~C4Chaos

Norman Borlaug: Kick-ass Social Entrepreneur

It's about time that the Father of the Green Revolution gets in the limelight. He only saved a few billion people. Thanks to Integral Practice for the heads up! 

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Norman Borlaug: The unnassuming innovator

"He's the answer to Dallas' best trivia question: What local resident has won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and, most recently, the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian award?

"He's Norman Borlaug. But don't be upset if you don't know of him. Most people don't, although fame might be finally catching up to him. He is credited with saving more than a billion lives from starvation through his development of a high-yield, disease-resistant variety of wheat, in what has been called the Green Revolution."

Read more...

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I have to admit though that I'm one of those people who are not familiar with Norman Borlaug. Shame on me. So I'll get to know him some more. And so should you :)

Check out this interview: Billions Served: Norman Borlaug interviewed by Ronald Bailey. Here's a key quote:

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Reason: What do you think of organic farming? A lot of people claim it's better for human health and the environment.

Borlaug: That's ridiculous. This shouldn't even be a debate. Even if you could use all the organic material that you have--the animal manures, the human waste, the plant residues--and get them back on the soil, you couldn't feed more than 4 billion people. In addition, if all agriculture were organic, you would have to increase cropland area dramatically, spreading out into marginal areas and cutting down millions of acres of forests.

At the present time, approximately 80 million tons of nitrogen nutrients are utilized each year. If you tried to produce this nitrogen organically, you would require an additional 5 or 6 billion head of cattle to supply the manure. How much wild land would you have to sacrifice just to produce the forage for these cows? There's a lot of nonsense going on here.

If people want to believe that the organic food has better nutritive value, it's up to them to make that foolish decision. But there's absolutely no research that shows that organic foods provide better nutrition. As far as plants are concerned, they can't tell whether that nitrate ion comes from artificial chemicals or from decomposed organic matter. If some consumers believe that it's better from the point of view of their health to have organic food, God bless them. Let them buy it. Let them pay a bit more. It's a free society. But don't tell the world that we can feed the present population without chemical fertilizer. That's when this misinformation becomes destructive.

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And finally, here's a video of Norman Borlaug sharing his views on the benefits and safety of genetically modified crops to increase food production while preserving the environment.

And one more thing: Here's another video of Norman Borlaug on the Penn and Teller: Bullshit show. This guy deserves to be on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Hans Rosling @ TEDTalks: Debunking Myths About the "Third World"

I've watched this TEDTalks video three times already and I'm still fascinated by it. In this video Hans Rosling debunked the notion of the "Third World" using a data visualization software called, Trendalyzer, which is now acquired and available at Google.

This TEDTalks video is one of my favorites, not only because of the cool software, but also because of Han's passion for viewing a picture of the world with less preconceived notion. It's a must-see.

For more insightful Hans Rosling presentations, check out this TEDTalks section. Also check out Gapminder.org.

P.S. One more thing... On this very first Gapcast, watch Hans Rosling tell the story of Health, Money & Sex in Sweden while comparing it with the development of the rest of the world.

Imagine using this software with data on interior development of the world's population (e.g. Spiral Dynamics, AQAL color altitude, etc.). Too bad there's no U.N. statistical data on interior development, yet.

Past, Present, and Future of Food (Reloaded)

Previously, I posted a dialogue between John Mackey and Michael Pollan about the Past, Present and Future of Food. The audio of the dialogue is now available as a Social Innovation Conversations podcast. Here's the blurb:

"Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, and John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, continue their year-long public conversation about the future of organic food and agricultural sustainability. In front of a sold-out crowd at UC Berkeley on February 27, 2007, they cover some of the inconvenient truths about the world's food systems. Mackey begins with a 45-minute presentation about unsustainable agricultural and food distribution practices, as well as Whole Foods' efforts to improve them. (A note of caution: The presentation includes brief descriptions of animal cruelty and harsh human working conditions, and so may not be work- or family-safe.) He and Pollan then continue the discussion they started shortly after the publication of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and which continues on their respective Web logs."

But for those of you like me who prefer video over audio, here it is on Google video.

Social Enterprise and Web 2.0

(Crossposted from zBlog: ~C4Chaos)

dotherightthing.com and Zaadz are in the news. Nice.



Responsibility is in their sites
Web entrepreneurs have an eye on social need – not personal greed 

Jessica Guynn, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, April 15, 2007

Ryan Mickle's life was the stuff young bourgeois dreams are made of. He had a lucrative career as a management consultant, drove a flashy car and lived a few blocks from the beach in an exclusive neighborhood on the Newport Beach (Orange County) peninsula.

