Up to 80 protesters killed during rioting, aides to Dalai Lama say
Aileen Mccabe, Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, March 17, 2008
SHANGHAI -- A massive show of strength by Chinese security officials appears to have restored an eerie calm in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, but the Dalai Lama said Sunday he feared the Chinese were intent on "cultural genocide" in Tibet.
Meanwhile, the anti-China protests spilled over into neighbouring Sichuan province Sunday, where there is a large Tibetan population. The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said it had confirmed reports of eight deaths in Ngaba County "after armed troops shot indiscriminately into the peacefully protesting Tibetans."
It also reported a second day of protests by ethnic Tibetans in Lanzhou, in China's northwestern Gansu province. Aides to the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters their unconfirmed reports put the death count from Friday's rioting in Lhasa eight times higher than the 10 "innocent civilian" deaths the Chinese government is acknowledging. The Dalai Lama said he had "grave concerns" about what really happened when Buddhist monks and their supporters clashed with the Chinese security forces on Friday.
The Dalai Lama called China's response to protests in Tibet 'cultural genocide.'
Speaking from his headquarters in Dharamshala, India, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate told reporters: "Whether intentionally or not, cultural genocide is taking place" in Tibet.
He said the Chinese "simply rely on using force to simulate peace, a peace brought by force using a rule of terror."
The holy man pleaded for an international investigation into Friday's riots in the vast Himalayan state.
The Chinese, meanwhile, continued to insist "a handful of monks" -- the "Dalai clique" -- incited the violence and is responsible for the deaths of innocent shopkeepers and hotel workers. They maintain security forces handled the dangerous situation appropriately.
Chinese troops moved to tackle more unrest in ethnic Tibetan enclaves today, as a deadline loomed for "troublemakers" who took part in protests in Lhasa.
"We are completely capable of protecting the security of the Tibet people. Right now the overall situation in Tibet is very good," the mayor of Lhasa, Doje Cezhug, said from Beijing, in remarks posted on the Tibet government's website.
Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, said senior official Sun Qian laid the blame for the unrest on a "scheme premeditated by the Dalai clique to separate Tibet from China and sabotage the normal, harmonious and peaceful life of people in Tibet."
Reuters reported that Wu Shuangzhan, commander of the People's Armed Police, said Sunday: "I can honestly tell you that none of the means we have adopted (in Lhasa) have exceeded the constitutional rights of the armed forces or international law."
Human rights groups around the world are skeptical. There are unconfirmed accounts of security forces using tear gas, cattle prods, live bullets and brute force to quell the demonstrations that began last Monday with a peaceful march by monks commemorating the 49th anniversary of a failed anti-Chinese demonstration in Tibet.
Reporters are not allowed into Tibet without special permission from Beijing and most of the foreign tourists who were providing eyewitness accounts of events earlier in the week have now been convinced by authorities to leave.
Up to 80 protesters killed during rioting, aides to Dalai Lama say
Aileen Mccabe, Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, March 17, 2008
Tour operators say existing travel permits have been cancelled and tourists are no longer allowed to enter the region.
The Chinese Communists annexed Tibet in 1951 and since then have systematically moved Han Chinese into the mountainous region in what many see as an attempt to wipe out dissent among the native population.
There have been short stories in the Chinese media about demonstrations by the "Dalai Lama clique," saying the situation is now under control and state TV showed pictures of people cleaning up the debris on otherwise deserted streets in Lhasa.
Around the world, leaders have called on China to exercise restraint in Tibet and in several countries demonstrators have marched in sympathy with the Lhasa monks.
The reaction is exactly what Beijing does not want to see as it counts down to the opening of the Olympic Games in August.
The Beijing Games have taken on an importance here far beyond their value as a sporting event.
They are supposed to be China's "coming-out party," as the newly prosperous nation wants to reposition itself in the world and show itself off as a modern forward-looking state. And the last thing it wants is renewed concern over its human rights record to overshadow its "re-launch."
Monday, March 17, 2008
Islamic Institution Turns Basic Banking Principles Upside Down
Craig and Marc Kielburger, Special to the Sun
Published: Monday, March 17, 2008
Pervez Nasim may look like an average businessman with his collared shirt, pressed slacks and neatly groomed beard, but when you begin to discuss finances with him it quickly becomes apparent that the similarities end there.
"Maximizing profit is not the most important," he tells us. "Charity and social responsibility are part and parcel with the bottom line."
Nasim is the Chairman of the Ansar Co-operative Housing Corp., a Toronto-based financial institution that strictly adheres to the rules of Islam. He's part of a rapidly growing faith-based financial industry that is turning the basic principles of banking upside down.
From North America to Asia, hundreds of Islamic-inspired banks offer interest-free services that emphasize charity and community over profit, in accordance with the Koran. Once found only in pockets of the Muslim world, growing Islamic wealth and a return to religious values has helped these banks multiply, skyrocketing them to a worth of $200 billion worldwide. "Your thinking has to change," Nasim says of Islamic banks. "Your focus has to change."
With interest forbidden by the Muslim holy book, Ansar turned to an approach that appears similar to a secular co-op, but like other Islamic business models, is rooted in religious beliefs. It purchases homes on behalf of customers, who then pay it back over time by buying shares in the company. Customers live in the homes and pay rent during the process, splitting any gain or loss in the home's value with Ansar.
"The whole Islamic concept of finance is sharing the risk and benefit together," Nasim says. "This is a community organization."
Since 1981 Ansar has sold 700 homes across the country. Despite not being able to charge interest, its success rate is nearly perfect. Nasim says the company only had trouble collecting its money once. He chalks this up to the fact that customers are driven by faith as much as they are by finances.
Ansar has been so successful that it now receives calls from financial institutions in the U.S., Australia and even Saudi Arabia looking to copy it.
Along the way, Ansar has not wavered from what Nasim calls another major tenant of Islamic banking -- social consciousness. It has regular investors looking to help first-time homebuyers, and when one of its customers died in a car accident while paying off his home, the co-op waived its remaining fees for four months to allow his wife to grieve.
"If there is a genuine need, it is our responsibility to help," Nasim explains. "As human beings, we have to look after each other and help each other."
Islamic banks are also careful not to invest in anything deemed unethical by the Koran, such as gambling or alcohol. Ansar soon hopes to invest in a senior citizens' home.
Nasim says the principles of Islamic banking used to draw laughter from those in mainstream banks, but with an annual growth rate topping 10 to 15 per cent, no one laughs any more. In fact, HSBC and other major banks are jumping on board and have opened their own Islamic financial institutions around the world. With stories of people losing their homes amid an impending recession in the United States, alternatives like this one will only become more attractive.
"It's sad," Nasim says of the U.S. mortgage crisis. "On a corporate level, they are on a different planet."
At the moment Ansar is open only to Muslims, a rule Nasim says is in place to cut down on fickle customers only looking to get a good deal on a house. That may change though, as Muslims and non-Muslims alike become increasingly committed to finding ethical ways of investing their money.
"There is a lot of opportunity [in Canada]," Nasim explains. "It's just a matter of time."
Craig and Marc Kielburger co-founded Free the Children. The primary goal of the organization is to free children from poverty and exploitation through education.
http://www.freethechildren.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
Published: Monday, March 17, 2008
Pervez Nasim may look like an average businessman with his collared shirt, pressed slacks and neatly groomed beard, but when you begin to discuss finances with him it quickly becomes apparent that the similarities end there.
"Maximizing profit is not the most important," he tells us. "Charity and social responsibility are part and parcel with the bottom line."
Nasim is the Chairman of the Ansar Co-operative Housing Corp., a Toronto-based financial institution that strictly adheres to the rules of Islam. He's part of a rapidly growing faith-based financial industry that is turning the basic principles of banking upside down.
From North America to Asia, hundreds of Islamic-inspired banks offer interest-free services that emphasize charity and community over profit, in accordance with the Koran. Once found only in pockets of the Muslim world, growing Islamic wealth and a return to religious values has helped these banks multiply, skyrocketing them to a worth of $200 billion worldwide. "Your thinking has to change," Nasim says of Islamic banks. "Your focus has to change."
With interest forbidden by the Muslim holy book, Ansar turned to an approach that appears similar to a secular co-op, but like other Islamic business models, is rooted in religious beliefs. It purchases homes on behalf of customers, who then pay it back over time by buying shares in the company. Customers live in the homes and pay rent during the process, splitting any gain or loss in the home's value with Ansar.
"The whole Islamic concept of finance is sharing the risk and benefit together," Nasim says. "This is a community organization."
Since 1981 Ansar has sold 700 homes across the country. Despite not being able to charge interest, its success rate is nearly perfect. Nasim says the company only had trouble collecting its money once. He chalks this up to the fact that customers are driven by faith as much as they are by finances.
Ansar has been so successful that it now receives calls from financial institutions in the U.S., Australia and even Saudi Arabia looking to copy it.
Along the way, Ansar has not wavered from what Nasim calls another major tenant of Islamic banking -- social consciousness. It has regular investors looking to help first-time homebuyers, and when one of its customers died in a car accident while paying off his home, the co-op waived its remaining fees for four months to allow his wife to grieve.
"If there is a genuine need, it is our responsibility to help," Nasim explains. "As human beings, we have to look after each other and help each other."
Islamic banks are also careful not to invest in anything deemed unethical by the Koran, such as gambling or alcohol. Ansar soon hopes to invest in a senior citizens' home.
Nasim says the principles of Islamic banking used to draw laughter from those in mainstream banks, but with an annual growth rate topping 10 to 15 per cent, no one laughs any more. In fact, HSBC and other major banks are jumping on board and have opened their own Islamic financial institutions around the world. With stories of people losing their homes amid an impending recession in the United States, alternatives like this one will only become more attractive.
"It's sad," Nasim says of the U.S. mortgage crisis. "On a corporate level, they are on a different planet."
At the moment Ansar is open only to Muslims, a rule Nasim says is in place to cut down on fickle customers only looking to get a good deal on a house. That may change though, as Muslims and non-Muslims alike become increasingly committed to finding ethical ways of investing their money.
"There is a lot of opportunity [in Canada]," Nasim explains. "It's just a matter of time."
Craig and Marc Kielburger co-founded Free the Children. The primary goal of the organization is to free children from poverty and exploitation through education.
http://www.freethechildren.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
YOU TUBE ACCESS BLOCKED IN CHINA
AFP
Published: Monday, March 17, 2008
Access to YouTube in China was denied on Sunday after footage of recent deadly protests in Tibet appeared on the video posting site.
Attempts to call up the site met with a blank screen and an error message saying the web page could not be displayed.
The access problems came after video clips began appearing on the site showing violent unrest in the Tibetan capital Lhasa that triggered a virtual lockdown of the city by security forces.
Chinese riot police march through the city of Kangding, located around 400 kilometres (250 miles) west of Chengdu in Sichuan Province March 17, 2008. Chinese officials declared a "people's war" of security and propaganda against support for the Dalai Lama in Tibet after the worst unrest in the region for two decades racked the regional capital Lhasa over the past few days.
China, which strictly controls access to information, has kept a tight lid on news out of Lhasa, with foreign journalists being denied access and foreign tourists ordered out of the city.
The only footage broadcast by state-run media so far has been a short clip showing Tibetan rioters in the city destroying Chinese shops, but nothing has been released on the resulting crackdown by police.
China's official death count puts the toll at 10, but the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile says at least 80 deaths have been confirmed.
China also has been regularly blacking out the domestic feed of CNN whenever it runs a story about the Tibet unrest.
Access to popular Chinese-language video posts such as tudou.com were operational on Sunday but a search for videos of the Tibet violence came back with no results.
In late January, China introduced new restrictions on posting online video that critics saw as an extension of the Communist Party's tight noose on the nation's media outlets.
Amid China's information clampdown, the Internet has provided a rare window into the situation, with amateur video and pictures
Published: Monday, March 17, 2008
Access to YouTube in China was denied on Sunday after footage of recent deadly protests in Tibet appeared on the video posting site.
Attempts to call up the site met with a blank screen and an error message saying the web page could not be displayed.
The access problems came after video clips began appearing on the site showing violent unrest in the Tibetan capital Lhasa that triggered a virtual lockdown of the city by security forces.
Chinese riot police march through the city of Kangding, located around 400 kilometres (250 miles) west of Chengdu in Sichuan Province March 17, 2008. Chinese officials declared a "people's war" of security and propaganda against support for the Dalai Lama in Tibet after the worst unrest in the region for two decades racked the regional capital Lhasa over the past few days.
China, which strictly controls access to information, has kept a tight lid on news out of Lhasa, with foreign journalists being denied access and foreign tourists ordered out of the city.
The only footage broadcast by state-run media so far has been a short clip showing Tibetan rioters in the city destroying Chinese shops, but nothing has been released on the resulting crackdown by police.
China's official death count puts the toll at 10, but the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile says at least 80 deaths have been confirmed.
China also has been regularly blacking out the domestic feed of CNN whenever it runs a story about the Tibet unrest.
Access to popular Chinese-language video posts such as tudou.com were operational on Sunday but a search for videos of the Tibet violence came back with no results.
In late January, China introduced new restrictions on posting online video that critics saw as an extension of the Communist Party's tight noose on the nation's media outlets.
Amid China's information clampdown, the Internet has provided a rare window into the situation, with amateur video and pictures
Take Action: Tell your Congressional Representative to Support Tibet!
In Lhasa, the Chinese authorities have issued a notice to Tibetans who have taken part in demonstrations to give themselves up by midnight on Monday, March 17th. Not waiting for the deadline however, armed Chinese police have been conducting house-to-house searches and making arbitrary arrests. There is no reliable estimate of the number of detentions but reports suggest wide-scale raids and arrests across Lhasa. A curfew is now in place in Lhasa and the city is completely sealed off.
China's brutal clampdown on Tibetans continues as protests have spread throughout the country.
Please take immediate action by sending the letter below to your congressional representative urging him/her to speak out in support of Tibetans inside Tibet.
Dear [ Decision Maker ],
(Edit Letter Below)
As protests spread throughout Tibet, I am gravely concerned about China's continued brutal repression of Tibetans.
The Chinese authorities in Lhasa have threatened an increased crackdown after midnight Monday (12 noon EST) and according to Chinese state-run media, "Those who harbor or hide criminal elements shall be punished severely according to law upon completion of investigations."
Already, armed Chinese police have been conducting house-to-house searches and making arbitrary arrests. There is no reliable estimate of the number of detentions but reports suggest wide-scale raids and arrests across Lhasa. According to eyewitness reports received by the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, "mothers and elderlies in the families helplessly plea at security forces upon seeing their sons and loved ones being beaten and dragged away."
Please, I am urging you to speak up for Tibet:
1) The U.S. should speak out forcefully against China's brutal crackdown in Tibet.
2) The U.S. government should strongly support the Dalai Lama's call for a United Nations team of investigators to go to Tibet as soon as possible.
3) The U.S. should do everything in its capacity to urge China to withdraw military and security forces, release those detained, and allow peaceful protest. China must halt house-to-house searches; and authorities must refrain from any further arrests of Tibetan protesters even after its so-called surrender deadline has passed on Monday at midnight. China must immediately allow foreign journalists back into all Tibetan areas (Tibetan Autonomous Region as well as the Tibetan areas of Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan).
For five decades, the Tibetan people have suffered greatly under China's brutal rule. The Chinese government has swamped Tibet with Chinese settlers, poured money into mega-infrastructure projects like the railway that solidify its control, and ruthlessly attacked Tibetan culture and religion. As the Olympics approach and the world's eyes turn to Beijing, this outpouring of frustration is the natural consequence of China's ongoing repression in Tibet.
Please speak out now to help ensure that further violence against Tibetans is stopped.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address
China's brutal clampdown on Tibetans continues as protests have spread throughout the country.
Please take immediate action by sending the letter below to your congressional representative urging him/her to speak out in support of Tibetans inside Tibet.
Dear [ Decision Maker ],
(Edit Letter Below)
As protests spread throughout Tibet, I am gravely concerned about China's continued brutal repression of Tibetans.
The Chinese authorities in Lhasa have threatened an increased crackdown after midnight Monday (12 noon EST) and according to Chinese state-run media, "Those who harbor or hide criminal elements shall be punished severely according to law upon completion of investigations."
