ACEAgency, Connection,
Exchange.

Intro

This time, it is our turn: the owners of small and medium-sized enterprises, and the employees who work within them. This time, it is our turn to initiate change and transform the world into a better place, without resorting to revolution or violence.

As long as the game itself is the problem, simply shuffling its players between social classes will not be a solution. We must change the rules of the game and create a new one—a game where people choose how and where they play.

It is getting late. Mother Earth, Our Planet, is on the verge of destruction. Human beings are going mad, caught between the accelerating gears of work, production, and consumption. Madness pervades everything. We must act before it is too late. We must disobey, just for a little while, the doctrines of the religion that has compelled us to accept, “The pain of another is not my pain.”

Money is the greatest religion, and most humans have become its faithful followers. So faithful that they prioritize its commands and rituals above all their own desires. So faithful that they tolerate any injustice to keep its flags flying—and how often they justify, legitimize, and even sanctify the very injustices born of its rites. But like any artificial religion, this one is not without its flaws and excesses. And its restoration is never possible without disobeying some of its rules and customs.

We can, without the constant compulsion of the religion of money’s commands, rein in our greed and avarice and practice justice. It seems complicated, but it is achievable. A little self-sacrifice can smooth this path—especially if that self-sacrifice is collective.

ACE Goal

This manifesto is founded on the ACE – Agency Connection Exchange – socioeconomic model. It is a model whose central axis is not greed, avarice, and excess, but consciousness and the boundaries that Agencies voluntarily and responsibly set for themselves.

Within this framework, the conduct of accepted economic enterprises, like that of the natural persons who form them, is regulated by the principles of the ACE model. In this system, money remains merely one of the tools of exchange. It is a tool that may retain some of its other traditional functions, but it will no longer be a means to feed the endless avarice of Agencies. The gears of this economy are turned not by more and more consumption, but by tranquility, comfort, and human flourishing. It is possible that economic development can be based on less consumption and greater contentment.

One of the key levers of this manifesto is that your pain is my pain too. The pain of one Agency is the pain of all accepted members of the manifesto, and all will share the responsibility to respond to it. In this economic model, both individual and collective ownership exist; a balance that links freedom and personal responsibility with the interests and welfare of the collective.

The ACE Manifesto is based on the principle of friendship and the regulation of distance, defined by the values of the parties. This model is willing to coexist with other economic and social models and will never advertise itself to attract more players—instead, it will only introduce itself where necessary.

Entering and exiting the circle of the ACE Manifesto will be equally straightforward. This is because commitment to these principles must always remain voluntary, conscious, and based on personal will and desire.

Agency

“Agency” refers to any natural or legal agent that, at any given moment, with awareness of its conditions and position, makes a considered, autonomous decision: it either maintains the current state or changes it. These conscious decisions are usually based on the recognized phases of Agency activity.

Agency Phases:

• Exploration: The phase of discovery and insight: searching for new opportunities, ideas, and paths.
  
• Stabilization: The phase of consolidation: creating stability, optimizing resources and structures.
  
• Expansion: The phase of growth: expanding capacities, markets, or the scope of influence.
  
• Integration: The phase of merging: interconnecting with other agents, systems, or models to create shared value and longer-term sustainability.

These phases can vary in sequence, duration, and intensity depending on the environment and conditions, and can even change in type and number. Some phases may be eliminated, merged, or replaced, or new phases may emerge to suit the needs of the environment. However, regardless of the combination of Agency phases, the Integration phase is an inseparable part of it, as the existence and sustainability of any system depend on this stage.

Clause 1—Levels of Agency Application (Scope) Agency is applied simultaneously at two levels:

• Individual Agency: All employees and owners of companies are independent Agencies whose autonomous decisions are considered and executed based on the Agency phases (Exploration, Stabilization, Expansion, Integration). During their involvement in the company’s activities, they must experience all four phases of the Agency. It means:
  • They benefit from the Exploration phase.
    
  • Part of their duties is focused on Stabilization.
    
  • They expand their skills and capacities in Expansion.
    
  • And they are in constant interaction with others in Integration to create a fulfilling meaning from their activities. An imbalanced experience of these phases leads to incongruity between the individual’s Agency and the Agency of the company/others, which sooner or later results in disruption and problems in collaborations.
    
