Paul Virilio said "One day the day will come when the day will not come" in his 1997 book Open Sky.
It is a characteristically human arrogance to always assume that we can fix things, often failing to acknowledge our own actions as the cause. He points out the lack of radical action on global crises, and the probability that human (re)action will not prevent catastrophic change in the Earth habitat.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Posted with Blogsy
Creating a happy world is serious business
A redefinition of wealth from emphasising possessive material accumulation, which can only be an end to something else, to a state of contentment and fulfillment - a good life - which requires equality, justice, subsistence, and community, gives Marketing a very different agenda that doesn't assume competitive growth and plunder is right.
The UN has conferenced on happiness - isn't that what we all think we are entitled to, but always find it somewhat elusive, especially when working longer hours doing things we don't believe in in order to compete with others for things that ultimately don't make us happier? Affluence is a blessing - let's not break it by greed-fueled striving for ever more.
The UN has conferenced on happiness - isn't that what we all think we are entitled to, but always find it somewhat elusive, especially when working longer hours doing things we don't believe in in order to compete with others for things that ultimately don't make us happier? Affluence is a blessing - let's not break it by greed-fueled striving for ever more.
Marketplace players are not actually amoral
Corporate founders and executives have values beyond the market and some are willing to take a political or moral stand on social issues, even if it seems to cause a backlash against their business
Some firms go further and found their business explicitly in pursuit of a higher purpose - to address social problems such as poverty, inequality, Ill-health, crime, illiteracy, human rights, pollution, resource waste, etc.
There are the "firms of endearment" that create huge positive wealth for all involved.
Who are the kiwi FoEs?
Some firms go further and found their business explicitly in pursuit of a higher purpose - to address social problems such as poverty, inequality, Ill-health, crime, illiteracy, human rights, pollution, resource waste, etc.
There are the "firms of endearment" that create huge positive wealth for all involved.
Who are the kiwi FoEs?
Monday, July 30, 2012
Humanity 2.0: Integral Life
We know that problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them. As our problems become ever more complex, more interconnected, and more global, it becomes increasingly clear that we need to find a whole new level of thinking and problem solving in order to meet the great challenges of our time
Integral Life here - a new culture - a new social movement! And the next stage of human evolution?
"If ordinary people don't perceive that our grand ideas are working in their lives then they can't develop the higher level of consciousness, to use a term that American philosopher Ken Wilber wrote a whole book about. He said, you know, the problem is the world needs to be more integrated, but it requires a consciousness that's way up here, and an ability to see beyond the differences among us." – former President Bill Clinton
Integral Life here - a new culture - a new social movement! And the next stage of human evolution?
"If ordinary people don't perceive that our grand ideas are working in their lives then they can't develop the higher level of consciousness, to use a term that American philosopher Ken Wilber wrote a whole book about. He said, you know, the problem is the world needs to be more integrated, but it requires a consciousness that's way up here, and an ability to see beyond the differences among us." – former President Bill Clinton
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Teachers teach, but do they help produce learning?
Peter Senge questions why teachers get rewarded for teaching, even if learning isn't produced
See his talk here at the World of Business Ideas
What is the terminal value of education? - the higher purpose must be more than information sharing or indoctrination
See his talk here at the World of Business Ideas
What is the terminal value of education? - the higher purpose must be more than information sharing or indoctrination
sustainability is a big part of a successful business strategy
Peter Senge talks about organising a sustainable business here at World of Business Ideas (WoBI)
He shows the link of systems thinking with sustainability
He shows the link of systems thinking with sustainability
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Is our expansive capitalism bad for our health?
The supposedly "free" market isn't giving everyone a fair share of the benefits or the costs - and we don't even acknowledge most of the costs, so we keep pushing for more and more ....
Market society identifies progress with competition instead of co-operation, and society as a realm of possessing things rather than for elaborating human relationships, and it creates a morality based on growth instead of limit and balance (Murray Bookchin, The Philosophy of Social Ecology)
Wealth or health doesn't make sense!
