Dear beautiful soulful leaders and entrepreneurs,

“We no longer ask only what we can get out of it. We also ask what makes us feel alive.”

A reflection shared by a deep-tech venture builder from Korea stayed with me during my days in Nanjing, where we gathered for an APEC workshop on entrepreneurial capability development.

It touched a principle that has been at the heart of our programs over the years — BEING and DOING — and also the topic I shared at the workshop.

On my first morning in Nanjing, running through the green landscape surrounding our venue, I noticed the trees.

Each standing in its own place. Each growing in its own way. And the flowers were simply blossoming.

They were not trying to become another tree or another flower. They were responding to the soil, light, water and life around them — growing from within.

It became a quiet metaphor that stayed with me through two days of conversations on how we can better develop entrepreneurs to build sustainable ventures and create high-quality employment.

We spoke about what entrepreneurs need:

Knowledge and skills.
AI and digital capabilities.
Finance and investment.
Universities and ecosystems.
Markets, mentors and networks.

All important.

And beneath those conversations, another question kept returning to me:

Who is the human being becoming through all of this?

We spend a great deal of time developing what people can DO.

How to build.
How to lead.
How to raise capital.
How to work with AI.
How to grow.

Yet we can become increasingly capable — and still move further away from ourselves.

Human development therefore has another movement:

COMPETENCY — What can I do?
IDENTITY — Who am I?
BECOMING — Who am I becoming?

Knowledge and skills matter.

And so does the person learning to work with all of them — how we see ourselves, what we value, how we meet uncertainty, and who we become along the way.

This brings me back to the flower.

We cannot pull its petals open.
We cannot tell it to blossom faster.

We can strengthen the roots.
Nurture the soil.
Create space for light, water and air.

And let the flower do the growing.

Maybe our ecosystems are asking for something similar.

We already have governments, universities, investors, corporations, incubators, mentors and communities — many capable actors with different strengths.

Maybe the next possibility is not always more.

Maybe it is deeper alignment and integration.

From fragmented efforts to connected ecosystems.
From many identities competing within us to a more integrated self.
From individual doing to collective becoming.

And lately, one simple equation has been staying with me:

ALIVENESS = (BEING × DOING) × ALIGNMENT × GRATITUDE

Rebirth is not about leaving ourselves behind to become someone new.

It is about becoming more fully ourselves — bringing who we are, what we do, and what truly matters into deeper alignment.

And being grateful enough to recognize the life already here.

So this Sunday, we can ask:

Through everything you are doing, who are you becoming?

And one more:

What makes you truly come alive — and how might the world be different when you live from there?

With love,
Jen

Sunday Rebirth 🌱

Come home. Come alive. Blossom from within.