Blog
This past weekend, I attended the California Co-operative Conference (CCC) in Davis, and it got me thinking about how far this journey with the co-op community has taken me. My relationship with co-ops has been evolving for years, shaped by conversations, presentations, and the ever-present desire to find better ways to collaborate and co-own the future.
It all started back at the CCC in Sacramento, years ago, when Matt Perez and I first started talking about co-owned and co-managed companies. At that time, we didn’t yet have the language, but we began to recognize something fundamental: a self-managed company or team could only truly be self-managed if it was also co-owned. That simple insight was the seed that eventually grew into our book Radical Companies: Organized for Success without Bosses or Employees.
The next year at CCC San Jose in 2023, I presented the Radical Purpose Dynamic—a concept that explores how our unique purposes are rooted in life, in our biological being. The feedback I received was invaluable, helping us improve not only the app but also how we communicated the concept. The reception from the audience planted another seed, one that grew into a deeper understanding of the intersection between purpose and organizational form.
As I’ve grown in my relationship with co-ops, I’ve also come to question some of the language that surrounds the movement. The term “worker-owner” has always felt a bit off to me. Having spent most of my life as a startup founder, I couldn’t help but feel like it was subtly positioning people as workers who also happen to have some control. But what excites me about co-ops—and collaboratives more broadly—is the spirit of founding, innovating, and building something new. I want to see a shift from focusing on work to celebrating the drive to create, collaborate, and build something valuable. But shouldn’t it be more about being founders, creators, or builders? I understand the history and context of the language, but it still feels like a missed opportunity to rethink how we position ourselves within co-ops.
By the time I presented again at the CCC in San Diego in 2024, the vision had expanded. Along with Luemara Wagner, I presented the idea of a collaborative ecosystem—something beyond traditional cooperatives (Reimagining Cooperative: Pioneering a Radically Life-centered Approach). We envisioned a network where collaborators, not just members, co-own business-to-business solutions that serve local companies, creating a dynamic, interdependent ecosystem. We drew on elements from corporate structures, startup energy, gig work independence, and cooperative principles. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and it confirmed that the co-op community is ready to evolve.
This past weekend at CCC Davis, I decided to take a different approach. Instead of a formal presentation, I started a conversation. I shared a simple chart showing how people have moved across five different work structures—public corporations, private LLCs and corporations, franchises, gig work, and cooperatives—from 1920 to 2024. The conversation flowed naturally, with people sharing their thoughts on what makes each model unique and valuable.
At one point, I suggested that since this is the year of the co-op, perhaps it’s time for a rebirth. A reimagining of cooperatives that doesn’t just celebrate the past but also incorporates modern tech, co-management practices, and insights from other forms of work organization. I referenced how young people today are searching for meaning and purpose—often drawn to figures like Jordan Peterson. It’s not necessarily his ideology that I find interesting, but rather the signal that they are looking for something they haven’t found in the current system. Young people are drawn to his messages about personal responsibility, meaning, and navigating chaos, often because they feel disconnected from existing social structures.
In a world where guidance feels ambiguous, his clear, action-oriented advice seems to fill a gap. Yet, I believe the answers they are looking for are not in reclaiming the past but in creating something new—something rooted in collaboration and mutual growth. To me, it indicates that they are seeking answers that don’t yet exist, answers rooted in a future we can create together by truly listening to what they feel is missing.
As I reflected on the generational hunger for something more, it became clear to me that many younger people aren’t just looking for jobs or stability—they’re looking for meaning, identity, and a place where they can contribute and grow without losing themselves. They’re navigating a world of economic precarity, social disconnection, and institutional mistrust. Many feel isolated in gig work, boxed in by corporate ladders, or disillusioned by performative change. They’re not seeking to reclaim the past—they’re yearning to co-create something that feels alive and real. They want to be part of something that matters. Cooperatives and collaboratives, if reimagined with this in mind, could become powerful vehicles for that longing—for work that feels purposeful, relationships that feel genuine, and structures that reflect the world they want to live in, not the one they inherited.
That reference didn’t land as intended, but it sparked a reflection on how co-ops can appeal to a new generation by addressing their search for purpose and meaning. If cooperatives and collaboratives want to resonate with younger people, they might emphasize personal growth within community, the sense of building and creating something valuable together, and the stability that comes from interdependence. Rather than just being workers within a structure, they can be founders and innovators within a collaborative ecosystem—creating a future where responsibility and meaning are inherently shared.
The session ended with a palpable sense of excitement and curiosity. Several people approached me afterward, asking how they could get involved. That, to me, was the call to action. Right now, we are in the early stages of developing rProtocols—a tech-based means of building peer-to-peer understanding and clarity. We’re also looking for people who are seeking to start business-to-business or community collaboratives. The enthusiasm in the room reinforced that this is a moment to build, together. One encouraging moment was when Joe Augusto of the developing Taxi Coop acknowledged that there is more we can do with co-ops and supported the idea of pushing beyond the traditional model. It was a sign that the desire to evolve the co-op movement is shared. It’s no longer about whether we should rethink co-ops—it’s about how we move forward together. The conversations I had over the weekend made me realize that the co-op community is ready to explore a more dynamic, collaborative, and inclusive vision.
Let’s keep this conversation going and imagine what co-ops can become. If you're interested in exploring more about collaborative ecosystems and the vision behind rCollabs, visit our new website at Radical.World —if you're not already here ;). We’re building a space where collaboration, co-ownership, and purpose come together to serve life.
