This document proposes establishing a "middle ground" between large corporations and small startups to provide more economic opportunities. It suggests incentivizing small and medium enterprises through initiatives like improved access to financing, reduced regulations, and support networks. The goal is to nurture organizations of a village scale to address unmet needs and create meaningful work for more people.

1. This or That
In 1961, I designedastore windowfeaturingthe AmericanFlagandthe flagof the formerSovietUnion.I
was 14 yearsoldand we livedinIowaandthere wasno chance anyone wouldmistakethe caption –
“Thisor This?” It was Iowaand the Communistwaywashorrible tousno choice at all.
I wentto Moscowand KievandRostovsevenyearslaterandnothingI foundthere changedmymind,
but itwas intriguingthatsomanypeople were livingandworkinginsuchadifferentway.
Thirtyyears later,whenthe SovietUniondissolvedin1991, I wasan avid readerof commentaryabout
whatwouldcome next,the “End of History”or somethingelse.Since then,it’sclearitissomethingelse,
but itis still unclearwhateconomicorganizationsystemmightreplace Sovietcollectivism, soitisabout
time I write somethingmyself.
I had beenthinkingof using“ChtoDelat”(“Whatisto be Done”) as the pointof departure forthisessay,
but I have readneitherLenin’sshortbooknorthe novel,andIjust foundout that itis the name of a
post-modernartscollective/cooperative.Iam all forart, but I can’t see itas the nexusfora new
economicsystem.
Here is where Istart: there isso much work to be done. Thisworldneedswork. There,Ihave saidit.
That is myfirstpoint. Couldn’twe beginto organize ourselvestodo(towork for) whatwe need? Make a
listof projects,thenfindthe people todothem,plusthe incentivestobringpeopletothe work?
I have beenpayingattentiontoTED talksabouthow withrobots,we don’tneedworkersanymore.That
so nurdlesme.Crackedsidewalks,rustediron bridge trusses, crumblingconcrete.Thenthere are the
crumblingpeople - dustyvillage peopleinthe Sahel and sittingonupturnedbucketsalongthe few fast
roads the run through,pennyentrepreneursunderbridgesinEastAfricancities,idiotterroristsin
beautiful Brussels.Andsoforth.
Yes,fewerandbiggercompaniesmake tonsof productsto buyinall the remainingstoresaswell as
evenmore online.Buttoomuchstuff isa distraction.Itdoesnot meanwe have more than we need.It
simplyobscuresall we don’thave.
The fundamental unitof laboristime.If a periodof time goesbyand youare wastingit,thenyouare
not workingit.Asforwaste,you knowit when yousee it,andmost of all,whenyoufeel it fromthe
inside.Valueisfirstof all inthe sweat,energy,activity, process andsatisfaction of work.If we put
people towork,a lotwill getdone. Andpeople will feelbetter. The sheddingof workersbybig
enterprisesmeansmore andmore people withtimeontheirhands.Iam one of them, butfillingthis
time withleisure isnotforme.
In thisregard,I like totell the storyof my Dad, Al,andhis brother, Chuck,youthful camp-followersof
the CivilianConservationCorps.Al andChuckwere intheirearlyteenswhentheyhitchedfromBuffalo
intothe Adirondacks tofollowthe CCC andmake themselvesuseful aroundthe camps.Nomoneywas
exchanged, accordingtothe stories.Simplyfetchingandwatchingandtalkingaboutitall.Notmuch
abstract to be saidabout it – menand boys layingstonesone uponanother,cuttingpathsthroughthe
woods.Notsure where the womenwere –it waspreparationforthe War, whenDad wentto Egypt and
Mom wentto Chapel Hill.
I don’tadvocate for taxpayermoneytofundbigpublicworks.Iam not sure of the economicsof thatin
thisday and age. But I dolike the connectionbetweena nation-widemovementsupportedbylotsof

2. local projects,eachexplainedinplainlanguageandorganizedandengineeredonthe spot,notin
Washington,DCor any othercapital city.
