Early Experiments in Paradigm Shifts and Creative Leadership

In my early twenties, I was obsessed with money. Not in the way that some people are—chasing wealth or status—but in a more curious, almost philosophical way. I wanted to understand how money worked, where it came from, why it seemed to flow so freely in some places and pool up or dry out in others. I wanted to understand what made an economy tick.

Origami money

I stumbled across the idea of community currencies, and it completely blew open my understanding of money.

Until that moment, I believed money was fixed. You either had it or you did not. If you needed it, your only option was to go out and earn it. It was something "out there," something controlled by others, something we all had to find a way to access.

But then I discovered that communities—real communities, not theoretical ones—were creating their own money. Inventing currencies. Facilitating value exchange among themselves, especially in times when the broader economy was failing them. These communities weren’t waiting for resources to trickle down. They were creating systems that reflected their values and met their own needs. This is real creative leadership.

This wasn’t just a financial innovation, it was a paradigm shift.

Money was not the fixed thing I thought it was. It was symbol and a tool for facilitating the exchange of value. And if it was just a symbol, it could be redesigned. If a community lacked money, they could create it. If the dominant economy was not serving them, they could design their own.

This insight was revolutionary to me.

For four years, I immersed myself in community currency systems. I studied them, followed their experiments, and eventually started one of my own, not because I needed it personally, but because I needed to understand it. I wanted to put my hands around this idea and engage others in the questions it raised.

I’ve always been someone who loves ideas. Especially the ones that change how we see the world. I’m drawn to social movements, to the pulse of innovation, to the places where systems start to shift, especially when that shift grows from the ground up.

Looking back, my early obsession with community currencies was one of my first encounters with creative leadership and system change. It taught me something fundamental about agency: that even the structures we take most for granted—like money—can be questioned, redesigned, and reimagined. That we can build alternatives when the existing systems are not working for us. That invention is not only possible, it is sometimes necessary.

That lesson stayed with me. It continues to shape how I think about leadership strategy, coaching leaders, and the slow, brave work of transformation.