Nov 22, 09
Green goes glam in London
What are the role of elites in bringing about positive change? A curious, yet pointed question that sharpens as I flick through How to Spend it, the Financial Times' glossy luxe magazine devoted to the whims of elite consumption and concerns — everything from Prada to philanthropy. I'm charmed and appalled; their ideal reader. My answer comes quickly. According to Jenny Dalton in "the Generation Game," green tech is now the "new glam" amongst hip urban taste-makers in London....
Good and Bad Power
Through the lens of a recent book review and my recent experiences in the field, this essay reflects on various strategic questions regarding "worldchanging." Specifically, I muse about how we can get leaders to understand at a deeper level the positive implications of peer-to-peer governance and its potential for enabling a more active citizenry. Last summer at the Tällberg Forum, in an otherwise stellar experience at this annual Swedish conference, I distinctly recall a very...
Tracking Global Violence: Are things Getting Better?
Since September 11th, and perhaps before, conventional wisdom says the world is going to hell in a hand-basket. But it is? Not necessarily. The data shows that in the case of violent conflicts things are actually getting better. According to the Human Security Report, Without new superpower "proxy wars" starting in the Third World, overall armed conflicts have fallen by more than 40 per cent, and extremely violent conflicts -- those with 1,000 or more battle deaths -- have dropped by 80...
Better Futures
What am I up to? My activities in the past six months can be lumped into three groups: 1) Amartya Sen is right. A better future depends on our business and government leaders developing new skills, mindsets, and "adaptive capabilities". So my dharma has been about building new capabilities through leadership development programmes for large organizations in transition. I've been doing this at CEDEP, the center co-located at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, and I will be doing more...
Getting Beyond Paternalism in Development
Paul Theroux, the famous travel writer, weighs in on the pathologies of aid and development in Africa. ("The Rock Star's Burden", The New York Times, Dec 15, 2005). As a former Peace Corp worker in the 60s, Theroux knows a bit about Africa first hand. Reflecting on his experiences then and what's become of Malawi today, he has some useful and informed perspective. Theroux criticizes rock stars like Bono for a simplistic approach to solving Africa's problems, like encouraging more debt...
Frontline SMS: Texting value in the NGO sector
FrontlineSMS provides an "entry-level text messaging solution for the non-profit sector." FrontlineSMS was started by Ken Banks, managing director of Kiwanja.net, a ICT geared to servicing the specific needs of the conservation and development community with a particular focus on Africa. FrontlineSMS's website explains the need well: ...text messaging has allowed people to exchange information and communicate at both national and international level. The potential to provide some of...
REACHing for Sustainable Uses of Chemicals in Europe
Ah, the boring and mind-numbing stuff of regulations. A big yawn for many of us. Yet new legislation can be the soft infrastructure that rebalances the rules of the game in favour of sustainable practices. Hence all the hubbub around the REACH legislation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation of Chemicals) in Europe, which was passed as a proposal today in the European Parliament. This is the "controversial law that will force industry to register and test thousands of potentially...
Money Flows: Triple Bottom Line Conference 2005
Of all of the big hairy systemic issues out there these days, I keep bumping into the question of sustainable finance. From whatever lens one takes -- macro or micro, public sector or private sector financing, driven by ODA or ROI -- the task of understanding money flows is critical for a more sustainable future. 'Cause like it or not, money flows frame the parameters of possibilities in our era. With this in mind, I found myself at the TBLI Conference in Frankfurt, Germany early...
FT's Special Report on Open Source
The Financial Times "Digital Business" has a 12 page special report on a favourite theme of ours: open source and specifically how it is impacting innovation, collaboration, and product development within the corporate sector. (Sept 21, 2005 -- short term access only so read now.) With the FT riding high as the world's best daily for the business intelligentsia, take heed large organization types: if you ever needed a piece to put in front your boss's nose and add credibility to some of your...
Filling the Political Vacuum: Women's Role in the Afghan Election
It was election day in Afghanistan on September 18th, the second time the Afghani people have gone to the polls to select their leaders since 2001. According to the Human Rights Watch blog, the process was mostly free of violence and the logistics went smoothly. Some incidents of fraud were reported, and the pervasive "climate of fear" and intimidation ensured that some people didn't vote. The Financial Times reports that turnout was subdued with less than the 70% that voted in 2004 and...
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