DonaldTrump sayshe will make ourcountry greatagain,but how doesa guy whomakesmoneyoff
rentsknowhowto do that? ThorsteinVeblen wouldsayhe haslittle toofferus,buthe was a critic
withouttoomuch of an ideaof what to do instead.Iamnot sure HilaryClintonisevenacritic of our
system. Bernie is –he isnot at all like Trump).
Let’stake profitas a startingpoint.It is only one of a varietyof outcomesof organizingwork.Iwouldlike
someone todefine itmore carefully. Rightandwrongamountsof profit,goodandbad combosof
managementandlabor,timelyorunfortunate ratiosof supplyanddemand(local,national,global) –I
can see a verycomplex matrix,grist forlotsof dissertations.The pointis,ouraccountingforprofitis
simplisticand incomplete. Andthatmakesusstupidwhenallocatingresources.
In the oldendays,bankstookon the riskof financinginnovation.Nowadays, bigfinancehasbecome
trulyimaginative,andIam sure some of that imaginationcouldbe deployedtocreate entire portfolios
of differentwaystofloatnewteamsof workers ina small finance focusingsome af thatcreativityon
SMEs (small- andmedium-sizedenterprises).Governmentcould putincentivesin place tomake that
happen.Socouldbusinesspeople.Socouldnon-profitsandNGOs.We can all findwaysto letthe
thousandflowersbloom.
Incentives –thatis a useful areaof research,one that bridgeseconomics,psychology,andthe biologyof
the brain.For me,the biggestincentiveistonotice people sittingaroundunder-employedornot
workingat all.Ihave spentmy workinglife inthe serviceeconomy;nevertheless,the keytomy identity
isthe workI have done.We don’tneedto getmanufacturingback.Anyworkwill doto make ushappier
and healthier.Workthatuses,ratherthan wastes,talent.
In 1980, I helpedHowardAndersonof the Yankee Group,byresearchinghisstudyon“Management
Productivity.”Icouldn’tfindmetricsthatwere useful inanyway.A generationlater,Idon’tbelievewe
are muchfurtheralong. The ways we measure thingslike outcomesandobjectivesandincentivesall
reduce to dollarsandcents.But there are newerkindsof currencyemerging,andperhapssome will be
bettersuitedtothe manysubjectivesthataddedtogethermake qualityof life.
I recentlyspentfouryearsworkingforthe AgaKhan,and inhisattemptsto balance social,economic,
and cultural inputsandoutputs,Ithinkhe is onthe righttrack. Over80,000 employees,billionsin
turnover, a mix of profitandnon-profits, feedingintoandleveragingeachotherindifferentways.His
central staff isa couple hundredpeople,andthey constantlypushbackforlocal inputs,local solutions.
That is where Iam comingfrom.
I wonderif there isa middle groundbetweenlargerandlargercompaniesand tiny startupsthatare
nevergoingtobe readyforprime time.A way of nourishingthe small,sortingthroughit,gettingmore
to survive tothe stage of some sortof sustainability.Intechnology,there are incubatorstodothis,but I
am not sure howwell theywork.If whatisdesiredisa liquidityeventof significantscale,thenmost
won’tgetthere.But shortof that,are there otherincentivesthatwouldkeepthemkeepingon,those
entrepreneursandthe people theyemploy?
Is there some kindof middle groundwhereeconomicpartisanscanfightfordifferentfutures,for
themselvesandthe otherexilesfromthe evermore efficient,blindlyefficient,realmsof corporations
and capital?Investorslookatmid-capcompanies,marketersstudyopportunitiesinthe middlemarket.
Thenthere isthe middle class,every-more difficulttodefine.

3. The Germans have the Mittelstand,whichisalotmore than our SME or small andmedium-sized
enterprises.The wordcomprisesthe people whoworkinthese companiesaswell asthe waysthe
companiesinthe middle resemble eachotherculturallyaswell asfinancially.Itisaculture,or,in the
language of the Ancien Regime, an estate.
Anothermodel isthe darkeconomy,the underground,the almostinvisible worldof gettingby - byhook
or by crook.Yes itis a crookedand corrupt worldwithitsownunwrittenlaws.Butcouldn’twe write
them,documentingenioussurvival,capture partof it inour accountingfor growthand all our other
data on whatis happeningnow?This worldcouldbe aprototype of the middle ground, the worldof
makingthingshappenwithnoresources,nothingonthe books.Perhapsif we understooditratherthan
pointingfingers,we mightmake itmore productive,lessdangerous,andscalable,inthe sense of more
organizational units,more micro-economies,insteadof biggerandbigger.Scale outratherthanup.
