[Ailist] What is the Life Force (Vital energy/ Prana) of Business?

Tue Nov 10 11:23:35 MST 2009

I am stunned, Cherie.

Sachin

  _____  

From: Cheri Torres [mailto:cheri.torres at gmail.com] 
Sent: 10 November 2009 09:01 PM
To: mail at sachinchavan.com
Cc: 'Bruce Elkin'; 'Lionel Boxer'; ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: Re: [Ailist] What is the Life Force (Vital energy/ Prana) of Business?

Sachin, 

It is with not only incredible disbelief, but confusion that I have to answer your parting question with a "Yes, some of those executives would."  I used to live just south of Knoxville TN.  OakRidge National Labs lies just north of Knoxville.  The execs from OakRridge buried nuclear waste in their own back yard, which fed the streams that ran beside and beneath the homes they lived in with their children. Tennessee Valley authority allows the lakes and air to fill with pollution, which gets trapped in the Cumberland Valley, poisoning the water and air all around them--where they live and where their children play.  Denial is a profound capacity for  individuals who live in a deficit-based, fear-based world.  This is perhaps one of the profound gifts of AI--a shift towards possibility, abundance, both/and and neither/nor.  Small is beautiful and large can be beautiful as well--how do we blend the beauty and benefit of what we know?

Cheri

Cheri B. Torres, Ph.D.

Collaborative by Design
135 Westwood Place
Asheville, NC 28806
828-225-5088

On Nov 10, 2009, at 10:10 AM, Sachin Chavan wrote:

Cheri,

I shared some of my current thoughts on the issue in response to couple of other mails over the last hour or so.

I appreciate the folks' efforts to stimulate our thinking on the issue, and I should not have sounded condenscending about it, as I probably did.

I see Gandhian economics (which partly inspired Schumacher) as a potent place to search for some solutions. There is some similarity with 'Be the solution' approach in that wide-spread entrepreneurship (leading to more local & contextual businesses) is advocated. Gandhi though, was no business consultant, and knew his vision wouldn't turn into reality till the people of the world evolved in their social consciousness... and spent a lifetime working towards it.

I haven't read the book, but took the other 'or' mentioned in your mail... to read up their site on 'Consious capitalism'. Probably its not an equal 'or' and I would need to read the book to gain better understanding of their proposals.

A thought to leave you with. Would a large chemicals firm like say DuPont or Dow produce the chemicals they did, if their CEOs had to drink water from the stream in which the factories (located somewhere in the third world) let out the effluents, or have their personal backyards double up for its solid waste disposal? Now, does that say anything about why 'Small is beautiful'? I think it does.

Regards,
Sachin

  _____  

From: Cheri Torres [mailto:cheri.torres at gmail.com] 
Sent: 10 November 2009 08:18 PM
To: mail at sachinchavan.com
Cc: 'Bruce Elkin'; 'Lionel Boxer'; ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: Re: [Ailist] What is the Life Force (Vital energy/ Prana) of Business?

Sachin, 

Have you read Be the Solution?

It is not that it is all new information but rather a shift to focusing on what is of value for all in volved.  I am certain these guys don't have all the answers, they'd be the first to claim that I would guess, but they are making an effort to stimulate our thinking towards figuring out how to place a value on those future generations and plant/animal species or create structures that enable everyone to naturally choose a positive future.

Do you have ideas?

Cheri

Cheri B. Torres, Ph.D.

Collaborative by Design
135 Westwood Place
Asheville, NC 28806
828-225-5088

On Nov 10, 2009, at 9:31 AM, Sachin Chavan wrote:

Nothing much new in there, unfortunately. What's the common currency to represent all the stakeholders (that includes the future generations and other plant/animal species)?

Sachin

  _____  

From: Cheri Torres [mailto:cheri.torres at gmail.com] 
Sent: 10 November 2009 07:25 PM
To: Bruce Elkin
Cc: Lionel Boxer; ailist at lists.business.utah.edu; Sachin Chavan
Subject: Re: [Ailist] What is the Life Force (Vital energy/ Prana) of Business?

For more on this theme read Be the Solution by John Mackey and Michael Strong or visit their effort to restore our economy through conscious capitalism, which has financial profit as only 1 of 5 purposes for being in business: www.flowidealism.org. 

Cheri

Cheri B. Torres, Ph.D.

Collaborative by Design
135 Westwood Place
Asheville, NC 28806
828-225-5088

On Nov 9, 2009, at 2:47 PM, Bruce Elkin wrote:

Before there was money, there was still business.

At the heart of early business — and perhaps, of business yet to come — was
sharing and serving: helping each other.

Cheers!
Bruce
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