Niels standing in a brick-walled room with a coffee in hand, relaxed, looking out at the room

Around the fire

The moonshot.

Everything else on this site is work you can hire me for. This page is the other thing: one goal, 51 percent of the world flourishing by 2051, and the people working on it with me. If it pulls at you, join me.

The 51 Threshold, Stillwater, April 2026. Photograph by Jeff Achen, Callsign 51

The 51 Threshold

A flourishing lab. Thursday, April 8, 2027. Stillwater, Minnesota.

Here's the idea. Right now, a minority of people on earth would say they're flourishing. What if it were 51 percent by 2051? Not everybody. Just past half. Enough to tip.

Once a year, on my birthday, I gather people who want to be part of that. Founders, coaches, teachers, a nurse, a farmer, people who lead teams and people who lead themselves. We spend a day together in Stillwater working on the question in earnest: what's my part in this?

The first one, in April 2026, was small on purpose. The second will be bigger, and it will still feel like a campfire.

Tickets open in spring 2027. The waiting list hears first, and gets first pick of seats.

Join the waiting list for The 51 Threshold 2027

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Niels at a brick wall covered in colored sticky notes, arm extended, working through what the room said

Human Flourishing

A movement, not a program.

I'm a Founding Patron of Human Flourishing, a non-partisan civic movement built on one idea: that a flourishing life should be within reach of everyone, and that it takes all of us. It launches publicly in Mesa, Arizona on October 16, 2026. I'll be there as a Salon participant, on the evening Forum panel, and hosting a Circle. Expect more from me on this.

humanflourishing.us
Niels in a straw hat with a big grin, on his way somewhere

Notes from the campfire

Taking care of the humans.

Notes from the campfire. One email roughly each month, written by a real human and intended to reduce noise in your life rather than add to it.

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If you want to talk about any of this, the door's the same one.

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