Then a year ago he bought a lottery ticket. While jotting down all of the things he would do with the winnings, from spending more time with family and friends to making a real difference in the world, Mickle began to take stock of his life. He was earning a lot of money but was giving very little of himself. And he was the one who was poorer for it.

“I won the lottery that day by realizing that I had everything I needed to start living that life, right then and there,” Mickle said.

So Mickle ditched his high-paying job to brainstorm a new venture with friend Rod Ebrahimi. On a napkin they scribbled their goals: Build an online community that changes the world; make a socially responsible business more profitable; and have fun while doing the right thing.

The result was Dotherightthing.com, a San Francisco startup that allows users to rank companies based on their social impact on the world.

Mickle, 26, and Ebrahimi, 25, are among a growing number of entrepreneurs betting they can build ventures that deliver both financial and social returns. Ebrahimi calls it the double bottom line. “We see more and more people and companies focus on doing good socially while still doing well economically,” he said.

…

Brian Johnson, 32, also found his calling in an unusual amalgam of altruism and business. A disciple of Eastern philosophy and spirituality, Johnson said he felt uncomfortable with capitalism until he hit on the concept of “using economics as a force for good.”

“It is what so many people in the world are conflicted on,” he said. “How do we live our spiritual ideals and make money?”

Now Johnson tries to have it both ways with Zaadz.com, which he describes as MySpace for people who want to change the world. Johnson started Zaadz, which means seed in Dutch, out of his Topanga (Los Angeles County) home.

But the hybrid doesn't sit well with everyone. "Some people call us tree-hugging, granola-eating hippies; others call us greedy capitalists," Johnson said.

Read more…

Loans That Change Lives, An Old Idea That's New Again

Brian is all over Kiva. He thinks Kiva is stunningly cool. I think so too.

Another similar service is called Prosper. The focus is not micro-lending ala Grameen Bank. It's more like eBay for loans. But the concept is empowering for borrowers and lenders.

Here's a comparison made by BusinessWeek, A Tale of Two Lenders.

Just Do the Right Thing

If you want to see the latest news, go to Google News. If you want to see happy news, go to Happy News. But if you want to do the right thing…

What is dotherightthing?

dotherightthing is a place online where you can get unfiltered information about the impacts of companies on people and the world and make it worth their while to “do the right thing.”

Social Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalism

(Crossposted from zBlog:~C4Chaos)

This blog post was prompted by a fellow Zaadzster, Andrew. I just received his email asking me this question:

“…. Am trying to figure out where my angle and interests fits between the definitions of social entrepreneurs and conscious capitalism. Can you clarify the difference for me… if you can explain to me more about the distinction to CC and SE in your eyes that'd be great.”

Good question. I wonder about that myself too. But first, before I answer the question let me say that I haven't (yet) engaged in social entrepreneurship. My understanding of it is purely intellectual at this time, while my experience with conscious capitalism is currently limited to Zaadz. (Though I learn a lot every day because of the people I get to network with by working at Zaadz :))

Having said that, here's my understanding of the difference between social entrepreneurs and conscious capitalism.

Wikipedia defines social entrepreneurs as “someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change.” Ashoka describes social entrepreneurs as “individuals with innovative solutions to society's most pressing social problems.” The keywords here are “social problems” and “solutions.” In short, social entrepreneurs solve social problems (such as poverty, unemployment) to create a wide-scale social change without anticipation of substantial financial profit. In its attempt to define social entrepreneurship, the Stanford Social Innovation Review put it succinctly, “Social entrepreneurship signals the imperative to drive social change, and it is that potential payoff, with its lasting, transformational benefit to society, that sets the field and its practitioners apart.”

Conscious capitalism on the other hand is “creating a new paradigm for business,” to make corporations and businesses “conscious” about how they conduct their business. This includes infusing corporations and businesses with spirituality, corporate social responsibility (CSR), adoption of the triple bottom line (3BL) and other ethical business practices. In short, conscious capitalists (or business people engaging in conscious capitalism), put values first before profit. It's capitalism infused with “soul.” However, conscious capitalists  are not necessarily recognized as entrepreneurs until they become “successful” with their business (see SSIR for details). And while conscious capitalists can also be social problem solvers, in general, conscious capitalists are exploiters of opportunity (or opportunity seekers) with a value proposition of gaining profit for themselves and/or for their investors, shareholders, and stakeholders.