Market society identifies progress with competition instead of co-operation, and society as a realm of possessing things rather than for elaborating human relationships, and it creates a morality based on growth instead of limit and balance (Murray Bookchin, The Philosophy of Social Ecology)
Wealth or health doesn't make sense!
Positive marketing
Marketing that creates value for all involved
There's a program and centre at Fordham University
Collaborative way to wellbeing, not dominating profiting.
Maximize positive value, eliminate or minimize negative value
There's a program and centre at Fordham University
Collaborative way to wellbeing, not dominating profiting.
Maximize positive value, eliminate or minimize negative value
Oikos - sustainability change agents
oikos is the international student organisation for sustainable economics and management and a leading reference point for the promotion of sustainability change agents.
link to web site here
check out the case competition - Corporate Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship
link to web site here
check out the case competition - Corporate Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship
The bicycle superhighway
Copenhagen has now such a commitment to bikes - that's really ecocentric
Cycle highways are making the commute safer, faster, cheaper, healthier and greener
Surely we can do this in New Zealand's cities and towns?
Cycle highways are making the commute safer, faster, cheaper, healthier and greener
Surely we can do this in New Zealand's cities and towns?
Monday, July 23, 2012
Generation Zero
Make cup cakes, take off your clothes - raise awareness and take action for change
These are young people who are prepared to do something about our future - they don't have power but do want to influence the thinking of those who do
Check out their campaigns
These are young people who are prepared to do something about our future - they don't have power but do want to influence the thinking of those who do
Check out their campaigns
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Share those books - spread the knowledge through the Book Forest
Street libraries made from hollowed tree trunks - leave your unwanted books and find new titles to feed your mind
http://boingboing.net/2012/07/19/public-street-bookshelves-in-b.html
Books don't grow on trees but they are made from them and now can be found in them!
http://boingboing.net/2012/07/19/public-street-bookshelves-in-b.html
Books don't grow on trees but they are made from them and now can be found in them!
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Bamboo in style - style in bamboo!
Have you seen the really cool/neat range of gadgets and accessories, rings, and other stuff made from 100% natural hypo-allergenic, biodegradable, chemical-free bamboo?
My favourites are the bamboo keyboard and mouse and the bamboo headphones.
See the range of eco-effective products at purebamboo
My favourites are the bamboo keyboard and mouse and the bamboo headphones.
See the range of eco-effective products at purebamboo
In an era of "value creation", we're wasting so much
North American farms, processors, manufacturers, grocers, restaurants and homes are wasting food on an astronomical scale - 40% according to a government study. Around the world 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted each year, and this is growing.
The effect is to rob those who need meals, to squander the oil and water used to produce and distribute the food, and to generate climate-changing greenhouse gases as the uneaten food rots in landfill sites.
Food not consumed was worth US$250 billion in 2011. This is waste BIG time!
What can we each do to make sure that we are not contributing to the wasting of a third of the world's food?
Technology can assist, but first we need consciousness and positive attitude - let's indeed create value and not destroy it.
Imagine what we could do with the materials, time, work effort, energy, fuels, space, and money if it were diverted to good use instead of allowed to go to waste. Maybe the competitive market system of provisioning isn't as efficient as need be.
The effect is to rob those who need meals, to squander the oil and water used to produce and distribute the food, and to generate climate-changing greenhouse gases as the uneaten food rots in landfill sites.
Food not consumed was worth US$250 billion in 2011. This is waste BIG time!
What can we each do to make sure that we are not contributing to the wasting of a third of the world's food?
Technology can assist, but first we need consciousness and positive attitude - let's indeed create value and not destroy it.
Imagine what we could do with the materials, time, work effort, energy, fuels, space, and money if it were diverted to good use instead of allowed to go to waste. Maybe the competitive market system of provisioning isn't as efficient as need be.
