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South Mountain Company

Martha’s Vineyard’s integrated design/build company

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The Company We Keep

Dear Reader,
This blog is now an archive. John Abrams (Founder of South Mountain, author of this blog, and a book of the same name) retired on December 31, 2022. All posts published up until this date are preserved below.

For updates on John's next chapter, visit abramsangell.com.

For updates on South Mountain's second act, subscribe to our newsletter using the form below.

Economic Crisis

Values and Principles

September 14, 2009 by John Abrams 1 Comment

A group of friends was here for a post-Labor Day vacation, enjoying the last harmonies of Vineyard summer – warm water, cool breezes, and empty roads.  Devon Hartman runs a design/build company in L.A. and Jamie Wolfe is a design/builder from Connecticut.  Dennis Allen runs a building company in Santa Barbara, CA.  Sal Alfano is the editor of both the Journal of Light Construction and Remodeling Magazine.  Each is remarkable in his own way.  Each has much to teach.  All agreed to do a panel discussion for an SMCo company meeting.

The following questions were put to the four of them:  what happened to your business (and you) between last September and this September, what lasting effects has the economic crisis had, and what’s next for you and your enterprise?

They spoke about the troubles of these times, but they also spoke – compellingly – about the possibilities, and new doors that are opening.

Read More about Values and Principles

Filed Under: Economic Crisis, Leadership, Small Business Tagged With: Born To Run, Economic Crisis, Martha's Vineyard, South Mountain Company

Are We Different Enough??

August 12, 2009 by John Abrams 4 Comments

At the recent conference of the Vermont Employee Ownership Center (VEOC) in Burlington, VEOC board president Paul Millman asked an important question to the attendees, who represented some of the many remarkably progressive companies in the Green Mountain State. “Are we different enough?” he wondered.

Good question.  I wonder about that often when I think about South Mountain.  Are we promoting a system that would, if widespread, create fundamental change in our broken economic system?  Or are we just avoiding one avalanche chute by traversing to another with a slightly more gradual incline?

Hard to say.

I

Read More about Are We Different Enough??

Filed Under: South Mountain Company Tagged With: Climate change, Deep Energy, Economic Crisis, Employee ownership, Martha's Vineyard, peak oil, South Mountain Company, Worker Cooperatives, Workplace Democracy

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West Tisbury, MA 02575

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West Tisbury, MA 02575

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