FMYI | For My Innovation

Here it is. The long awaited initial blog entry. After years of prodding, wild ideas, and countless ruminations over coffee and beer (in moderation of course), a dawning of a new era is here. Well, maybe not. At the minimum, I hope you’ll find this blog both entertaining, meaningful, and ultimately, all about the positive change happening in the world.

So, “Powered by human energy.“ Where does that come from? Credit goes to fellow Oregonian Kevin Carroll, who helped me shape the human energy concept back in 2002. To me, it beautifully captured the spirit of people working together to make good things happen. From the first day I started FMYI in January 2004, the phrase “human energy” has been a central part of what we do. My passion has always been to empower people to make a difference. And now, it’s humbling and inspiring that we have a team of people at FMYI who share the original mission.

But this blog is bigger than FMYI. It’s about exploring that creative tension and tough balancing act we all engage in at the intersection of people, planet, and profit. This triple bottom line is at the heart of the journey we’re all on right now. The world is coming together to figure out how to leverage the positive things in us to come together and solve the serious problems around us. There’s been a lot of talk about surviving. But merely surviving won’t get at the root of the issues. We need to thrive. And the only way to do that is to come together to maximize our resources through building community and work with nature, not against it. Collaboration. Innovation. Sustainability. All those hard to understand buzzwords.

We hope this blog becomes a showcase and forum for thoughts and examples of triple bottom line solutions. And we’ll enjoy a laugh together now and then, because these topics can get too heady and serious.

Onward and upward,
-Justin