It's official - NZ Government don't need democracy
So PM John Key stands firm on his "absolute mandate and authority" without the need for listening to objectors on current state assets sell-off. Yet he and his party colleagues will no doubt use an array of sweeteners to get what they want.
Another example of the dysfunction of party politics.
If we are to drive a transformation towards a fair and prosperous society, we can't allow the notion of popularity as decider to prevail.
The problems of society as not simply technical nor solvable only with neoliberal market economics.
New Zealand needs to reinvigorate around a much more sophisticated political system that has genuine values that support authentic wealth for all, not pocket-lining biases and manipulations by and for the already over-enriched.
Time for a reconstructive, ecological, communitarian, and ethical approach to society.
Another example of the dysfunction of party politics.
If we are to drive a transformation towards a fair and prosperous society, we can't allow the notion of popularity as decider to prevail.
The problems of society as not simply technical nor solvable only with neoliberal market economics.
New Zealand needs to reinvigorate around a much more sophisticated political system that has genuine values that support authentic wealth for all, not pocket-lining biases and manipulations by and for the already over-enriched.
Time for a reconstructive, ecological, communitarian, and ethical approach to society.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Is business school an incubator for criminals?
Humanistic business is a way forward for the business school of the future .... To avoid amorality in business
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Humanistic management education
It matters what business schools do in educating future leaders and managers. As educators of future leaders and as world citizens we have to foster learning that contributes to the humanistic mission of ‘People for People’.
"People for People" describes the humanistic mission of all management: human beings helping others.
Take a look at the People for People blog here
The motto is People for People - unleashing the potential of value creation of people for people.
"People for People" describes the humanistic mission of all management: human beings helping others.
Take a look at the People for People blog here
The motto is People for People - unleashing the potential of value creation of people for people.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Cultural buy-products
Grant Smithies (Sunday Star*Times, 15 July, 2012) discusses the way advertisers surmount the problem of Tv and movie watchers trying to avoid advertising - by inserting products into the settings of favourite soaps, comedies, and film action.
Of course, it doesn't stop there. Recently show writers and performers have been turning product placement into an art form, through meta-commentary. Now the subtle low key product appearance is substituted with the comically blatant in direct parody of the advertiser's maneuvering.
Grant tells us that shameless product placement may inspire rage, but there is fun and admiration to be found in the clever instances which poke fun at the very idea!
NBC's 30 Rock included Snapple in the episode "Jack-Tor" dedicated to product placement, where television writer Liz Lemon argued against including GE’s products in the show.
Liz : “We’re not compromising the integrity of the show to sell…”
Pete: “Wow, this is Diet Snapple?”
Liz : “I know. It tastes just like regular Snapple, doesn’t it?”
Frank: “You should try pomegranate. It’s amazing.”
Cerie: “I only date guys who drink Snapple.”
Jack: “Look, we all love Snapple. Lord knows I do".
In a roomful of irate writers complaining about having to write product placements into their scripts, everyone one of them is downing a bottle of Snapple.
A later episode satirizes the promotion of Verizon phones in the show, then Liz Lemon asks the sponsor through the camera, "can we have our money now?"
Of course, it doesn't stop there. Recently show writers and performers have been turning product placement into an art form, through meta-commentary. Now the subtle low key product appearance is substituted with the comically blatant in direct parody of the advertiser's maneuvering.
Grant tells us that shameless product placement may inspire rage, but there is fun and admiration to be found in the clever instances which poke fun at the very idea!
NBC's 30 Rock included Snapple in the episode "Jack-Tor" dedicated to product placement, where television writer Liz Lemon argued against including GE’s products in the show.
Liz : “We’re not compromising the integrity of the show to sell…”
Pete: “Wow, this is Diet Snapple?”
Liz : “I know. It tastes just like regular Snapple, doesn’t it?”
Frank: “You should try pomegranate. It’s amazing.”