Already, armed Chinese police have been conducting house-to-house searches and making arbitrary arrests. There is no reliable estimate of the number of detentions but reports suggest wide-scale raids and arrests across Lhasa. According to eyewitness reports received by the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, "mothers and elderlies in the families helplessly plea at security forces upon seeing their sons and loved ones being beaten and dragged away."
Please, I am urging you to speak up for Tibet:
1) The U.S. should speak out forcefully against China's brutal crackdown in Tibet.
2) The U.S. government should strongly support the Dalai Lama's call for a United Nations team of investigators to go to Tibet as soon as possible.
3) The U.S. should do everything in its capacity to urge China to withdraw military and security forces, release those detained, and allow peaceful protest. China must halt house-to-house searches; and authorities must refrain from any further arrests of Tibetan protesters even after its so-called surrender deadline has passed on Monday at midnight. China must immediately allow foreign journalists back into all Tibetan areas (Tibetan Autonomous Region as well as the Tibetan areas of Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan).
For five decades, the Tibetan people have suffered greatly under China's brutal rule. The Chinese government has swamped Tibet with Chinese settlers, poured money into mega-infrastructure projects like the railway that solidify its control, and ruthlessly attacked Tibetan culture and religion. As the Olympics approach and the world's eyes turn to Beijing, this outpouring of frustration is the natural consequence of China's ongoing repression in Tibet.
Please speak out now to help ensure that further violence against Tibetans is stopped.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address
Friday, March 07, 2008
ZENTREPRENEURISM IN PAPERBACK
Good news for all Zenners and Zenners in waiting. Zentrepreneurism, the new groundbreaking book that is rocking the business world is now available in paperback at www.amazon.com.
"I love your book, thanks for sending me a copy.
"I'm delighted to be called a"zenner" and have been for quite a few years now. My company "weapons of mass entertainment" has many entrepeneurial ventures in the works all of which will impact the planet in a positive way. I'm pleased to announce that after working hand in hand with Greenpeace we are now going into business together and in fact they are moving into my offices to share our space and business ideas together."
I hope the book launch goes well and that many of you get the same buzz I got when reading it. Life is too short to mess around doing other stuff...start zenning today
David A. Stewart
President
Weapons Of Mass Entertainment
"I love your book, thanks for sending me a copy.
"I'm delighted to be called a"zenner" and have been for quite a few years now. My company "weapons of mass entertainment" has many entrepeneurial ventures in the works all of which will impact the planet in a positive way. I'm pleased to announce that after working hand in hand with Greenpeace we are now going into business together and in fact they are moving into my offices to share our space and business ideas together."
I hope the book launch goes well and that many of you get the same buzz I got when reading it. Life is too short to mess around doing other stuff...start zenning today
David A. Stewart
President
Weapons Of Mass Entertainment
MAKING THE GOLDEN YEARS SHINE
Why the baby boom generation should be itching to reinvent retirement.
Marc Freedman | November 2007 issue of Ode Magazine www.odemagazine.com
A fit, handsome sixty-something couple stretches out on a sandy beach. Another silver-haired pair steers a sailboat toward the sunset. A grey-templed golfer watches his drive soar down the fairway. This life of relaxation and luxury, in which every day is one big happy holiday, has long been a powerful part of the American dream of retirement. Depicted in so many advertisements for pension plans and retirement communities, these scenes have become an indelible feature of the landscape.
But wait a minute: Who looks forward to endless retirement anymore, 30 years of R and R? Who can afford it—even with the most diligent savings plan? For reasons of money and meaning, the golden-years vision being peddled by the financial and real estate industries is already obsolete. Stretched from a justified period of relaxation after the mid-life years into a phase lasting just as long, this version of retirement has been distorted into something grotesque, something that no longer works for individuals—or for society.
In the next couple of decades, more and more people will hit the traditional retirement age and become eligible for social benefits. This trend has experts worried: Soon a quarter (or more) of the population will be spending a third (or more) of the time in subsidized leisure, squeezing investments in education, environment and economy and threatening to bankrupt society as a whole. The prospect alone has led some pundits to predict that aging boomers will be remembered as a self-absorbed, self-serving horde of over-indulgers who used their votes and their dollars to shove their own interests to the forefront, posterity be damned.
But this troubling conclusion amounts to scenario-planning through the rear-view mirror. Retirement as we’ve known it is far from an eternal verity. In fact, it is already being displaced as the central institution of the second half of life, soon to be supplanted by a new stage of life and work opening up between the end of mid-life and the eventual arrival of true old age. Indeed, four out of five boomers consistently tell researchers they expect to work well into what used to be known as the retirement years.
The emerging trend toward extended productivity needs to be supported at every turn, as individuals seek to make ends meet over longer lifespans and societies seek to balance the fiscal ship. But we can go one important step further if we hope to make the most of the great gift of longevity. Aging boomers should be encouraged not only to continue contributing, but to rethink the purpose of that work—in short, to dust off their idealism of the ’60s and ’70s, and get to work making the world a better place.
It is the perfect opportunity for the generation that set out to change the world and got lost along the way. Now, as tens of millions of boomers careen toward what were once the golden years, I believe more and more people are interested in living out a distinct and compelling vision of contribution in the second half of adult life, one built around the ideal of an “encore career” at the intersection of continued income, new meaning and significant contribution to the greater good.
It is a dream with the potential to work for individuals, for employers, for our fiscal health and for the society at large. Never before have so many individuals had so much experience—and the time to put it to good use. While financial-service companies keep telling us the freedom from work will satisfy our desires, we’re better off looking for the freedom to work—in new ways, on new terms, to new and even more important ends.
Instead of accepting the notion of a career as an arc that rises in youth, peaks in mid-life, and declines into retirement, we stand poised to chart a new trajectory—one that for many will reach its apex of meaning and impact at a juncture when others in past generations were heading for the sidelines.
Marc Freedman is the founder and CEO of Civic Ventures, and author of Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life. For more information: www.encore.org
CAN ETHICS BE TAUGHT?
In a recent editorial, the Wall Street Journal announced that ethics courses are useless because ethics can't be taught. Although few people would turn to the Wall Street Journal as a learned expert on the teaching of ethics, the issue raised by the newspaper is a serious one: Can ethics be taught?
The issue is an old one. Almost 2500 years ago, the philosopher Socrates debated the question with his fellow Athenians. Socrates' position was clear: Ethics consists of knowing what we ought to do, and such knowledge can be taught.
Most psychologists today would agree with Socrates. In an overview of contemporary research in the field of moral development, psychologist James Rest summarized the major findings as follows:
Dramatic changes occur in young adults in their 20s and 30s in terms of the basic problem-solving strategies they use to deal with ethical issues.
These changes are linked to fundamental changes in how a person perceives society and his or her role in society.
The extent to which change occurs is associated with the number of years of formal educaton (college or professional school).
Deliberate educational attempts (formal curriculum) to influence awareness of moral problems and to influence the reasoning or judgement process have been demonstrated to be effective.
Studies indicate that a person's behavior is influenced by his or her moral perception and moral judgements.
Much of the research that Rest alludes to was carried on by the late Harvard psychologist, Lawrence Kohlberg. Kohlberg was one of the first people to look seriously at whether a person's ability to deal with ethical issues can develop in later life and whether education can affect that development.
Kohlberg found that a person's ability to deal with moral issues is not formed all at once. Just as there are stages of growth in physical development, the ability to think morally also develops in stages.
The earliest level of moral development is that of the child, which Kohlberg called the preconventional level. The person at the preconventional level defines right and wrong in terms of what authority figures say is right or wrong or in terms of what results in rewards and punishments. Any parent can verify this. Ask the four or five year old why stealing is wrong, and chances are that they'll respond: "Because daddy or mommy says it's wrong" or "Because you get spanked if you steal." Some people stay at this level all of their lives, continuing to define right and wrong in terms of what authorities say or in terms of reaping rewards or avoiding unpleasant consequences.
The second level of moral development is the level most adolescents reach. Kohlberg called this the conventional level. The adolescent at the conventional level has internalized the norms of those groups among whom he or she lives. For the adolescent, right and wrong are based on group loyalties: loyalties to one's family, loyalties to one's friends, or loyalty to one's nation. If you ask adolescents at this level why something is wrong or why it is right, they will tend to answer in terms of what their families have taught her, what their friends think, or what Americans believe. Many people remain at this level, continuing to define right and wrong in terms of what society believes or what laws require.
But if a person continues to develop morally, he or she will reach what Kohlberg labeled the postconventional level. The person at the postconventional level stops defining right and wrong in terms of group loyalties or norms. Instead, the adult at this level develops moral principles that define right and wrong from a universal point of view. The moral principles of the postconventional person are principles that would appeal to any reasonable person because they take everyone's interest into account. If you ask a person at the postconventional level why something is right or wrong, she will appeal to what promotes or doesn't promote the universal ideals of justice or human rights or human welfare.
Many factors can stimulate a person's growth through the three levels of moral development. One of the most crucial factors, Kohlberg found, is education. Kohlberg discovered that when his subjects took courses in ethics and these courses challenged them to look at issues from a universal point of view, they tended to move upward through the levels. This finding, as Rest points out, has been repeatedly supported by other researchers.
Can ethics be taught? If you look at the hard evidence psychologists have amassed, the answer is yes. If you read the Wall Street Journal, you wouldn't have thought so.
What do you think? Can ethics be taught? Would like to hear your thoughts. Please respond to this blog entry? Let's start a dialogue on this critical issue in the business world.
The issue is an old one. Almost 2500 years ago, the philosopher Socrates debated the question with his fellow Athenians. Socrates' position was clear: Ethics consists of knowing what we ought to do, and such knowledge can be taught.
Most psychologists today would agree with Socrates. In an overview of contemporary research in the field of moral development, psychologist James Rest summarized the major findings as follows:
Dramatic changes occur in young adults in their 20s and 30s in terms of the basic problem-solving strategies they use to deal with ethical issues.
These changes are linked to fundamental changes in how a person perceives society and his or her role in society.
The extent to which change occurs is associated with the number of years of formal educaton (college or professional school).
Deliberate educational attempts (formal curriculum) to influence awareness of moral problems and to influence the reasoning or judgement process have been demonstrated to be effective.
Studies indicate that a person's behavior is influenced by his or her moral perception and moral judgements.
Much of the research that Rest alludes to was carried on by the late Harvard psychologist, Lawrence Kohlberg. Kohlberg was one of the first people to look seriously at whether a person's ability to deal with ethical issues can develop in later life and whether education can affect that development.
Kohlberg found that a person's ability to deal with moral issues is not formed all at once. Just as there are stages of growth in physical development, the ability to think morally also develops in stages.
The earliest level of moral development is that of the child, which Kohlberg called the preconventional level. The person at the preconventional level defines right and wrong in terms of what authority figures say is right or wrong or in terms of what results in rewards and punishments. Any parent can verify this. Ask the four or five year old why stealing is wrong, and chances are that they'll respond: "Because daddy or mommy says it's wrong" or "Because you get spanked if you steal." Some people stay at this level all of their lives, continuing to define right and wrong in terms of what authorities say or in terms of reaping rewards or avoiding unpleasant consequences.
The second level of moral development is the level most adolescents reach. Kohlberg called this the conventional level. The adolescent at the conventional level has internalized the norms of those groups among whom he or she lives. For the adolescent, right and wrong are based on group loyalties: loyalties to one's family, loyalties to one's friends, or loyalty to one's nation. If you ask adolescents at this level why something is wrong or why it is right, they will tend to answer in terms of what their families have taught her, what their friends think, or what Americans believe. Many people remain at this level, continuing to define right and wrong in terms of what society believes or what laws require.
But if a person continues to develop morally, he or she will reach what Kohlberg labeled the postconventional level. The person at the postconventional level stops defining right and wrong in terms of group loyalties or norms. Instead, the adult at this level develops moral principles that define right and wrong from a universal point of view. The moral principles of the postconventional person are principles that would appeal to any reasonable person because they take everyone's interest into account. If you ask a person at the postconventional level why something is right or wrong, she will appeal to what promotes or doesn't promote the universal ideals of justice or human rights or human welfare.
Many factors can stimulate a person's growth through the three levels of moral development. One of the most crucial factors, Kohlberg found, is education. Kohlberg discovered that when his subjects took courses in ethics and these courses challenged them to look at issues from a universal point of view, they tended to move upward through the levels. This finding, as Rest points out, has been repeatedly supported by other researchers.
Can ethics be taught? If you look at the hard evidence psychologists have amassed, the answer is yes. If you read the Wall Street Journal, you wouldn't have thought so.
What do you think? Can ethics be taught? Would like to hear your thoughts. Please respond to this blog entry? Let's start a dialogue on this critical issue in the business world.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
In Praise of Unreasonable People
A Book Review from Ode Magazine, March, 2008 www.odemagazine.com
John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan's new book, "The Power of Unreasonable People."
Spot the similarities. The Childline India Foundation offers a free hotline for the countless street kids of Mumbai, India. Sekem, a cluster of Egyptian companies that produce organic food and medicines, among other things, reported joint profits of $1.7 million in 2005. These initiatives appear to have little in common. The first is a charity run by volunteers and funded with donations; the second, a financially strong, profitable business that operates on the world market. Yet both fall into the category of “social entrepreneurship,” a broad term that encompasses organizations that offer goods and services of benefit to society.
Both Childline and Sekem (which reinvests its profits in the companies as well as in services for local communities) are described in The Power of Unreasonable People (Harvard Business School Press, 2008) by John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan, a chronicle of this emerging blend of activism and entrepreneurship.
It’s a fascinating look at the achievements, challenges and limitations of a relatively new field both authors know quite well. Elkington was one of the first and most prominent corporate sustainability advisers, while Hartigan is the managing director of Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, which has been active for 10 years selecting and supporting the most effective social enterprises.
The book’s title refers to an aphorism by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” In that context, the social entrepreneurs portrayed in the book are clearly unreasonable. They are unreasonable because they want to change the system, because they are insanely ambitious, because they aren’t guided by reason but emotion, because they think they know what the future will bring, because they will not listen to “no.” And that’s precisely why they’re so successful.
Elkington and Hartigan’s book offers an image of social entrepreneurs that is at times lyrical, then sobering. They can’t shower enough praise on the non-profits for their idealism, but claim the greatest impact comes from combining forces—at the very least—with the commercial sector. The authors believe the ideas that can be carried out and repeated on a large scale come from social enterprises that are allowed to make a profit. This explains the recent expansion of the Indian telephone support line to include the organization Aflatoun, which teaches children about their rights and how to handle money. The alliance with banks is meant to ensure that this strong model can stand on its own financially.
Surely such an approach would meet with the approval of Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Bengali microcredit institution Grameen Bank and winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. In his new book, Creating a World Without Poverty (Public Affairs, 2008), Yunus dreams of companies that come up with profitable products or services that address social problems—and use the profits to combat those problems elsewhere. His vision includes an economy in which social value is as highly regarded as financial value. He also sketches the contours of a social stock exchange and a Social Wall Street Journal.
Yunus’ book refers to the recent collaboration between Grameen Bank and the French food giant Danone. Women can take out a small loan from the bank and use the funds to buy containers of vitamin-rich yogurt from the factory, which they then sell door-to-door or on the street. When the women repay their loans, the factory reinvests the profits to build new plants elsewhere in the country.
Yunus’ enthusiasm is infectious, and the thoroughness with which Elkington and Hartigan have researched the field makes for a hopeful perspective of capitalism with a human face—the faces of lots of unreasonable people.
John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan's new book, "The Power of Unreasonable People."
Spot the similarities. The Childline India Foundation offers a free hotline for the countless street kids of Mumbai, India. Sekem, a cluster of Egyptian companies that produce organic food and medicines, among other things, reported joint profits of $1.7 million in 2005. These initiatives appear to have little in common. The first is a charity run by volunteers and funded with donations; the second, a financially strong, profitable business that operates on the world market. Yet both fall into the category of “social entrepreneurship,” a broad term that encompasses organizations that offer goods and services of benefit to society.
Both Childline and Sekem (which reinvests its profits in the companies as well as in services for local communities) are described in The Power of Unreasonable People (Harvard Business School Press, 2008) by John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan, a chronicle of this emerging blend of activism and entrepreneurship.
It’s a fascinating look at the achievements, challenges and limitations of a relatively new field both authors know quite well. Elkington was one of the first and most prominent corporate sustainability advisers, while Hartigan is the managing director of Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, which has been active for 10 years selecting and supporting the most effective social enterprises.
