As I look forward to 2017, I am extremely excited by the positive energy I feel from people I know and don’t know around the world.

This year we need to wake up and understand how simple it is to make everyone’s reality so much happier and healthier.

Trends that I hope people continue to explore:

• Daily mediation
• Yoga
• More singing and dancing 
• Eating more vegetables 
• Embracing both masculine and feminine energy in each of us
• Tribal rituals and plant based medicines 

Trends that desperately need eradication

• Racism
• Hate of a fellow human being
• Killing of a fellow human being
• Starvation of children anywhere 
• Cyber crime
• Animal cruelty in all forms

Anyone reading this post should be ecstatic  that YOU are living in the golden age of humanity.   Within the next 50 years all humans that lived in a non-technology dominated world will be gone.   We are the last…how amazing and special!

But we must now be very thoughtful on how technology impacts and permeates our lives.   My wife, Angie and I struggle continuously with Elvis and Scout.  How much iPad, xBox, TV or computer time?   How much dress up and use your own imagination?  We constantly strive to make them happy and aware.   And we are constantly playing dress up 😉

2016 was an interesting and eye opening year for me personally. I worked hard. I focused more on my family. I practiced more yoga and mediation.  But I also made a few bad decisions – professionally and personally.   I had a few injuries, avoided dying and was reminded of my mortality more frequently than I should have.  It reinforced the need to be more present.  If I had been more mindful, I would have likely eliminated almost all the negativity.  But perhaps in 2016, I needed all this different energy to become more aware.  

Now in 2017, I can do better.   We can all do better.

Imagine how much better the world would be if we were all more aware.

Much love

For those interested, I think the time is now for a global political party based on the basic rights that everyone should have food, water, shelter and security. We should respect our natural resources and the animals in our environment but more importantly we should respect our fellow men and women. Love, peace and happiness for all are the ultimate objective.

The Tribal Party – “Independently together”

Nothing but hugs and love moving forward everyone.  

We are wasting our time with hate and anger rather than trying to figure out how to live together and enjoy how lucky we are. We have two key issues: racism and sexism. As soon as we all realize we are simply a different shade of brown and every creature is feminine and masculine energy then we should be at peace. And above all protect Mother Earth. She’s angry at us but it’s not too late.

Not so hard

Much love 

​

​

Everyone,

Its with great pleasure I share our new website: www.scoutventures.com

Much love

Maybe we have life all wrong.

Are we really supposed to be born, spend 20+ years in school to get a job to then work another 45+ years before you retire and apparently then have time to enjoy the end of your life?

Every morning I walk my kids to school.  After drop-off I hear parents talking about standardized testing, trying to get their son or daughter into the right next school, tutors, SATs, applications, etc.

And at the end of the day, most of these parents ask their kids “what did you learn in school today?”

In today’s world, we send our kids to school as soon as they are old enough to tolerate separation from their parents and to socialize with other children.

It starts with pre-K, then kindergarten, then elementary school, then middle school and finally high school.  And for most of the world, college and university are the expected norm and required to get a “good” job.

But what if we have the entire system wrong.

Within 20 years, frontier technology in the form of AI, robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles, AR and VR are going to eliminate most of of the work force.

This will force governments to reexamine the current socioeconomic system. In a world without work, people will now need to rely on their governments for  food, water, shelter and safety. But beyond the elements of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs  will governments now be forced to think about people’s happiness and esteem?

What transformation will need to happen to our current education system to change the focus and end goal of the traditional school journey?

What if we lived in a world where at the end of the day most parents asked their kids “were you happy today?”

I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on what type of world we are building for our children.

In no uncertain terms this should be the most exciting time in history.   Innovation and technological advances will help us live longer.   We have the capability to provide food, water and shelter to all inhabitants of mother Earth.

But unfortunately, we are still living in the dark ages of humanity, fighting over land and resources in an economic system that’s been totally made up.  Yet whilst this should be the most exciting time, we are not evolving into more intelligent creatures but reverting to our worse basic instincts of hatred, violence, and isolation.

My friend Steve Schlafman posted an amazing quote from Abraham Lincoln:

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

In these trying times, where we are constantly blasted across media with anti-gay, anti-Muslim, anti-Black, anti-Mexican, anti-EVERYTHING, maybe we need to remember that America was built on Freedom.   We chose to stand for accepting EVERYTHING, providing freedom to EVERYONE, and there was a time, where our global leadership inspired to the world to be a better place.