Cerie: “I only date guys who drink Snapple.”
Jack: “Look, we all love Snapple. Lord knows I do".
In a roomful of irate writers complaining about having to write product placements into their scripts, everyone one of them is downing a bottle of Snapple.
A later episode satirizes the promotion of Verizon phones in the show, then Liz Lemon asks the sponsor through the camera, "can we have our money now?"
The future of marketing in New Zealand
Kath Dewar on green marketing and green consumption
http://www.stoppress.co.nz/blog/2012/07/writing-wall-green-advocating-88-percent
Values-based shopping, sustainable products ... The times they are a changin (as Bob would have said)
When will our teaching of marketing principles and practices catch up with what the majority of buyers now want?
This is not only a business opportunity to sell things people really want - it is also manifestation of a transition to a sustainable society
http://www.stoppress.co.nz/blog/2012/07/writing-wall-green-advocating-88-percent
Values-based shopping, sustainable products ... The times they are a changin (as Bob would have said)
When will our teaching of marketing principles and practices catch up with what the majority of buyers now want?
This is not only a business opportunity to sell things people really want - it is also manifestation of a transition to a sustainable society
Sustainable Business Network Awards
Details of this programme at http://www.sustainableawards.org.nz/
"Extraordinary Sustainable Businesses make an incredible, positive contribution to New Zealand’s economy, environment, and culture every year". Sustainable businesses are cost-efficient and productive, attract and retain loyal customers, and offer a great place to work.
The NZI National SBN Awards now in their 9th year are the pre-eminent sustainability awards in New Zealand.
The SBN is at http://www.sustainable.org.nz/
Have you entered, did you win, and could you show what you've achieved?
"Extraordinary Sustainable Businesses make an incredible, positive contribution to New Zealand’s economy, environment, and culture every year". Sustainable businesses are cost-efficient and productive, attract and retain loyal customers, and offer a great place to work.
The NZI National SBN Awards now in their 9th year are the pre-eminent sustainability awards in New Zealand.
The SBN is at http://www.sustainable.org.nz/
Have you entered, did you win, and could you show what you've achieved?
Positive customer experience
I'm with Ian Brooks on this - we don't want great service - we want positive experience. Service is the means to that end, and is what can be designed and managed.
Follow Ian's blog at http://drianbrooks.blogspot.co.nz
Follow Ian's blog at http://drianbrooks.blogspot.co.nz
Friday, July 13, 2012
Conscious capitalism
The Conscious Capitalism Alliance fosters a community of like-minded business leaders to facilitate knowledge sharing and networking, in service of advancing members’ businesses and the broader Conscious Capitalism Movement.
Overview
A new way of business is emerging - Conscious Capitalism™. This new model of conducting business creates healthier, more sustainable businesses. This new model is based on three core principles:
• Higher Purpose:
Acting out of a deeper purpose than merely profit maximization.
• Stakeholder Model:
A stakeholder approach to value creation, in which the interests of customers, employees, suppliers, investors, the community, and the environment are harmonized and aligned to the greatest extent possible.
• Conscious Leadership:
Leadership focused on fulfilling the company’s purpose, delivering value to the stakeholders, creating a sustainable, learning organization, and becoming an ever-greater company.
More at http://consciouscapitalism.org/institute/
Overview
A new way of business is emerging - Conscious Capitalism™. This new model of conducting business creates healthier, more sustainable businesses. This new model is based on three core principles:
• Higher Purpose:
Acting out of a deeper purpose than merely profit maximization.
• Stakeholder Model:
A stakeholder approach to value creation, in which the interests of customers, employees, suppliers, investors, the community, and the environment are harmonized and aligned to the greatest extent possible.
• Conscious Leadership:
Leadership focused on fulfilling the company’s purpose, delivering value to the stakeholders, creating a sustainable, learning organization, and becoming an ever-greater company.
