I titled this rather introspective post as I did because of something that has pretty much been the recurring theme (and perhaps running gag) in my mind lately. That “something” being the idea of living, and in particular, doing business in such a way that I’d want others to live and do business. I’ll be honest, and I fear vulnerable to rebuke, when I say what I have increasingly desired to see in other businesses most, I have only recently begun to implement here.

I’m very quickly getting ahead of myself now and I will move back a few steps in my so called thought process. In an interview with LiP Magazine, Boots Riley of the hip-hop group The Coup (remember the Twin Towers album art?) made the succinct and obvious observation that “people are inspired by ideas that they’ve seen in action.” If I may put Riley’s statement in a broader context, this is a societal trait we first observe in action about the same time we learn the phrases “Copy-cat,” “Wanna-be” and “Mommy, get me that.” Yet first put into action individually when we want something badly enough we are willing to subtly or secretly divulge we are not wholly ourselves without it.

Next, I wonder, at what point in our maturation process do we begin to define and differenciate between the undisclosed truth of who we are and the significant consequences of what we do? How did we become convinced we are ever to become “wholly ourselves”? And when do we begin to elucidate one by empowering the other? (Now I fear I’m really getting off topic but this direction seems to be where I am taking myself. This blog is quickly becoming a diary!) My thoughts, in indent:

I am a life-saver because of my job as a doctor -vs- I am a doctor because I hate to see people sick and dying -vs- I am a doctor merely because someone must know how to do these things although I have no particular passion for health issues -vs- I am a doctor because it pays so well -vs- My father was a doctor, too, and he was the most noble person I know.

Once again, I backtrack: The problem at hand must be that I (and we at Block, Street & Building) have a passionate, if not always well defined, vision of a society/planet that we could call happy, functional, fair. And we wake up each morning with the suppositional, and sometimes dispassionate, version of ourselves in that society. Further, we often find ourselves enamored with strategies and senarios, multitudes of them! in which we play a vital role, yet none of them grow from an idea of who we are as designers! That is after all what we “do”.

In 2003, we started this company after working for a variety of years so closely with the world’s largest and most profitable retail corporation and the many companies that work so hard to make a profit in its wake. Before we could figure out just what the hell to make of ourselves, we were up to our gills in work. We opted to keep day jobs to avoid loan debt. We wrote a snazzy mission statement. We resolved to try our hardest to suggest that what we design fall on recycled paper. We feel a rush of proud air in our chests when we’ve completed a project for a local small business, a non-profit or some other “progressive” institution. But I don’t think we’ve reached the point where we can say, “We are an idea in action.”

Should I go into an example of what “I want to see” in a business and thus Block, Street & Building? Sure, because I believe it’s necessary to divulge in order to retain clarity in this post.

I believe it is one of the primary responsibilities of a business (corporation or otherwise, it makes no difference) to not only profit from the segment it markets itself toward (for the benefit of it’s shareholders) but to equally bolster the community which makes that profit possible (the benefit of the stakeholders.) For many corporations in history and at present it has been a simple task to secure a tidy profit for its shareholders and officers. It has somehow proven difficult to foster the well being of a community who typically can not afford to purchase shares in the company, yet so often suffer the losses associated with supporting it. Many times, those stakeholders are more than just a city or state. They are, for example, communities in Asia who, for lack of better options, must dismantle or rummage through the toxic computer and cell phone parts we ship over there. Or nature. Or the natural surroundings of those communities, etc. I want to see that Block, Street & Building is not growing off of gentrification, ignorance, or other’s profiteering. However, I suspect that these things can happen right under our noses.

Where have I arrived at this point in this post? The end, I think – and a question, the same question I ask myself several times a month: what is our role as a company in the version of the world we long to live in? And of course, how do we get there? For now the answer seems to be to continue working and thinking and talking and reading and listening.

You can assume there will more on this topic later.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!