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Company Vacancies

We are looking for people interested in improving and expanding our existing content. To qualify, communication skills and the desire to learn new technologies are key. Our team has a weekly chat to discuss open issues and new ideas. We stay in contact via e-mail and Asana. While Clemens is located in Düsseldorf, he is an experienced project manager used to working with remote teams, so location is not an issue. Current openings:

To apply, provide us with an overview of your past work, an hourly rate, and how many hours per month you are available to work with us. Ideally, tell us how specifically you can help us with our products. Please note that you should have a general idea of our products and ideas to make sure that we are a fit.

Project Vacancies

We are also looking to network with freelancers to offer their services to our clients. If you are interested in freelance project work, let us know and we can mention your services either on the website or in a conversation with a customer. To qualify, communication skills are key.

Our goal is to run our client projects in an iterative, agile way. Please check out the description above (under "Company Vacancies") of how we work together.

To apply, provide us with an overview of your past work, an hourly rate, and how many hours per month you are available to work with us. Ideally, describe the services you could provide potential clients. Examples include:

Our Team

Clemens Lode

Hello! My name is Clemens and I am based in Düsseldorf, Germany. I’m an author of books on philosophy, science, and project management, and coach people to publish their books and improve their approach to leadership.

I like visiting the gym, learning to sing, observing animals, and creating videos on science and philosophy. I enjoy learning from nature and love the idea of optimizing systems.

In my youth, I was an active chess player reaching the national championship in Germany, and an active pen&paper player leading groups of adventurers on mental journeys. These activities align with my calm approach to moderating meetings, leading meetups, and focusing on details. My personality type in socionics is IEE/ENFp.

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Clemens Lode

Conna Craig

Hello, I’m Conna Craig. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Clemens for eight years. Being thousands of miles apart, we have worked remotely the entire time.  

I’m a writer, editor, and experienced public speaker. After graduating from Harvard, I co-founded a research organization that created policy blueprints for the domestic policy councils of two White House administrations. I have edited 27 non-fiction books and have spoken before audiences totaling nearly 30,000 people.

I live in Monterey, California, with the world's most adorable dog, Carl.

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Conna Craig

What Is Our Vision?

Visions transcend time constraints. Looking far into the future, we can ignore current technical limitations. Maybe in 300 years, books and websites will be relics from a distant past. A vision needs to be independent of the technology and the market. While books and consulting are our current business fields, those are just ways to communicate and bring different parties together.

In 300 years, books and websites will be nonexistent things, relics of the distant past. Thus, the core of this enterprise is to build networks, not to deliver books.
Learn more about our vision

Our Vision

Conflicts arise if two parties mean the same thing but use different words to express them. Thus, the network has to be held together by translating different languages and systems of definitions. Our task is to solve the existing language conflicts between people, organizations and groups, in favor of an effective network of people who understand each other.

We live in reality that exists now as it will exist in 300 years. Basic philosophical concepts and scientific results that give us a deeper insight into the world are essential to understanding one's own situation, origin, behavior, and goals and values.

The vision is to propagate "entities with a face," i.e., value based entities. Since the beginning of civilization humans have been up against psychopathic entities. Those originate not from another reality or world; they are the systems of people: groups, tribes, organizations, states. The group dynamic within those systems of people is not comparable with the thoughts within a feeling, value-based human.

With technological progress, the relationship between the individual and the group has changed again and again. For example with the invention of the spear, the power of an individual was no longer dependent on brawn because now anyone could threaten anyone else from a distance. The same happened later with the invention of the flintlock rifle: No longer was it important who could support expensive industries to produce armor; only strategy and will power were relevant from that point forward.

In the atomic age we have once again arrived at a point where the power balance between the individual and the state is strongly in the hands of the state. What counts today are ideas, rhetoric, knowledge and psychology. An educated society is the best protection against the creation of or the abuse through psychopathic systems. The knowledge of values and the cautious application of technology in relation to their effect on the power balance are essential.

In the field of science, there will be phenomenal advancements in the next 300 years, especially in physics and biology. But this will not affect the basic assumptions about reality because science is based on philosophy. Expected breakthroughs will be in the fields of artificial intelligence (robots with "human" intelligence, consciousness, creativity, etc.). Here, the challenge is to create value-based technology in order to not have robots and computers as the new slaves. This is an issue because they are nihilistic, selfless entities that will sacrifice their existence for whoever controls them - the exact opposite of a politically mature, self-confident citizen. While before the ability to throw a spear was the determining factor of political might, tomorrow it will be the computer processing power to which a person, group or country has access.

Summary

Derived from our vision, the core services we provide as a company are:

  • Provide clear definitions, accurate translations, and useful concepts: Our editors can help you to turn your text into a tool to connect instead of divide people.
  • Communicate philosophical and scientific concepts to build a common understanding of reality which is the foundation from which someone can find his own values and goals: Our books on philosophy can help you to reflect on your own values and provide you with tools to build common grounds with others. In that regard, we are also engaged with activism, encouraging rational scientific and political discourse.
  • Teach tools and techniques for better meetings: Our coaches can train you to achieve your next meeting's goals and make you a better speaker, moderator, and presenter.
  • Provide technical expertise and ideas to market your book: With our tools, we can turn your ideas into a book, video, website, or social media articles.
  • Turn processed-based organizations into individual- and team-focused ones: We provide consulting services to empower individuals through mentoring by leaders. Cut the middle-men and have individuals and teams make efficient decisions themselves.
  • Create a value-based education for people (or "software" for artificial life-forms): With our books, we are investing into research to create conscious systems and machines that have the ability to reflect on their own goals and values.

The Future

While these points put us on the road of fulfilling our vision, a vision is not a fixed picture. It is not something you can "reach." A vision provides direction. When designing a vision, it is less important to set realistic goals than to keep your eyes on the vision itself. Instead of asking where you will be in five or 10 years with your company, it is more important to wonder about time spans of hundreds of years - this allows you to distance yourself mentally from the concreteness of your immediate goals.

The values of a company follow from the vision. These values constitute the fundamental principles. A principle is a form of rule of thumb derived from the general knowledge of the world. What is special about principles is that they are valid in general, even if the situation is unclear. In business, they form the backbone of the company: you can rely on them all the time. They help to solve personal conflicts and to keep one's eyes on the long-term goal.

Once the company values are established, and the vision is set, you have to be on the lookout during the daily business that you are not running while keeping in the same place. In a "running" company, it can easily happen that the daily tasks consume all of your time. Everyone works yet the company is not really moving forward. Your job as a leader is not limited to reaching incremental goals; you also have to invest time into improving processes and developing values. Every day, every week, you should think about whether you, as a leader (or the company respectively) have become wiser, more experienced, and developed a deeper sense of morality... all while keeping the long-term vision in mind.

"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else - if you run very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There

Do you have a question about our services?

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