More at http://consciouscapitalism.org/institute/
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Service Marketing (MKTG554-12B)
This is a place to consider service and marketing.
This is where we can discuss a current agenda of research priorities and the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of 'service science'.
We can also talk about research orientations and intellectual independence, as well as the role of the researcher, research project design issues, and skills of critical, logical thinking and expression of findings, arguments, and conclusions, and also about research evaluation.
post your comment, question, or thoughts about your project here .....
This is where we can discuss a current agenda of research priorities and the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of 'service science'.
We can also talk about research orientations and intellectual independence, as well as the role of the researcher, research project design issues, and skills of critical, logical thinking and expression of findings, arguments, and conclusions, and also about research evaluation.
post your comment, question, or thoughts about your project here .....
What does "carbon footprint" mean?
According to a tongue-in-cheek ad for Meridian power company in New Zealand it means how wicked and selfish you are in regard to the environment. How far from the truth is this?
What have you done to minimise your negative impact on our habitat?
My family has consciously reduced in at least 30 aspects of our use of materials since we emigrated to NZ.
Switching electrical appliances off
Walking or cycling
Composting
Avoiding plastic bags
Energy saving lamps
Minimal coal burned
No bags
More effective heating controller
Home cooking
And so on ....
How about you?
What have you done to minimise your negative impact on our habitat?
My family has consciously reduced in at least 30 aspects of our use of materials since we emigrated to NZ.
Switching electrical appliances off
Walking or cycling
Composting
Avoiding plastic bags
Energy saving lamps
Minimal coal burned
No bags
More effective heating controller
Home cooking
And so on ....
How about you?
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Forgotten books remembered
Neglected Books is a gold mine of commentary on books that perhaps never were popular but certainly are important - lots of diverse reading here
The site lists and discusses thousands of books, and it's searchable, and has links to other related material
The site lists and discusses thousands of books, and it's searchable, and has links to other related material
Self-motivated education
Has the age of virtual education begun? Techcast, the online think tank on technology in the future, has an interesting note on this here
Once anyone with an Internet connection can get access to free information, what will be the role of the educator? Of course, education isn't synonymous with information access.
The educator facilitates learning, which is not just the accumulation of facts, but the synthesis and application to particular contexts and the agility to shift thinking when change is sensed - being able to figure out what course of action to choose from the many possible and impossible - to escape into understanding, as Marshall McLuhan put it. The adaptive citizen In an increasingly dynamic and complex world will know what, why, and how, and will judge both facts (what is) and value (what should be). Geoffrey Vickers is a must read on this crucial capability of citizens. Read more here and here. The Appreciative System is an important and neglected idea.
The Techcast website has a virtual education forecast - what do you think will and should happen?
Once anyone with an Internet connection can get access to free information, what will be the role of the educator? Of course, education isn't synonymous with information access.
The educator facilitates learning, which is not just the accumulation of facts, but the synthesis and application to particular contexts and the agility to shift thinking when change is sensed - being able to figure out what course of action to choose from the many possible and impossible - to escape into understanding, as Marshall McLuhan put it. The adaptive citizen In an increasingly dynamic and complex world will know what, why, and how, and will judge both facts (what is) and value (what should be). Geoffrey Vickers is a must read on this crucial capability of citizens. Read more here and here. The Appreciative System is an important and neglected idea.
The Techcast website has a virtual education forecast - what do you think will and should happen?
The world won't get better unless we change it
Harold Melvin, John Legend, Wyclef Jean, Keb' Mo' - they all told us:
"Wake up everybody no more sleepin in bed
No more backward thinkin time for thinkin ahead
The world has changed so very much
From what it used to be so
there is so much hatred war an' poverty
Wake up all the teachers time to teach a new way
Maybe then they'll listen to whatcha have to say
Cause they're the ones who's coming up and the world is in their hands
when you teach the children teach em the very best you can.
Chorus
The world won't get no better if we just let it be
The world won't get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me".
