Describe your role at Visceral

As a computer programmer turned CEO my job these days is mostly strategy and problem solving. I get to think about the problems in the world and how we can help the organizations that tackle them. I also spend a lot of time with the B Corp community discussing how we can run better businesses that focus not just on profits but on people and the planet as well.

What keeps you focused?

Definitely music. It clears my head and helps me get into that hyper-productive flow state where the world melts away and you’re just in the zone. A lot of our work involves challenging the status quo and envisioning a different, better future which is why I’ve been a punk rock fan for the past ~25 years.

Top 3 favorite books

I read a lot so this list changes frequently but right now I’ll say these 3…

Ruined by Design: How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It by Mike Monteiro: In our line of work we’re more often than not taught how to do things but never why. Mike has written a manifesto about our responsibilities as creatives in the modern world. It’s an eye-opening, energizing, inspirational and pragmatic approach to our work.

Contact by Carl Sagan: I’ve read (and enjoyed) most of Sagan’s work but Contact takes his mastery of making scientific concepts accessible and wraps it in a beautiful story that grapples with some of the deepest, most existential questions about what it means to be human.

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman: “I’ll be looking for you… every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we’ll cling together so tight that nothing and no one’ll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you.” My wife and I included this passage in our wedding vows and have lines tattooed on our arms. Enough said.

If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?

At the moment I think we could just use a lot more empathy. What kind of world could we build if we all just put ourselves in other people’s shoes for a minute and used that perspective to work together? As Frank Turner says, “in a world that has decided that it’s going to lose its mind… be more kind, my friends, try to be more kind.”