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What is Your Original Face Before You Were Born?


I remember leaving Bardwell Smith’s Carleton College Buddhism class (circa 1986) and “inventing” a concept that has been lurking in my brain ever since. I called the concept “interdependent flux,” which simply meant everything is deeply related and everything is always changing. This may have been my way to answer one of the course koans (a Buddhist riddle).

I am the son of a music teacher and minister/psychotherapist; my parents taught me to love and think critically. I lived in India when I was young, where I learned that you do not need material things to be happy. I have traveled the world, where I realized that people are the same wherever you go. I have been a coach, a teacher, an entrepreneur, and the head of US delegations, where I grew to understand compassion, patience and leadership. I earned a Ph.D., and learned that conflict is natural and can be harnessed for growth.

Enter CoPeace PBC, a holding company for profitable businesses creating measured positive impact. At 53 with a long entrepreneurial bent, it has become my next step. Interdependent flux demands our society modernize capitalism to include long term effects and social responsibility more deeply into the free enterprise equation. Profit for profits sake has created a dirty, unsustainable world. This is untenable for future generations. CoPeace is a responsible solution, creating a new Berkshire Hathaway for younger, caring audience.

The CoPeace quest is decidedly idealistic. The good news is data is beginning to better show companies that take a long-term view on how their measured practices can positively impact our world are indeed performing better than the old models.

From my experiences, I have learned that in order to be successful, it is all about the TEAM. I am more than happy to announce that we have started out extraordinarily well on that front, and we look forward to introducing Meg, Hanan, Lilly, Jacob, and the team in future blogs and vlogs. Our intention is to be radically inclusive and be attentive to the needs of our youth.

“Everything I’m not, made me everything I am…” (K. West, Everything I am).

CoPeace is a cumulation of my life experience. It is what I want my legacy to be. Please join us on our journey. We know it will not be easy and we know it will not be quick; but we are committed to the long term success of our vision. We seek to help us all find our true, interdependent face; and Grow Your Money for Good!

Craig Jonas is the CEO and founder of CoPeace. As a forward-thinking holding company, CoPeace is building a portfolio of carefully selected for-profit companies with measurable social and environmental impact. To learn more about impact investing, check out CoPeace’s Intro to Impact Investing.