Inspiration for Our Collective
VISA is currently the largest payment processor in the world, an independent company is owned by its users. It collects and delivers payments, authorizations, & more via technological innovation
Dee Hock
was born in North Ogden, Utah, in 1929 to a Mormon family. His father, Alma, was a utility lineman, and his mother, Cecil, was a homemaker. Hock attended Weber State University, where he graduated with a two-year degree in 1949
VISA was born as a decentralized network of competing banks. Bank of America in California started issuing cards, and started a franchise program that connected banks across the country. The transactions would be resolved by phone calls, which presented multiple issues
Dee Hock proposed an independent company, owned by the collective of banks, with new technology to connect to all the banks, authorize transactions, collect and distribute payments
The new structure used collaboration to improve competition, as every member bank & consumers benefits from a larger network
Chaordic Leadership
By chaord, I mean any self-organizing, self governing, adaptive, nonlinear, complex organism, organization, community or system, whether physical, biological or social, the behavior of which harmoniously blends characteristics of both chaos and order
Loosely translated to business, it can be thought of as an organization that harmoniously blends characteristics of competition and cooperation; or from the perspective of education, an organization that seamlessly blends theoretical and experiential learning
VISA's principles
The collective used principles to govern, encourage creativity, make decisions quickly an stay focused
Adaptability requires that the individual components of the system be in competition. And yet cohesion
Some of those principles have evolved over the years, and include a few like:
Lead courageously
Obsess about customers
Collaborate as one Visa
Execute with excellence
Operational resilience
Cybersecurity
Data Privacy
A role model on collective action, technological excellence, and customer obsession
Our Vision
Inspired by examples like these, we believe that collaboration can lead to better business
Our vision is to use technological innovations, and reliable tools to create a sustainable ecosystem that benefits everyone involved
Empowering the Collective: Our fair pricing structure finances better operations and improvements for our members
Investing in Technology: By using and supporting open-source tools, the community votes in the roadmap
Supporting the Community: Revenue from our services goes toward hosting events, supporting artists, and expanding craft and coworking spaces
Marketing & Advertisement: Will feature our participating stores and agencies by members & friends
Empowering Creativity: Improve our existing solutions or propose new ones in Github & new community forums
A Future Built on Shared Values
By aligning our goals with the needs of the community, we’re creating a sustainable, innovative, and inclusive ecosystem
We must cultivate equity, autonomy, and individual opportunity.
"Given the right circumstances, from no more than dreams, determination, and the liberty to try, quite ordinary people consistently do extraordinary things."
The governing structure must not be a chain of command, but rather a framework for dialogue, deliberation, and coordination among equals. Authority, in other words, comes from the bottom up, not the top down.
[CHAORDIC LEADERSHIP By Dee Hock]