Part three of the Serving Life series turns outward: from life as “resource” and people as “human capital” to the living world reduced to commodities. Forests become board feet, rivers become water rights, ecosystems become “services” to be priced. This lens makes life legible to markets — but it severs our belonging, leaving us lonely and disconnected. Through the Life Lens, forests, rivers, and ecosystems return as kin: living systems we are woven into. Real change begins by flipping the frame — shifting our language, our measures, and our structures so that life, not story, is the root.

We’ve been taught to see people as “assets,” “headcount,” even “human capital.” The words sound ordinary, but they quietly reduce life to costs and outputs. Through a life lens, each person is not capital but a flow of being — alive with creativity, relationship, and contribution. Work becomes less about extracting performance and more about creating the conditions where life can flourish. What happens when we shift from managing headcount to serving human wholeness?

We’ve been taught to see life as ‘resources’—people as headcount, forests as inventory, rivers as assets. But the dissonance we feel is life reminding us it’s more. Through a life lens, work becomes a participation in living systems, rooted in meaning and renewal. What happens when we return to life as the ground of work?

In this reflection on the life and legacy of Matt Perez, co-founder of Radical World and co-author of Radical Companies, Jose Leal shares the personal journey they walked together—from questioning traditional business norms to co-creating a vision rooted in co-ownership and co-management. The post honors Matt’s impact, his lessons from Nearsoft, and his unwavering commitment to building a world where organizations serve Life, not control.

A reflection on the evolution of co-ops and a call to reimagine them for the future—blending collaboration, co-ownership, and purpose into dynamic ecosystems that resonate with a new generation.

What if the purpose of life is simpler than we think? Through deep conversations and insights from Antonio Damasio’s research, we've arrived at a profound realization: life exists to serve life. When we step outside that flow, we feel it—we sense the disconnect. But what does it mean to Serve Life? This is just the beginning of an exploration into what could change everything.