MBET Culture

As with all aspects of Marine Biology and Environmental Technologies, our culture is constantly evolving. The world is changing faster than at any other time in its history. This “Culture” is the story of MBET’s adjusting, adapting, acclimating
and finally evolving to solve not only the problems of MBET businesses, but also some of the world’s greatest problems: environmental, economic, and social. We continually strive to accomplish our ultimate mission….

Strength Through Diversity

MBET is based on diversity of its active advisory board members. There are over three hundred and seventy active advisory board members from multitudes of nationalities, cultures, backgrounds and disciplines. This allows differences of perspectives and cross-pollination of creative ideas, approaches, and techniques to allow us to explore the vast “frontier” of biomedicine, marine biology, environmental science, aquaculture, regeneration of land and ocean ecosystems and the innovative new technologies associated with them. However, each and every MBET member has the commonality of being confident, compatible, hard-working and self-made. Each is brilliant and creative in his or her own right and has the insight and motivation to fulfill MBET’s ambitious vision: end hunger, poverty, illiteracy and major diseases while restoring ecosystems by offsetting human destruction and consumption of many of the world’s ocean and land environments.

“To turn really interesting ideas and fledgling technologies into a company that can continue to innovate for years requires people of a lot of disciplines working together” (Steve Jobs).

Major Assets

MBET’s major asset is and will always be its individual MBET Board Members. The bringing together of these dynamic and very talented people within MBET Culture, with its focus on teamwork, is a classic example of synergy where the group is much stronger than the addition of the individual strengths of its members. Each member represents a “piece of the puzzle,” the finished product of which will be the formula for achieving “the MBET Vision.” “It’s not a faith in technology, it’s faith in people.” (Steve Jobs)

Can’t Say Can’t

“If you think you can do something or you think you can’t do something, you’re right.” (Henry Ford) There is no such thing as “can’t do” within MBET. Working in over 20 MBET teams, board members recognize problems, critically analyze them, gather the data, organize step-by-step plans for solutions, and exercise those steps while remaining flexible and open to other possibilities and pathways (creative problem solving). “Stay committed to your decisions but stay flexible in your approach.” (Tony Robbins) “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” “When everything seems to be going against you, remember the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” (Henry Ford) “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” (Steve Jobs)

Scientific Method

All of MBET’s operations utilize the scientific method:

• Purpose/Question
• Research
• Hypothesis
• Experiment
• Data/Analysis
• Conclusion

This leads to increased reliability and sustainability. By having each step scientifically controlled, the entire process is scalable and reproducible. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” (Peter Drucker) “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.” (Jim Rohn) 

Opportunities Abound

Every business, environmental, economic, political or social situation, whether good or problematic, will be viewed as an opportunity. Sometimes the worst of problems can lead to the greatest advancements. Opening yourself up to each “opportunity” makes for success. “Everyone felt that the Amazon model was going to fail. Amazon was given a seven-year free runway without any competition. By the time people realized Amazon had created a new paradigm, we had a tremendous head start.” (Jeff Bezos) “If you want the highest level of success, you should strike out on new paths rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.” (John D. Rockefeller)

Leave Your “Ego” at the Door

MBET’s Board members will change the world for the better. This will be a “war not a battle.” To make this happen, all board members must leave their egos “outside the boardroom.” We are all “captains” in our own worlds but realize that working as board members may sometimes be a more powerful role within MBET. “If you don’t have to worry about who gets credit, it’s amazing
how much can be done.” (Ronald Reagan)

Equal Voice

Everyone’s voice is equal within MBET – whether you own 100 shares or 1,000,000 shares. MBET feels that the knowledge of members’ equity position is counterproductive. That information may decrease effective input by establishing a “hierarchy of power.”

