Journal—
Musings & Observations
I’ve written for The Atlantic, Huffington Post, Forbes, Warwick and my mom.
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The Importance of Culture
Photo of Adam Parker Goldberg.
Editorial note: This article is part of an ongoing series of essays on my experience building products. It contains thoughts on design, innovation, and technology; lessons on culture, principles and community; and ideas to improve strategies, processes, and wellbeing. It’s written with an entrepreneurial spirit, an ethos of openness, and a willingness and desire to drive and make social impact. Hard lessons make easy stories, and these are some of my personal accounts.
Product Series — 001
Learning how to create your own culture, one that makes sense for your organization and community, is extremely important to the health and wellness of the team, and, ultimately the success of your company. In many ways, I believe the type of culture you create sets the tone for everything that is to come or not.
There are hundreds of accounts that extol the virtues of building, maintaining and growing a culture. While every culture contains similar themes, and intentionality or purpose may or may not play a role, each is often distinct in their origin, incorporation, and expression.
If I were to attempt a working definition of culture, it’d include these broad outlines: the creation of a type of environment where the ability to participate in the mission comes naturally and the people who partake in the space feel inspired, challenged and supported.
It goes without saying that there can be difficulties in growing a company and that certain obstacles will present themselves at different stages of growth. But, invariably, the strength of a healthy culture exists in its ability to stretch itself to accommodate the highs and lows, and provide consistency amidst a shifting landscape.
There are no ready-made, one-size fits all prescriptions for how to create culture. It’s part of what can make a company so special. Each organization is completely different, and necessarily so. It’s part of the beauty of culture. It’s also part of the messiness.
Here are a few insights I’d consider in establishing a framework for culture:
Create a safe, welcoming, hospitable space, with absolutely zero tolerance for abusive personalities. There’s room for everyone, except the egocentric.
Endorse a culture that promotes learning, sharing discoveries, and values the power of collaboration.
Cross-disciplinarian approaches empower everyone to share their passions, interests, and talents, and, often inspire radically new approaches.
Healthy communication circulates proactively when it is unobstructed by hierarchies.
Hierarchies often disenfranchise teams and paralyze individuals, especially as it comes to supporting an ability to make decisions.
Seek out knowledge from everyone, working to create a shared sense of vocabulary and participate in the vision and mission of the organization.
If the space has safely been constructed, learn how to be vulnerable with yourself, your team, and with your community.
Be transparent, thereby enabling everyone to actively participate in the decision-making, and proactively be thinking about the problem-space implicitly and explicitly.
Celebrate mistakes with rigor, taking every opportunity to share these discoveries and build a cultural consciousness.
Actively solicit feedback from everyone, and encourage healthy conversations.
Promote experimentation and an attitude of openness that eradicates fear, blame, and complacency.
Collaboration is the journey-making of the stars; and diversity in collaboration ensures that every voice is heard.
False positivity breeds negativity, distrust and resentment; authenticity doesn’t need to be stated, only lived.
At the end of the day, I believe culture comes down to expectations: What kind of environment you want to build, how willing and committed you are to nurturing and maintaining that culture, and when and where you will be willing to compromise and adapt to changing needs and requests / when you will stand firm.
While it’s not easy to readily articulate the characteristics of a successful culture, and we must all push ourselves to more clearly define and demarcate the composition of these spaces, it is abundantly clear that the joys of healthy cultures are absolutely palpable to experience. On top of that, it’s also readily apparent that when a company has a successful culture, this sense of delight and happiness can be clearly translated into the product and experience.
Culture can take on so many forms. Find what works for you. These are are a few of my personal takeaways. What lessons have you learned?
Family Pictures
A day after our wedding in San Juan Capistrano, our family took a few pictures at nearby Salt Creek Beach. It was a cool, breezy day, and the wind was at our backs. Overjoyed and exhausted by the festivities from the day before, we rallied around the ocean and each other. Here are a few of our favorites, captured by Alyssa Brooke.
Our Wedding
December 29, 2022
Angela & Bobby George
San Juan Capistrano, California
Angela and I were married in a magical little ceremony, accompanied by family, at the Inn at the Mission, San Juan Capistrano, California.
“There may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours.”
- Jean-Paul Sartre
A special thanks to our two remarkable photographers.
November 25, 2021
We were engaged on the High Line in New York City on a Thursday.
New York City is the place of dreams, where people all over the world come to start their lives unabashedly anew. There is so much brazenness, honesty and conviction on every busy corner.
An old railroad track that once traversed the city and was set for demolition became an inspiration to transform unused space into something new. When Bobby stopped to change cameras around West Chelsea, he got down on one knee and we did the same thing.
Together, we started something new.
“Toi et moi”: The merging of two families.
In the spirit of Napoleon, who presented his bride-to-be with a “you and me” ring, we designed a special piece to symbolize two families, with separate and honored histories, coming together, as one, to invent a life together.
