What’s In A Name? Why Are We The HuPerson Project?

We’d like to talk a little about the striking title we’ve chosen for our approach to doing business differently. Let’s start with “person.” Initially, the word meant to “sing through,” meaning that an actor wearing a mask could be heard on stage. This way of distinguishing the individual gradually came to mean a human being. According to Etymonline, the decision to use -person to replace -man in compound words was necessary to create a gender-neutral reference, such as its recorded use (1971) in chairperson. Taking this business practice a step further, we use person in the same way, as a gender-neutral reference.

The sound of “Hu,” is in a special category of sounds in many of the world’s traditions, pointing to the highest ideal of the human being. We want to orient ourselves in business that way, both for the individual and the company, to create the most highly developed expression for both.

Finally, the word, “project,” suggests to us the on-going nature of doing business differently. Rather than being satisfied with the status-quo, or even manipulating the status-quo effectively, we want to acknowledge that our world is in trouble right now. The HuPerson Project steps way back from business as usual and re-engages with business in a new way, combining profit and beauty to create shared prosperity and stewardship.