The book’s title refers to an aphorism by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” In that context, the social entrepreneurs portrayed in the book are clearly unreasonable. They are unreasonable because they want to change the system, because they are insanely ambitious, because they aren’t guided by reason but emotion, because they think they know what the future will bring, because they will not listen to “no.” And that’s precisely why they’re so successful.
Elkington and Hartigan’s book offers an image of social entrepreneurs that is at times lyrical, then sobering. They can’t shower enough praise on the non-profits for their idealism, but claim the greatest impact comes from combining forces—at the very least—with the commercial sector. The authors believe the ideas that can be carried out and repeated on a large scale come from social enterprises that are allowed to make a profit. This explains the recent expansion of the Indian telephone support line to include the organization Aflatoun, which teaches children about their rights and how to handle money. The alliance with banks is meant to ensure that this strong model can stand on its own financially.
Surely such an approach would meet with the approval of Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Bengali microcredit institution Grameen Bank and winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. In his new book, Creating a World Without Poverty (Public Affairs, 2008), Yunus dreams of companies that come up with profitable products or services that address social problems—and use the profits to combat those problems elsewhere. His vision includes an economy in which social value is as highly regarded as financial value. He also sketches the contours of a social stock exchange and a Social Wall Street Journal.
Yunus’ book refers to the recent collaboration between Grameen Bank and the French food giant Danone. Women can take out a small loan from the bank and use the funds to buy containers of vitamin-rich yogurt from the factory, which they then sell door-to-door or on the street. When the women repay their loans, the factory reinvests the profits to build new plants elsewhere in the country.
Yunus’ enthusiasm is infectious, and the thoroughness with which Elkington and Hartigan have researched the field makes for a hopeful perspective of capitalism with a human face—the faces of lots of unreasonable people.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Zentrepreneurism Now in Paperback
Synopsis
The world of service coupled with entrepreneurial success has been building for the past thirty years. Only now has it begun to explode with great strides and creativity. We seek a life where our families, businesses, and our efforts merge into a single harmonious whole-and where we measure our success in more ways than just the balance of our bank accounts.
This book can bring back the values in our lives that often get lost in the quest for success. One does not have to be a Buddhist to benefit, as the success stories within will testify to, but should simply be open to trying a powerful, compassionate, new way of doing things in the business world.
Instead of the greedy, short-sighted business mentality of the past, we can move into areas that will improve the lives of many others beyond, but still including, ourselves. With the ever-increasing value of service on the rise, one can actually achieve larger success in many cases, than if generosity and service were not creatively employed.
What people are saying;
“ We have a situation where we don’t trust our government or our capitalist system. The level of distrust right now is probably unparalleled since the 1930’s”- Charles Lewis, Founder, Centre for Public Integrity.
"People are expecting more from the companies they're working for, more from the companies they're doing business with, and more from the companies they're buying from”, - Sydney Finkelstein, professor of strategy and leadership, Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business
“Allan Holender has looked unflinchingly at the dark and
self-destructive aspects of our business culture that most commentators
ignore or deny. Zentrepeneurism, the profound but practical
philosophy that he dramatically outlines in this book builds upon
capitalism's most powerful assets while infusing it with a higher
purpose. It is more than a new business model. It is an inspiring new
value system for business leaders, a guidepost for the 21st Century.”-Robert L. FitzPatrick, Business analyst and author of the book, False
Profits
"Allan Holender reveals the valueless and destructive tendencies of
contemporary business while remaining passionately and optimistically
committed to the possibility of a better future."-Joel Bakan, author The Corporation
AVAILABLE NOW IN PAPERBACK! Go to www.amazon.com or Barnes & Noble www.bn.com
For more on the growth of the Zentrepreneurism movement go to www.zentrepreneurism.com
The world of service coupled with entrepreneurial success has been building for the past thirty years. Only now has it begun to explode with great strides and creativity. We seek a life where our families, businesses, and our efforts merge into a single harmonious whole-and where we measure our success in more ways than just the balance of our bank accounts.
This book can bring back the values in our lives that often get lost in the quest for success. One does not have to be a Buddhist to benefit, as the success stories within will testify to, but should simply be open to trying a powerful, compassionate, new way of doing things in the business world.
Instead of the greedy, short-sighted business mentality of the past, we can move into areas that will improve the lives of many others beyond, but still including, ourselves. With the ever-increasing value of service on the rise, one can actually achieve larger success in many cases, than if generosity and service were not creatively employed.
What people are saying;
“ We have a situation where we don’t trust our government or our capitalist system. The level of distrust right now is probably unparalleled since the 1930’s”- Charles Lewis, Founder, Centre for Public Integrity.
"People are expecting more from the companies they're working for, more from the companies they're doing business with, and more from the companies they're buying from”, - Sydney Finkelstein, professor of strategy and leadership, Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business
“Allan Holender has looked unflinchingly at the dark and
self-destructive aspects of our business culture that most commentators
ignore or deny. Zentrepeneurism, the profound but practical
philosophy that he dramatically outlines in this book builds upon
capitalism's most powerful assets while infusing it with a higher
purpose. It is more than a new business model. It is an inspiring new
value system for business leaders, a guidepost for the 21st Century.”-Robert L. FitzPatrick, Business analyst and author of the book, False
Profits
"Allan Holender reveals the valueless and destructive tendencies of
contemporary business while remaining passionately and optimistically
committed to the possibility of a better future."-Joel Bakan, author The Corporation
AVAILABLE NOW IN PAPERBACK! Go to www.amazon.com or Barnes & Noble www.bn.com
For more on the growth of the Zentrepreneurism movement go to www.zentrepreneurism.com
Friday, February 15, 2008
THE MEANINGS OF LIFE
Contributed by David Servan-Schreiber | January/February 2008 issue of Ode Magazine
When I was 15, a church sermon left its mark on me. The priest began with the question, “Where should we seek God?” Years later, I found my own answer. I believe what for centuries has been called “finding God” means finding meaning in our lives. A new perspective has emerged from neuroscience in the past 20 years. What gives life its richness does not come from reason and intellect. It comes instead from a well-balanced emotional brain, that deepest and most archaic part of the nervous system. And what does a balanced emotional brain need? Above all, strong connections, full relationships. These can be found in four areas of our lives.
Our physical existence: If we don’t allow ourselves to taste, smell, touch, listen and look while concentrating on the present moment, we are not connected to our bodies. Yoga, an ancient source of wisdom, is first and foremost an education in connecting to our physical beings. Exercise, too—which engages our attention, our agility, our strength and builds endurance in our cells—is another means of connecting. As we grow aware of our bodies’ reactions to the world, we are connected to the roots of our emotions.
Intimacy: The emotional brain is connected to the body, but it is also designed to regulate our emotional relationships. Naturally, love is an effective way of giving us meaning. When we look each other in the eyes and feel our hearts beating faster, we stop asking existential questions. All that involves us in intimate relationships anchors us firmly in our existence. We don’t question the meaning of life when we take a child by the hand on his first day at school, or when we watch our daughter singing in a choir. All those to whom we feel close connect us to life and give it meaning.
The community: I had a 30-year-old patient whose life expectancy was limited to a few months by cancer. He was no longer working as an electrician and spent his time moping in front of the television, in anguish at his approaching death. I saw him once a week and we talked about his fear and what his life had been like. He ended up volunteering his time to repair the air-conditioning system in his local church. He spent several hours at the church almost every day. People greeted him by name when they met him in the corridors. When he was working on the roof, they waved to him, and brought him food and drink. In a few weeks, even though his health was getting worse, his anxiety abated. All it took, in the end, was to feel useful and appreciated.
Spirituality: It is possible to feel connected to a dimension beyond the body. For some, the greatest source of meaning is the sense of being in the presence of something much greater. We often feel this simply when we are face to face with nature, or in certain places that remind us how insignificant we are in the universe. Strangely, it is at the precise moments when we experience how small we are that life itself seems to fill with meaning—and so do we.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Servan-Schreiber is a psychiatry professor in France and the U.S., and author of Healing without Freud or Prozac.
When I was 15, a church sermon left its mark on me. The priest began with the question, “Where should we seek God?” Years later, I found my own answer. I believe what for centuries has been called “finding God” means finding meaning in our lives. A new perspective has emerged from neuroscience in the past 20 years. What gives life its richness does not come from reason and intellect. It comes instead from a well-balanced emotional brain, that deepest and most archaic part of the nervous system. And what does a balanced emotional brain need? Above all, strong connections, full relationships. These can be found in four areas of our lives.
Our physical existence: If we don’t allow ourselves to taste, smell, touch, listen and look while concentrating on the present moment, we are not connected to our bodies. Yoga, an ancient source of wisdom, is first and foremost an education in connecting to our physical beings. Exercise, too—which engages our attention, our agility, our strength and builds endurance in our cells—is another means of connecting. As we grow aware of our bodies’ reactions to the world, we are connected to the roots of our emotions.
Intimacy: The emotional brain is connected to the body, but it is also designed to regulate our emotional relationships. Naturally, love is an effective way of giving us meaning. When we look each other in the eyes and feel our hearts beating faster, we stop asking existential questions. All that involves us in intimate relationships anchors us firmly in our existence. We don’t question the meaning of life when we take a child by the hand on his first day at school, or when we watch our daughter singing in a choir. All those to whom we feel close connect us to life and give it meaning.
The community: I had a 30-year-old patient whose life expectancy was limited to a few months by cancer. He was no longer working as an electrician and spent his time moping in front of the television, in anguish at his approaching death. I saw him once a week and we talked about his fear and what his life had been like. He ended up volunteering his time to repair the air-conditioning system in his local church. He spent several hours at the church almost every day. People greeted him by name when they met him in the corridors. When he was working on the roof, they waved to him, and brought him food and drink. In a few weeks, even though his health was getting worse, his anxiety abated. All it took, in the end, was to feel useful and appreciated.
Spirituality: It is possible to feel connected to a dimension beyond the body. For some, the greatest source of meaning is the sense of being in the presence of something much greater. We often feel this simply when we are face to face with nature, or in certain places that remind us how insignificant we are in the universe. Strangely, it is at the precise moments when we experience how small we are that life itself seems to fill with meaning—and so do we.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Servan-Schreiber is a psychiatry professor in France and the U.S., and author of Healing without Freud or Prozac.
I APPROVE OF THIS MESSAGE
Lost in the clutter of the American presidential election, and the Obama love affair, is some important developments along the lines of human conciousness raising.
Of course it took an American Queen to bring it into mainstream America. When Oprah talks, everyone listens, when Oprah annoints, the masses worship. Oprah, for better this time, has annointed a local spiritual author, Eckart Tolle. Reminds me of the old EF Hutton brokerage firm commercial, "When EF Hutton talks ,everyone listens". This is symbolic on two fronts.
One, this is America's wake up call. As I have said in my book, America has lost it's soul and is desperate for anything or anyone that can fill the void, left by a President the likes of which has defied logic in every humanly way possible; from an unjustified war based on lies and deceit to his failures in New Orleans. He will go down in history as the worst President ever. When Bill Mahr, the comedian was asked how he would rank Bush in terms of 13 Presidents before him, he said, 14th. But the big picture in America is all about honesty and integrity. No one knows what or who to believe anymore, whether its' sports heroes like Roger Clements or business leaders like Lee R. Raymond at Exxon Mobil, Richard D. Parsons at Time Warner or Ivan G. Seidenberg at Verizon.
Maurice R. Greenberg of the American International Group, for example. (A.I.G. paid $126 millio to settle federal investigations into whether it helped other companies to inflate their earnings. Then there is Franklin D. Raines of Fannie Mae, forced to resign amid allegations that Fannie had fudged its books, and Henry A. McKinnell Jr. at Pfizer, under fire for keeping the drug Celebrex on the market despite research linking it to increased risks of heart attack and stroke.) . When he joked that it was good to be king, Mel Brooks couldn't have imagined how good some corporate kings have it. Consider Charles K. Gifford.
Mr. Gifford (Chad to his friends) spent almost four decades at what was Fleet Financial, the last two years as C.E.O. Luckily for him, he was in the corner office when Bank of America bought Fleet in 2003.
That opened the taps on executive benefits that go beyond mere cash, though there is plenty of that: a bonus of as much as $8.6 million and $3.1 million a year for life. Mr. Gifford, now 62, also gets a host of perks, like free use of the corporate jet and the option to buy tickets for 15 Red Sox games from the bank, which has season tickets. That may seem plenty, compared with the severance of two or three months' pay for the 12,500 others who lost their jobs in the merger.
So are the American people ready to hear about the message of climbing the consciousness ladder rather than the corporate ladder. Well judging by the new TV Shows; "Cashmere Mafia" and "Lipstick Jungle" there is still a struggle going on between the two. Will enlightenment ever be viewed as profitable by the media giants?
And then there is "Eli Stone" on ABC , the story of a corporate lawyer who keeps hearing voices from above with messages, that he has a mission and it's not about greed and the pursuit of the American dream, it's about the pursuit of compassion, purpose and service.
His boss and potential father-in-law who is head of the firm, thinks differently. And so you have the battle between a toxic learned pattern of behaviour and a new way of thinking. The timing of Eckart Tolle's re-awakening with Oprah and a "New Earth", also means that the stars are aligned for a "NEW WORLD OF BUSINESS", meaning the timing of the release of "Zentrepreneurism"
to the American public is no accident.
Let the Zenning begin!
Of course it took an American Queen to bring it into mainstream America. When Oprah talks, everyone listens, when Oprah annoints, the masses worship. Oprah, for better this time, has annointed a local spiritual author, Eckart Tolle. Reminds me of the old EF Hutton brokerage firm commercial, "When EF Hutton talks ,everyone listens". This is symbolic on two fronts.
One, this is America's wake up call. As I have said in my book, America has lost it's soul and is desperate for anything or anyone that can fill the void, left by a President the likes of which has defied logic in every humanly way possible; from an unjustified war based on lies and deceit to his failures in New Orleans. He will go down in history as the worst President ever. When Bill Mahr, the comedian was asked how he would rank Bush in terms of 13 Presidents before him, he said, 14th. But the big picture in America is all about honesty and integrity. No one knows what or who to believe anymore, whether its' sports heroes like Roger Clements or business leaders like Lee R. Raymond at Exxon Mobil, Richard D. Parsons at Time Warner or Ivan G. Seidenberg at Verizon.
Maurice R. Greenberg of the American International Group, for example. (A.I.G. paid $126 millio to settle federal investigations into whether it helped other companies to inflate their earnings. Then there is Franklin D. Raines of Fannie Mae, forced to resign amid allegations that Fannie had fudged its books, and Henry A. McKinnell Jr. at Pfizer, under fire for keeping the drug Celebrex on the market despite research linking it to increased risks of heart attack and stroke.) . When he joked that it was good to be king, Mel Brooks couldn't have imagined how good some corporate kings have it. Consider Charles K. Gifford.
Mr. Gifford (Chad to his friends) spent almost four decades at what was Fleet Financial, the last two years as C.E.O. Luckily for him, he was in the corner office when Bank of America bought Fleet in 2003.
That opened the taps on executive benefits that go beyond mere cash, though there is plenty of that: a bonus of as much as $8.6 million and $3.1 million a year for life. Mr. Gifford, now 62, also gets a host of perks, like free use of the corporate jet and the option to buy tickets for 15 Red Sox games from the bank, which has season tickets. That may seem plenty, compared with the severance of two or three months' pay for the 12,500 others who lost their jobs in the merger.
So are the American people ready to hear about the message of climbing the consciousness ladder rather than the corporate ladder. Well judging by the new TV Shows; "Cashmere Mafia" and "Lipstick Jungle" there is still a struggle going on between the two. Will enlightenment ever be viewed as profitable by the media giants?
And then there is "Eli Stone" on ABC , the story of a corporate lawyer who keeps hearing voices from above with messages, that he has a mission and it's not about greed and the pursuit of the American dream, it's about the pursuit of compassion, purpose and service.
His boss and potential father-in-law who is head of the firm, thinks differently. And so you have the battle between a toxic learned pattern of behaviour and a new way of thinking. The timing of Eckart Tolle's re-awakening with Oprah and a "New Earth", also means that the stars are aligned for a "NEW WORLD OF BUSINESS", meaning the timing of the release of "Zentrepreneurism"
to the American public is no accident.