Black Hills
This Summer, we headed west toward the land the Lakota refer to as Paha Sapa.
Photo on Leica M11 with 50mm 1.4 Summilux.
This Summer, we headed west towards the Black Hills. It’s about five hours by car. The Lakota refer to the land as, Paha Sapa. It has a pleasant and sacred sound to it. Almost as magical as our trip.
En route from Sioux Falls, we happily manufactured natural excursions, first stopping in Chamberlain, to overlook the majestic and ever-flowing Missouri River and, simultaneously, taking in the unspoken awe of the Liberty statue. Have you seen it? Breathtaking.
The five year old snapped this unforgettable photo.
After trespassing against the horizon of I-90 for a few hours, we visited the now infamous (with an earned infamy), Wall Drug. We’d planned to stop and stretch our legs and experience the cafe and kitsch. Besides, it’s kinda a South Dakota must. Un-reluctantly, we avoided the overly welcoming, “five cent coffee”, while marveling at the ingenuity of offering free ice water for travelers heading west to see the newly formed national parks championed by President Roosevelt.
So much of Wall Drug is forever encapsulated in the time in which it was invented.
Nuclear families in station wagons with discretionary income enjoying road trips, needing an adventurous reprieve from the seemingly exhausting cross-country trek. An empire built around a pharmacy in the middle of nowhere, with advertisements thousands of miles away. 5,327 miles to Wall Drug. Genius and particularly American.
Back in the car, filled to the brim with sinewy buffalo sandwiches, and freshly made, chocolate-glazed donuts, looking out the windows as the rolling plains slowly started to accumulate and morph into more, we were entranced by the inexhaustible scenery.
The Badlands are otherworldly.
The landscape forges its own presence, even from a safe distance. Passing swathes of signs alerting us to, “this is where Dances With Wolves was filmed”, we imagined the frontier and what it must have been like to pioneer a life in these harsh and desolate conditions.
As we neared the end of our day trip, and entered the hills, we arrived in Deadwood, a place all its own. Winding roads, offset by mighty pines, guided our ascent into the old town. Deadwood exudes a sense of Old Hollywood - late nights and early mornings, serious faces and tired smiles, an era in which everything has yet to be fully invented or realized or destroyed.
While in the area, we made time to visit Mount Rushmore, happened upon Pactola Lake, dined in Spearfish, took a few hikes, rested, cooked, and enjoyed the wonders of the season.
We stayed at the Sheep Hill Chalet, which we’d highly recommend. It sits atop a mountain, with silence that traverse the valley below. Pure delight.
Husker Generations
Angela’s family has been attending Nebraska football games for seven decades.
Angela, smiling from ear-to-ear, before a Husker’s game.
For nearly seven decades, Angela’s family has been attending football games at University of Nebraska. Her grandfather, pictured below, hasn’t missed a contest in sixty-three years.
Taking part is a right of passage, a ritual, an honor. As her alma mater, the lore of the gridiron takes on even more shape and glory. It’s a joy to watch as Angela participates in these time-honored traditions, from tailgating to cheering at the top of her lungs, and the excitement of the crowds are irreplaceable. There’s hardly anything better than watching someone you love, do something they love. It’s contagious. Dare I say I may even become a fan myself.
Below are a few photos from recent trips to Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, NE.
San Juan Capistrano
Enthralled by San Juan Capistrano, I captured a few pictures.
A few photos from a trip to San Juan Capistrano, California, in November.
I’ve always been captivated by the history of this small and beautiful town: from the early expansion efforts of the Spanish, to the swallow migrations each year. Walking through the quaint city one stumbles upon the oldest residential neighborhood in the state.
Metaphilosophers
Metaphilosophers to guide us through the metaverse.
Metaphilosophers to guide us through the metaverse.
Thoughts on Architecture
Life thrives when its creatively challenged by its environment.
If architecture has taught me anything about life, it’s that life thrives when it’s actively fostered, continuously supported, and creatively challenged.
I believe the same can be said for “learning”.
When learning is supported, when what is ‘taught is taught’, with a mindset that is as open as that which learning opens - everything flourishes. Of course, the opposite can be true and this is the slippery slope we carefully navigate.
In a curious quote, one that demands rumination, patience and incorporation, G.K. Chesterton writes,
“The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to close it again on something solid.”
All that is learning is that which encounters the new.
When a positive framework of nurture and care are implemented, with maintenance and subsistence, giant leaps of self transformation spawn into a state of perpetually taking flight.
Everything else recedes.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez:
“The scalpel is the greatest proof of the failure of medicine.” What these words highlight, with astounding precision and generality, is our profound, and interrelated relationship to the world.
Nothing happens irrespective of everything.
Learning needs to be taken into consideration - considered the exact same way as an apprentice who observes a master progressively rendering themselves obsolete.
