily social realities and how they can affect individual members of a culture—perhaps a startup culture.

At a recent World Congress on Positive Psychology Dr Richard J. Davidson from the University of Wisconsin-Madison shared research into the positive benefits of compassion and his work reminded me of the startup culture I'm so keen to encourage. Dr. Davidson effectively showed that mindfulness and compassion can enhance the prefrontal cortex—an area of our brain that helps us determine good from bad, controls our personality, and guides us toward our goals.

Previous research published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience showed devastatingly negative results both in the brain and even on organs when stressors are given to produce anxiety. So, if you work with people who are stressing you out or making you anxious then you may be hurting yourself mentally and physically. Ideally, you should work in an environment with compassion, mindfulness, respect, and good, healthy debate when it's needed.

Companies can be a vehicle for positive individual transformation. Startups have a unique ability to create a culture of compassion that helps us improve and in so doing, we are more likely to make a difference in the lives of others. It's possible to build a business, help people, and enjoy our work. How we approach our work is often as important as the work itself because the way we treat each other, our shared environment, and the way we cooperate shapes us as people.

Whatever your role is at the company you work for—whether you're an executive with many reports, or an individual contributor on a team, practicing regular, daily mindfulness and compassion will make you a healthier, more productive person. Additionally, the people you work with are going to respond better and do better work. The outcome is going to be a superior product or service, a happier user or client, and in the best case—a positive global impact.