• Legal Agency: Every company is a “Legal Agency” that, with awareness and autonomy, decides either to maintain the state or change it. In its intra-organizational and inter-company interactions, the company must continuously experience and balance the four phases:
  • Exploration to test new ideas and paths,
    
  • Stabilization for standardization and sustainability,
    
  • Expansion to grow capacity and scope of impact,
    
  • Integration for effective connection with other Agencies and systems. An imbalance or disregard for any of these phases results in incompatibility with the consortium network and disruption to collaborations.

Connection

No Agency exists in isolation. The existence and survival of every Agency depend on its connection with other Agencies and surrounding factors. This connection is not only a fundamental condition for the Agency’s existence and stability, but it also has a direct and decisive impact on its decision-making processes and on the type and manner in which its phases are activated. Every time an Agency enters into a relationship with others, it is exposed to conditions and phenomena that can alter its decision-making structure and change its course.

Clause 1—Acceptance and Membership

• Individual Agency: All owners and employees who wish to work in ACE consortium companies must adhere to the ACE Manifesto. The entry and exit of individuals from member companies are, as much as possible, straightforward.
  
• Legal Agency: All member companies of the consortium are obliged to implement the ACE Manifesto. The entry and exit of companies are also straightforward, except in cases of outstanding commitments that oblige the company to remain within the manifesto’s framework until settlement (details to follow in later sections).

Values: At first glance, every Agency considers its values to be independent and born of individual decisions. But the reality is that the true meaning and function of values are formed only in the context of connections. Connection with other Agencies compels an Agency to define, redefine, and prioritize its values. This process not only creates internal clarity but also provides the foundation for stable interactions and fruitful collaborations. In the ACE model, values are the product of unwritten or written agreements among Agencies, and their role in decision-making is as vital as the role of resources or tools.

• Individual Agency: Each person documents their work values in writing, what is fundamental to them in the work environment, and how it is prioritized in their decision-making.
  
• Legal Agency: The company documents and registers its values for its presence in the consortium, specifying the values it aims to produce and represent, and organizes its decisions accordingly.

Boundaries: In any relationship, the formation of boundaries is inevitable. An Agency enters the process of defining and accepting boundaries simply by being present in a network of connections. The best boundaries are those that the Agency itself consciously and voluntarily sets for itself. Such boundaries not only prevent breaches of trust and credibility but also solidify the Agency’s position within the group. Failure to respect boundaries has predictable consequences: the Agency is gradually ostracized from the group, loses its vital connections, and is exposed to the risk of extinction. The security and survival of an Agency depend on healthy cooperation and interaction with others, as well as adherence to collectively accepted boundaries.

• Individual Agency: Upon joining, owners and employees write down their individual boundaries statement. Owners clarify the purpose of owning and operating the company, their needs and expectations, and the limits of their authority, as well as the method of utilizing company resources. Employees also explain the scope and limits of their collaboration with the company and specify their personal boundaries in relation to the company’s boundaries—what they accept and do not accept.
  
• Legal Agency: The company documents the limits of its external interactions and market activities and commits to refraining from market monopolization. Its boundaries regarding other consortium companies and stakeholders must be transparent and verifiable.

Agency Capacity: The connection capacity of any Agency is limited. This limitation, known in social studies as the “Dunbar Number52,” indicates that an Agency can only maintain a meaningful and stable relationship with a certain number of others. When an Agency’s number of relationships exceeds this capacity, its connections lose quality, decision-making processes are disrupted, and the Agency becomes indifferent to the network or community in which it participates. Maintaining the number of connections within this capacity not only enhances the focus and quality of decisions but also fosters empathy, responsibility, and effective participation.

Community Size: The limited connection capacity of each Agency directly affects the size of the community or group in which it operates. A community that exceeds the optimal limit for meaningful relationships will gradually suffer from reduced cohesion, poor coordination, and a decline in the quality of collective decision-making. In the ACE model, the size of each community must remain within a specific range, proportional to the connection capacity of its members. This limitation prevents the creation of emotional and operational distance between members, providing the basis for the formation of lasting trust and practical cooperation.

• Individual Agency: The team in which an employee works is kept as small as possible to maintain high-quality communication; for example, teams that can be fed with one large pizza.
  