I believe this applies to life - and if an architecture of life exists, a learning of life, our role is to actively support and serve as a catalyst to these pathways.
The old adage rings true - if you create the conditions for success, success begets success.
Conversing Cameras
I had the pleasure of sharing a few thoughts on photography with Leica San Francisco.
Q: Tell us about yourself.
A: Hello, I’m Bobby George. My background is in architecture, design, and philosophy. I like to consider myself an apprentice. I live in Canistota, South Dakota, overlooking a beautiful lake and state park just outside Sioux Falls, our state's Queen City. Our views are expansive, with wild prairie grass in the foreground and endless skylines in the background. It’s the perfect place to take pictures. I subscribe to Shunryu Suziki’s notion that, “In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the experts there are few.” In that vein, I’m still learning how to take pictures. I’m extremely pleased by the opportunity to share a few thoughts about my passion for photography.
Q: What first sparked your interest in photography and Cameras?
A: My interest in design, and the physical beauty of cameras, coincides with my discovering the joys of photography and taking pictures. I’d always found myself attracted to the sheer mechanical precision, craftsmanship, and industrial thoughtfulness, not to mention attention to detail, of Leica and Hasselblad. Holding one of these early beasts in my hands transformed the way I see. It was as if everything came alive in a completely new, novel and refreshing way. Time itself was made witness. One of my favorite quotes is from Lucian Freud, the British painter, who shared that imagination is the ability to see things as they actually are.
Q: What Interests you in photography?
Photography as storytelling, as a way not to capture something, but rather, to set it free, interested me immensely. Time and memory are familiar bedfellows and strange and wonderful things happen in-between. I’m also deeply intrigued by the fact that philosophy, save a few rare exceptions, has never taken photography very seriously. There’s so much gaiety to be embraced and enjoyed in the interests photography affords and demands.
Q: Do you like to shoot film or digital?
I’m caught, like so many others of our time, in the middle of film and digital. My camera bag tells the story. Hands down, I prefer the experience of shooting film. There’s absolutely nothing like it. It’s revelatory for me. A spiritual exercise. There are times, however, when I throw my hands up, as a manner of speaking, and find myself completely enamored by digital. I relish the instantaneity. It’s immediately digestible. Then, however, I find myself longing for a five course meal.
Q: Who is your favorite photographer?
I’d like to consider myself a student of photography. I’m still learning about my heroes. I wish I could walk around The Rive Gauche at sunrise with Henri-Cartier Bresson, join Robert Frank on his journey across America, peer inside the upstairs room of Vivian Maier as she took a selfie, or, further still, witness David Hockney has he shot and arranged his magnificent Polaroid collages. With that said, my favorite photographers are those I know the most, my compatriots in photographic conversations and life, those whom I embark on not-frequent-enough photo walks with: Connor Burtis and Brett Bittner.
Inklings of light are stirrings of life.
Q: Do you have any favorite quotes about photography?
A: “Time eventually positions most photographs, even the most amateurish, at the level of art.” - Susan Sontag What I adore most about this particular quote is the sentiment that photography lends itself to a democratic experience. Everyone can take pictures.
Q: Who are some of your favorite Instagram photographers:
Johnny Patience @johnnypatience
Bijan @bijan
Joe Greer - @ioegreer
Q What’s your favorite camera?
A: While I subscribe to the well known and rather unrehearsed adage that the best camera is the one with you, I must confess that my entire being comes alive with the early Leica cameras. The weight of time itself seemingly folds beneath the elation and lightness of seeing - as if for the very first time. There’s nothing like the click of the shutter and the noise the camera makes as you advance the film, as if caressing the future with one smooth and assertive motion.
Q: What camera lens do you carry with you daily?
A: Given the above, and the dramatic response about altering my existence, you’d expect that I'd carry my Leica M2, permanently harnessed around my neck. I actually tend to carry my Leica SL2s and, of course, my iPhone is always nearby. I’m constantly torn between the readiness and responsiveness of immediately capturing the moment and the sheer pleasure and patience of waiting until the film develops - not knowing if the pictures turned out, if the conditions were right, if the film was exposed, etc.
Q: You’re heading on an adventure for a week and can only take one camera & one lens. What is it?
Well, let’s get the lens out of the way. That’s easy. I’ve become accustomed to only shooting 50mm. It’s just the way I see. I’m a huge fan of the Summilux. It’s what’s always on my camera(s). Actually, it’s the only lens I own for my rangefinders. Now, to the more difficult part of the question, the camera itself. If only afforded one option, are you sure there is only one option, I’d choose my Leica M2. I’d pack as much film as I could carry, and have complete trust and confidence that the camera would get out of the way, so time could flow through the lens.
Q: What next? Will you be adding anything new to your camera bag and why?
A: I love to experiment with cameras. Holding them, shooting them, enjoying their eccentricities. The convergence between the design of the camera and the experience of taking a picture is an ongoing dance that’s always teaching me new moves.