Rethinking Values
February 1st, 2010
These Notes were contributed by Joe Tumminaro
(Panelist Dr. Yunus, Allaire, Glocer, Hasegawa, Ostrowski, Wallis, – Chaired by Quigley the CEO of Deloitte)
The Global Financial Crisis is causing us to question our values. The incentives and motivations have warped our values from “having all I need is enough” to “You can never have enough”. The question is not when will it end but how will the crisis change us. Fools learn from their own experiences, wise men learn from other peoples experiences.
Fewer than 20% of people in US or EU believe that CEO’s are credible sources of information.
95% of companies are owned by large fund managers, surrounded by speculators and run by independent directors and executives motivated by stock options.
Government has fallen into the same trap of for profit (moving the party agenda by getting reelected)
Individual responsibility is the ultimate issue.
We have to move the metrics of success for businesses to a Common Good Economy. Social businesses need to be paired with traditional for profit businesses with common good goals. All it takes is to change the metrics of success and make social businesses a reality. A social business has a social goal and makes a profit but the profit is folded back into the company to achieve a broader reach. (Dr. Yunus)
Rethinking Security
(President Abdullah, Shevsova, Sehgal, Moussa, Allison, discussion leader Chipman)
The definition of security was freedom from the fear of being harmed by another country. This definition was relevant until 1991 or the end of the cold war. All the wars of the 20th century before 1991 killed 80 million people. Since 1991, wars have killed 1 million people. Putting things in perspective, 11 million children under 5 years of age have died from preventable diseases since 1991.
Clearly the definition of security needs to change because fear from harm is no longer limited or defined by country boundaries. Also, we have many things to fear that are not related to war such as fear from a pandemic or harm by preventable diseases because of inadequate health care.
Fundamentally the theory that aggression is brought about by the clash of different civilizations is invalid. Most civilizations agree on the basic tenants of life. Aggression comes from the fringe elements of civilizations, the radical right and left elements.
Peace in the Middle East will be achieved only after the Israeli / Palestinian conflict is resolved. A 2 state solution has been in the works for quite some time but has not been achieved. An interesting question was raised whether a shock treatment of a UN imposed mandatory Palestinian state is in order.
Entry Filed under: Blogside with Carol Realini
SIGN UP FOR OBOPAY!