Let the Zenning begin!
Thursday, February 07, 2008
DEMOCRATIC CAPITALISM
By Contributing Writer Amy Domini,
Last year, when Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize, millions of people around the world learned of the miracles that banks serving the poor could deliver. It was a well-deserved honour for Yunus, and a great reminder of what microloans and other slight tweaks to “business as usual” can mean to hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised people. Yunus’ Grameen Bank is a marvelous example of the potential of community lending, the third leg of the stool for socially responsible investing. (The others are setting standards for what shares we will buy and entering into dialogue with companies we own.) For large populations around the globe, “the triumph of capitalism” has meant no improvement to personal well-being. Even in wealthy nations, large pockets of poverty are scattered throughout crowded and crumbling inner cities and hard-hit agricultural areas. Around the globe, many people are able and willing to work, but have little opportunity.
Access to capital is an essential component of building healthy communities. But capital is not always available to the poor. Banks are driven by the desire to be ever more profitable. Since a $600 loan and a $6 million loan take about as much effort from the bank, and have a vastly different impact on the bottom line, the bank opts for eliminating smaller customers.
In addition, poor people seeking a loan often appear suspicious or quirky to bankers. For example, let’s look at the case of a mobile-home park where an old couple running the operation wants to retire by selling the land. Between them, the owners of these mobile homes may have enough income to buy the land with a loan to be paid back over a reasonable period of time. But banks don’t lend to new co-operative ventures. They lend to a person or a corporation with good credit. Since no single person living in the mobile-home park can guarantee the payments, there can be no loan. Community-oriented financial institutions have come about as an answer to this problem. Such institutions may be a bank (or a bank branch) dedicated to making loans that boost the community and alleviate poverty. It may be a credit union, created perhaps by a church or community group, that loans money only to its own members and only for the purpose of building healthier neighbourhoods. It may even be a non-profit group, set up to borrow from caring people and lend to those in need.
Support for these kinds of community-development financial institutions is one of the ways sustainable or socially responsible investing can be approached. At Domini Social Investments, we have a fund that purchases bonds, backing up community institutions that make microcredit loans globally; we purchase insured deposits that support poor populations; we even use activist tools to help the community-development world.
Community-development loans have an important place in socially responsible investment portfolios, allowing investors to participate directly in relieving poverty and—unlike philanthropy—enabling them to keep their money even after using it this way. Most important, such loans offer evidence that finance can be used to alleviate poverty and create universal human dignity. Nowhere is the connection stronger than it is when investors support these grassroots lending organizations, be they microcredit institutions like Grameen Bank in Bangladesh or community-building groups like Latino Community Credit Union or the Self Help Credit Union, both in North Carolina.
Amy Domini is the founder and CEO of Domini Social Investments, and author of several books on ethical investing
Last year, when Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize, millions of people around the world learned of the miracles that banks serving the poor could deliver. It was a well-deserved honour for Yunus, and a great reminder of what microloans and other slight tweaks to “business as usual” can mean to hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised people. Yunus’ Grameen Bank is a marvelous example of the potential of community lending, the third leg of the stool for socially responsible investing. (The others are setting standards for what shares we will buy and entering into dialogue with companies we own.) For large populations around the globe, “the triumph of capitalism” has meant no improvement to personal well-being. Even in wealthy nations, large pockets of poverty are scattered throughout crowded and crumbling inner cities and hard-hit agricultural areas. Around the globe, many people are able and willing to work, but have little opportunity.
Access to capital is an essential component of building healthy communities. But capital is not always available to the poor. Banks are driven by the desire to be ever more profitable. Since a $600 loan and a $6 million loan take about as much effort from the bank, and have a vastly different impact on the bottom line, the bank opts for eliminating smaller customers.
In addition, poor people seeking a loan often appear suspicious or quirky to bankers. For example, let’s look at the case of a mobile-home park where an old couple running the operation wants to retire by selling the land. Between them, the owners of these mobile homes may have enough income to buy the land with a loan to be paid back over a reasonable period of time. But banks don’t lend to new co-operative ventures. They lend to a person or a corporation with good credit. Since no single person living in the mobile-home park can guarantee the payments, there can be no loan. Community-oriented financial institutions have come about as an answer to this problem. Such institutions may be a bank (or a bank branch) dedicated to making loans that boost the community and alleviate poverty. It may be a credit union, created perhaps by a church or community group, that loans money only to its own members and only for the purpose of building healthier neighbourhoods. It may even be a non-profit group, set up to borrow from caring people and lend to those in need.
Support for these kinds of community-development financial institutions is one of the ways sustainable or socially responsible investing can be approached. At Domini Social Investments, we have a fund that purchases bonds, backing up community institutions that make microcredit loans globally; we purchase insured deposits that support poor populations; we even use activist tools to help the community-development world.
Community-development loans have an important place in socially responsible investment portfolios, allowing investors to participate directly in relieving poverty and—unlike philanthropy—enabling them to keep their money even after using it this way. Most important, such loans offer evidence that finance can be used to alleviate poverty and create universal human dignity. Nowhere is the connection stronger than it is when investors support these grassroots lending organizations, be they microcredit institutions like Grameen Bank in Bangladesh or community-building groups like Latino Community Credit Union or the Self Help Credit Union, both in North Carolina.
Amy Domini is the founder and CEO of Domini Social Investments, and author of several books on ethical investing
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Observations of a U.S. election from an American trapped in a Canadian body
As a Canadian observer perhaps I can shed a different perspective on the election of a U.S. president. First of all given the election process established for the past 50 years or more, the candidates “buy” their way into the White House.
To other countries, the U.S. is viewed as a nation that prides itself on the accumulation of wealth and success. In other words if you have enough money you are deemed a success, and with America’s addiction to celebrities, if you have wealth and “star” status you make the newspaper headlines.
To other countries, the U.S. is viewed as a nation that prides itself on the accumulation of wealth and success. In other words if you have enough money you are deemed a success, and with America’s addiction to celebrities, if you have wealth and “star” status you make the newspaper headlines.
The pursuit of the “American Dream” however has become it’s worst nightmare. Check out the growth of rehab centres, the shrinking of the middle class, the foreclosures, the increased crime and violence, and the 47 million Americans suffering from illness and disease because they are too poor to have health insurance.
When Obama reached $25 million in campaign contributions, he made the headlines and was immediately elevated to the rank of a possible contender. Conversely if you have “star” power, and no money, you are still classified as a “loser”. What is broken in America is the political process, where money is equated to power and power is equated to success. Oprah has money and “star” status, so when she gets behind Obama he is suddenly elevated in the minds of the American people.
Other countries view America as a “narcissistic”, spoiled child, and a bully who always gets what he wants. Bush Jnr. has spent the last 8 years proving all of the rest of the world right.
Make no mistake Obama and Clinton have both bought votes. Only 3% of American individuals actually give to political campaigns, that leaves 97% to come from major corporate contributions and self interest groups. The truth is, and the truth hurts, Wall Street is in bed with the White House and the White House is in bed with Wall Street.
I do feel that it will take a fundamental shift in the way Americans are elected to congress and the white house. But that requires a tsunami of change to come from the middle class. The gap between the rich and poor in America has never been greater.
The poor have no money, therefore no power. The rich have money and the power. The middle class have a voice and a little money. The “Middle Class” revolution is the only hope.
This is America’s wake up call. Take the campaigns away from the candidates and their managers. Political strategists will always advise candidates to say “what people want to hear them say”.
According to the Center for Public Integrity we are at the lowest level of trust of governments and companies since the 1930’s.
Americans need to start thinking about who they are and what they have become.
The middle class have become it’s greatest losers and subsequently “its’ greatest hope”. You have strength in numbers and a reason to be passionate about your cause. Start a “grass roots” movement that personifies truth, honesty and success measured in values, integrity, and compassion, rather than money and power. That is America’s only hope.
The Dalai Lama has said that it will take 8-10 years for America to change, let’s hope it is within our lifetime and the lifetime of our grandchildren. Let the revolution begin!
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
In South Africa, lessons in success from a rare entrepreneur
I went to school without shoes. I knew I had to work hard to make sure I got a better life," says the serious young man in shiny loafers and a well-pressed blazer, owner of a small computer repair and sales company.
But why him? Why has Terrance Mohlala made it when so many others like him in South Africa – one of the least entrepreneurial nations in the world – have not?
Hard work. Courage. Divine intervention. These are some of the factors he lists. But it also takes knowing where to get financing, and how to market, and expand a business. That's where the Business Place comes in. Eight of them are spread around the country: brightly lit, friendly and free drop-in centers where so-called "navigators" walk South Africa's wanna-be entrepreneurs through the stages of starting a company.
The centers, supported jointly by the Investec bank and the government, employ 50 navigators and other staff, and help about 5,000 clients a month try to realize their dreams.
There's certainly a need. South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, with approximately 33 percent of the adult population out of work last year, according to the government. Worse yet, the country lacks an entrepreneurial culture. According to the 2006 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, only five percent of South Africans started businesses in the past four years. The country ranked 30th out of 42 nations surveyed.
Mr. Mohlala ponders his business success, and why it remains elusive to so many here.
"The problem is self-esteem. For so many of us, it is too low," he says slowly, controlling his slight speech impediment. "I think I have a high one. Even when I am stuttering, I think I can stand in front of a group of people ... or in front of congregation in the church and preach."
Self-esteem. It's certainly not a trait that was instilled in him by the apartheid system he was born under, or by his parents, who died when he was a boy. He did not learn it at the mediocre one-room schoolhouse that he attended while growing up with his granny on a farm, or at his first job, as a gardener pulling weeds at age 14. Mohlala suggests his confidence comes "perhaps ... just from the Man upstairs."
And a little help from the Business Place. "There are a lot of people selling odds and ends on the sides of the road. But to translate that into a little business with potential to grow, one needs help and encouragement," says Hilary Joffe, associate editor of Business Day newspaper here. "Something like the Business Place gives you both access and that encouragement."
Delse Dludlu is a senior manager at the largest of the Business Places, in downtown Johannesburg. They have fast speed internet here, a table crowded with the latest business magazines, and shelves filled with files on finance options. Every day, a free or 10 rand ($1.50) seminar is held. On a recent week, Monday was "First steps to starting your business." Tuesday: "Develop and test your business idea." Wednesday, "Market research." Thursday: "Understanding taxes for small businesses."
A well-built woman with a sassy attitude, Ms. Dludlu dreamed as a child of being a professional buyer of auto parts for Chrysler Daimler. "It's very classy work," she explains.
The youngest of 15 children, she learned early about self sufficiency. No one had their own bed in her household, she says, so you had to make sure you tagged one at night. Her dad owned a corner shop. Her mom was an "executive domestic worker."
A what? "Just an ordinary maid," replies Dludlu, laughing. "But presentation, as we say, is everything."
After getting a business degree, Dludlu came to the Business Place, first as a client, then later as an administrator. The work suits her. "There are lots of opportunities in life but people don't always understand that no one is bringing them to them," she explains. "No one will do that. You have to go out and get what you want."
The navigators at the Business Place work one-on-one with clients, and try not to prod or preach but rather move with them through a series of steps. First, they help clients define what they want or need. Then, the navigators direct them to sources of loans or grants, seminars, and to networking meetings that take place every week at the centers.
There are two kinds of people she encounters, Dludlu continues: "Those who sit, complain, give up, and do nothing to help themselves ... and people who realize 'OK. There is not enough employment. Now, what can I do to help myself?' "Attitude, however, is not enough, people need vision. "You don't start a business because you are desperate. You should do it because you have a clue and know what you want," she says.
Mohlala had both the right approach, and vision. As a youngster, he wanted to be a sailor. But his grandmother couldn't afford that class and so he enrolled in a cheaper course – computer training. He spent five years at a computer company, making 500 rand ($83 dollars) a month. "I had ideas about computer sales and repairs, but unfortunately they were not interested in my ideas there," he says.
When Mohlala first walked into the Business Place he mistakenly thought, like so many others, that they would finance his ideas. "I had almost everything in my head. The only thing I needed was capital." He went to workshops, spoke to navigators, applied for loans and government grants, and made contacts. The networking evenings provided a source of future clients (mainly other new businesses that needed computer services), and the landlord who would rent him space for his first shop. Within three years, he was up and running.
Terry's Computers, specializing in training, repairs, sales and business services, now has three locations, a yearly turnover of 350,000 rand ($58,333) and seven employees. "My family thinks I am a hero," says Mohlala. "They are so proud of me because I am the only one in the family who has his own business." His granny, who raised him, now lives in town with him.
Mohlala has also adopted an orphanage in Soweto, donating computers and giving training courses for free. "I feel that other orphans might not have the courage and opportunity I did. So I wanted to expose them to computers," he says.
"If I was to stand in front of God now and he would ask, 'What have you done in your life,'" concludes Dludlu, "I would say, 'Open my record and look at all the successes of others tied up with my name.' There is nothing better."
But why him? Why has Terrance Mohlala made it when so many others like him in South Africa – one of the least entrepreneurial nations in the world – have not?
Hard work. Courage. Divine intervention. These are some of the factors he lists. But it also takes knowing where to get financing, and how to market, and expand a business. That's where the Business Place comes in. Eight of them are spread around the country: brightly lit, friendly and free drop-in centers where so-called "navigators" walk South Africa's wanna-be entrepreneurs through the stages of starting a company.
The centers, supported jointly by the Investec bank and the government, employ 50 navigators and other staff, and help about 5,000 clients a month try to realize their dreams.
There's certainly a need. South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, with approximately 33 percent of the adult population out of work last year, according to the government. Worse yet, the country lacks an entrepreneurial culture. According to the 2006 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, only five percent of South Africans started businesses in the past four years. The country ranked 30th out of 42 nations surveyed.
Mr. Mohlala ponders his business success, and why it remains elusive to so many here.
"The problem is self-esteem. For so many of us, it is too low," he says slowly, controlling his slight speech impediment. "I think I have a high one. Even when I am stuttering, I think I can stand in front of a group of people ... or in front of congregation in the church and preach."
Self-esteem. It's certainly not a trait that was instilled in him by the apartheid system he was born under, or by his parents, who died when he was a boy. He did not learn it at the mediocre one-room schoolhouse that he attended while growing up with his granny on a farm, or at his first job, as a gardener pulling weeds at age 14. Mohlala suggests his confidence comes "perhaps ... just from the Man upstairs."
And a little help from the Business Place. "There are a lot of people selling odds and ends on the sides of the road. But to translate that into a little business with potential to grow, one needs help and encouragement," says Hilary Joffe, associate editor of Business Day newspaper here. "Something like the Business Place gives you both access and that encouragement."
Delse Dludlu is a senior manager at the largest of the Business Places, in downtown Johannesburg. They have fast speed internet here, a table crowded with the latest business magazines, and shelves filled with files on finance options. Every day, a free or 10 rand ($1.50) seminar is held. On a recent week, Monday was "First steps to starting your business." Tuesday: "Develop and test your business idea." Wednesday, "Market research." Thursday: "Understanding taxes for small businesses."
A well-built woman with a sassy attitude, Ms. Dludlu dreamed as a child of being a professional buyer of auto parts for Chrysler Daimler. "It's very classy work," she explains.
The youngest of 15 children, she learned early about self sufficiency. No one had their own bed in her household, she says, so you had to make sure you tagged one at night. Her dad owned a corner shop. Her mom was an "executive domestic worker."
A what? "Just an ordinary maid," replies Dludlu, laughing. "But presentation, as we say, is everything."
After getting a business degree, Dludlu came to the Business Place, first as a client, then later as an administrator. The work suits her. "There are lots of opportunities in life but people don't always understand that no one is bringing them to them," she explains. "No one will do that. You have to go out and get what you want."
The navigators at the Business Place work one-on-one with clients, and try not to prod or preach but rather move with them through a series of steps. First, they help clients define what they want or need. Then, the navigators direct them to sources of loans or grants, seminars, and to networking meetings that take place every week at the centers.
There are two kinds of people she encounters, Dludlu continues: "Those who sit, complain, give up, and do nothing to help themselves ... and people who realize 'OK. There is not enough employment. Now, what can I do to help myself?' "Attitude, however, is not enough, people need vision. "You don't start a business because you are desperate. You should do it because you have a clue and know what you want," she says.
