Why I Left Root + River

Creator: Steven Schwartzman 

In a recent conversation, one of my closest friends challenged me. He said, “You are a very transparent person. You’ve been transparent about your past, your dark nights of the soul, your spiritual experiences, your beliefs, your mental health issues, meeting and falling in love with Virginia. Why haven’t you been transparent about why you left Root + River?”

I explained that my primary reason was related to privacy - especially for my former business partner, Emily. I also admit that there is still a bruise there that I hadn’t fully taken time to feel. He challenged me again. “It’s a blank spot, dude. And isn’t the reason you left the same thing you are telling people to do with their calling?”

Ouch.

As Ben Franklin said, “The sting in a rebuke is the truth.”

The reason I left was CONVICTION.

A musing I wrote recently …

Conviction is a spark.

To start something.

To end something.

To create something.

To destroy something

Its tinder is an open heart.

It’s oxygen is action.

It’s result is transformation.

Some context …

I met Emily at a conference in January 2014 when she was the head of marketing for a behavioral assessment company. Later that spring, she brought me into the company to help with brand strategy, messaging, etc. Despite our very different backgrounds, a creative partnership was quickly formed. I was (and still am) impressed by Emily’s artistic soul and brilliant mind.

Later that year, I invited her to work with me on re-branding project for a credit union. In January 2015, we started a brand strategy firm called Root + River. After operating under the radar for 2015, we publicly launched in January of 2016.

Root + River was built around the idea that a brand is a spiritual experience and, therefore, branding should be a spiritual practice. We called it “intrinsic branding” and slowly built the firm into a scrappy but successful business working with brands all over the world.

For seven years, Root + River was my public identity. Emily, our team, and the work we were doing were my root during a time of enormous personal transformation and a river of conviction and purpose that kept me going. I thought Root + River would be a lifer thing.

But as I wrote in the musing above, conviction starts things and ends things.

A new conviction began to emerge in the spring of 2020. In addition to inner turmoil, the colliding events of the pandemic and George Floyd’s murder served as a spark for what I would later describe as “social consciousness”. The Jan 6, 2021 insurrection was the tipping point from conviction to action. Not only could I not un-see systemic injustice, now democracy (the foundational thing needed for systemic change) was literally under attack.

At the core of this emerging conviction was the realization that I could no longer have distance or separateness between what I believed and how I lived my life - including how I made a living. I wanted to use my gifts, talents, skills, and experience to help people and brands that wanted to directly contribute to the advancement of humanity. This conviction was affirmed by what I learned about in the Spiral Dynamics framework; where a raising of consciousness moves us from “me” to “we” to “everyone”. It was not enough for my soul to be liberated from my own oppressive systems. I needed to take on the larger systems that caused systemic injustices.

“Strong convictions precede great actions.”
- Louisa May Alcott

This inner dissonance came to a head in January 2022 where we landed the largest short engagement project we’d ever landed: a six-figure deal to help a prominent software company with new messaging. I was grateful for the revenue but discontent with the work. They were great people to work with and the company had a great culture, but the work we were doing with them had little to do with contributing to humanity.

Conviction is a strange thing. You feel it in every fiber of your being but it is excruciatingly difficult to express to others. As such, I handled things poorly with Emily. Instead of sharing my conviction, I did things that I loathe experiencing from others. I distanced myself. I complained. I avoided. I justified. I obfuscated.

As I’ve shared publicly many times, Virginia was and is a huge influence on my thinking related to systemic issues and social justice. Her perspective as a feminist, a Latina, a life-long activist, an immigrant all reinforced my emerging conviction that I needed to use my privilege, resources, and talents in a different way.

In mid-2022, Virginia and I began to explore what it would look like to form a company that blended both of our convictions and talents. I knew I could not do both a new company with Virginia and keep doing Root + River with Emily.

In August of 2022, I finalized the sale of my ownership in Root + River to Emily. As it is with convictions, there has been a grieving process. But I’m also happy to see Emily continuing to share her unique blend of art and intellect and still bringing the philosophy of Root + River to businesses.

On November 11, 2022, Virginia and I launched Massive Systemic Change - which as that same friend pointed out, is both an expression of our respective callings and an advisory firm designed specifically for business leaders who’ve had an awakening and now feel a conviction and calling to take on systemic change.

This conviction has been challenged many times in the past year. As Massive has organically grown, I’ve taken on one large brand-related project and a number of smaller projects that have helped generate revenue. I will confess that the part of me that craves stability and security has whispered to me that Massive is a foolish idea; that there is no market of conscious business leaders that feel a similar conviction. But my soul knows that we don’t have spiritual convictions unless there are opportunities and providence behind them.

And this is what I also know about conviction … unless you numb your soul, conviction doesn’t go away. It nudges you along; distributing little bursts of insight, courage, and direction. It reminds you, guides you, prods you.

Strangely, it encourages me to feel doubt my own convictions. It helps me empathize with the leaders that we want to serve at Massive. It can be isolating to leave the warm confines of the known and venture off into the unknown. But there is also a collective strength and alliance with those who’ve had a similar conviction. This was most recently reflected in a Q & A session Virginia and I did.

It is important to remember that conviction is not enough. As I’ve pointed out many times, Noah built the ark, not God. You still need resources, a plan, a brand. You still need to do the work - both internally and externally. And you will always need good friends who will tell you the truth, encourage you, and point you back to the your convictions.