III
Creating Living Companies
The Five Core Elements of Generative Ownership Design

All acts of design are governed by a pattern language. Patterns recur when the language we use to make our world becomes widely shared. Among the most basic elements that create patterns of ownership are purpose, membership, governance, capital, and networks. These form a simple language of ownership design. With these elements, we can create a variety of kinds of ownership, just as ordinary language allows us to create a variety of sentences. In their generative form, these elements are Living Purpose, Rooted Membership, Mission-Controlled Governance, Stakeholder Finance, and Ethical Networks. Employed toward creating the conditions for life, these elements combine to form a sturdy framework for living companies. Should these kinds of companies one day become a new norm, they might serve as root and branch of a generative economy, where all life can flourish for generations to come. The search to see these design patterns at work in enterprises of substantial size shapes the journeys of part 3.¹