There Are No Mistakes

The world is constantly changing (environment, social, business, political, etc.), and MBET must anticipate, adjust, adapt, acclimate and then try to solve those problems/disasters. This is called evolution and is a necessity to get to and stay “ahead of the curve” and “on top.” “What is dangerous is not to evolve.” (Jeff Bezos) “Mistakes” are accepted as part of the learning process. At MBET, if you’re not making mistakes, you’re not on the cutting edge and will not advance. But we must learn from our mistakes and try to never make the same mistake twice. We are gathering information from around the world and looking to build on “mistakes” of others. It’s less expensive and less disruptive to learn from others’ mistakes rather than our own. “Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.” “Don’t find fault, find a remedy.” (Henry Ford) “Lean into the future and solve problems when the world changes. Complaining isn’t a strategy.” (Jeff Bezos) 

High Performance Teams

In order to minimize “mistakes,” all MBET members must be non-judgmental and respectful critics. They continually evaluate their own and others’ work in a most constructive fashion, always seeking further innovation and improvement. “We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve” (Bill Gates). To effectively build “high performance teams,” members must get to know each other well. Thus, MBET sponsors numerous social events, e.g., BBQ’s, parties, summer camp, hikes and other athletic activities, poker nights, sporting events, wine tasting, committee meetings, etc. Friendship is an essential ingredient for “high-performance teams” which, by definition, increases effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity. Members are always encouraged to get involved with all group activities. “Great things in business are never done by one person; they are done by a team of people.” (Steve Jobs)

“Pro-active” rather than “Reactive”

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” (Mark Twain) Although crises are the “mother of invention,” MBET’s focus is to avoid them. MBET takes a “pro-active” rather than a “reactive” approach to achieving its goals. Members think of and plan for ALL possible problems, such as disease, weather, pollution, disasters, (e.g., earthquakes, floods, drought) etc., before they happen (even if they have never happened before). They develop mitigating solutions and implement them when necessary to avoid or solve any problems. Risk mitigation/management charts will be updated every six months.

Careful Planning

MBET is extremely cost efficient in all of its operations through careful planning and organization and the attitude that “it can always be improved and the one best way has yet to be defined” (Charlie Armstrong). “I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars – I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.” (Warren Buffet) “I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you are constantly thinking about what you have done and how you could be doing it better” (Elon Musk). We will never “throw money at problems.” Rather we will solve them through creative problem solving. This will be done in every new business. Through the use of Gantt charts and Mind Maps and continuously updated production models, our Procurement Committee will ensure that we purchase most of our equipment and material through auctions, close out sales, etc. at a cost of pennies on the retail dollar. By making purchases in a strategic proactive manner, expensive last minute emergency purchases can be avoided.

Family Participation

MBET members are some of the smartest and most creative people in the world, and so are members of their families. The foundation of MBET will be built on family participation – grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. MBET does not want to pull its members away from their families. By including the whole family, MBET wants its Board Members to use MBET as a unifying family focal point. What greater family goal is there than helping to “feed, heal and power the world and save the environment”? “Many people have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” (Helen Keller)

Sustainable Business Model

“The highest use of capital is not to make more money, but to make money do more for the betterment of life.” (Henry Ford). MBET is building the ultimate sustainable business model designed to permanently end global hunger, poverty, illiteracy, major diseases and environmental destruction. In contrast to all the existing international attempts to do this which are based on charitable donations (charity model), the key to MBET’s success will be its sustainable solution, which is based on the profitability of technologically advanced businesses using ocean and environmental science. Its core business is ecologically beneficial aqua farming of indigenous species and the by-products derived from them. The MBET profitability will allow it to develop numerous facilities which will produce thriving communities throughout the Third World.