Mohlala had both the right approach, and vision. As a youngster, he wanted to be a sailor. But his grandmother couldn't afford that class and so he enrolled in a cheaper course – computer training. He spent five years at a computer company, making 500 rand ($83 dollars) a month. "I had ideas about computer sales and repairs, but unfortunately they were not interested in my ideas there," he says.
When Mohlala first walked into the Business Place he mistakenly thought, like so many others, that they would finance his ideas. "I had almost everything in my head. The only thing I needed was capital." He went to workshops, spoke to navigators, applied for loans and government grants, and made contacts. The networking evenings provided a source of future clients (mainly other new businesses that needed computer services), and the landlord who would rent him space for his first shop. Within three years, he was up and running.
Terry's Computers, specializing in training, repairs, sales and business services, now has three locations, a yearly turnover of 350,000 rand ($58,333) and seven employees. "My family thinks I am a hero," says Mohlala. "They are so proud of me because I am the only one in the family who has his own business." His granny, who raised him, now lives in town with him.
Mohlala has also adopted an orphanage in Soweto, donating computers and giving training courses for free. "I feel that other orphans might not have the courage and opportunity I did. So I wanted to expose them to computers," he says.
"If I was to stand in front of God now and he would ask, 'What have you done in your life,'" concludes Dludlu, "I would say, 'Open my record and look at all the successes of others tied up with my name.' There is nothing better."
Boomers Relinquish Riches to Become "New Radicals"
By Shannon Proudfoot, CanWest News Service Published: Monday, December 31, 2007
At a dinner party overflowing with accomplished professionals, someone leaned across the table to ask Julia Moulden what she'd been up to.When she replied that she was reinventing herself and everyone within earshot tuned in, she knew she'd hit a nerve.
"All these doctors and executives and professors -- everybody stopped talking and leaned in," Moulden recalls. "And I went, 'Okay, if it's that interesting to these people then there's something going on inside a lot of people, it's not just happening inside of me.'"
The result of that epiphany is We are the New Radicals, a book chronicling the mid-life transformation of baby boomers trading ordinary careers for a chance to change the world.
Due for release in February, it's partly a collective biography and partly a how-to manual for those who want to join the ranks.
Moulden, 51, hopes it will become a rallying point in 2008 and beyond for the millions of boomers she believes are searching for more fulfilment.
She divides New Radicals into three categories: activists who serve others firsthand, entrepreneurs who start news businesses in which making a difference is part of the plan and innovators who work to change their fields from within.
Overwhelmingly, she found this transformation happens around age 50.
Moulden counts herself among the New Radicals, having parlayed experience at the helm of her own communications company and as a speech writer into a more recent role as an executive coach guiding mid-life career changes.
"The boomers take a lot of slack for being yuppies and for having done nothing more than create a market for SUVs and non-fat tall chai lattes, but in fact the boomers have been responsible for driving change already," she says, citing gay rights, the women's movement and the cementing of civil rights as examples.
Moulden points to survey results that reveal three-quarters of baby boomers intend to keep working and earning in retirement, and more than 60 per cent want to do good works right now.
She maintains that becoming a New Radical can run the gamut "from mild to wild." Moulden also emphasizes that people don't need deep pockets to bankroll good deeds.
"This is about how you make a living being the way to give back," she says.
Canadian chef Jamie Kennedy provides an example of this, she says, with his escalating efforts to use seasonal and locally sourced ingredients in his restaurants.
At "the wild end of the spectrum" and also profiled in the book is Nicole Pageau. The former non-profit worker from Edmonton sold all her belongings and moved to Rwanda in her 60s, Moulden says, after a speech by a genocide survivor compelled her to help widows and orphans firsthand.
New Radicals are driven by the activist spirit of the 1960s, Moulden says, but they've adopted vision and hope as their tactics in place of the more confrontational strategies of their Flower Power predecessors.
"The boomers are the most powerful generation the world's ever known, but eventually we're going to be a note in the history books," she says.
Their larger legacy may come after they've passed through their New Radical years, she says, because many people in their 20s and 30s are now determined to do fulfilling work from the very start of their careers. "This idea is seeping through the culture, and although it may have been kicked off by the boomers, it's really being echoed in our children," Moulden says. "I think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg."
At a dinner party overflowing with accomplished professionals, someone leaned across the table to ask Julia Moulden what she'd been up to.When she replied that she was reinventing herself and everyone within earshot tuned in, she knew she'd hit a nerve.
"All these doctors and executives and professors -- everybody stopped talking and leaned in," Moulden recalls. "And I went, 'Okay, if it's that interesting to these people then there's something going on inside a lot of people, it's not just happening inside of me.'"
The result of that epiphany is We are the New Radicals, a book chronicling the mid-life transformation of baby boomers trading ordinary careers for a chance to change the world.
Due for release in February, it's partly a collective biography and partly a how-to manual for those who want to join the ranks.
Moulden, 51, hopes it will become a rallying point in 2008 and beyond for the millions of boomers she believes are searching for more fulfilment.
She divides New Radicals into three categories: activists who serve others firsthand, entrepreneurs who start news businesses in which making a difference is part of the plan and innovators who work to change their fields from within.
Overwhelmingly, she found this transformation happens around age 50.
Moulden counts herself among the New Radicals, having parlayed experience at the helm of her own communications company and as a speech writer into a more recent role as an executive coach guiding mid-life career changes.
"The boomers take a lot of slack for being yuppies and for having done nothing more than create a market for SUVs and non-fat tall chai lattes, but in fact the boomers have been responsible for driving change already," she says, citing gay rights, the women's movement and the cementing of civil rights as examples.
Moulden points to survey results that reveal three-quarters of baby boomers intend to keep working and earning in retirement, and more than 60 per cent want to do good works right now.
She maintains that becoming a New Radical can run the gamut "from mild to wild." Moulden also emphasizes that people don't need deep pockets to bankroll good deeds.
"This is about how you make a living being the way to give back," she says.
Canadian chef Jamie Kennedy provides an example of this, she says, with his escalating efforts to use seasonal and locally sourced ingredients in his restaurants.
At "the wild end of the spectrum" and also profiled in the book is Nicole Pageau. The former non-profit worker from Edmonton sold all her belongings and moved to Rwanda in her 60s, Moulden says, after a speech by a genocide survivor compelled her to help widows and orphans firsthand.
New Radicals are driven by the activist spirit of the 1960s, Moulden says, but they've adopted vision and hope as their tactics in place of the more confrontational strategies of their Flower Power predecessors.
"The boomers are the most powerful generation the world's ever known, but eventually we're going to be a note in the history books," she says.
Their larger legacy may come after they've passed through their New Radical years, she says, because many people in their 20s and 30s are now determined to do fulfilling work from the very start of their careers. "This idea is seeping through the culture, and although it may have been kicked off by the boomers, it's really being echoed in our children," Moulden says. "I think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg."
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Intelligent Report Stalls Bush March to More War
by Geoff Olson, Vancouver Courier
Published: Friday, December 21, 2007
We've been given an extension on Peace on Earth this season. It turns out--surprise!--that Iran has no WMDs, and no means to make them.
Two weeks ago, the release of the National Intelligence Estimate, an annual summary by 16 separate US intelligence agencies, revealed Tehran abandoned its nuclear program in 2003. The demonologists in the White House panicked with the revelation that their latest devil, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wasn't fibbing. The same can't be said--surprise!--for the chief executive inquisitor, George W. Bush.
According to White House spokesperson Dana Perino, U.S. president Bush was told in August that Iran's nuclear weapons program "may be suspended." Bush was informed "the new information might cause the intelligence community to change its assessment of Iran's covert nuclear program."
Yet in spite of this briefing several months ago, Bush was talking about "World War III" soon thereafter, with similar apocalyptic rhetoric coming from U.S. vice-president Cheney. Although the NIE is a definite setback for the Bush administration, the recent discovery that Ahmadinejad is less interested in weapons of mass destruction than powering his palace train set has only shifted White House rhetoric. The supposed global threat from Iran is now hedged in a thicket of qualifiers: if, when, could, etc.
The CIA, which was left holding the bag after the neocon's cherry-picking of intelligence in the lead-up to the Iraq War, appears to have had no interest in a sequel of finger pointing. We may also be seeing some cracks appearing in the governing elite's united front. Undoubtedly some influential figures blinked in their globe-sized game of Risk--especially after Russian president Vladimir Putin told Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei that a U.S. attack on Iran would be regarded as an attack on Russia.
All players, China included (which is now closely allied with Russia), fear the game of brinkmanship in the Mideast could unleash the Law of Unintended Consequences like the Tasmanian Devil on meth. And what exactly is the U.S. problem with Iran, if it's not actually weapons of mass destruction? Could it be coincidence that the three members of the "Axis of Evil," Iraq, Iran and North Korea, have made past moves toward trading in currencies other than the U.S. petrodollar? Without the military enforcement of U.S. funny money as the world reserve currency, the American domestic economy would be more "house of cards" than "house of Saud."
In an online essay, former diplomat Richard Cummings summed up the sad recent history of Iran. He recalled an incident from the past, during lunch with a female friend who was attending the University of Pennsylvania. Cumming's friend happened to be the daughter of then-Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh. It was a student hangout, and a waitress recognized her. "Well, I guess you'll be going home to Iraq for summer vacation," the waitress said amiably. "Iran," Rudy said. To which the waitress replied: "Oh well, whatever."
Cummings' recollection of the "whatever" response sets him off on a well-worded rant on Iran's fate. Back in the 1950s, Mohammad Mossadegh, a Jeffersonian Democrat, looked to Washington as his model for Tehran. In a spirit of populist fervour, he nationalized the oil fields out of British Petroleum's domain. The British sued in the World Court and lost, and turned to Uncle Sam to get their oil fields back. Kermit Roosevelt, the CIA station chief in Tehran, got busy, noted Cummings: "Rent-a-Mobs appeared, the CIA paid off the military, and Mossadegh fled in his pajamas." Once Mossadegh was out, the Shah ascended to his Peacock throne, with all dissent violently stifled by paramilitary forces. Iran became one of the world's greatest violators of human rights.
The Law of Unintended Consequences arrived in the form of the scowling fundamentalist Ayatollah Khomeini, who renationalized the oil fields and gave the green light to the embassy hostage taking. It was the first "emboldening" of Islam, setting the world on the present course of dueling theocracies. All the result of Anglo-American provocation, and the stillbirth of democracy in Iran. And then there was the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, with Britain and the U.S. playing off both sides through military aid.
Cummings' essay, "Iran, Iraq, Whatever," is a sobering lesson about power politics masquerading as goodwill toward men. But with the release of the NIE report, plans for an insane upgrade to the "clash of civilizations" appear to have been shelved, at least for the time being. Peace on Earth is always a work in progress
Published: Friday, December 21, 2007
We've been given an extension on Peace on Earth this season. It turns out--surprise!--that Iran has no WMDs, and no means to make them.
Two weeks ago, the release of the National Intelligence Estimate, an annual summary by 16 separate US intelligence agencies, revealed Tehran abandoned its nuclear program in 2003. The demonologists in the White House panicked with the revelation that their latest devil, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wasn't fibbing. The same can't be said--surprise!--for the chief executive inquisitor, George W. Bush.
According to White House spokesperson Dana Perino, U.S. president Bush was told in August that Iran's nuclear weapons program "may be suspended." Bush was informed "the new information might cause the intelligence community to change its assessment of Iran's covert nuclear program."
Yet in spite of this briefing several months ago, Bush was talking about "World War III" soon thereafter, with similar apocalyptic rhetoric coming from U.S. vice-president Cheney. Although the NIE is a definite setback for the Bush administration, the recent discovery that Ahmadinejad is less interested in weapons of mass destruction than powering his palace train set has only shifted White House rhetoric. The supposed global threat from Iran is now hedged in a thicket of qualifiers: if, when, could, etc.
The CIA, which was left holding the bag after the neocon's cherry-picking of intelligence in the lead-up to the Iraq War, appears to have had no interest in a sequel of finger pointing. We may also be seeing some cracks appearing in the governing elite's united front. Undoubtedly some influential figures blinked in their globe-sized game of Risk--especially after Russian president Vladimir Putin told Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei that a U.S. attack on Iran would be regarded as an attack on Russia.
All players, China included (which is now closely allied with Russia), fear the game of brinkmanship in the Mideast could unleash the Law of Unintended Consequences like the Tasmanian Devil on meth. And what exactly is the U.S. problem with Iran, if it's not actually weapons of mass destruction? Could it be coincidence that the three members of the "Axis of Evil," Iraq, Iran and North Korea, have made past moves toward trading in currencies other than the U.S. petrodollar? Without the military enforcement of U.S. funny money as the world reserve currency, the American domestic economy would be more "house of cards" than "house of Saud."
In an online essay, former diplomat Richard Cummings summed up the sad recent history of Iran. He recalled an incident from the past, during lunch with a female friend who was attending the University of Pennsylvania. Cumming's friend happened to be the daughter of then-Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh. It was a student hangout, and a waitress recognized her. "Well, I guess you'll be going home to Iraq for summer vacation," the waitress said amiably. "Iran," Rudy said. To which the waitress replied: "Oh well, whatever."
Cummings' recollection of the "whatever" response sets him off on a well-worded rant on Iran's fate. Back in the 1950s, Mohammad Mossadegh, a Jeffersonian Democrat, looked to Washington as his model for Tehran. In a spirit of populist fervour, he nationalized the oil fields out of British Petroleum's domain. The British sued in the World Court and lost, and turned to Uncle Sam to get their oil fields back. Kermit Roosevelt, the CIA station chief in Tehran, got busy, noted Cummings: "Rent-a-Mobs appeared, the CIA paid off the military, and Mossadegh fled in his pajamas." Once Mossadegh was out, the Shah ascended to his Peacock throne, with all dissent violently stifled by paramilitary forces. Iran became one of the world's greatest violators of human rights.
The Law of Unintended Consequences arrived in the form of the scowling fundamentalist Ayatollah Khomeini, who renationalized the oil fields and gave the green light to the embassy hostage taking. It was the first "emboldening" of Islam, setting the world on the present course of dueling theocracies. All the result of Anglo-American provocation, and the stillbirth of democracy in Iran. And then there was the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, with Britain and the U.S. playing off both sides through military aid.
Cummings' essay, "Iran, Iraq, Whatever," is a sobering lesson about power politics masquerading as goodwill toward men. But with the release of the NIE report, plans for an insane upgrade to the "clash of civilizations" appear to have been shelved, at least for the time being. Peace on Earth is always a work in progress
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Believe Nothing
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."- Buddha
The Centre for Public Integrity in the U.S. released a statement recently that North American society is at it's lowest point of trust in government and companies since the 1930's. How did we get to this point you might ask and what are the events of the day that continue to cause us to spiral down the path of total disillusionment.
First of all we have been lied to by the very people we have entrusted with our well being; the pillars of society, government leaders, employers, ministers, and sports heroes, Here is the rogues gallery of those who have fallen from grace.
Let's begin with the Presidents of the United States. I say Presidents, because this business of lying to it's citizens didn't start with George W. Bush. Bush is in our face now, but let's not forget Bill Clinton's famous statement; "I did not sleep with that woman", to "tricky Dickie Nixon and Watergate, to George Bush Snr. and the Saudis', cover-up after cover up. Deny, Deny , Deny is the message that is most heard around the White House, the corporate world, the husband or wife who is cheating on you, the minister in the church who is having sex with a male prostitute or our sports heroes; from Olympic stars to baseball stars who deny their use of performance enhancing drugs. Deny, Deny, Deny!
Little doubt that morality and truth have been replaced by lying, cheating, and doing whatever it takes to either succeed in business, sports, politics or the pursuit of the American dream . To win at life! And Canada is not immune. This week we were shocked to learn that Brian Mulroney, the former prime minister had taken a bag full of money from a German businessman in exchange for some favours. But are we really shocked. If this had happened in the 1950"s, yes indeed there would be shock. But we are so immune today to the notion that someone did something wrong, that we feel it's almost acceptable. It's called "lobbying".
Even the American congress has decided they can't stop the lobbyists from influencing public officials, so they are in a sense legalizing it by introducing legislation that tells lobbyists they can't have sit down dinners with people of influence in congress, they must stand and only serve appetizers. So it's okay to pay someone off with a "vote" in exchange for that government defence contract, as long you have appies'. That's it, and oh one more thing, you have to say that you are inviting everyone, rather than a specific guest list.
