This week, I was at a few events where the vibe was the same: everything feels heavy. 

Global tensions, local politics, rising costs, tech uncertainty, you name it. It’s easy to feel like the big levers of the economy are out of our hands. 

So, I started thinking: 

– What is still in our hands? 

– What can we choose to do, build, or offer that brings people together? 

– How do we create value, real, human value, when we’re not the ones making the rules? 

And that’s when Manuel the pug popped into my head. 

Manuel was my very old, very weird little pug. He had little to no teeth, waddled like a duck, and not many fans at the dog park. But his family, my two daughters and I loved him deeply. Knowing his time was short, as he was 16, we decided to throw him a pug party. 

I posted an open invite to the party in a local Facebook group. 

That was it. 

Within 4 hours: 

– Over 1,000+ interactions 

– 800+ comments 

– People asking to come even without a pet or to dress kids up as pugs 

– A photographer even volunteered to shoot the party for free 

By Sunday, over 60 pugs (and about 120 people) showed up, some driving over two hours just to be there. 

No money changed hands. 

No brand activation. 

Just love, timing, and a very good boy. 

From that, a monthly pug meet-up was born. 

New friendships formed. People still talk about it. 

A moment became a memory. A memory became a movement. 

That’s human economics; we have control of that, and it is worth more than money. 

Not transactions, but transformation. 

Not GDP, but joy. 

Not scarcity, but shared abundance. 

*Note. This is an old photo of Manuel; he still has his waist-defined and toothy smile.