• Legal Agency: The company’s size is limited; a fixed number is not set, but the guiding indicator is the Dunbar Number of the owners. The company can grow only to the point where the owners know the employees on a person-by-person basis and have direct contact with them in various meetings.

Community Fork: When the need for scaling up arises or when there are differences in values and rules at the team/company/consortium level, the community must fork—create a new branch, just as a tree grows branches when it grows, rather than swelling its trunk.

• Individual Agency: If one or more Agencies wish to do so due to a change in values or non-acceptance of certain conditions, they can transparently and legally request a fork—either by creating a new team within the company or by creating a new company as a branch of the original company.
  
• Legal Agency: If the company’s business expands, it is not permitted to increase its size; instead, it must establish a new branch or subsidiary. The current owners do not have the right to own the new company; ownership of the new company must be transferred to a portion of the former employees.

Hierarchy: If a hierarchical structure is needed to create harmony within the community of Agencies, the size and organization of the community must be such that the height of the hierarchy does not increase excessively. The optimal height of a hierarchy is one where the head of the pyramid can maintain direct communication with the lowest nodes, and every individual can communicate directly with the head of the hierarchy.

Consensus: The coming together of Agencies in a community naturally leads to differences of opinion and the formation of conflicts. To advance activities and maintain cohesion, methods for reaching consensus are needed. In the ACE model, the consensus process is integral to the communication culture, enabling decisions that maximize satisfaction and alignment among members, even if not all viewpoints can be fully accommodated.

• Voting: A direct method where each Agency has the right to express an opinion and cast a vote. The decision is made based on a majority or pre-determined ratios.
  
• Expert Opinion: In specialized matters, decision-making is entrusted to individuals who have deep knowledge and experience in that field.
  
• Random Selection: In situations where views are highly balanced or contentious, random selection can be an impartial and quick solution for decision-making. This approach can even be used to create engagement, variety, and diversity—similar to natural processes like sex determination in humans, which is determined completely randomly in the genes.
  
• Elders’ Council: Relying on individuals with credibility, experience, and a good reputation within the community to provide a final opinion or mediation.

Conflict Resolution: In the interaction between Agencies, disagreements and conflicts are inevitable. These conflicts can arise from differences in goals, priorities, implementation methods, or even different interpretations of reality. Conflict resolution does not mean the complete elimination of disagreement, but instead finding a path or structure that allows for continued cooperation without erosion or weakening of the parties.

• Individual Agency: If an Agency within a company feels its voice is not heard or its rights are being violated, it must have the ability to send a signal to other members of the consortium. Employees of member companies can form dedicated consortium syndicates.
  
• Legal Agency: All member companies are obliged to receive and address signals received from the Agencies of other companies. The priority of handling is determined based on the physical distance between the companies.

Governance: The rules among Agencies should be simple, transparent, and low-conflict. As the group grows, law-making becomes more difficult. In companies, some rules are established by the owners. In contrast, others are developed through a collective process. A rule is considered stable when it is based on dialogue and mutual consent.

• Individual Agency: Employees should not work under mental/physical pressure to satisfy the needs of the owners. Rules on working hours and workload are approved through an internal governance process, taking into account the company’s resource status. Employees of ACE consortium companies should be able to propose and pursue laws related to their working status and conditions through this same process.
  
• Legal Agency: Each company is obliged to have a transparent and reliable internal governance process. The owners initiate part of it, and the rest is formed through collective participation. The final rules must be compatible with the principle of not imposing mental/physical pressure and be approved through dialogue and mutual agreement.

Policing: The best police for any Agency is itself; oversight should be minimal and based on accountability.

• Individual Agency: An individual’s credibility and reputation compel them to follow the rules—even when they are alone. Adherence should come from a sense of responsibility, not from fear of punishment.
  
• Legal Agency: The duty of oversight is to ensure compliance with the rules, not constant control. Oversight should be minimal, transparent, impartial, and based on a collective agreement.

Judgment: There are times when one or more Agencies cannot resolve their disputes internally. If the network of Agencies adheres to the Dunbar Number limit, the need for external judgment usually does not arise. In these situations, referring to the collective of Agencies or the group’s elders often resolves the issue. Otherwise, an impartial observer from among the consortium groups must be used for arbitration to reach a fair and acceptable decision.

