The first in our series of podcast episodes with leaders and visionaries in the Collective Intelligence field, this interview is a conversation with John Richardson. John is the founder, CEO, and chief architect behind Ethelo Decisions, a software platform for civic engagement and collaborative decision making. With a background in mathematics and philosophy, John and his team have introduced what they call “options” to the process of collective, asynchronous, online decision making. By breaking down a complex decision into smaller pieces, Ethelo can find the path of greatest agreement through difficult collective planning decisions, leading to more harmonious outcomes for all stakeholders. In this interview we talk about the organizational structure at Ethelo, John’s history in public interest law, and the prospect for improved democratic governance to help us get through massive societal challenges.