The below is a passage that was written by Marcus Simpson that asks us to question the scope of who we are and the path that lies before us.

Constant yet dynamic, does a river set its own course? Does a mountain, a fire, a glacier hold its own intention? Is a great author the writer of passion or is she the essence of language itself? Wherein is the boundary between painter, musician, artist and the expression, the work itself? A woman who sews the seeds of life, births an idea or a song of brilliant clarity, is she not life, discourse, and voice in form? A man standing in his power, is he alone or inseparable from the will of his forefathers and the collective struggle of all who have walked before him? Is any person alone or is he and she not the collective sum of all our deepest fears and utmost potential? The poet, executive, scholar, are we the creators of separate destinies or are we seamlessly interwoven as one?
If we are the great river itself, perhaps we may determine the patterns of flow and direction. As a single drop of water or a tumbling stone, we may experience differentiation but is it truly so? Life is flow. Life is balance and paradox. Life is perspective; as we increase it so our understanding, compassion evolves. We are both river and stone; seer and seen, creator and created. Perhaps we are our own children as they will eventually become us. Perhaps we are the communities, nations, businesses that define our lives; those we teach become ourselves. Humanity has lived in collective struggle, inner and outer. Defined by the collective striving within the hearts of all beings and propelled forward by individuals who bear the torch where no light is found. We embrace the countless paths, truths, and ways of being, yet all hearts yearn for very much the same: love, purpose, connection, joy, and fulfillment. Despite all our differences, each human being bears one heart.

Our planet stands at a metaphoric crossroads. We are faced with complex issues of immense magnitude in the fields of geopolitics, economics, business, healthcare, environment, society/culture, and food/water supply. Instability, disparity, misdirection, arrogance, degradation, we stand at a precipice. Peering now through the true lens of whom we are, do we see ourselves and immediate surroundings or do we see all our peers, all of humanity, all of life itself. This is not an easy question to answer. For as all life clings desperately yet effortlessly to balances of temperature, oxygen, drinkable water, so are we living in paradox. We cannot sustain as separate individuals any more than any species has ever lived in isolation from its own. It is the self-evident, the ever-known truth that we are remembering: collaboration, community, collective, positive intention, these are the cornerstones of growth, health, and expansion. All of us, each person, must make our own choices - we must choose to what extent we will trust in the will of life and the flow of life without embracing egoic, self-empowerment, or weaker patterns of expansion.

Associated Capital is an enterprise of collective growth and societal empowerment. We are a balancing stone upon which many individual groups will rest; we are the foundation for a structure that will challenge the status quo. We are an idea whose time has arrived. We are the collective made manifest in the financial community. Both river and tumbling stone, interconnected with our clients, partners, and relations, we seek to evolve, to open, and to expand the field of finance. We believe that all are interconnected and so we take responsibility for our actions. Our associates and professionals seek to hold wisdom and compassion in all our business dealings.