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Invisible Capital
"Invisible capital is the toolkit of our skills, knowledge, language, networks, and experiences, along with the set of assets we were born with. Some of these assets are fixed—we cannot change who our parents are. Others are in our power to modify. What makes all of them “invisible” is that our society does not acknowledge that entrepreneurial opportunities—and thus entrepreneurial outcomes—are greatly influenced by these assets." —Chris Rabb
In late 2010 Chris Rabb, author of Invisible Capital hired The Action Mill to design meaningful actions that would help him shape his emerging business which, if successful, will change how we all think about and create businesses in America.
Through customized exercises we explored Chris’s own invisible capital. Chris shared stories of his own heritage which we began to shape into experiences that he could share with others that would quickly communicate what invisible capital is, why it is important and why working with Chris is essential for anyone interested in advancing the interests of real people in business.
Chris’s mother’s father’s mother’s father (his great great grandfather), James W. Hughes, was the son of a slave owner who lived in Halifax Co., VA. After emancipation, Mr. Hughes and a friend walked north – he stopped in Baltimore as his friend continued on to New York. Despite being born into slavery, Mr Hughes had skills, knowledge and language he had learned working in the slave-master’s house – he had invisible capital. And he used those assets to start a business that fit his invisible capital – he became a caterer to the wealthy white elite of Baltimore. His business thrived in part because he was able to pass on his knowledge to others – he trained his staff and, in a private room adjacent to his offices, his daughter taught etiquette to customers who had acquired wealth rather than inheriting it.
Once we had helped Chris find a story that captured his ideas about invisible capital in a concrete and personal way, we designed a way for him to quickly pass that story on to people he meets and elicit stories from them as well. The tool we designed is simple, and it transforms a well-established ritual: trading business cards. We designed a business card for Chris that includes his great great grandfather’s catering company on the back. Chris can ask others to write the name of someone who taught them something important on the back of their own card before exchanging it for his, and in doing so he creates a space for sharing personal stories about invisible capital from the very outset of a conversation.
In late 2010 Chris Rabb, author of Invisible Capital hired The Action Mill to design meaningful actions that would help him shape his emerging business which, if successful, will change how we all think about and create businesses in America.
Through customized exercises we explored Chris’s own invisible capital. Chris shared stories of his own heritage which we began to shape into experiences that he could share with others that would quickly communicate what invisible capital is, why it is important and why working with Chris is essential for anyone interested in advancing the interests of real people in business. Chris’s mother’s father’s mother’s father (his great great grandfather), James W. Hughes, was the son of a slave owner who lived in Halifax Co., VA. After emancipation, Mr. Hughes and a friend walked north – he stopped in Baltimore as his friend continued on to New York. Despite being born into slavery, Mr Hughes had skills, knowledge and language he had learned working in the slave-master’s house – he had invisible capital. And he used those assets to start a business that fit his invisible capital – he became a caterer to the wealthy white elite of Baltimore. His business thrived in part because he was able to pass on his knowledge to others – he trained his staff and, in a private room adjacent to his offices, his daughter taught etiquette to customers who had acquired wealth rather than inheriting it.
Once we had helped Chris find a story that captured his ideas about invisible capital in a concrete and personal way, we designed a way for him to quickly pass that story on to people he meets and elicit stories from them as well. The tool we designed is simple, and it transforms a well-established ritual: trading business cards. We designed a business card for Chris that includes his great great grandfather’s catering company on the back. Chris can ask others to write the name of someone who taught them something important on the back of their own card before exchanging it for his, and in doing so he creates a space for sharing personal stories about invisible capital from the very outset of a conversation.
