Radical Transparency

I've been doing some work for a shoe company.

They're getting serious about the materials aspect of sustainability, and they've hired me to help them launch a new brand.

Carl has decided that the hourly wage they've been paying me counts as The Carrot Project's first revenue. He reckons they hired me because they can tell from The Carrot Project and everything I've written in connection with The Carrot Project that I'm committed and maybe even a little knowledgeable about consumer education and sustainable business. I reckon they hired me because my mom went to high school with one of the founders, and I've known her since I was little.

We're probably both right.

Anyway, I've left the company's name out of this post because I'd much appreciate it if you'd take a few minutes to fill out a little market research survey that connects to the shoe project.

It's anonymous for suspense, and we'll open the curtain and show you the wizard as soon as you finish filling it out.

And, then, if you want to know more (about the company, the project, the materials, whether I'm worried about being both a consultant to the creators of consumer products and a provider of unbiased brand comparison information), get in touch. I'm happy to discuss.

Coke and hookers just made their first appearance on the Carrot Project Blog.

It's subtle, but they're there.

And, in the name of radical transparency (and maybe also for the love of all language and metaphor), they'll stay.

Until we find out that they've made someone feel uncomfortable.

And then we'll take them down. Because no joke should ever get in the way of being nice.

Until a couple of days ago, I thought The Carrot Project had the coolest business cards possible.



Then I saw this.

We still win on crunchiness, of course. But wow. Meat and lasers? Crazy. And, despite my electricity-conserving vegetarian tendencies, awesome.

About three weeks ago, I saw something cool, wanted to remember it, and figured Twitter'd be as good a place to take a note as any:

jdegrazia: birds drinking from a puddle outside. water not the most appetizing. but watching those guys use their beaks to scoop water is awesome.

While I was there, I saw this:

odemagazine: direct message us if you'd like to be profiled on our site as a SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR!!! We're looking for positive stories!

I was feeling socially entrepreneurial at the moment, so I got in touch.

And, sure enough, a few emails later, this afternoon, the ODE people sent me a link.

Once again, I'm famous.  And pretty excited about the picture.  It's from the farm show (and the Carrot Project blog).

Thank you blackbirds.

Apparently, two blogs and a Twitter account isn't enough for me.  Apparently, I'm over my fear of multivoicedness.  And, apparently, I can't resist linking to Gabe and Max at every opportunity.

The Carrot Project Blog, as of a couple of hours ago, is happening.

And that means I'll be reorganizing a bit.  Thoughts about The Carrot Project there. Intermittently coherent rambling from a rookie social entrepreneur on A More Perfect Market.  Music and rumors about Himalayan dams on Radical Transparency.  Observations that fit into 140 characters on Twitter. 

Or something like that.  We'll see.

My friend Tom is writing a novel, and, apparently, when you're writing a novel, you also do things like interview your friends about their early stage startup projects and send the results to the editors of socially responsible travel sites.

Late last night, Tom published the first ever article about The Carrot Project. 

And, speaking of first evers, in 2006, the same Tom invited me to make my first ever blog post.  And, still speaking of first evers, one year ago, the same Tom made the first ever comment on A More Perfect Market.

Hopefully, when the time comes, I can read fast enough to write him his first ever book review.

Easier to see how dependent you are on head shakes and hand gestures when your microphone is broken.



And that would have been an awesome video.  It was about one of the latest strangers to sign up for The Carrot Project.  When I emailed him to ask who he was and how he found us, he replied totally enthusiastically and told me he'd introduce to a friend of his, a man he thinks will soon become an excellent "Dutch Ambassador for The Carrot Project!"

I've let the blogging slide a bit over the past few days. 

I've been coughing.  I've been in New York.  I've been happily slammed by the flood of relatives rushing in for winter vacation.  I've been inarticulately raving in my head about profit as an illusion.  I've been asked where I'd fit into a world in which all businesses already operate sustainably.  I've been listening to Cake.

And I've been keeping up an email correspondence that just revealed this link.

If you didn't catch it the first time, click again; watch closely; and read quickly.

The Carrot Project has me too excited to sleep much at night, and I'm starting to feel that ominous scratchy in the back of my throat, so I decided I needed a nap.

As I was settling into the couch, I remembered a Facebook status message from a couple of weeks ago:

Martha Blake is taking a loud music nap.

I took those at boarding school all the time. In CT's reclining dentist chair.

Bob Dylan Desire.
Beck Odelay.
The Temptations.
Let It Be.
Rusted Root.
Phish Billy Breathes.
Tupac.

Damn. Those were some great naps.

But I decided for low volume today, and, in honor of Martha, I fell asleep to Langhorne Slim.

Then I dreamt like crazy, stirred after every little episode, told myself to remember, forgot everything, and woke up 30 minutes later to Lauryn Hill philosophy.

Interlude 3 and I Find It Hard to Say (Rebel) are tracks 8 and 9 on disc 1 Lauryn's MTV Unplugged Set.

Click here to download:

08 Interlude 3.mp3 (3104 KB)

Click here to download:

09 I Find It Hard to Say (Rebel).mp3 (6413 KB)

My grandfather has been relentless over the past month. 

Hal: Your site online yet?
Jake: Not yet.
H: When?
J: We're close.  Just finishing a few things.  You'll be the first to know.
H: Do you have a date?
J: Next week maybe.  Maybe the week after.
H: So you don't have a date?
J: No. I don't have a date...

At least twice a day with that conversation.  At least.

This past Friday, finally, mercifully, it stopped.  We put up the beginnings of the beta community space, and I'm off the hook with Hal.  For the moment.

Now he'll go make up stories about what the website is and does, spread them around the YMCA in downtown Wilmington, DE,* and confuse everyone he can.

To do that most efficiently and effectively, however, he needs a URL, and, this morning, he requested one. 

He pulled a scissor-trimmed quarter section of an index card out of his wallet and asked me to write www.carrotproject.com on the back.

"What's on the front?" I asked, as I took the card and flipped it to have a look.

A quote.  A quote that Hal has been carrying for more than sixty years.