They* say that you become the average of the five people you spend the most time with. It might even be true, although I’m wary of the implication that we should leave the other people behind.** The question for each of us is – in your family, friendship group, workplace, tribe – which way are you pulling, and how do…
Tag: society
Jane has one pie. John has none. Should Jane give John a slice? The situation is unequal, but we need some context – including some history – to be able to decide if it’s unfair. Your feelings might change if… Jane and John were each given a pie by a friend, but John has just finished eating his. Jane bought…
I am for the free market. Even though it doesn’t work too well, nothing else works at all. But I have serious reservations about capitalism as a system because it idolizes economics as the be-all and end-all of life. It is one dimensional. For example, I have often advised managers that a 20-1 salary ratio between senior executives and rank-and-file…
A business that does not show a profit at least equal to its cost of capital is irresponsible; it wastes society’s resources. Economic profit performance is the base without which business cannot discharge any other responsibilities, cannot be a good employer, a good citizen, a good neighbor. But economic performance is not the only responsibility of a business any more…
A ‘system’ is an interconnected set of elements coherently organized in a way that achieves something. It is more than the sum of its parts: a body is more than an aggregate of individual cells; a university is not merely an agglomeration of individual students, professors, and buildings; an ecosystem is not just a set of individual plants and animals.…
Speaking of networks, here’s a way into network theory – a few videos from Clay Shirky that make a good introduction: Ten Truths About Social Media And a couple of TED talks… Shirky on Econtalk And finally, go here interview on Econtalk from 2008. The blurb says… Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, talks about…
The best – the only – way to prepare our kids for any future is by showing them a vision of a flourishing life, and by equipping them with the best tools we have to achieve it, and with the wisdom to use those tools well. Stu Patience / Driverlesscroc . “Our kids” can mean several things. My biological children. The children in my extended…