WhenI taught at the Jerry(the JeremiahBurke HighSchool inBoston,almamaterof Donna Summer),I
organizedthe kidstosell pencils,paper,candybars,andotherstuff,andusedthe proceedsto produce
afternoonteadances.Central administration decreedwe hadtoshutitdown.A case studyinsquelching
whatmighthave beenturnedintoa positive experience of engagingwork.There istoomuchsquelching
goingon.I am sympathetictothe argumentthat regulationsandbureaucratsare enemiesof progress.I
thinkthose kindsof thingsoughttobe appropriate tothe size andstrengthof the organization. Butthen
I rememberhowwe dumped55gallon drumsof chemicalsintothe crickbehindmyDad’sfactory.That
kindof thinghas to be stopped,bigor small. Soessentialregulation,minimal paperwork,online and
transparent– make the handof the governmentvisible andaccountable.
Thispiece isan appeal tothose betterequippedthanIamto make somethingof the opportunitiesof
thisfortuitousmomentinhumanhistory. Isayitis a luckytime because the sheddingof employmentby
roboticmegacorporationsiscreatinga pool of talent.Someone needstofigure thatout. Bestpractices
– I hearabout thatall the time,butina worldof dynamicchange,theyare illustrative of whathas
worked,ratherthanadditive orsynergistic.We neednew ideas,new experiments,and safe groundin
whichto putthem.We are puttingtoomany eggsintoa handful of massive baskets.We needmore
foodtruck sizedcompaniesdoingall sortsof thingsthathave yetto be imagined.A couple eggsanda
cuppa Joe – those daysare gone,but we couldrecreate somethinglike the middleground,the local
ground,where the 21st
centuryequivalentmightgrow andprosper.
ThomasJeffersonurgedustostay small,buthe wasfocusedonfarms. Noargumentthere – small farms
shouldbe part of the middle too.Almosteveryone agreesthatwe needtogetrid of incentivesfor
bignessinagriculture.Bignesswill persist,butif we hadotherincentivesinplace,we inthe USand
especiallyourfriendsin AfricaandAsiamightnurture farmsinthe tensor hundredsof acresrather than
the thousands.
As formanufacturingandservices,let’sincentivize thosemiddle-groundsaswell.Bernie Sanderscould
have made thisargument,buthe is a Socialistandas stuckin the past as anyone else.We know now
that the way socialismworksisalsotoevolve towardsbigness.Maybe it’sthatevolutionthatwe need
to checkand balance – enterprise andgovernmentbothtendtogrow inexorablyunlesschecked. I
wouldnotbreakup the bigbanks or bigoil or bigadvertising.We needbignesstofacilitateglobalism.
But underneaththisumbrella,let’screate anew –ism, call it“middle-ism”until someonecomesupwith
somethingbetter,or,hearkeningbackto Leibnitz,“monadism.” Itwouldn’tbe the same as Mittelstand
– our historyistoodifferentfromGermany’s.

4. One of the mostinfluential booksinmylife is TheVisibleHand,by AlfredChandler,Jr.,whichtracesthe
evolutionof the large corporate enterprise inAmerica.Itstheme ismanagement.Iwouldliketosee a
booklike thatabout ourmiddle estate,thatelucidateswhatemergesfromorisintrinsictomiddle-ism.I
hope that someone readingthismayalreadybe writingit.
It ishightime to put inplace waysof nurturingthe middle ground,connectingitintoanecologyof
mutual exchange andsupport,aswell aslinksupintothe realmsof bignessanddownwardstothe
individualcontributors. We needtodomore work invillage-sizedenterprises.Thiswouldhelpus
addressthe proliferatingunmetneedsthatcause usso much distress,needsthathappeninthe middle
and aren’treachedbytop-downnorby bottoms-upstrategies,needsthatare the mostlyunspoken,
unacknowledged,unknownforcesbeneththe 2016 US electioncampaign.