Business Model

1. MBET’s primary product is large quantity, high quality, and low cost seafood using an Environmentally Beneficial™, sustainable process. The technological aquafarming advances in equipment and techniques are some of MBET’s intellectual properties (IP). They will not only increase efficiency and effectiveness of production of all the seafood, but also increase the value of each MBET project which is based on the “byproducts” (viscera, shells, etc). This IP will also be used as capital in acquiring equity in less sophisticated and thus less profitable aquafarms. There are tens of thousands of these small, usually family owned and operated aquafarms around the world. Without MBET’s technological advances many of these small aquafarms will close. Each added aquafarm partner will add to IP and expansion synergies. The owners of these small aquafarms can thus be guaranteed an elevated profit and lifestyle by sharing equity with MBET. This is definitely the ideal win-win situation.

2. MBET is successful through innovative technology and techniques developed by high-performance teams focused on keeping operational costs low and productivity at a maximum. This success will only increase with expansion because of MBET’s use of economies of scale and leveraging time and talent of its gifted members.

3. Profitability is essential for MBET to support not only its employees and their families directly but also the local community in the form of education, health, housing, and other benefits. This of course will benefit MBET by having much healthier, happier, more educated, more productive and loyal employees. This “giving back” process brings value not only to MBET and the local community but also to the entire country. This is truly an example of “doing good makes good business sense.”

4. The most important aspect of maximizing success is that it creates sustainability and expandability. MBET’s strategic goal is to expand around the world. This goal, as evidenced by others which MBET has already achieved, seems at first to be beyond comprehension. However, MBET has already developed prototype facilities and is improving upon them with each new facility. MBET will develop such value for local communities that countries around the world will open their doors to MBET and try (through concessions) to persuade MBET to develop there. MBET anticipates exponential growth of expansion facilities starting in 4-5 years.

5. Patterned after Steve Jobs’ business model, MBET will direct its innovative efforts towards high demand opportunities. It is researching the literature and markets for ocean-based and healing opportunities which have the highest unfulfilled demand potential. “I have great respect for incremental improvement, but I’ve always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. They are much harder and more emotionally stressful. Almost always you go through a period where everybody tells you that you’ve completely failed.” (Steve Jobs). Using creative problem solving, MBET finds innovative techniques to make the most valuable product or grow the marine animal or plant that produces the highest yielding product (skin care products, wound healing products, ocean gems, value-added seafood, pharmacology products and supplemental nutraceuticals). “Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have; it’s about the people you have, how they are led, and how much ‘they get it’.” (Steve Jobs)

6. MBET has developed a brand based on the highest quality, reliability and sustainability of all seafood products and respect for all marine plant and animal species and social/environmental conscientiousness. “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.” (Jeff Bezos)

7. Because MBET aquafarms are vertically integrated and thus have the ability to completely control the purity of food, water and all aspects of the grow-out environment. The quality of the seafood product can be guaranteed and thus classified as “organic.” Most other aquafarming operations produce lower quality product and are environmentally damaging or dangerous. “Wild caught” fish are only as good as the environment in which they swim and feed. Would you eat a fish from Santa Monica Bay? You should not have to worry about the mercury content of most predatory wild caught fish. You wouldn’t worry if the fish were aquafarmed by MBET! Large world demand for any wild caught species will always lead to depletion or extinction of that species (Chilean sea bass, Bluefin tuna, Alaskan king crab, Dungeness crab, all species of abalone, many species of salmon, etc.) because of nature’s sensitively balanced ecosystems. Aquafarming and fish ranching provide the only sustainable methods of producing large quantities of a single species of seafood. Of course, using the state-of-the-art MBET techniques for aquafarming produces the highest quality of seafood. Point of sale videos and brochures will educate the sophisticated consumer to appreciate the MBET type of aquafarming. Distributors, retailers, consumers, and chefs will benefit from the supreme level of quality and core values. The MBET Brand will add tremendous value to the grocery and restaurant retailers. The educated consumer will expect a new, higher standard which few, if any other, seafood companies will be able to fill.

