Congratulations to Larry Clay, who has joined the Conscious Business Innerprise team as an administrator. Larry has a versatile background that spans biological research to business innovation, and he is embedded in the practice of sustainable development, as well as promoting well-being and flourishing for society. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student of Management: Designing Sustainable Systems at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management, and a Fowler Center Fellow for Business as an Agent for World Benefit. His particular interest is everything about cities, from observing technical, cultural, and social innovations that emerge, to building new infrastructure, social movements, and organizations.
Larry is currently writing his dissertation on meta-organizational designing for flourishing communities, which synthesizes behavioral stakeholder theory, multi-organizational design, sustainable innovation, Appreciative Inquiry, and positive organizational scholarship. During his last three years in the Doctor of Management Program, he has held a fellowship at the Fowler Center for Business as an Agent for World Benefit, as well as fellowships in Design and Innovation and Non-profit Organizations. Within these fellowships, Larry has partnered on projects with the AIM2Flourish program, the Global Compact/UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), and B Labs (B Corporation certification). His practice and research interests are grounded in sustainable development and innovation in cities. At the core of his research and in practice, he is most interested in understanding phenomena dynamics in Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure (UN SDG #9) and building Sustainable Cities & Communities (UN SDG #11).
Larry’s scholarly inquiries led him to the Conscious Business Innerspace. He envisions his role in the organization to be multipurpose. He plans to be an enabler that links leaders of other socially conscious businesses, positive impact organizations, and impact investors to collaborate efforts with strength-based approaches toward flourishing societies. In addition, he also visualizes a role in developing and facilitating workshops that inspire conscious leadership, inclusive innovation, and whole system strategies for mass flourishing. Larry is a true believer of the concepts of human interconnectedness and Oneness—with others, the natural environment, and everything within and beyond the earth; and his greatest desire is to create and expand this contagion of positive vibes throughout the universe.
As a child, Larry remembers being inquisitive, and always wondering how things worked. His early academic experience revealed a passion for the natural sciences, where he first found his curiosity in research. His past research projects included discoveries in behavioral psychology, neuroscience, and polymer sciences; yet, his hobbies were writing poetry, the culinary arts, learning about different cultures, traveling, technology, building computer systems, and his most favorite past time—everything about all music. Although Larry was on a professional trajectory in the life sciences, he forged another path toward the business world, and started a career with Pfizer Pharmaceutical in the healthcare industry. At Pfizer Larry received exceptional training in sales, business, and managing people. What emerged from that experience was to advance his knowledge in business entrepreneurship. Thus, he pursued an MBA. However, even the MBA was not enough to satisfy his inquisitive mind; Larry wanted more. So, that’s when he decided to pursue a Ph.D. in Management: Designing Sustainable Systems at CWRU Weatherhead School of Management. The program was a perfect fit for him, as it allowed the convergence of Larry’s passion for the natural sciences, business, individual and organizational behavior, and sustainable development.
Larry’s spiritual journey started very young at St John’s Baptist Church in Memphis, TN. His Grandmother, “Granny,” would take him to church every Sunday, and have him participate in Sunday School, the choir, and the youth ministries. However, as Larry grew as a young man, he became very open to learning about other religions. Reading the Bible, the Qur’an, the Torah, inspiring words of Confucius and Buddha, Egyptian Yoga, Zoroastrianism, Taoism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Hinduism, as well as shamanistic stories from North American Tribes, Central and Sub-Saharan Africans to polytheistic Sumerian, Roman, and Greek deities, Larry discovered there were more syncretic evidence of similarities between many of the beliefs. And the overarching themes in them all included an interconnectedness of the human experience, being a good steward to the nature and the environment, and a universal peace-seeking within the self. The power of Oneness, that Universality, can be the greatest strength that brings people together, and Larry has made it his life goal to help others reach and exceed their potential to flourishing—Socially, Economically, & Environmentally.
Congratulations again to Larry Clay from all of us at the Fowler Center!