Here's a fun highlight bio. :)

"Brian, your PhilosophersNotes are an idea whose time has come — primarily because you're the one who is writing them. Your life to this point has prepared you for this creative contribution." ~ Personal note from my friend Dan Millman, author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior

Brian Johnson, Philosopher

 

 
Brian's always been passionate about understanding what makes great people great and applying the truths they embodied to make his little dent in the universe. 

After selling his last business (Zaadz) and traveling for a bit, Brian decided to give himself a Ph.D. in Optimal Living with a Specialization in Greatness and Bliss. 

He figured he’d get a Master’s when he’d distilled 100 of his favorite books into concise, fun, inspiring summaries. Then, on a flight from Tokyo to LA, he had one of those “Aha!/hallelujah!!” moments when he opened the SkyMall to an ad for a company that summarized business books for “busy executives.” He decided someone should do summaries of self-development books for the “busy self-actualizer” and that that someone should be him. ☺

Enter: PhilosophersNotes. (Imagine CliffsNotes. Only shorter. And cooler. And a *lot* more inspiring. ☺)

He's currently on sabbatical in Bali working his way through two suitcases of books while he re-wires his consciousness, creates PhilosophersNotes #51-100 and enjoys daily massage and sunrise yoga.

He's 34.

 

Past Life Stuff

In one of his past lives, as a 24-year-old law school dropout turned Founder/CEO, Brian led the creation of eteamz—the world’s largest amateur sports site that currently (and profitably) provides team and league web sites and a comprehensive suite of services to over 3 million teams from over 120 countries around the world. (For example, Little League Baseball® uses the technology.) After spending the requisite time in “garage-mode,” eteamz won UCLA’s Business Plan competition, raised over $5 million of capital, grew from 3 to 45 employees in less than a year (including the CEO of Adidas and the eventual winner of Apprentice II) and was sold for over $13 million of stock and cash to The Active Network, Inc. in 2000.

After successfully leading the integration of the two companies as a Vice President at Active, Brian spent a few years as a philosopher, immersing himself in philosophy, psychology, mysticism and optimal living. He read hundreds of books and traveled a bit—studying Jesus in Jerusalem, Marcus Aurelius in the Danube of Hungary, Rumi in Konya, Turkey, and Socrates in Greece. (Check him out with his g/f Sophia at the library in Ephesus, Turkey! :) On his return, he created thinkArete.com, a site where he began distilling the universal truths of optimal living. Over 10,000 people signed up to receive his daily newsletter where he shared the wisdom of his favorite teachers, showing how everyone (from Nietzsche to Buddha to Emerson) is saying the same thing.

In 2004, in an effort to integrate his philosophical and entrepreneurial selves (yes, he’s a Gemini ☺) and to put the truths he was studying into practice, Brian created Zaadz (now Gaia)—a company named after the Dutch word for seed committed to leveraging world-class social networking tools to connect, inspire and empower people committed to transforming their lives and our planet. (Think: MySpace for people who want to change the world.)

As the Philosopher & CEO of Zaadz, he raised $3 million to finance the launch of the business. Investors included a billionaire and his family and the CEO of Whole Foods. Feeling the dharmic pull to immerse himself back into studying and living the universal truths, Brian sold Zaadz to Gaiam, Inc. (Nasdaq: GAIA) in the summer of 2007.

Before all of that, Brian graduated Magna Cum Laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors from UCLA where he studied Psychology and Business. Brian has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal and various other publications on everything from philosophy and business to his vision on how to change the world. He has presented on various panels, served as a judge for the Anderson School at UCLA's Business Plan writing competition, and given lectures on conscious capitalism, entrepreneurial finance and the Internet economy at USC's Marshall School of Business, Claremont McKenna and Cal Tech.

Future Life Stuff

Look for Brian in the upcoming documentary on Joseph Campbell called "Finding Joe"--all about the role of myth/ritual/spirituality in the 21st century. 2010, baby.

Plus, check out the upcoming book Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs & Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World’s Problems by Brian's friend and mentor, Michael Strong (with a foreword by John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods).

Brian joins Muhammad Yunus (Nobel Peace prize winner who started the Grameen Bank (microlending in Bangladesh+)) and Hernando de Soto (legal reform expert) and others as a contributing author commenting on the role conscious capitalism can play in meeting our current challenges. His section is on the role of the conscious entrepreneur! Fun.

You can pre-order it here. And you can learn more about conscious capitalism (a subject Brian is VERY excited about!) here: http://flowidealism.com.

...

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
~ Apple Computers