"Wake up everybody no more sleepin in bed
No more backward thinkin time for thinkin ahead
The world has changed so very much
From what it used to be so
there is so much hatred war an' poverty
Wake up all the teachers time to teach a new way
Maybe then they'll listen to whatcha have to say
Cause they're the ones who's coming up and the world is in their hands
when you teach the children teach em the very best you can.
Chorus
The world won't get no better if we just let it be
The world won't get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me".
Friday, July 6, 2012
Profit or prosperity
I'm not against enhancing our life conditions, but I do see so many instances where the cost of accomplishing this just too high, and where some gain at others' expense.
If humankind is truly developing, don't we have to sort out the inequities and failures?
Human flourishing surely means more than accumulating personal wealth for short-term gratification without concern for the costs?
If humans are special it's because we have matured beyond the dog-eat-dog mentality to realize that we can determine our evolution, positively or negatively.
How do you live your life in our community?
Make a personal list of things you have changed for the better, and those that still need some work.
Go on, tell me what you're doing and choosing not to do!
If humankind is truly developing, don't we have to sort out the inequities and failures?
Human flourishing surely means more than accumulating personal wealth for short-term gratification without concern for the costs?
If humans are special it's because we have matured beyond the dog-eat-dog mentality to realize that we can determine our evolution, positively or negatively.
How do you live your life in our community?
Make a personal list of things you have changed for the better, and those that still need some work.
Go on, tell me what you're doing and choosing not to do!
Human Development Report 2012 - equity + sustainability = true and real freedomfreedom
This new report explores the integral links between environmental sustainability and equity and shows that these are critical to expanding human freedoms for people today and in generations to come.
Download it here.
The prospect of a better future for all.
How do people who earn their living through marketing work respond to this?
Download it here.
The prospect of a better future for all.
How do people who earn their living through marketing work respond to this?
The four flawed principles of the current business paradigm
We still teach thus stuff in business schools and this does a profound disservice to our students as citizens living as future workers and managers
Time to grow up and take business and management education forward for the future quality of life we all know is right
Check out this article for a neat exposition.
If you still think in the outmoded mindset, what are you going to do for the future of your life and those of our descendants?
Time to grow up and take business and management education forward for the future quality of life we all know is right
Check out this article for a neat exposition.
If you still think in the outmoded mindset, what are you going to do for the future of your life and those of our descendants?
What do we do when we've used it all up?
Kenneth Boulding famously said that anyone who believes that expansion/growth can go on forever is either a madman or an economist. Sadly, and perplexingly, so may people cling onto the idea that the very form of our economy that is creating the crises we now face will provide the solution to the problem.
The writings published online in Mother Pelican bring some much needed sanity to the debate.
Patzek shows us that we need to think sensibly about our finite planetary energy sources, as not all are resources.
Now what we do with finite sources matters!
The writings published online in Mother Pelican bring some much needed sanity to the debate.
Patzek shows us that we need to think sensibly about our finite planetary energy sources, as not all are resources.
Now what we do with finite sources matters!
What happens to noble causes when everything's for sale
Can't we just once lift our sights to nobler things than making money, especially when the product values are in direct opposition to the spirit of healthy competition and outstanding achievement among companions?
It looks like sense will prevail at the London Olympics as inappropriate sponsors are to be banned?
Who would be the right sponsors?
It looks like sense will prevail at the London Olympics as inappropriate sponsors are to be banned?
Who would be the right sponsors?
Managing for sustainability
One of the challenges facing companies is to align their business responsibility both with the strategies for corporate sustainability and with the wider imperatives for sustainable development. The challenge for management educators is to assist students and managers in recognising the challenge of sustainability as well as developing strategies and management systems to enhance both their contributions to sustainable development and the sustainability of their own organisations in an increasingly dynamic economic, ecological and social environment.
New Chair at Nottingham Business School being advertised in July 2012.