So, is it any wonder that whatever comes out of the candidates mouth for this election, you know that $29 million dollars is buying a lot of votes and favours. Wall Street and the White House are joined at the hip. Even Oprah's star status and bags of money aren't enough to give Obama a makeover, so he becomes a man of the people rather than being owned by the $25 million plus given to him by corporate self interest groups. Make no mistake about it the black family on welfare in Harlem is not on Obama's targetted donor list. The facts: 96 percent of Americans don't contribute to political campaigns at all. The wealthiest elements of the U.S.are sustaining and sponsoring the political process and its actors. What this means is you get a government that is essentially bought and paid for by the powerful interests affected by those decisions. "Sometimes it's like forcing people to drink castor oil. People don't really want to get bad news. But information is power. Until you find out the truth you can't dig yourself out of the mess.- Charles Lewis founder of the Centre for Public Integrity.
And speaking of actors, why does it take an actor like Brad Pitt, driving around on a bicycle in New Orleans to re-build the homes lost by Katrina. Only in America, can you get Larry King the Godfather of Gossip to go to New Orleans to interview Pitt like he's an American hero. With the billions spent on the war in Iraq you would think the congressman representing that district could find a few milllion to help the people who voted for her/him. Oh yes, I forgot they weren't on the guest list for appies'
When a candidate says they have the citizens interest at heart they are smoking weed or actually believing their own lies and the script from their campaign manager. Power does funny things to you. It either makes you corrupt, ruthless, cunning and narcissistic or it grooms you for a higher purpose. Unfortunately, we are in the midst of a tremendous good and evil struggle, the continuing insanity of a system that is corrupt and broken and needs to be fixed and exorcised. The only hope I feel is with my 5 year old grandson, who questions everything and believes nothing unless it agrees with his own reason and common sense
And so, we read the headlines in the paper; Major league baseball players lie about using steroids. The list is printed, and everybody denies. George Bush tells everybody that Iran has a nuclear bomb. The U.S. led investigation discovers that they have no bomb. Bush denies, and says "okay, well maybe they will have one day, I still all want you to fear them, and support me if I invade. Bush lies about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. "Okay, maybe I was wrong, but we are there now, so let's win, because you now we Americans hate to lose, whether it's a war or the super bowl. The facts; 3, 500 young lives lost , because George W. wants to win the game before he leaves. And here's more insanity, Bush gets on the radio/tv and tells the American people that this drug thing has tarnished baseball, the American pastime we have all grown to love. Here's a concept George, release a statement saying that you have single handidly destroyed the faith and trust of the office of the President , which we have all held in high esteem since the American revolution.
Your boss tells you that you are a great employee, rewards you for 25 years of service with a watch, and when you hear rumors of a possible takeover of the company he denies this and tells everybody their job is safe. Next year the company is bought by an off shore conglomerate. They announce they are cutting staff for the bottom line and to please their shareholders by saving money. You are given two weeks to empty your desk.
Every day somewhere in the world these things are happening. Telling a lie is now an acceptable form of denial. Telling the truth is more of an exception and treated with a query; "why are you telling me this, is there a motive here, what do you want from me, I don't believe you, you're just saying that,, what do you really mean, is there a method to your madness.".
It's no wonder that we are all a little bit confused, and so when I got this card from a very good friend, I couldn't help but notice the message from the Buddha, and so it made sense to share it, particularly because today is Sunday, a day of contemplation, and prayer. So here is my prayer; that all of you will take this message into your week, and ask only one question of yourselves and everyone you have a business or personal relationship with, when they are done speaking, don't be afraid to ask them this question; "So what part of this is a lie? Your fear is that they might tell you something you don't want to hear- the truth!
If you do nothing more for the rest of your life other than"speak your truth" and ask that fundamental question, you will always know what and who to believe in. I believe in my grandson because he always tells me when he is not telling the truth, he says, "Just kidding Grandpa". Maybe it's time for adults to start kidding instead of lying!
The Centre for Public Integrity in the U.S. released a statement recently that North American society is at it's lowest point of trust in government and companies since the 1930's. How did we get to this point you might ask and what are the events of the day that continue to cause us to spiral down the path of total disillusionment.
First of all we have been lied to by the very people we have entrusted with our well being; the pillars of society, government leaders, employers, ministers, and sports heroes, Here is the rogues gallery of those who have fallen from grace.
Let's begin with the Presidents of the United States. I say Presidents, because this business of lying to it's citizens didn't start with George W. Bush. Bush is in our face now, but let's not forget Bill Clinton's famous statement; "I did not sleep with that woman", to "tricky Dickie Nixon and Watergate, to George Bush Snr. and the Saudis', cover-up after cover up. Deny, Deny , Deny is the message that is most heard around the White House, the corporate world, the husband or wife who is cheating on you, the minister in the church who is having sex with a male prostitute or our sports heroes; from Olympic stars to baseball stars who deny their use of performance enhancing drugs. Deny, Deny, Deny!
Little doubt that morality and truth have been replaced by lying, cheating, and doing whatever it takes to either succeed in business, sports, politics or the pursuit of the American dream . To win at life! And Canada is not immune. This week we were shocked to learn that Brian Mulroney, the former prime minister had taken a bag full of money from a German businessman in exchange for some favours. But are we really shocked. If this had happened in the 1950"s, yes indeed there would be shock. But we are so immune today to the notion that someone did something wrong, that we feel it's almost acceptable. It's called "lobbying".
Even the American congress has decided they can't stop the lobbyists from influencing public officials, so they are in a sense legalizing it by introducing legislation that tells lobbyists they can't have sit down dinners with people of influence in congress, they must stand and only serve appetizers. So it's okay to pay someone off with a "vote" in exchange for that government defence contract, as long you have appies'. That's it, and oh one more thing, you have to say that you are inviting everyone, rather than a specific guest list.
So, is it any wonder that whatever comes out of the candidates mouth for this election, you know that $29 million dollars is buying a lot of votes and favours. Wall Street and the White House are joined at the hip. Even Oprah's star status and bags of money aren't enough to give Obama a makeover, so he becomes a man of the people rather than being owned by the $25 million plus given to him by corporate self interest groups. Make no mistake about it the black family on welfare in Harlem is not on Obama's targetted donor list. The facts: 96 percent of Americans don't contribute to political campaigns at all. The wealthiest elements of the U.S.are sustaining and sponsoring the political process and its actors. What this means is you get a government that is essentially bought and paid for by the powerful interests affected by those decisions. "Sometimes it's like forcing people to drink castor oil. People don't really want to get bad news. But information is power. Until you find out the truth you can't dig yourself out of the mess.- Charles Lewis founder of the Centre for Public Integrity.
And speaking of actors, why does it take an actor like Brad Pitt, driving around on a bicycle in New Orleans to re-build the homes lost by Katrina. Only in America, can you get Larry King the Godfather of Gossip to go to New Orleans to interview Pitt like he's an American hero. With the billions spent on the war in Iraq you would think the congressman representing that district could find a few milllion to help the people who voted for her/him. Oh yes, I forgot they weren't on the guest list for appies'
When a candidate says they have the citizens interest at heart they are smoking weed or actually believing their own lies and the script from their campaign manager. Power does funny things to you. It either makes you corrupt, ruthless, cunning and narcissistic or it grooms you for a higher purpose. Unfortunately, we are in the midst of a tremendous good and evil struggle, the continuing insanity of a system that is corrupt and broken and needs to be fixed and exorcised. The only hope I feel is with my 5 year old grandson, who questions everything and believes nothing unless it agrees with his own reason and common sense
And so, we read the headlines in the paper; Major league baseball players lie about using steroids. The list is printed, and everybody denies. George Bush tells everybody that Iran has a nuclear bomb. The U.S. led investigation discovers that they have no bomb. Bush denies, and says "okay, well maybe they will have one day, I still all want you to fear them, and support me if I invade. Bush lies about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. "Okay, maybe I was wrong, but we are there now, so let's win, because you now we Americans hate to lose, whether it's a war or the super bowl. The facts; 3, 500 young lives lost , because George W. wants to win the game before he leaves. And here's more insanity, Bush gets on the radio/tv and tells the American people that this drug thing has tarnished baseball, the American pastime we have all grown to love. Here's a concept George, release a statement saying that you have single handidly destroyed the faith and trust of the office of the President , which we have all held in high esteem since the American revolution.
Your boss tells you that you are a great employee, rewards you for 25 years of service with a watch, and when you hear rumors of a possible takeover of the company he denies this and tells everybody their job is safe. Next year the company is bought by an off shore conglomerate. They announce they are cutting staff for the bottom line and to please their shareholders by saving money. You are given two weeks to empty your desk.
Every day somewhere in the world these things are happening. Telling a lie is now an acceptable form of denial. Telling the truth is more of an exception and treated with a query; "why are you telling me this, is there a motive here, what do you want from me, I don't believe you, you're just saying that,, what do you really mean, is there a method to your madness.".
It's no wonder that we are all a little bit confused, and so when I got this card from a very good friend, I couldn't help but notice the message from the Buddha, and so it made sense to share it, particularly because today is Sunday, a day of contemplation, and prayer. So here is my prayer; that all of you will take this message into your week, and ask only one question of yourselves and everyone you have a business or personal relationship with, when they are done speaking, don't be afraid to ask them this question; "So what part of this is a lie? Your fear is that they might tell you something you don't want to hear- the truth!
If you do nothing more for the rest of your life other than"speak your truth" and ask that fundamental question, you will always know what and who to believe in. I believe in my grandson because he always tells me when he is not telling the truth, he says, "Just kidding Grandpa". Maybe it's time for adults to start kidding instead of lying!
Friday, December 14, 2007
ZENNERS SPEAK OUT
Can Anybody Save the World?
I’ve noticed those full-page ads in The New York Times on Sundays this summer, with the big, bold headline “YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD.” While I have many friends who believe in that credo, I didn’t think they had the $100,000 to fork over to see their sentiment in newsprint. Actually, the ads were taken out by Starbucks. Being insanely scared of a potential coffee addiction, I’ve probably had a half-dozen cups of joe in my life so I’m no devotee of Starbucks. But I will say I’ve always admired the pluckiness of the firm, whether it’s giving generous benefits to employees or venturing into the lifestyle-and-entertainment genre. Yet this ad gave me a partial scowl. I’m starting to get a little tired of the ubiquity of social responsibility and the marketing machine that’s hitting us over the head with corporate do-goodism.
Are there no more bad guys in the business world? Yeah right, that’ll be the day.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a karmic capitalist at heart, believing a long-term (karmic) approach to business can create positive improvements in the world. But when I recently googled “change the world,” I came across rocker Joan Jett's “Cadillac Story” at the top of the sponsored links. How can an Escalade create positive change in the world? The ad men are up to their old ways.
So we have a good problem: PC pollution (and I don’t mean the personal-computer kind). Every business out there knows it needs to be perceived as Politically Correct. Otherwise it’s at risk of becoming a stock-market dog like Wal-Mart. So Joe and Mary Customer start getting a little confused. Who should they believe? Is that Gap ad campaign featuring the RED merchandise a good thing because it suggests a small portion of proceeds goes to a worthy cause? Or is it a bad thing because it’s a crass attempt to get people to buy things they don’t need, which just adds more crap to the planet?
I don’t have the answer, but I do believe we’re likely to see a big shift in the next five years that will help Joe and Mary see beyond the PC BS.
The No. 1 change we’ll see in the socially responsible business world will be transparency. It’s already happening, as smart companies are opening their books, processes and boardrooms to activists and journalists to show that these companies aren’t just bluffing with their ad campaigns. While the stock-market world has had social indexes like Domini for years, the consuming public hasn’t had any “Good Housekeeping” seal of approval that globally says, “This company walks its talk.” A number of savvy folks are in the process of creating those seals of approval and I welcome them because it will be a nice filter for all the socially responsible advertising clutter we’re starting to see.
In sum, can you truly change the world? No, not by yourself, but that doesn’t mean you don’t try. I’m encouraged that the business world has jumped on the bandwagon en masse, but let’s see how long some of those companies stay on the bandwagon when they realize real responsibilities come with looking responsible.
Given the big shift in leadership we’re likely to see in the next 10 years with the retirement of the baby boomers, I’m optimistic that the new crop of business leaders I meet when I speak at business schools is a world away from what I experienced as an MBA student nearly a quarter-century ago. This breed doesn’t just believe we should change the world; it knows the devastating consequences of not revising our collective habits would be devastating.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chip Conley is founder and CEO of a chain of boutique hotels and author of Peak: How Great Companies Get their Mojo from Maslow (Jossey-Bass, 2007).
Three Cheers for the fourth-sector economy
Last year, Google’s directors took a step that did not get much attention but could take our social/political/economic world to the next level of maturity. They decided that the most important thing to do with the firm’s philanthropic dollars was not to set up a charitable foundation (although they did that also), but to establish another for-profit company dedicated to the good of humanity and nature. They put a billion dollars into Google.org, the firm’s philanthropic arm, to be invested in companies that can either make or lose money as long as the common good is advanced. Any profits remain in the company to do more for the common good.
RechargeIT.org is one of the projects supported by Google.org. It produces plug-in electric vehicles that reduce the need for gasoline because they recharge themselves overnight through the domestic electricity grid. All Google company cars are now RechargeIT cars.
The first corporations founded in America were what I call “common good corporations.” To build a bridge, for example, a town meeting established a separate organization called a “corporation.” The minimum amount that could be loaned to it was very small, so each person in town could buy at least one “share.” The bylaws stated that decisions would be made by a majority of shareholders. In this way, the democratic process of the town meeting was sustained in the corporation. The wealthy bought more shares; the poor bought one share. The corporation was managed by a board of “trustees” responsible for managing the bridge-building corporation for “the common good.” When the tolls paid off all the loans, the corporation ceased to exist.
Today, the highest priority of corporations is the financial interests of a few; decisions are made by one vote per share, not shareholder; and these corporations stay in existence as long as they choose. This is a nearly complete reversal of the priority and structure of the original corporation, contributing no benefit to the social structure.
I believe Google.org could supply a visible return on the moral values of the corporate world, and help define what I call a mature fourth sector in society. Currently, the three main sectors are government, for-profit companies and non-profit organizations. The fourth sector consists of businesses that have social agendas. A mature fourth sector would be one in which the highest priority is the common good without limits on how to express it. Mature fourth-sector firms would impose reasonable limits on equity returns, with all excess profits permanently set aside and managed for the common good.
Financial planners tell their clients the goal should be an 8 to 11 percent return on their investments. Companies could cap their returns at 12 percent. One of the initial priorities could be to put any excess capital into common-good investment funds that buy successful companies and convert them into common-good corporations. These firms could establish joint ventures, eventually making it possible to buy multinational corporations. Once one multinational in a market sector is bought by a common-good fund, it will be in the financial interests of shareholders in the remaining firms to sell quickly to the common-good funds, since the last companies in the market sector to sell would receive less for their shares. In this way, all multinationals could eventually become common-good corporations.
Will this be one of the peaceful paths to a global moral order that builds on individual freedom and a free market economy? I hope so. Every time I see companies like Google.org come into existence, I am going to step outside my front door and give out a big cheer. I invite you to join me. I look forward to the day when people often hear their neighbours stepping out their front doors and cheering, like I am sure those early American townspeople did when they finished their bridges.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Terry Mollner is president of the Trusteeship Institute in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, a founder of the Calvert Social Investment Fund and a member of the board of Ben & Jerry’s
Democratic Capitalism
Last year, when Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize, millions of people around the world learned of the miracles that banks serving the poor could deliver. It was a well-deserved honour for Yunus, and a great reminder of what microloans and other slight tweaks to “business as usual” can mean to hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised people. Yunus’ Grameen Bank is a marvelous example of the potential of community lending, the third leg of the stool for socially responsible investing. (The others are setting standards for what shares we will buy and entering into dialogue with companies we own.) For large populations around the globe, “the triumph of capitalism” has meant no improvement to personal well-being. Even in wealthy nations, large pockets of poverty are scattered throughout crowded and crumbling inner cities and hard-hit agricultural areas. Around the globe, many people are able and willing to work, but have little opportunity.
