Hey, so I’m out here on the Austin greenbelt today with my dogs, soaking up the crisp cool air of Thanksgiving while recovering from a bit of sickness and reflecting on what matters and the value of family and community and I’ve got some thoughts swirling around that I want to share. They're a mix of gratitude, reflection, and some big ideas I’ve been chewing on lately.
One of the most valuable lessons my mom ever taught me is what she called asset-based thinking. It’s this idea of focusing on what you have, what you can give, and what you can build—not just financially, but in every sense. Assets, in this context, are everything you have of durable value: your skills, your capacity to make things happen, your connections, your ideas, and even your reputation. It’s not just about material stuff; it’s about the potential of the things you already have and the people and ideas you already know or can know!
Let me break it down a bit. When we think of assets, we often default to money or property, but there’s so much more to it. Think about your network—the people you know, the people they know, and the way those connections can spark opportunities. Think about your skills, the things you’ve learned to do that can create value. And then there’s this concept of signal, which I find fascinating. Signal is like the ripple effect of your work or ideas — it’s the way your message or your actions invite others to connect, even if you’ve never met them. It’s like someone reading a book you wrote or being inspired by a project you worked on. That can be an asset, too.
So, on this walk, I’ve been reflecting on how we define wealth. It’s a word we toss around all the time, but often don't stop to ask ourselves what it means? And if you don’t define it clearly, it’s easy to chase things that don’t actually matter. And here’s the kicker: when people overvalue one kind of wealth, like financial security, it can make that thing harder for everyone else to attain. It’s a balance, right? It's a fundamental principle of supply and demand. (Especially when even infinite supply of one thing cannot solve a need it cannot solve but is being used to solve it). We have to think about wealth holistically to attain it.
And you know, when I think about wealth in its truest sense, I keep coming back to the people around us. Your family—your chosen family, too—these are your most important assets. They’re your foundation, the ones you trust, the ones who lift you up when things get tough. But even that only works if you nurture those relationships, if you’re intentional about them and have the capacity to positively benefit each other.
Faith is another piece of this puzzle—whether it’s faith in something spiritual or just faith in yourself. Reasonable Self-Belief, to me, is the ultimate asset. Without it, everything else crumbles. And here’s the thing: there are systems and people out there who will try to chip away at your self-belief. They’ll make you question your worth because it’s easier to control and manipulate people who doubt themselves or are confused. That is why I think it is so important to build systems—whether in families, communities, or organizations—that reinforce reasonable self-belief and its extension - Asset-Based Thinking. When people feel empowered, they just do better. Period.
From there, your asset base extends outward. Your community and network come next. These are the people who share your values, who you can collaborate with to build something bigger than yourself. It is not just about knowing people—it’s about building shared values. That’s what allows real collaboration to happen. Without shared values, you’re just spinning your wheels, talking past each other, never really moving forward and never able to trust the spirit of each other and your connection. With shared values, even challenging and difficult and complex problems can be solved through trust and good agency. That is one of the miracles of management.
Now, I’ll be honest, shared values are tough to pin down, especially as groups get larger. That’s why families, communities, and organizations sometimes struggle to align. But when you figure it out—when you can communicate those values clearly and build systems around them—it’s a game-changer. It’s the foundation of health, wealth, and happiness, as far as I’m concerned.
It's wild that we’ve been grappling with these ideas as a society for centuries. Public education, community programs, small and big institutions—they’ve all been attempts to take care of collective needs rooted in shared values. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. But we can learn from those efforts. The biggest lesson for me is this: you have to make good deals with the people closest to you. Whether it’s family, friends, or colleagues, those relationships need to be reciprocal, fair, and built on trust. If they’re not, they’ll break down, and that can be devastating.
And here’s where it gets interesting. When you zoom out and think about businesses or organizations, these same principles apply. Your team, your employees, your partners—they’re your extended family in a sense. If you invest in them—really invest, with things like education, housing support, and shared ownership—you’re not just building a business; you’re building a community. And that community, in turn, becomes one of your greatest assets.
In my life and work at the Ronin Society, we’ve been thinking about this a lot. How do we help businesses and their people build lasting wealth—not just in financial terms, but in the kind of value that supports long-term well-being? It starts with understanding assets in a broad sense, just like I mentioned earlier. It’s about recognizing the value of relationships, education and extending human capabilities, and shared goals, and then creating systems that support those things.
For example, one of the ideas we’re working on is giving employees access to housing support—like a lease-to-own program funded by their employer. Imagine the stability that could bring, not just for the employee but for the business, too. Another piece is education—creating learning opportunities that aren’t just about job skills but about life skills, financial literacy, and community building. And then there’s ownership—giving employees a stake in the business so they feel invested in its success.
These aren’t just nice-to-haves. They’re strategies that create resilience, both for individuals and organizations. And they’re grounded in something much deeper: the idea that when we align opportunity with responsibility, everybody wins.
So, as I walk this trail today, watching my young dogs sniff at everything in sight, I can’t help but feel hopeful. We have so much potential—so many assets—to create meaningful change in our lives and the lives of those around us. It starts with recognizing what we already have and then building on it, step by step, deal by deal.
Alright, that’s enough philosophizing for one walk. Time to get back to the house. And a special thank you to my family especially my parents and grandparents as they have grown, invested in these things, and created the conditions for my and many others success. I love you all very much.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