New Chair at Nottingham Business School being advertised in July 2012.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Academics not willing or not able to serve society as thought leaders?
Anyone who seriously engages with the sustainability crisis will see that thought leadership in transforming society to a sustainable form is an important means to a profound purpose (end) for our lives, not merely a means to be distinctive, or to gain prominence or competitive position, or an end in itself. This is a part of the very mindset that is increasingly outmoded in society! Is not our scholarship and educational work to be part of the solution of overburdening our habitat whilst not resolving inequity and poverty for so many of our fellow humans? Let's not allow so-called science to blind to the obvious need for rightness in our relationship with Nature and the eco-sub-systems of which we are an interdependent part.
How should we spend precious and limited intellectual effort and public funds in management education? For business interests, or for the betterment of society? Are we to be handmaidens or pathmakers? (in the words of Paul Raskin). Do we serve society, or merely serve up consumers ?
How should we spend precious and limited intellectual effort and public funds in management education? For business interests, or for the betterment of society? Are we to be handmaidens or pathmakers? (in the words of Paul Raskin). Do we serve society, or merely serve up consumers ?
Dumb Marketing promotion costs us in many ways
When marketing promotion sparks controversy, is racist, insensitive, rude, arrogant, aggressive, dominatory, plain wrong, useless, and wasteful - it is just dumb
Good marketing promotion is positively effective and efficient - there's a net positive value created, without hurtful and wasteful abuse and misuse
Here are examples of some folks trying to be clever and in so doing showing how dumb they are.
Good marketing promotion is positively effective and efficient - there's a net positive value created, without hurtful and wasteful abuse and misuse
Here are examples of some folks trying to be clever and in so doing showing how dumb they are.
Open source - let customers decide what to pay
A business that could be called a Firm of Endearment is partnering with their local communities to create real value that is needed.
They allow customers to pay what they can afford for fresh authentic food.
The uplifting story is here
Do you trade with or work for a firm of endearment?
They allow customers to pay what they can afford for fresh authentic food.
The uplifting story is here
Do you trade with or work for a firm of endearment?
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Pathways of choice into our future world
Paul Raskin at The Tellus Institute has articulated three broad ways into an imagined future for humankind:
A world of incremental adjustment in business-as-usual market-driven societal evolution
Or, catastrophic discontinuity and decline
Or, progressive transformation
Have you decided which way to go? - I have and the choice isn't really a choice.
Want to understand more of this thinking? Go to The Tellus Institute
A world of incremental adjustment in business-as-usual market-driven societal evolution
Or, catastrophic discontinuity and decline
Or, progressive transformation
Have you decided which way to go? - I have and the choice isn't really a choice.
Want to understand more of this thinking? Go to The Tellus Institute
When more is too much
"I've got more than enough, and I've had enough of wanting more and of too much, and of seeing others with too little"
Intelligent rules for life
I am a Professor of Marketing, born and raised in northern England through both Labour and Conservative government terms, and in a secondary modern school and then technical college and university - first general sciences, then management sciences.
It's doubtful I have any Cree culture in my family heritage - actually my dad was a Yorkshire farm laborer, then a tannery worker, then a refuse collector.
But, I can see common sense and ethical values in the Cree tradition:
Learn at least one meaningful thing today
Teach at least one meaningful thing today
Do something for another person, especially if they don't realize it
Treat all living things with respect.
Quality of life, I say!
It's doubtful I have any Cree culture in my family heritage - actually my dad was a Yorkshire farm laborer, then a tannery worker, then a refuse collector.
But, I can see common sense and ethical values in the Cree tradition:
Learn at least one meaningful thing today
Teach at least one meaningful thing today
Do something for another person, especially if they don't realize it
Treat all living things with respect.
Quality of life, I say!
The urge to be scientific in Marketing is a form of madness
One of my colleagues told me in no uncertain terms that he would not be making any academic inquiry on sustainability as it is not part of the discipline and so is a waste of his attention.
