On 3 levels of increasing abstraction, here’s what I’m doing with my one wild and precious life:
1. I run a software company, Complice, whose app helps people stay in touch with their big-picture goals on a day-to-day basis, and act strategically & improvisationally. We also do online workshops a few times a year on the same topic. Learn more about the Complice philosophy and how it’s different from other approaches.
2. Complice is the longest-running project in a meta-project of creating a self-energizing meta-team of people coordinating to help each other launch businesses and solve problems, while learning how to work together ever more effectively. This is pretty early stage in some ways; you can read about the vision in A Collaborative Self-Energizing Meta-team Vision.
3. The deepest level is kind of hard to explain, but it’s essentially developing & iterating on a new cultural operating system for people to interface with each other in ways that deepen trust and create experiences of collective agency, collective intelligence, and collective consciousness. This interplays with the meta-team in various ways.
You can read more about my journey with that project over the last decade in my yearly review 2020: Free To Dance.
I aim to be a visionary who also has his feet firmly on the ground, and I think I’m doing a pretty good job at it.
I’ve done various deliberate habit-changing projects. Listed chronologically from oldest to newest, they are:
Over to the right is the album I recorded in 2012. My public GitHub has a few things on it. You can see a spreadsheet here of what I’m reading. I started this when I began a new style of reading where I don’t assume I’ll finish every book I start. There are too many books for me to do that!
If you’re new to my blog and trying to figure out what to read, I say start with my top posts.
“I don’t know the man well, but from observations one of Malcolm Ocean’s strongest skills is providing incredibly detailed and useful feedback” — @seconds_0
“Thanks for helping me to be a better human and leader. Your space holding allowed me be more vulnerable, to understand myself better rationally and be more in touch with myself emotionally. Often fascinated how you integrate that so well. I feel more loving because of you.” — Oliver Sauter
“my life has gotten a lot better since I met you and I’d hazard to say that’s no coincidence” — @maybegray
“This is why you’re my top 3 less hated rationalists.” — Silver V
“I’m a long time admirer of your yearly review posts – thank you for making and sharing them! They inspire me to take on my own self-experiments and develop processes for self-improvement.”
“Malcolm, being friends with you means one is constantly examining their own thoughts and perceptions. How could I not evolve?” — a friend in university
“I really enjoyed talking with you, Malcolm. I feel like you opened up a new sense for me of my identity.”
“You and I share the humour of little children, but at the same time the scheming of super villains. Because of this we bond, finding the most simple thing hilarious, and we plot on how to expand it. You have wit and cunning beyond your years, and you are very selfless.” — a friend in high school
“Malcolm is amazing alpha tester.” — Conor White-Sullivan
“Malcolm you are such a vibe. Holy cow.” — Robbie Stainton
“God said ‘I need a really, really good designer. Especially for words.’ And thus Malcolm Ocean was born.” — Michael Smith
Follow me on Twitter, or shoot me an email.
(If you’ve got a proposal of any kind, read my Work With Me page first—I’m not interested in guest posts or promotions.)