Access to capital is an essential component of building healthy communities. But capital is not always available to the poor. Banks are driven by the desire to be ever more profitable. Since a $600 loan and a $6 million loan take about as much effort from the bank, and have a vastly different impact on the bottom line, the bank opts for eliminating smaller customers.
In addition, poor people seeking a loan often appear suspicious or quirky to bankers. For example, let’s look at the case of a mobile-home park where an old couple running the operation wants to retire by selling the land. Between them, the owners of these mobile homes may have enough income to buy the land with a loan to be paid back over a reasonable period of time. But banks don’t lend to new co-operative ventures. They lend to a person or a corporation with good credit. Since no single person living in the mobile-home park can guarantee the payments, there can be no loan.
Community-oriented financial institutions have come about as an answer to this problem. Such institutions may be a bank (or a bank branch) dedicated to making loans that boost the community and alleviate poverty. It may be a credit union, created perhaps by a church or community group, that loans money only to its own members and only for the purpose of building healthier neighbourhoods. It may even be a non-profit group, set up to borrow from caring people and lend to those in need.
Support for these kinds of community-development financial institutions is one of the ways sustainable or socially responsible investing can be approached. At Domini Social Investments, we have a fund that purchases bonds, backing up community institutions that make microcredit loans globally; we purchase insured deposits that support poor populations; we even use activist tools to help the community-development world.
Community-development loans have an important place in socially responsible investment portfolios, allowing investors to participate directly in relieving poverty and—unlike philanthropy—enabling them to keep their money even after using it this way. Most important, such loans offer evidence that finance can be used to alleviate poverty and create universal human dignity. Nowhere is the connection stronger than it is when investors support these grassroots lending organizations, be they microcredit institutions like Grameen Bank in Bangladesh or community-building groups like Latino Community Credit Union or the Self Help Credit Union, both in North Carolina.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amy Domini is the founder and CEO of Domini Social Investments, and author of several books on ethical investing.
I’ve noticed those full-page ads in The New York Times on Sundays this summer, with the big, bold headline “YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD.” While I have many friends who believe in that credo, I didn’t think they had the $100,000 to fork over to see their sentiment in newsprint. Actually, the ads were taken out by Starbucks. Being insanely scared of a potential coffee addiction, I’ve probably had a half-dozen cups of joe in my life so I’m no devotee of Starbucks. But I will say I’ve always admired the pluckiness of the firm, whether it’s giving generous benefits to employees or venturing into the lifestyle-and-entertainment genre. Yet this ad gave me a partial scowl. I’m starting to get a little tired of the ubiquity of social responsibility and the marketing machine that’s hitting us over the head with corporate do-goodism.
Are there no more bad guys in the business world? Yeah right, that’ll be the day.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a karmic capitalist at heart, believing a long-term (karmic) approach to business can create positive improvements in the world. But when I recently googled “change the world,” I came across rocker Joan Jett's “Cadillac Story” at the top of the sponsored links. How can an Escalade create positive change in the world? The ad men are up to their old ways.
So we have a good problem: PC pollution (and I don’t mean the personal-computer kind). Every business out there knows it needs to be perceived as Politically Correct. Otherwise it’s at risk of becoming a stock-market dog like Wal-Mart. So Joe and Mary Customer start getting a little confused. Who should they believe? Is that Gap ad campaign featuring the RED merchandise a good thing because it suggests a small portion of proceeds goes to a worthy cause? Or is it a bad thing because it’s a crass attempt to get people to buy things they don’t need, which just adds more crap to the planet?
I don’t have the answer, but I do believe we’re likely to see a big shift in the next five years that will help Joe and Mary see beyond the PC BS.
The No. 1 change we’ll see in the socially responsible business world will be transparency. It’s already happening, as smart companies are opening their books, processes and boardrooms to activists and journalists to show that these companies aren’t just bluffing with their ad campaigns. While the stock-market world has had social indexes like Domini for years, the consuming public hasn’t had any “Good Housekeeping” seal of approval that globally says, “This company walks its talk.” A number of savvy folks are in the process of creating those seals of approval and I welcome them because it will be a nice filter for all the socially responsible advertising clutter we’re starting to see.
In sum, can you truly change the world? No, not by yourself, but that doesn’t mean you don’t try. I’m encouraged that the business world has jumped on the bandwagon en masse, but let’s see how long some of those companies stay on the bandwagon when they realize real responsibilities come with looking responsible.
Given the big shift in leadership we’re likely to see in the next 10 years with the retirement of the baby boomers, I’m optimistic that the new crop of business leaders I meet when I speak at business schools is a world away from what I experienced as an MBA student nearly a quarter-century ago. This breed doesn’t just believe we should change the world; it knows the devastating consequences of not revising our collective habits would be devastating.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chip Conley is founder and CEO of a chain of boutique hotels and author of Peak: How Great Companies Get their Mojo from Maslow (Jossey-Bass, 2007).
Three Cheers for the fourth-sector economy
Last year, Google’s directors took a step that did not get much attention but could take our social/political/economic world to the next level of maturity. They decided that the most important thing to do with the firm’s philanthropic dollars was not to set up a charitable foundation (although they did that also), but to establish another for-profit company dedicated to the good of humanity and nature. They put a billion dollars into Google.org, the firm’s philanthropic arm, to be invested in companies that can either make or lose money as long as the common good is advanced. Any profits remain in the company to do more for the common good.
RechargeIT.org is one of the projects supported by Google.org. It produces plug-in electric vehicles that reduce the need for gasoline because they recharge themselves overnight through the domestic electricity grid. All Google company cars are now RechargeIT cars.
The first corporations founded in America were what I call “common good corporations.” To build a bridge, for example, a town meeting established a separate organization called a “corporation.” The minimum amount that could be loaned to it was very small, so each person in town could buy at least one “share.” The bylaws stated that decisions would be made by a majority of shareholders. In this way, the democratic process of the town meeting was sustained in the corporation. The wealthy bought more shares; the poor bought one share. The corporation was managed by a board of “trustees” responsible for managing the bridge-building corporation for “the common good.” When the tolls paid off all the loans, the corporation ceased to exist.
Today, the highest priority of corporations is the financial interests of a few; decisions are made by one vote per share, not shareholder; and these corporations stay in existence as long as they choose. This is a nearly complete reversal of the priority and structure of the original corporation, contributing no benefit to the social structure.
I believe Google.org could supply a visible return on the moral values of the corporate world, and help define what I call a mature fourth sector in society. Currently, the three main sectors are government, for-profit companies and non-profit organizations. The fourth sector consists of businesses that have social agendas. A mature fourth sector would be one in which the highest priority is the common good without limits on how to express it. Mature fourth-sector firms would impose reasonable limits on equity returns, with all excess profits permanently set aside and managed for the common good.
Financial planners tell their clients the goal should be an 8 to 11 percent return on their investments. Companies could cap their returns at 12 percent. One of the initial priorities could be to put any excess capital into common-good investment funds that buy successful companies and convert them into common-good corporations. These firms could establish joint ventures, eventually making it possible to buy multinational corporations. Once one multinational in a market sector is bought by a common-good fund, it will be in the financial interests of shareholders in the remaining firms to sell quickly to the common-good funds, since the last companies in the market sector to sell would receive less for their shares. In this way, all multinationals could eventually become common-good corporations.
Will this be one of the peaceful paths to a global moral order that builds on individual freedom and a free market economy? I hope so. Every time I see companies like Google.org come into existence, I am going to step outside my front door and give out a big cheer. I invite you to join me. I look forward to the day when people often hear their neighbours stepping out their front doors and cheering, like I am sure those early American townspeople did when they finished their bridges.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Terry Mollner is president of the Trusteeship Institute in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, a founder of the Calvert Social Investment Fund and a member of the board of Ben & Jerry’s
Democratic Capitalism
Last year, when Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize, millions of people around the world learned of the miracles that banks serving the poor could deliver. It was a well-deserved honour for Yunus, and a great reminder of what microloans and other slight tweaks to “business as usual” can mean to hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised people. Yunus’ Grameen Bank is a marvelous example of the potential of community lending, the third leg of the stool for socially responsible investing. (The others are setting standards for what shares we will buy and entering into dialogue with companies we own.) For large populations around the globe, “the triumph of capitalism” has meant no improvement to personal well-being. Even in wealthy nations, large pockets of poverty are scattered throughout crowded and crumbling inner cities and hard-hit agricultural areas. Around the globe, many people are able and willing to work, but have little opportunity.
Access to capital is an essential component of building healthy communities. But capital is not always available to the poor. Banks are driven by the desire to be ever more profitable. Since a $600 loan and a $6 million loan take about as much effort from the bank, and have a vastly different impact on the bottom line, the bank opts for eliminating smaller customers.
In addition, poor people seeking a loan often appear suspicious or quirky to bankers. For example, let’s look at the case of a mobile-home park where an old couple running the operation wants to retire by selling the land. Between them, the owners of these mobile homes may have enough income to buy the land with a loan to be paid back over a reasonable period of time. But banks don’t lend to new co-operative ventures. They lend to a person or a corporation with good credit. Since no single person living in the mobile-home park can guarantee the payments, there can be no loan.
Community-oriented financial institutions have come about as an answer to this problem. Such institutions may be a bank (or a bank branch) dedicated to making loans that boost the community and alleviate poverty. It may be a credit union, created perhaps by a church or community group, that loans money only to its own members and only for the purpose of building healthier neighbourhoods. It may even be a non-profit group, set up to borrow from caring people and lend to those in need.
Support for these kinds of community-development financial institutions is one of the ways sustainable or socially responsible investing can be approached. At Domini Social Investments, we have a fund that purchases bonds, backing up community institutions that make microcredit loans globally; we purchase insured deposits that support poor populations; we even use activist tools to help the community-development world.
Community-development loans have an important place in socially responsible investment portfolios, allowing investors to participate directly in relieving poverty and—unlike philanthropy—enabling them to keep their money even after using it this way. Most important, such loans offer evidence that finance can be used to alleviate poverty and create universal human dignity. Nowhere is the connection stronger than it is when investors support these grassroots lending organizations, be they microcredit institutions like Grameen Bank in Bangladesh or community-building groups like Latino Community Credit Union or the Self Help Credit Union, both in North Carolina.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amy Domini is the founder and CEO of Domini Social Investments, and author of several books on ethical investing.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Greenwashers make BBB's scam list
Environmental fraudsters join identity thieves, fake health claims, Web ripoffs.
Andrew Duffy, Victoria Times Colonist. Published: Thursday, December 13, 2007
VICTORIA -- The names may change, but the scams remain the same.
That's how Valerie MacLean sums up the annual release of the year's biggest scams and fraudulent practices, this year entitled the Better Business Bureau's Dirty Dozen Scams.
"The scams seem to repeat year after year, but what changes is the method of transmission and how they get to you," said MacLean, executive director of the B.C. Crime Prevention Association. "Take greenwashing and carbon-credit fraud. The interesting thing about that is it's the usual fraudsters capitalizing on current events, and right now anything green is a hot topic...."
In some cases it's as simple as companies falsely claiming their products are green, or air travellers paying a premium to offset carbon usage, although there's often no proof anything is done once the money is paid.
"No one checks into them and where the money is going. Sometimes, it's just an outright money grab," said Mayo McDonough, executive director of the BBB on Vancouver Island.
Greenwashing made the list for the first time at No. 5 behind false health claims, identity theft, home-repair rip-offs and affinity fraud -- in which scammers gain the confidence of a group and gets them to invest en masse.
"We put greenwashing up high on the list this year because it's brand new, but I would say identity theft is the biggest one we hear about," McDonough said. MacLean agrees. "It can come back to haunt you years down the road, and it can take years to restore your credit."
The bogus cheque overpayment scheme came in at No. 6. This scam sees buyers sending fraudulent cheques or money orders for more than a product is worth, and asking the seller to send them the excess cash back.
No. 7, is Internet fraud, where websites and e-mails ask for personal banking information for nefarious purposes, and No. 8 is the well-known Nigerian letter scam where people are asked to send money with the promise of a big payout down the line.
No. 9 is the bogus charity scam where fraudsters create an organization that sounds legitimate but has nothing but greed on its mind. No. 10 is unscrupulous moving companies that use hidden fees or, in some cases, hold your goods hostage until you pay their new bill. And No. 11 is the resort vacation promotion where people are promised exotic packages for free or at low cost only to be hit with a slew of hidden charges and a trip that is anything but first-class.
Finally, No. 12 is debit and credit card skimming, which sees fraudsters stealing your PIN without your knowledge.
MacLean and McDonough say education is key and websites like theirs identify latest scams
Andrew Duffy, Victoria Times Colonist. Published: Thursday, December 13, 2007
VICTORIA -- The names may change, but the scams remain the same.
That's how Valerie MacLean sums up the annual release of the year's biggest scams and fraudulent practices, this year entitled the Better Business Bureau's Dirty Dozen Scams.
"The scams seem to repeat year after year, but what changes is the method of transmission and how they get to you," said MacLean, executive director of the B.C. Crime Prevention Association. "Take greenwashing and carbon-credit fraud. The interesting thing about that is it's the usual fraudsters capitalizing on current events, and right now anything green is a hot topic...."
In some cases it's as simple as companies falsely claiming their products are green, or air travellers paying a premium to offset carbon usage, although there's often no proof anything is done once the money is paid.
"No one checks into them and where the money is going. Sometimes, it's just an outright money grab," said Mayo McDonough, executive director of the BBB on Vancouver Island.
Greenwashing made the list for the first time at No. 5 behind false health claims, identity theft, home-repair rip-offs and affinity fraud -- in which scammers gain the confidence of a group and gets them to invest en masse.
"We put greenwashing up high on the list this year because it's brand new, but I would say identity theft is the biggest one we hear about," McDonough said. MacLean agrees. "It can come back to haunt you years down the road, and it can take years to restore your credit."
The bogus cheque overpayment scheme came in at No. 6. This scam sees buyers sending fraudulent cheques or money orders for more than a product is worth, and asking the seller to send them the excess cash back.
No. 7, is Internet fraud, where websites and e-mails ask for personal banking information for nefarious purposes, and No. 8 is the well-known Nigerian letter scam where people are asked to send money with the promise of a big payout down the line.
No. 9 is the bogus charity scam where fraudsters create an organization that sounds legitimate but has nothing but greed on its mind. No. 10 is unscrupulous moving companies that use hidden fees or, in some cases, hold your goods hostage until you pay their new bill. And No. 11 is the resort vacation promotion where people are promised exotic packages for free or at low cost only to be hit with a slew of hidden charges and a trip that is anything but first-class.
Finally, No. 12 is debit and credit card skimming, which sees fraudsters stealing your PIN without your knowledge.
MacLean and McDonough say education is key and websites like theirs identify latest scams
Innovation: 5 Things Customer Service Can Learn from SANTA CLAUS
Customer relationships are conversations, and customer service is the new marketing. One very important part of conversation is the spirit in which we approach it. In many ways, children got it right -- they approach every wish as possible. What do you want to be when you grow up? An astronaut!
The other important part of conversation is listening. What would you like Santa to bring you this year? Is the often unspoken question children begin to think about right about now when it gets chilly outside (well, in my part of the world) and signs of the holidays are starting to be everywhere you turn. Children look clearly into your eyes and tell you they are making their list for Santa.
Let’s take a look at five things that customer service can learn from Santa Claus:
1. Santa exists in the minds of those who believe in him. It’s the same for corporations. No matter what you think you are, you're only what your customers believe you to be.
2. Santa knows what kids want. Customers aren't children (usually!). But think about the last conversation with your best client. Was it about something they wanted -- or you?
3. Santa reads your list. More importantly, he checks it twice. What's worse than missing the opportunity to delight your customer? Letting a sloppy mistake ruin it. Accuracy is the star of your marketing team.
4. Santa rewards good behavior. In these days of increasingly compressed budgets, it's certainly easy to justify skipping the little things: sending a valued client a nice holiday gift, rather than the cheapest thing that will hold a logo. These economies are false savings.
5. Santa delivers -- every single time. Check the history books and you'll find Santa has never sent his regrets due to scheduling difficulties or bad flight weather. Find your Rudolph. Being there isn't half the battle. It's everything.
"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” Or there should be, when it comes to customer service. And, just like Christmas, the spirit of customer service excellence really should go on long after the wreath is boxed and you've taken the tree to the curb.
Regardless of which holiday you celebrate this month, may your days be filled with success, and your homes with peace.