Our silo and outmoded (rearview mirror, in McLuhan's terms) thinking is what got us into a sticky mess, and it can't get us out - when you find yourself at the bottom of a deep hole, stop digging!
Time to concern ourselves with the practicalities of a rather more noble purpose for marketing than selling stuff to anyone who will buy it.
Marketing has the potential power to influence behaviour, so let 's use it to create quality of life, rather than to enable immediate and transitory titillation that uses up our planet.
Bob (Dylan) remains correct in his assertion that the times they are a changin' - we can't sustain endless growth especially when it hurts us, so let's face up and turn our attention to making life better within natural limits
This is not a technical problem requiring elegant models with dubious connection to reality - we do need clarity of values and purpose, then the means become evident and simple.
Our silo and outmoded (rearview mirror, in McLuhan's terms) thinking is what got us into a sticky mess, and it can't get us out - when you find yourself at the bottom of a deep hole, stop digging!
Time to concern ourselves with the practicalities of a rather more noble purpose for marketing than selling stuff to anyone who will buy it.
Marketing has the potential power to influence behaviour, so let 's use it to create quality of life, rather than to enable immediate and transitory titillation that uses up our planet.
Bob (Dylan) remains correct in his assertion that the times they are a changin' - we can't sustain endless growth especially when it hurts us, so let's face up and turn our attention to making life better within natural limits
This is not a technical problem requiring elegant models with dubious connection to reality - we do need clarity of values and purpose, then the means become evident and simple.
Higher education - facilitate learning / liberal education
If universities are to be hotbeds of transformative thinking towards a sustainable society with enriching quality of life for all, then we have to move beyond the expert-centered production and distribution model of chalk and talk teaching.
For me, no-one teaches, but we all learn. The BIG question is what do we do with our learning and is the social learning necessary for transferring our way of life from the addiction of the 'good times' obsession to the healthy 'good life' going to come from competitive external evaluation, or from self-assessed meaningful learning?
In my 20 years in universities, we haven't made a lot of progress because we still treat sustainability as a separate subject. We need much greater clarity about the necessary purpose for university education. It cannot be simply to train/condition young people to enter the workforce for business-as-usual only more, bigger, and faster!!
For me, no-one teaches, but we all learn. The BIG question is what do we do with our learning and is the social learning necessary for transferring our way of life from the addiction of the 'good times' obsession to the healthy 'good life' going to come from competitive external evaluation, or from self-assessed meaningful learning?
In my 20 years in universities, we haven't made a lot of progress because we still treat sustainability as a separate subject. We need much greater clarity about the necessary purpose for university education. It cannot be simply to train/condition young people to enter the workforce for business-as-usual only more, bigger, and faster!!
Sustainability 2.0 - solutions, not scapegoats
Maybe we are now reaching the tipping point of eco-consciousness that will motivate us to act with the bigg picture in mind
Let's not waste any more time, quality of life, and finite resources finding the problem or defining the terms, let's do more future building towards the Great Transition
Read more here
Let's not waste any more time, quality of life, and finite resources finding the problem or defining the terms, let's do more future building towards the Great Transition
Read more here
"Green communications"?
The recent discussions forum on communicating about green business here
Is this about communicative interaction that ensures that positive value is created and negative value minimized or eliminated from human endeavours, or is it no more than talking about being green so that an impression is created?
Lots of recent revised thinking in universities about value co-creation and responsible management or wise use of precious resources.
Conversation is what makes things happen, but how much so-called dialogue is actually no more than self-centered monologue?
Is this about communicative interaction that ensures that positive value is created and negative value minimized or eliminated from human endeavours, or is it no more than talking about being green so that an impression is created?
Lots of recent revised thinking in universities about value co-creation and responsible management or wise use of precious resources.
Conversation is what makes things happen, but how much so-called dialogue is actually no more than self-centered monologue?
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