Exchange

Some form of exchange always accompanies the connection between two Agencies. Every Agency meets a portion of its needs through this exchange. The ability to engage in give-and-take is an inherent characteristic of every Agency, and no obstacle or limitation—including the inability to pay money—should prevent it from receiving what it needs. This exchange can also be conducted with tools other than money.

The exchange between Agencies is summarized in three key methods, known by the acronym GCC: Gift, Commitments, Currency.

Gift: In this method, the needs of one Agency are met by another Agency with no expectation of return. The act of receiving a gift is, in itself, a form of exchange—because the recipient, by accepting and using the gift, shapes part of that relationship. Gift exchange without expectation is the most essential factor in strengthening human bonds.

• Individual Agency: Employees do not receive a salary for all activities. They perform a portion of their work voluntarily and as a gift to the company, ranging from specialized services to minor tasks such as cleaning and maintenance. In return, the company can also provide supportive gifts to solve the problems and needs of employees.
  
• Legal Agency: Consortium member companies, as a priority, offer their goods and services to other consortium members. A portion of this offering can be in the form of a gift. Also, some specialized or non-specialized tasks that are usually outsourced can be performed as a gift by individuals from other companies.

Commitments: In this method, exchange takes the form of a debtor-creditor relationship. The Agency receiving the goods or services commits to reciprocating in the future. This debt is recorded in a ledger or accounting system. The basis of this type of exchange is high trust between the parties and confidence that commitments will be fulfilled in the future. In this type of transaction, no instrument, such as money or currency, is used for the exchange of goods and services.

• Philosophy: Mutual indebtedness encourages Agencies to maintain each other’s stability. Because each is committed to the other, the durability of the network and other Agencies becomes a common interest for all.
  
• Difference from Monetary Exchange: In commitment-based exchange, the relationship between the parties persists beyond the transaction. The remaining commitment keeps the human connection active, and the fate of each party becomes vital to the other. In contrast, monetary exchange relies on minimal trust, reducing the bond to a necessary minimum with immediate settlement, and leaves no room for mutual care after payment. The system for this section is Mutual Credit Accounting; the algebraic sum of debts and credits in the network becomes zero.
  
• Individual Agency: A portion of an employee’s salary and benefits is held as a registered credit for them (functioning similarly to life/retirement insurance), with the difference that the fund is defined within the company/network itself. For further details, refer to the “ACE Economy” chapter.
  
• Legal Agency: Instead of receiving currency immediately, a company can record the value delivered to others as a debt in the mutual credit ledger. Subsequent settlement is done with goods/services/currency or through barter; at the consortium network level, the accounts remain zero-sum.

Currency (Money and other instruments of exchange): In this method, the Agency receiving goods or services settles its debt at that moment by paying with currency. This transaction is based on the lowest level of direct trust between the parties, as the only backing for the relationship is the money itself as a tool of exchange. Companies within the consortium sell a portion of their services or manufactured goods in exchange for various currencies to companies inside and outside the ACE consortium.

ACE Economy

The ACE economy is a seven-part model for the activity of economic enterprises, in which the principles and phases of Agency are present in all layers and decisions.

1. Capital In the ACE economy, capital is not just money or a bank account balance. The company’s annual capital must be measured and reported based on the following seven-dimensional capital portfolio.

• Financial Capital: Liquidity, income, assets, and financial resilience.
  
• Knowledge Capital: Skills, accumulated experience, documentation, and organizational learning.
  
• Natural Capital: Environmental impact/commitments and the give-and-take relationship with the Earth as an Agency.
  
• Physical Health Capital: State of well-being, occupational safety, and capacity to work.
  
• Mental Health Capital: Psycho-emotional well-being, burnout, sense of meaning, and belonging.
  
• Social Capital: Trust, cooperation network, reputation, and inter-organizational relationships.
  
• Cultural Capital: Shared values, work norms, quality of interaction, and collective creativity.

The indicators required to calculate the capital portfolio are defined and updated with the participation of all consortium companies and can be adjusted to suit the culture of each company. (These measurements are not necessarily completely definitive and numerical; a degree of uncertainty is accepted.) The capital portfolio indicators must be calculated for all employees of a company.

