NEOTRIBES

Neotribalism is a sociological concept that hypothesizes that human beings have evolved to live in tribal society, as opposed to mass society, and thus will naturally form social networks constituting new tribes. In a practical sense, you might have read news, or even know people, that are “abandoning everything”, deserting the Western lifestyle to engage in small community building activities, living off the land or following the path of the digital nomad. You may also know people struggling to transform cultures within established organizations or working to bring intimacy and community to the anonymity of mega-cities. 

LEAGUE OF INTRAPRENEURS

How can we re-program the multinational companies, the bureaucracies and governments of the world with fresh insight and perspective? How do we transform cultures from the inside? The League of Intrapreneurs is a hypothesis. A hypothesis that says our old institutions have a role to play in helping us get to a more prosperous tomorrow. As a global network, The League is working to build capacity for unleashing grassroots models of change within the corridors of power.    

AMISH FUTURIST 

The Amish Futurist is on a quest of meaning in a world full of digital temptations. She resists the lure of technology optimism and instead prefers a low-tech profile. As a performance character (and alter ego of Alexa Clay) who delivers sermons and wanders aimlessly around tech conferences, the Amish Futurist provides you with provocation to reflect existentially on entrepreneurship and digital technology. She makes you ask: where is the soul in startups? 

WISDOM HACKERS

Borrowing from the ancient wisdom traditions and modern self-directed learning movement, the Wisdom Hackers community brings together people from art, technology, literature, activism, design and innovation to explore a fundamental angst. We are working to create the conditions for public-interest philosophy through peer-to-peer learning. 

The projects I work on tend to utilize "misfit approaches" or philosophies - inspired by Nigerian spammers, performance artists, wise hermits, and tempered radicals working to transform our institutions from the inside. I hack, hustle, and provoke systems in need of change. Some of my work is romantic, ephemeral and "pop-up," while some is more systemic and long-term. 

The Misfit Factory

Time Confessions

Time assumptions are baked into the cultures of economic life animating everything from product lifecycle, waste management, finance and tech entrepreneurship to how we organize people and communities. 

Alter Egos - Prototyping the Self

Leveraging ideas from performance studies, we take innovators on a journey inside their shadow selves to explore ideas of identity innovation. Tapping into a more elastic personal identity is key for those looking to transform their careers, behaviours and thought patterns. 

Pop-Up Cult Creation

This exercises puts you in touch with your inner cult leader. Through a "cult creation canvas" we look at emerging methods for building community, social networks, fostering meaning and belonging, and generating myth. 

Workshops & Salons 

For speaking enquires contact Deborah Rey-Burns at deborah@propela.co.uk

^{_{ALEXA CLAY Chief Misfit. Innovation Expert. Tech Provocateur. Researcher.}}