The Aperture Field Notes

Political polarization is often framed as a problem of people being too far apart, but what if part of the problem is actually how we sort ideas in the first place? In this explainer, I use Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments to explore a different way of thinking about political disagreement — one that isn’t about everyone moving to the middle, agreeing with one another, or watering down what...

On a rainy fall morning, I found myself watching the water cycle unfold outside my window: ocean becoming cloud, cloud becoming rain, rain feeding forests, reservoirs, bodies and rivers before eventually finding its way back to the sea. And a thought occurred to me: The water belongs nowhere and participates everywhere. But that doesn't mean water is never held. Reservoirs need banks. Cells need m...

If technology makes essential services cheaper to provide, who gets the gains and who pays while we wait? In this episode of *Conversations with Mica*, Kari LaMotte and Mica, an AI conversational partner, explore how improvements in what we can produce become improvements in how we live. Energy provides the concrete example: savings could become lower bills, better services, investment in the futu...

How do we build a more regenerative, sustainable future when the hardest challenge is not the technology, but how we talk, listen, and decide together? In this conversation, we explore the posture needed for difficult conversations about collective change. From infrastructure and co-design to power, truth, empathy, and belonging, we consider how communities can move beyond polarized camps without...

What can plants teach us about progress? In this first Conversations with Mica , Kari LaMotte thinks alongside Mica, an AI conversational partner, about seeds, stems, leaves, and the quieter work that allows a living system to renew itself. Beginning with the seasonal life of plants, Kari and Mica explore a wider question: what happens when a society becomes skilled at growth and innovation, but l...

In this piece, I begin with what initially seemed like an obvious principle: recognizing the Indigenous nation whose territory it is as the host nation and genuine co-founder of any new community. But an uncomfortable question emerged: If one people remains the host forever, does everyone else remain a guest forever? This reflection explores whether historical repair can protect the depth of Indig...

In this episode, I reflect on artificial intelligence as part of a much larger pattern of technological change. New technologies have always arrived with a mixture of possibility and fear. Railways, electric light, telephones, automobiles, television, computers, and the internet all disrupted the world people knew. Many of the concerns they raised were valid. But the deepest changes were rarely li...

What if purpose is not something we find, but something that becomes available when our lives align with who we are? In this essay, I explore the difference between purpose as self-sacrifice and purpose as coherent participation. For a long time, I confused being useful with reducing my own ability to simply be in service of something greater. But I’m beginning to wonder whether that frame is back...

What makes a neighbourhood? Through reflections on three very different communities (a prairie farming town, Vancouver’s Commercial Drive, and life in a dense urban neighbourhood) I explore how community changes as the places we live change. As our cities evolve, so do the ways we connect, belong, and care for one another. Perhaps the greatest challenge of our time is learning to listen across dif...

I recently found myself reflecting on one of my earliest attempts at empathy. As a child, I once gave my younger sister a birthday gift that consisted of the contents of my bedside drawer: a worn charm necklace, a collection of charms, and some fake money. I was thrilled with my own thoughtfulness. She was… less impressed. Looking back, I’ve come to realize that the lesson wasn’t about gift-giving...

Systems move through rhythms. Growth, consolidation, release, renewal. Yet culturally, we often treat any pause, slowdown, or restructuring as failure rather than recognizing it as part of how living systems evolve. In this reflection, I explore the cyclical nature of progress, from the seasons themselves to the long arcs of societal transformation, and consider whether we may be standing not at t...

I have been spending serious time lately considering the role of empathy and emotional intelligence in the world today. Like many, I find myself astonished by what I’m seeing across the world - acts that seem to disregard the very principles we have spent centuries developing as a human species. In my curiosity, I’ve been returning to the works of thinkers from the past, reading their original tex...

This is a short audio reflection drawn from a recent piece exploring a subtle shift in how we relate to inclusion, systems, and change. After spending time with a group of senior women leaders and reading a piece by Katrina C. Foster, I found myself sitting with a different kind of question.. not only why it is changing, but on why it feels like the signal is becoming harder to see. In this reflec...

This is the audio version of the essay: The Villainous Hero You can read the written version here: https://notes.theaperturefield.com/p/the-villainous-hero The Aperture Field Notes are reflections on clarity, leadership, and systems in transition, exploring how people and organizations navigate complexity, change, and decision-making. More at: https://notes.theaperturefield.com Get full access to...

This is the audio version of the essay: The Cost of Veiled Communication You can read the written version here: https://notes.theaperturefield.com/p/the-cost-of-veiled-communication The Aperture Field Notes are reflections on clarity, leadership, and systems in transition; exploring how people and organizations navigate complexity, change, and decision-making. More at: https://notes.theaperturefie...

Welcome to The Aperture Field Notes - audio essays and reflections on clarity, leadership, and systems in transition. These recordings are the audio versions of written field notes published at: https://notes.theaperturefield.com The Aperture Field is a strategy and systems advisory practice focused on helping leaders and organizations find clarity, improve decision-making, and navigate complex tr...

In this episode, Kari explores the quiet pressure that can emerge when joy becomes a measure of success, alignment, purpose, or awakening. Joy is beautiful. Joy is welcome. But when it becomes the emotional state we are expected to maintain, life can start to narrow around a subtle form of optimization. Instead of meeting experience as it is, we begin ranking moments by how joyful they feel. This...