8. MBET will take the George Washington Carver approach to each seafood species. Through our innovative and technological process, MBET will maximize the benefit and minimize the waste by finding ways to use each and every part of the animal or plant. For instance, many species of sea cucumber, scallops, mussels, sea snails, clams, oysters, abalone and octopus presently being grown globally are only used for the meat. The rest of the animal is thrown away as waste. MBET is not only harvesting the meat, but also the intestines, gonads, mantle, digestive glands, venoms, shells and other animal compounds for rejuvenating creams, anti-cancer creams and pharmaceuticals, jewelry and nutraceuticals.

9. Similar to Bill Gates and Elon Musk, MBET strives to solve many of the world’s greatest problems: global warming, 60M refugees from war torn/starving countries, clean energy, feeding the increasing world population, clean water and food, restoration of ocean coral and vegetative ecosystems and using pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals to cure cancer and rejuvenate aging bodies.

10. Starting in 1999, the precursor to MBET was a simple, poor, commodity-based abalone farm in central Baja. It progressed into growing all shellfish, most crustaceans, and many other valuable ocean plant and animal species. MBET then advanced into a value-added business producing seafood pizzas, empanadas, and paellas for a major, elite market chain. Over the last 17 years, MBET continued to focus on ocean and environment innovation and has grown into 21 technology companies and business units. This growth process has been based on the production of the technologically advanced and extremely valuable products it has created. MBET companies and business units establish sustainability and expandability. Thus, the individual success of each of the MBET companies will be maximized by the synergies of the companies themselves and the leveraging of time and talent of the leaders and members of these overlapping companies. These MBET companies’ synergies are priceless and are what most companies spend tremendous capital to create in the form of mergers and acquisitions. MBET’s organic growth has established a completely vertically integrated supply chain to: 1) control quantity, quality, sustainability, and security; 2) leverage MBET member talent in R&D, logistics, and new technologies; 3) increase market share; expand into new markets; 4) provide economy of scale; 5) and geophysical and geographic diversification.

Think Groups

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few people engage in it.” (Henry Ford) Individual MBET members do much of MBET work not only for quality control, cost efficiency and security, but also for MBET unity. Members will help with many of the functions of our operations (e.g. secretarial, transportation, legal, accounting, and of course scientists doing science). “Think groups” are being held by groups of individual members to explore out-of-the-box possibilities which could be distilled into opportunities. “There is no bad time to innovate.” (Jeff Bezos) “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” (John D. Rockefeller) In addition, each member gains a basic understanding of marine aqua farming, ecosystems, and the principles of recreating them. Members are reimbursed through cash and equity incentives via MBET’s Value Added Participation System (see below).

Value Added Participation Appraisal Program

All MBET members and employees whose participation brings value to MBET will have tremendous short and long term incentives. MBET also has full-time employees who are salaried and have incentive benchmarks. The focus is not only on accomplishing but maximizing goals rather than “putting in their time and collecting a pay-check”. “Do not hire a man who does your work for only money, but rather him who does it for the love of it.” (Henry David Thoreau) The Value Added Participation Appraisal Program is MBET’s system for assessing the value of the tremendous quality and quantity of different types of member work presently being performed by its advisory board members and their families. This creates cash and equity incentives for work performed now (before high levels of profitability) to be paid with future profitability. This incentive package has markedly reduced MBET’s overhead (over 90%) while maintaining the highest level of quality. This system of course leads to greater and greater stimulation to create growth and profitability. Eventually, all MBET positions will be full or part time and have salary and incentive compensation. “Tell me and I will forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I will learn” “Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade.” (Ben Franklin)

Constant Universal Innovation (CUI)

Improving a company’s function or product is an evolutionary process. In most companies, this process is commonly slow and cumbersome. It is usually based on solving problems as they occur. As mentioned earlier MBET has developed a risk mitigation/management plan minimizing the possibility of problems occurring and setting forth a management plan if they do. However, in MBET the evolutionary process also happens every day. Each member constantly analyzes every job or activity to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and quality of the process or product on which he/she is working: Constant universal Innovation.