It is our duty, as humans, to build a better world.

I am very pleased to formally announce that we’ve added Nisa Amoils to the Scout family as our newest Venture Partner. Nisa is an experienced attorney, media executive, and noted tech investor in the New York community. She has spent many years at companies pursuing entrepreneurial projects, including Time Warner and NBC Universal. She is also a regular judge/panelist on CNBC, MSNBC and Fox and a mentor at XRC Labs, Grand Central Tech and The Vinetta Project. Nisa’s background demonstrates the entrepreneurial and investing ethos that we admire and strive for at Scout.

Over the past six months, we’ve been working very closely with Nisa around expanding our efforts in frontier tech. She has proven to be incredibly insightful and her deep domain expertise in digital media, marketplaces and frontier tech make her the perfect addition to the team. Nisa will be leading our efforts investing in drones, AI, and VR/AR. At Scout, we’ve always been focused on identifying the next wave of transformational technologies, and we are very fortunate to have Nisa on board to help us expand our expertise in these areas.

Welcome, Nisa. We look forward to what the future holds.

Brad

A big thanks to all the investors, friends and family that supported me, BHV and our evolution to Scout Ventures.

Friday we wired our investors money and some even got more money than they wired us.   It feels really good and everyone has expressed their appreciation.

It takes teamwork to win.  Olapic and Scout have built killer teams.

It makes me proud.

This is just the beginning…

Today, is Elvis’ 8th birthday.   WOW – how time flies…I can’t believe he’s 8 years old.

And as handsome and as athletic as Elvis may be, at his heart he is a sweet and kind little boy.   And he is the inspiration for this post.

In the current state of the world, I think we would all benefit from more kindness, more mindfulness and in general, a better acceptance of our fellow men and women.

The Dalai Lama says, smile if you want to be greeted with a smile.

If the world lost all power today and we all had to immediately bond and interact with one another, who would you turn to in your local community?

Are you kind and generous at the local market?

Do you know the store owners or employees in the places you frequent every day?   Do you say hello?

Do you get along with your neighbors?

Who will help you?   Who will remember your kindness to them in the past and therefore choose to lend a hand?

Be kind and see what happens.

I’ve been fortunate the past few weeks to spend time with my family in Wellfleet, MA and it’s allowed me to think seriously about the state of this country.

What was the point of America?   What is the goal of any state built out of revolution?

Is it not a community of people that want to live a BETTER life?

Here in the United States we’ve been so comfortable in our own world, happy to influence the politics and economics in other countries with no apparent consequence for our actions.

But since 9/11 we’ve been constantly faced with the fear of terror as our distant policies brought war to our homeland.   Our fear, while new, has been the unfortunate reality for some many people around the world for years.

But now we can see that fear has changed our way of life.   We have more police, more TSA, more regulations, and ultimately less freedom.

Ironically, we’ve been contributing to our own loss of freedom long before today.  As we’ve experienced increased government regulation, a broken healthcare system fueled by big pharma, and a political system so disconnected from the people that I don’t recognize this country.

And of course we’ve built a justice system that disproportionately punishes minorities and fuels the largest penal system in the world.

We also have lots and lots of lawyers to sue and countersue all actually contributing to less freedom.

Can my son ride his bike without a helmet?  I did.

Can my daughter play in the park two blocks from my house and walk home with her brother?  I did.

Can I allow them to do these things or is someone going to call the police to report a kid without a bike helmet playing in the park with his sister?    This is our reality.

So what’s the solution:

First, we all need to take a step back and ask what is really important.  It’s not money.  It’s not possessions.   It is the ability to appreciate LIFE each and every day.

Second, we all need to acknowledge that we are connected.   We are nothing more than the combination of dust and energy from this universe.   Black, white or any shade in between – we all come from the same hydrogen, oxygen, and other molecules.

Third, we need to realize how special our planet is.   With all the advancements in technology, we still haven’t found another Earth.   That should speak volumes and we should behave accordingly.

So America let’s start by focusing on the basics first.  Let’s make sure people have food, water, and shelter.  This means ensuring we have a healthy food supply.   There is no need for excessiveness or waste.   We should only process food as a last resort.   Let’s not contaminate our water, it is the most critical element of survival.   And let’s make sure everyone has somewhere to sleep.