Valeria Maltoni • Conversation Agent • Philadelphia, PA • http://www.conversationagent.com/
Thursday, November 22, 2007
LIFE SUSPENDED
On Monday at approximately 3:00 p.m. my life suspended, literally and figuratively. It was shortly after I entered an elevator …there was a thud, blackness, and people yelling is anyone in there, that I realized something had gone very wrong. My first frightening thought was that it was an earthquake, as everyone has been saying “we are overdue for the big one”. I thought this was the big one, and that everyone would be leaving the building not realizing that I was alone in the elevator suspended in mid air, not knowing if it would catch fire or plunge downward. My first instinct was to pound on the door, which I did- and hollered for help. I heard the faint sound of a woman’s voice, saying; “Is anyone in there”?. I said “yes”, she said “are you alone”, I said yes, and she told me there had been a power failure and that they were calling the fire department to get me out.
What happened in the next 1 ½ hours was very interesting. First of all I must tell that you whatever God or the universe had in mind for me that day was unknown, all I can tell you is that normally I park at a parking meter for this regularly scheduled meeting and today for some reason I was directed to an empty spot on the next street that had unrestricted free parking., and no time limit. Oh yes, and one more thing, I always take my cell phone with me, but that day I forgot it. So you can now visualize the picture, no cell phone, and total blackness, alone in the elevator suspended between floors.
How many of us are literally and metaphorically “suspended in life”. We are a moment away from very real things happening to us. We walk across the street on a sunny day….a car passes another and doesn’t see you in the crosswalk and in the blink of an eye you are gone. A hi-rise window washer in his daily routine is washing windows on the 45 th floor…suspended in mid air, loses his balance and his harness breaks and he plummets to his death. You are on your ski holiday, and riding the ski lift, suspended in mid air, the lift line breaks and you fall to your death. You are on a flight to Mexico for your holidays, suspended in the air and in mid flight, the plane develops a problem and has to crash land. What are you thinking in these “real life” moments.
I have now been through two of these life altering experiences, and so have lived to tell you about them. A number of years ago, I was on a flight to California, and as I usually do, because of my height took the exit row seat. Of course, as you all know that’s the emergency door, and so you have to assist in an emergency. An emergency you think will never happen. And how many times have you listened to the same boring speech of the flight attendant on what to do in an emergency. I just put on my head set and read and ignore her. Well that day was different. I got a tap on my shoulder and the flight attendant asked three of us to come to the back of the plane, she had something to tell us. She said the landing gear was stuck and we were going to have to make an emergency landing in Sacramento, because they had a long runway.
Those moments before the landing are the same moments I felt in the elevator. My God this is “really happening”, this is not a movie. I might die. So you begin to take an inventory of your life and what you thankfully did before you died.
I thought well at least I had seen my grandchildren that past weekend, played with them, enjoyed them and stayed an extra hour, maybe that’s a sign--God wanted me to have a little more time with them. I kissed my daughter goodbye, and remembered it was a special endearing hug and kiss. not just one of those pecks on the cheek that we all rush around giving--not pausing to really enjoy the moment. She was holding my granddaughter when all three of us hugged--it was special.
Next, I thought about all the people I helped at work that day to accomplish several tasks for a project. The day had gone really well and I felt that I had been of value, so if that was the last day of my life I had at least fulfilled my purpose of being in service. I thought about the unresolved issues with my son, and how sad it would be that I would have to die-- for him to make peace with me. I had always thought that that might happen, but I didn’t want to wish for it, because as the old adage goes, “be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it”. I thought about joining my Dad who had passed away three years ago, and what our reunion would be like, because our relationship was strained before his death. Then I thought about the fact I had just had a reunion with an old friend, and how special that was, as I hadn’t heard from him in about ten years, and thought we might not ever do this again as he was going back to Israel.
Then I began to think of my partner in life, she was at home, not knowing what was happening. If I had a cell phone, I could at least call her to say I loved her and I’m sorry for not completing that will we were supposed to do. I kissed her goodbye in the morning before I left, but it didn’t feel any different, like a last kiss, so maybe it’s not supposed to end this way.
The light came back on in the elevator, but it didn’t move and the whole building went silent. And so I began to say to myself you have to do something, and so I did. I meditated and prayed. I called for my guides, I called for my father to come and lend a hand, and I let go and turned it over to a higher power, and basically said I have no control over this, I am completely in your hands. Within minutes, I heard a fireman at the door. “We are going to try and get you out”. They tried to break the door down, but it would not budge. “He said we can’t get you out, but I am leaving “Taylor” here to be with you and to talk to you. Are you okay? I said okay as long as there is an air supply in here, which there was. Taylor stayed with me till the elevator mechanic came….suddenly at precisely 4:10 p.m. I heard the door opening, looked up and saw Taylor and the elevator mechanic. Only problem was they were on the third floor and I was staring up at them in an elevator shaft between the second and third floor. They still would have to pull me up to where they were. I’m 6’4” 235 lbs, and never felt so helpless. I needed faith in that moment, and as I had just done for the past 1 ½ hours-- turned it over. They grabbed my arms and lifted me up. Very symbolic…looking skyward…my feet hit the floor and I was alive. I had landed safely again.
In a matter of minutes I was up and out, and out of the building, breathing fresh air, but feeling differently again as I always do from these life altering events. I have had so many I’ve lost count. But I do know this --that each time it happens I think of my life as moments of time. What we do with those moments are very very important. It puts everything in perspective; life, work, friends, family…each of them share moments of time with us.
Is your life suspended, do you feel that you are a victim of time spent without connection or meaning; money spent without satisfaction, work accomplished and feeling good about it only temporarily, kissing and hugging your significant other each morning and night with a sense of rote, familiarity, but lacking in warmth and connectedness, are you planning to wait for your future to take care of your unfulfilled dreams. Do these thoughts always resonate for you; When I get enough money I will… When I retire I will….When I find a soul mate I will…..When the kids grow up I will….. When I win the lottery I will….. So much of what comprises the media and the American Dream, is just that dreaming.
I have begun to live my life in reality, and the reality is that at any given moment, at any given time in your life, you will die. And the other reality is we don’t know when that will be. Living your life in suspension is like buying yourself a box of Godiva chocolates and then just leaving it wrapped and looking at it every day. Commit to the moment, because that is all you have. Do something and everything while you can now. Speak your truth, tell your story, heal wounds, live your passion, love everyone, trust a few, and hurt no one. Don’t wait. This one is not on your schedule. Let it go, give it up, stop fighting to be in control. This is one battle you will lose. And above all, don’t give up living!
Oh and by the way, when we did successfully land the plane in Sacramento, everyone rushed to praise the pilots, but the pilots looked skyward and thanked someone else. I thank God for getting me out of that elevator. However I think the real reason was to tell you my story and to give you the message. I have now done my part; the rest is up to you.
What happened in the next 1 ½ hours was very interesting. First of all I must tell that you whatever God or the universe had in mind for me that day was unknown, all I can tell you is that normally I park at a parking meter for this regularly scheduled meeting and today for some reason I was directed to an empty spot on the next street that had unrestricted free parking., and no time limit. Oh yes, and one more thing, I always take my cell phone with me, but that day I forgot it. So you can now visualize the picture, no cell phone, and total blackness, alone in the elevator suspended between floors.
How many of us are literally and metaphorically “suspended in life”. We are a moment away from very real things happening to us. We walk across the street on a sunny day….a car passes another and doesn’t see you in the crosswalk and in the blink of an eye you are gone. A hi-rise window washer in his daily routine is washing windows on the 45 th floor…suspended in mid air, loses his balance and his harness breaks and he plummets to his death. You are on your ski holiday, and riding the ski lift, suspended in mid air, the lift line breaks and you fall to your death. You are on a flight to Mexico for your holidays, suspended in the air and in mid flight, the plane develops a problem and has to crash land. What are you thinking in these “real life” moments.
I have now been through two of these life altering experiences, and so have lived to tell you about them. A number of years ago, I was on a flight to California, and as I usually do, because of my height took the exit row seat. Of course, as you all know that’s the emergency door, and so you have to assist in an emergency. An emergency you think will never happen. And how many times have you listened to the same boring speech of the flight attendant on what to do in an emergency. I just put on my head set and read and ignore her. Well that day was different. I got a tap on my shoulder and the flight attendant asked three of us to come to the back of the plane, she had something to tell us. She said the landing gear was stuck and we were going to have to make an emergency landing in Sacramento, because they had a long runway.
Those moments before the landing are the same moments I felt in the elevator. My God this is “really happening”, this is not a movie. I might die. So you begin to take an inventory of your life and what you thankfully did before you died.
I thought well at least I had seen my grandchildren that past weekend, played with them, enjoyed them and stayed an extra hour, maybe that’s a sign--God wanted me to have a little more time with them. I kissed my daughter goodbye, and remembered it was a special endearing hug and kiss. not just one of those pecks on the cheek that we all rush around giving--not pausing to really enjoy the moment. She was holding my granddaughter when all three of us hugged--it was special.
Next, I thought about all the people I helped at work that day to accomplish several tasks for a project. The day had gone really well and I felt that I had been of value, so if that was the last day of my life I had at least fulfilled my purpose of being in service. I thought about the unresolved issues with my son, and how sad it would be that I would have to die-- for him to make peace with me. I had always thought that that might happen, but I didn’t want to wish for it, because as the old adage goes, “be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it”. I thought about joining my Dad who had passed away three years ago, and what our reunion would be like, because our relationship was strained before his death. Then I thought about the fact I had just had a reunion with an old friend, and how special that was, as I hadn’t heard from him in about ten years, and thought we might not ever do this again as he was going back to Israel.
Then I began to think of my partner in life, she was at home, not knowing what was happening. If I had a cell phone, I could at least call her to say I loved her and I’m sorry for not completing that will we were supposed to do. I kissed her goodbye in the morning before I left, but it didn’t feel any different, like a last kiss, so maybe it’s not supposed to end this way.
The light came back on in the elevator, but it didn’t move and the whole building went silent. And so I began to say to myself you have to do something, and so I did. I meditated and prayed. I called for my guides, I called for my father to come and lend a hand, and I let go and turned it over to a higher power, and basically said I have no control over this, I am completely in your hands. Within minutes, I heard a fireman at the door. “We are going to try and get you out”. They tried to break the door down, but it would not budge. “He said we can’t get you out, but I am leaving “Taylor” here to be with you and to talk to you. Are you okay? I said okay as long as there is an air supply in here, which there was. Taylor stayed with me till the elevator mechanic came….suddenly at precisely 4:10 p.m. I heard the door opening, looked up and saw Taylor and the elevator mechanic. Only problem was they were on the third floor and I was staring up at them in an elevator shaft between the second and third floor. They still would have to pull me up to where they were. I’m 6’4” 235 lbs, and never felt so helpless. I needed faith in that moment, and as I had just done for the past 1 ½ hours-- turned it over. They grabbed my arms and lifted me up. Very symbolic…looking skyward…my feet hit the floor and I was alive. I had landed safely again.
In a matter of minutes I was up and out, and out of the building, breathing fresh air, but feeling differently again as I always do from these life altering events. I have had so many I’ve lost count. But I do know this --that each time it happens I think of my life as moments of time. What we do with those moments are very very important. It puts everything in perspective; life, work, friends, family…each of them share moments of time with us.
Is your life suspended, do you feel that you are a victim of time spent without connection or meaning; money spent without satisfaction, work accomplished and feeling good about it only temporarily, kissing and hugging your significant other each morning and night with a sense of rote, familiarity, but lacking in warmth and connectedness, are you planning to wait for your future to take care of your unfulfilled dreams. Do these thoughts always resonate for you; When I get enough money I will… When I retire I will….When I find a soul mate I will…..When the kids grow up I will….. When I win the lottery I will….. So much of what comprises the media and the American Dream, is just that dreaming.
I have begun to live my life in reality, and the reality is that at any given moment, at any given time in your life, you will die. And the other reality is we don’t know when that will be. Living your life in suspension is like buying yourself a box of Godiva chocolates and then just leaving it wrapped and looking at it every day. Commit to the moment, because that is all you have. Do something and everything while you can now. Speak your truth, tell your story, heal wounds, live your passion, love everyone, trust a few, and hurt no one. Don’t wait. This one is not on your schedule. Let it go, give it up, stop fighting to be in control. This is one battle you will lose. And above all, don’t give up living!
Oh and by the way, when we did successfully land the plane in Sacramento, everyone rushed to praise the pilots, but the pilots looked skyward and thanked someone else. I thank God for getting me out of that elevator. However I think the real reason was to tell you my story and to give you the message. I have now done my part; the rest is up to you.
Monday, October 08, 2007
THE GIVING OF THANKS
Today is Thanksgiving in Canada. A day that traditionally means the giving of thanks. I thought I would use this as an opportunity to share what I am most thankful of, and most importantly what I am most grateful for.
Today more than ever I am grateful to be a Canadian. Why, because I see what the rest of the world is becoming. It's not pleasant. I am saddened to say that for the first time in my life I am happy that I did not make the decision to remain in the U.S. after I graduated from College. I am grateful to the University of Montana for giving me a chance to get a college education when no Canadian University would accept me. I am grateful for the opportunity to obtain my Bachelors degree and for them accepting me into the Masters program in Sociology.
Today more than ever I am grateful for my American friends and relatives, all of whom are sickened by what has happened to their country, but feel powerless to to able to do anything about it. I am grateful to Paul Wiley and The Book Tree Publishing, an American publisher in San Diego who has the faith and belief that Zentrepreneurism is a book that needs to have a voice and that the time is know for the American community to hear the message. They will be publishing my book in paperback in 2008. No Canadian publisher was interested. This speaks volumes on why an American gets things done , while a Canadian makes decisions by committee.
And so the paradox, I love to be doing business in the U.S., I love my American friends and relatives, and hate America and what it has become. George W. Bush, may in fact go down in history as not only the worst President in U.S. history, but will also be remembered for what he did to destroy the "soul" of the American people.
Today I am grateful for being able to speak my truth, in public, and in this blog. The monks in Burma have not had that privilege, and my heart goes out to them. Being grateful also comes with responsibility, to be grateful also means we are humbled first. Being humbled allows us to appreciate what we have, not what we don't have. I have been humbled so many times I have lost count. The important thing is that we stop and take notice each time we are humbled. If we don't we have learned nothing. Today I am grateful for being humbled and for the privilege of being able to see another flower, take another breath, touch another's hand, feel the warmth of another sunny day, and embrace my grandchildren, for yet another day.
Today I give thanks, yesterday I was humbled, and tomorrow I ask for yet another day!
Today more than ever I am grateful to be a Canadian. Why, because I see what the rest of the world is becoming. It's not pleasant. I am saddened to say that for the first time in my life I am happy that I did not make the decision to remain in the U.S. after I graduated from College. I am grateful to the University of Montana for giving me a chance to get a college education when no Canadian University would accept me. I am grateful for the opportunity to obtain my Bachelors degree and for them accepting me into the Masters program in Sociology.
Today more than ever I am grateful for my American friends and relatives, all of whom are sickened by what has happened to their country, but feel powerless to to able to do anything about it. I am grateful to Paul Wiley and The Book Tree Publishing, an American publisher in San Diego who has the faith and belief that Zentrepreneurism is a book that needs to have a voice and that the time is know for the American community to hear the message. They will be publishing my book in paperback in 2008. No Canadian publisher was interested. This speaks volumes on why an American gets things done , while a Canadian makes decisions by committee.
And so the paradox, I love to be doing business in the U.S., I love my American friends and relatives, and hate America and what it has become. George W. Bush, may in fact go down in history as not only the worst President in U.S. history, but will also be remembered for what he did to destroy the "soul" of the American people.
Today I am grateful for being able to speak my truth, in public, and in this blog. The monks in Burma have not had that privilege, and my heart goes out to them. Being grateful also comes with responsibility, to be grateful also means we are humbled first. Being humbled allows us to appreciate what we have, not what we don't have. I have been humbled so many times I have lost count. The important thing is that we stop and take notice each time we are humbled. If we don't we have learned nothing. Today I am grateful for being humbled and for the privilege of being able to see another flower, take another breath, touch another's hand, feel the warmth of another sunny day, and embrace my grandchildren, for yet another day.
Today I give thanks, yesterday I was humbled, and tomorrow I ask for yet another day!
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