Many want to build a successful company or country that will raise the standard of living. That’s a fine goal that helps create wealth, innovation and raise GDP. But, most founders and policy-makers don’t realize they can play bigger. They can create something bigger than a company. They can create something bigger than a country. They can create a world. Cosmopoiesis means “world creation,” and the most successful companies and countries always have a story that invites others to become part of a new world. GDP, wealth creation, jobs, and innovation spill out of world creation more easily if we create cosmopoietic spaces. It is a key component to consider as we all work on tomorrow’s economy today. See my earlier article on this here.
Cosmopoiesis begins with small acts. Before Phil Knight founded Nike, he sat in his kitchen pouring rubber mixtures into his wife’s waffle iron, trying to create a better running shoe. The famous waffle sole was his idea. He had been a runner and was unhappy with the clumsy shoes runners had to choose from in the early 1960s. This was before running had become a thing. He smelled the trend early. That would not happen for another decade and might not have happened without his waffle-soled shoes. By 1979 even the President of the United States entered his first running race (and pooped out 2/3 of the way through). But Knight did something far beyond creating a new sole and a new concept for a running shoe. He created a world where you could be a hero just because you ran. You didn’t have to win. You just had to participate. He created a world where people who worked in cities and offices could become a “Weekend Warrior,” a category of humans that had never existed before. When a business creates a new category of humans, it engages in cosmopoiesis. He must have intuitively understood this because he chose a mythic name for his business, Nike. By doing so, he hearkened back to the ancient belief in the Goddess Nike, who was said to fly around battlefields, delivering wreaths and prizes to the victorious. But, the Goddess Nike respected ancient traditions and is known for removing her sandals as she entered temples. The barefoot goddess didn’t need shoes because she had wings. Nike is a symbol for flying. It stands for a world where you can fly. It’s just easier to fly in Nike shoes. The Nike Swoosh captures the sense of superhuman lift-off. Phil Knight created a world where humans could be like a mythical Goddess.
There is no chance that Knight could have imagined what a Nike shoe would look like today. Instead, he created a world where others, including the customers and collaborators, could bring their imagination to bear on shoe design. Take a look at what Balmain recently did with Nike. Look at Nike’s current Web 3 efforts to draw in design ideas! Nike is a world where others create and imagine, build, and project identity. In Knight’s world, the ancient Greek Goddess Nike would touch and improve your life. She was not only the Goddess of athletes and athletics but also of art, music, and war. Some scholars think she was a version of Athena, the daughter of Zeus. Others say Nike harkens back to a Proto-Indo-European language where neik- meant to attack or to "start vehemently." Either way, she is the personification of victory. Everyone wants to be in a world where they can and will be victorious. That was Phil Knight’s cosmopoiesis.
Similarly, Steve Jobs always said he did not make computers. He created a world where brilliant people would not have to think about their computers. He created a world where being smart was cool. He chose an apple as the logo. In 1981 he said, "I love apples and like to eat them. But the main idea behind Apple is bringing simplicity to the public, in the most sophisticated way, and that's it, nothing else." It helped he said that the word Apple would come before Atari, their biggest competitor at the time, in the phone book. He said, “It sounded fun, spirited, and not intimidating. Apple took the edge off the word 'computer'’ Plus, it would get us ahead of Atari in the phone book." We know now that the world he created is so powerful that humans are either Apple or not.
Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder of Chobani created a world where no one had to be a refugee anymore. He hired refugees to make Chobani yogurt with the view that "The minute the refugee has a job, that’s the minute they stop being a refugee. These are people who never give up." As a result, he created an incredibly successful firm with “the most loyal workforce you have ever seen.” He explained to Forbes, “There will be innovation, creativity, loyalty, and work ethic — and not just among the refugees.” “The effect that they will have on the rest of the company is unbelievable,” he said. “They will remind what it means to be safe. What it means to have a job. What it