2. Means of Production In this model, Planet Earth and the environment are considered a separate Agency. Every enterprise must make its give-and-take with the environment transparent and measure its positive and negative impacts. Indicators such as the Average Care Index can calculate a company’s debt or credit relative to the environment. Companies with low debt can transfer this capacity to other companies and, in return, receive services or goods in exchange. The transfer of surplus environmental capacity is only allowed within the consortium; a secondary market is forbidden. All transfers are recorded in a transparent registry. However, the creation of shell markets and companies, as well as the misuse of carbon footprint buying and selling, must be prevented.

3. Labor Force The labor force in the ACE economy is an active part of the company’s Agency, and decisions must be made based on the Agency’s phases.

• Clause 1—Payment of salaries and benefits can be done through various exchange models (money, gift, commitment).
  
• Clause 2—The company is obliged to give shares to all its employees and make them partners in the profit.
  
• Clause 3—In-sourcing of Funds and Insurance: Pension funds, housing funds, and other insurance coverages are moved from being outsourced to being in-sourced, either by the company where each employee works or by consortium companies.
  
• Clause 4—The commitment exchange method is used for the implementation of various funds and insurances. Commitments are recorded in the accounting ledger and settled at agreed-upon times.
  
• Clause 5—Experience of Agency Phases: The design of roles and duties must be such that every employee, during their collaboration period, experiences all four Agency phases: Exploration, Stabilization, Expansion, and Integration.

4. Production of Goods and Services Each company must define its values and keep its products aligned with them. These values also govern the company’s relationships and exchanges. For example, the SAS Energy company does not provide its equipment directly to companies active in the gambling industry. It even prevents the indirect use of its products by these companies.

• Clause 1—Product/Service Focus: The preference is for each company to remain focused on one product or one service to keep space open for others to enter and grow.
  
• Clause 2—Compatibility and Quality Standards: Production must be aligned with the consortium’s common standards (quality/safety/compatibility) to ensure smooth collaboration between companies.

5. Market and Competition

• Clause 1—Priority of Supply within the Consortium: Member companies of the consortium are obligated first to meet the needs of individual and legal Agencies within the consortium and only offer the surplus to outside parties.
  
• Clause 2—Priority of Purchase within the Consortium: Member individual and legal Agencies procure their needs primarily from companies within the consortium. If not available, resorting to outside sources is permitted.
  
• Clause 3—Healthy, Not Corrosive, Competition: The variety of a company’s products/services should not crowd the space for other members. Healthy competition is allowed, but not to the extent that it leads to the instability or collapse of other consortium companies.
  
• Clause 4—Prohibition of Ownership Chaining: Creating chain companies with a single individual Agency owner is prohibited. In the event of growth, the company must split, and the ownership of the new company must be transferred to new owners among the former employees.

6. Sales and Exchange Exchange within the ACE consortium is based on the GCC (Gift, Commitments, Currency) model.

• Clause 1—Internal Unit of Value (Commitments): The consortium companies will define an internal unit of value for their commitments system. This unit is valid only within the consortium, and the value of goods/services at the time of exchange will be calculated with this unit and recorded in the accounting ledgers.
  
• Clause 2—Transition from Current Currencies: The use of common currencies for valuation is permissible at the beginning of the consortium. However, after the launch of the consortium’s dedicated calculation unit, all accounts and ledgers must be updated, and calculations must be re-tallied.
  
• Clause 3—Shared Network Commitment: The commitments of a legal Agency (company) are considered a commitment of the network. If a company faces problems or crises for any reason, other consortium members will cooperate and provide support to fulfill that company’s commitments.

7. Profit Calculation Profit in the ACE economy is multi-dimensional and must be measured and reported based on the seven-fold capital portfolio, not just a financial figure.

• Clause 1—Reinvestment in the Seven-Fold Portfolio: Each company is obligated to allocate a portion of its profits to strengthen the seven capitals, both at the level of the legal Agency (the company itself) and at the level of individual Agencies (all employees).
  
• Clause 2—Consortium Share and Commitments: A portion of the profit must be allocated to consortium expenses and the repayment of commitments to maintain the network’s stability.
  
• Clause 3—The Meaning of Growth: The financial growth of the company should not be pursued exponentially/geometrically. The assessment of growth must be distributed and spread among the seven capital indicators to obtain an accurate picture of the company’s progress in all dimensions.