About Me

Social Scientist, Explorer, Storyteller
Western EIC Explorer Team Leader
He/Him

Who am I?  I am a storyteller, explorer, tinkerer and tender.  These are my gifts and I share them with the world in many ways.  Here I will describe a little of what this looks like at Western Washington University.  Back in 2014, I was named the first Cole Professor of Entrepreneurship...a cool university title and set of resources that was in search of a purpose and design.   Prior to this, I was a university professor at Indiana State University...a wonderful place and set of people.  Yet, I felt I had reached a plateau and felt called to explore new paths. (and in there, was a lot of work with the the local food movement and food cooperatives).

I arrived at WWU full of energy and excitement to work with students and to help support them in their search for self and how they might find their part in this world through entrepreneurship, innovation and changemaking.  The primary way I shared my gifts in this position was through working for students.  I focused on collaborative program design, super cool curriculum and pressing the edges of what and how we learned at the university about ourselves, the world and the relationship between the two.  I also was invited to become a WWU Community Engagement Fellow and Sustainability Fellow...both of which were critical to my own learning of self and the opportunities to identify and share my gifts with the world.  I am so grateful for all the people that have been part of this journey.

In 2019, I started on the spark that would eventually become The Entrepreneur's' Story Projects.  This was called The Flourishing Changemaker.  This arose from some global work we were doing where I noticed that so many entrepreneurs, innovators and changemakers were indeed making a difference, yet they were not flourishing,  In fact, it looked like they were doing quite the opposite...they were languishing...beat up and burning out.

This made me curious...how is this possible?  How can one be doing such amazing work yet find their professional way of life slowly leaking their vitality and energy?

Fortunately, I had formed a wonderful relationship with the people of the Centre for Executive Education at the United Nations established University for Peace in Costa Rica.  Here we immersed ourselves in the question of what it means to flourish.  I took a deep dive into Positive Psychology and started to build on some of this amazing thinking...

And in 2019, I launched a formal research project The Flourishing Changemaker and set out to start collecting stories.  Then...well, we know.  Covid.  All hands on deck to figure out how we would make it through as a university and global community.

Finally, in mid 2022, I was able to pick this all back up and start story collecting.  In Summer of 2023, this evolved into what you see here.

And so, for the next decade I have found my calling...my way to raise my own awareness, deepen my understanding and move forward in new pathways for sharing my gifts with the world.

And here we are.  This is a personal journey.  This is a collective journey.  

I am a storyteller, explorer, tinkerer and tender in and of this world.  I am Arthur.  (I am also Bear...but you will have to ask me about that in person:-)