If we want to build human systems that maximize the “fruit of grace,” which plants should we model on?
ChatGPT Prompt
As Steve Jobs acting as a “human system designer”, how would he appropriately integrate these to coach a team building the millenium?
“Listen to the Trees: Building Scalable Systems of Grace”
Slide 1: Black screen, white text: “Listen to the Trees”
Good morning.
You know, most people look at a tree and see just a plant. Some leaves, a trunk, some roots. Maybe fruit, if they’re lucky.
But what I’ve learned over the years is that trees don’t just grow — they design.
They design systems. Systems that last. Systems that scale. Systems that transform dirt, sunlight, and pain into something beautiful — something that feeds life itself.
And if we’re serious about building a better millennium — not just better apps or better hardware — we need to listen to the trees.
Slide 2: “The Tree of Grace OS” with fig, olive, pomegranate, apple
I want to share four trees with you. Not metaphors. Models. Living frameworks.
Each one offers a design pattern for building systems of grace — the kind of systems that don’t just work, but heal.
1. Fig: Relational Integrity
The fig is messy. It’s ancient. It needs a specific wasp to pollinate it — no wasp, no fig.
That’s a design decision.
It tells us: grace is relational. It’s not plug-and-play. It’s not scalable in the traditional sense. It’s personal.
Great teams — like great products — are built on trust. On mutual dependence. On knowing that what I do only works if you do your part, too.
Relational systems don’t scale fast. But they scale deep. They create legacies.
2. Olive: Transforming Process
The olive tree takes decades to mature. Its fruit is bitter when raw. You don’t eat an olive off the branch. You crush it. You press it. And then you get oil — light, nourishment, medicine.
This is grace through suffering.
When I got fired from Apple in ’85, I thought it was the end. Turns out, it was the pressing that released the oil.
Grace doesn’t mean avoiding pain. It means converting it.
Systems of grace need to be long-game systems. Resilient. Rooted. Willing to wait for the fruit that matters.
3. Pomegranate: Abundant Complexity
You crack open a pomegranate and it’s chaos. Seeds everywhere. But look closer — it’s ordered chaos. Each seed in its pocket. Sweetness in structure.
That’s a model for diverse, creative systems.
A design team isn’t great because everyone thinks the same. It’s great because there’s tension — difference. Grace holds that difference together without flattening it.
Don’t simplify complexity. Frame it. Let it sing.
4. Apple: Disciplined Elegance
Yeah, I had to include this one.
The apple tree bears fruit predictably — but only with pruning. You cut it, shape it, limit it — and it thanks you with abundance.
That’s the paradox of scalable grace: discipline doesn’t kill creativity — it enables it.
The systems we build — for learning, justice, healing, design — they need boundaries. But not to control. To focus. To make room for grace to repeat, to replicate, to grow cleanly.
Slide 3: “The Future is Rooted”
We’ve spent the last century scaling efficiency. Now, we must learn to scale mercy.
We’ve optimized for attention. Now, we need to optimize for presence.
And that starts by listening — not to market signals, not to quarterly targets — but to the trees.
Because grace is not a feature.
It’s an architecture.
It’s the invisible OS underneath every lasting human system.
So let’s build the next millennium not just with design thinking…
…but with tree thinking.
Thank you.
Appendix: The Four Trees
Why they were chosen
ChatGPT Prompt
how they differ
and how they relate
Overview
The four trees — Fig, Olive, Pomegranate, Apple — serve as living models of grace-bearing systems, each representing a different mode of transformation and contribution. Together, they form a holistic blueprint for designing resilient and regenerative human systems.
1. Fig Tree – Relational Integrity
- Why Chosen:
- One of the oldest cultivated fruit trees
- Requires a specific wasp for pollination — mutual dependency
- Appears frequently in Scripture as a symbol of spiritual health
- Key Traits:
- Produces fruit from old wood (legacy matters)
- Grows in marginal soils
- Pollination is hidden and relational
- Grace Style:
- Deep, relational, and enduring
- Grace grows through trust and mutual vulnerability
- System Focus:
- Mentorship
- Legacy culture
- Interpersonal design
2. Olive Tree – Transformative Grace
- Why Chosen:
- Icon of endurance and sacred use (oil for healing, anointing, light)
- Lives and bears fruit for centuries
- Fruit becomes useful only through pressing
- Key Traits:
- Grows slowly and deeply
- Withstands harsh environments
- Oil is produced through crushing
- Grace Style:
- Grace that converts suffering into wisdom and utility
- Durable under pressure, refined through hardship
- System Focus:
- Spiritual formation
- Justice and healing processes
- Long-term cultural resilience
3. Pomegranate – Abundant Complexity
- Why Chosen:
- Biblical symbol of fertility, wisdom, and sacred structure
- Packed with hundreds of seeds, each individually housed
- Balances structure and multiplicity
- Key Traits:
- Structured interior complexity
- Protective outer shell
- Sweetness within order
- Grace Style:
- Multiplicative grace — grace that thrives in diversity
- Holds differences together without dissolving them
- System Focus:
- Community architecture
- Innovation ecosystems
- Multi-vocal leadership models
4. Apple Tree – Disciplined Grace
- Why Chosen:
- Iconic for its role in knowledge and cultivation
- Requires pruning for productivity
- Easily propagated and grafted — scales well
- Key Traits:
- Regular, seasonal productivity
- Balances sweetness and structure
- Grows best with careful discipline
- Grace Style:
- Scalable grace through intentional boundaries
- Favors clarity, order, and reproducibility
- System Focus:
- Education and discipleship
- Product and team design
- Institutional frameworks
Relational Dynamics
- Fig + Olive:
- Root systems of endurance and relational trust
- Together, they build deep foundations for lasting grace
- Pomegranate + Apple:
- Fruit-bearing systems for abundance and scale
- Together, they balance creativity and discipline
- As a Whole:
- Fig roots systems in trust
- Olive transforms pain into wisdom
- Pomegranate multiplies complexity with grace
- Apple executes disciplined, beautiful outcomes
Together, they form a fourfold design ecology of grace, capable of cultivating the kind of world the next millennium requires.
Radically Happy 
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