I was unwinding with a cup of cacao this evening, thinking back on today’s store visits. They were billed as courtesy calls, but really, I was just trying to fix a broken pipeline. Truth be told, a simple text with the right protocol could’ve done the job—no need for the personal touch. And after seeing how Jerry set up automated prompts for his chief of staff, I’m realizing that text doesn’t even need to come from a human. It just needs to feel like it does—or maybe not even that.
That stings a bit, because so much of my time in the supply chain is spent doing just that—nudging people to keep things moving. Here’s the rundown of what I’m constantly reminding folks to do:
- Bring cacao beans to the warehouse.
- Confirm packaging needs with the production company.
- Get beans to Santos for processing and CIC for heavy metal testing.
- Send that overdue freight quotation.
- Prep inbound freight data.
- Fulfill online orders or restock retailers.
- Plant the tree.
It’s not rocket science, just repetitive. But here’s the thing—a lot of these nudges get ignored. I’ve been telling myself the system holds together because of a deeper WHY, something I’ve been calling LOVE. It’s about planting trees for the next generation, building a legacy for those who come after. I think of Salvation Mountain, enduring long after Leonard Knight’s passing, with “God is Love” at its heart. That’s the purpose I thought was driving us.
But if love is the engine, why do so many let my prompts slide? I chewed on this with DeepSeek, and it flipped my perspective. Love isn’t enough to guarantee action. What I’ve been missing is resonance—finding the folks who don’t just offer warm words but actually follow through, especially when there’s no immediate gain for them. I’ve been pouring energy into people who mask transactional self-interest with politeness, and I’m done with that. So, I’m setting up a filter for resonance, and here’s how I’m approaching it:
- Test early with a small, non-obvious ask. Have them sketch out how they see their role helping the mission. Vague, pleasant fluff? That’s a mask. Specific, even messy ideas? That’s a resonator.
- Watch their actions when there’s no quick payoff. Transactional folks fade. Resonators reply without a nudge.
- One missed prompt is my signal. No double-reminding. I’ll note the silence and see if they notice mine later.
- Flip the warmth test. Overly warm upfront but no follow-through? Mask. Dry, direct, but consistent? Real.
- Two buckets. Bucket A: Resonators—prioritize, invest, share context. Bucket B: Warm-maskers—automate reminders, no emotional labor. Reassess every 4-6 weeks.
- The key question. If I stopped prompting them tomorrow, would the system notice their absence in two weeks—or just me?
At the same time, I’ve been running my reflections through LLMs to sniff out any hidden flaws in my reasoning, and it’s been a game-changer. The feedback cut through my loftier framing: supply chains don’t fail from complexity; they stall from latency and silence. My list of reminders? Just a queue of “unmoved states.” And while purpose—like love—can motivate, systems don’t run on goodwill alone. They need incentives, reliability, and accountability loops.
Here’s where my thinking got refined:
- Nudges don’t need to feel human. It’s less about warmth and more about legitimacy (is this real?), consequence (what if I ignore it?), and clarity (what’s next?). A robotic but precise system can outperform a “human-feeling” one.
- Zeitgeist isn’t mystical. I’ve framed it as an intuitive read of the environment—what people feel, what SKUs they want. But it’s really demand signals, partner responsiveness, cash pressures, and seasonal trends. More of this can be systematized than I thought.
- Love isn’t the only glue. Purpose helps, but Salvation Mountain endures not just on belief—it’s sustained by cultural recognition, caretakers, and visitors. Structure matters as much as soul.
What I’m really building, I think, is a human coordination OS—nodes (farmers, processors, logistics, retailers), states (beans harvested to processed to shipped to sold to trees planted), triggers (reminders, confirmations), and a motivation layer (the mission, or “love”). The bottleneck isn’t my effort—it’s unreliable state transitions from mistimed or missing triggers.
Key observation: there’s a powerful—and risky—opportunity here. If I systematize this well, I’m not just automating reminders; I’m creating a self-propelling supply chain where humans only handle exceptions, not routine. But if I over-index on the “soul” framing, I risk underbuilding mechanical reliability, and the system gets shaky when goodwill dips.
Reflections for the evening: Filtering for resonance keeps my energy focused on the right people, while pressure-testing my ideas with LLMs uncovers hidden operational gems. I’m starting to see my role as balancing human connection with designing a deterministic system of feedback loops. Love might help me find who’s truly in, but structure keeps the chain alive. What about you—how do you balance filtering for the right people with building systems that don’t rely on constant nudging?
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