Therefore, the main difference is: Social entrepreneurs are primarily (social) problem solvers without regard for profit. That's why many social enterprises are not-for-profit and have their grassroots planted in developing countries; While conscious capitalists are primarily opportunity seekers operating under the paradigm of conscious capitalism.

However, this doesn't mean that problem solving is an exclusive quality of social entrepreneurs while opportunity seeking is exclusive to conscious capitalists. Social entrepreneurs and conscious capitalists can (and ideally should) have both qualities. The difference is in their primary intention. Social entrepreneurs engage in entrepreneurial practices with the intention of solving “pression social problems” while conscious capitalists intend to grow businesses and generate wealth (e.g. within LOHAS market, high-tech industry, etc.) by also solving problems (e.g. distribution problems, service problems, etc.), but not necessarily social problems, by putting values ahead of profit.

By the above definitions we can say that social entrepreneurship is almost always a subset of conscious capitalism. Why? Because social entrepreneurs, to be successful, have to apply “entrepreneurial principles” in the domain of capitalism. Social enterprise can also be for-profit. Even not-for-profit social enterprise rely on big businesses (e.g. via foundation, philanthropy, etc.) to continue their operation. Conscious capitalists on the other hand have the option to switch their focus on solving “pressing social problems,” or initiating social change, using their substantially generated profit (e.g. Google.org). Simply put, in the domain of capitalism, social entrepreneurs are a special breed of conscious capitalists.

Below is how I see the holarchical relationship of traditional capitalism, conscious capitalism, and social entrepreneurship.

There you have it. That's my take on the difference between social entrepreneurs and conscious capitalism based on my current understanding. I find it challenging to articulate this because social entrepreneurship is still undergoing a more rigorous definition (case in point: see Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition).

So, what do you think? Did I get it right? Am I completely off? Did I miss anything? I want to learn more. I also want to hear from people who are into the theory and/or practice of Integral Business. So feel free to continue with the discussion by posting your thoughts in the comment section.

For more on Social Entrepreneurship see:

Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition
http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/social_entrepreneurship_the_case_for_definition/

Ashoka Innovators for the Public
http://www.ashoka.org/

Echoing Green
http://www.echoinggreen.org/

The New Heroes
http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/

Social Innovation Conversations (Podcast): Social Entrepreneurship
http://www.siconversations.org/series/socialEnterpreneurship.html

How to Change the World by David Bornstein
http://books.zaadz.com/1099/how_to_change_the_world/by_david_bornstein

For more on Conscious Capitalism see:

Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism
http://www.megatrends2010.com

John Mackey's Essay: Conscious Capitalism: Creating a New Paradigm for Business
http://www.wholefoods.com/blogs/jm/archives/2006/11/conscious_capit.html

The Triple Bottomline
http://www.thetriplebottomline.net/

UTNE: The New Capitalists
http://www.utne.com/issues/2006_135/promo/12081-2.html

Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
http://books.zaadz.com/368/good_business/by_mihaly_csikszentmihalyi

Ken Wilber's Foreword to The Spirit of Conscious Business by Fred Kofman
http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/misc/foreword-spirit.cfm

Social Innovation Conversations (Podcast): Corporate Citizenship
http://www.siconversations.org/series/corporateCitizenship.html

What Kind of World Do You Want?

Jon Ondrasik (aka Five for Fighting), one of my favorite artists, asks this question:

What Kind of World Do You Want?

My answer: I want a high-tech world wherein our humanity is still in tact. I want a world where we see ourselves as stewards of the environment rather than conquerors. I want a world where we are taught to explore the depths of the Kosmos as well as ourselves. I want a world where everyone is aware of this Inifinite Game we are playing.

Speaking of Inifinte Game, here's a video of Paul Hawken at the 2006 Bioneers conference.

Biology, Resistance and Restoration: Sustainability as an Infinite Game

"The brilliant author/entrepreneur/change-maker Paul Hawken encourages us all to embrace a new type of "infinite game," one without losers that supports the future of life and a re-imagined world of growth without inequality, wealth without plunder and work without exploitation."

So, what kind of world do you want?

Changing the World with Real Change

                  

Our Canadian friends over at Givemeaning.com has a program called The Pig-e-Bank. 

“The Pig-e-Bank program as a way to make Real Change From Spare Change™. Collect spare change at work or at home, and go online to select a charity to receive all the proceeds. We’ll send your Pig-e-Bank box and instructions when you Join the Pig-e-Bank.”

Nice. Here's one participant for all you animal lovers out there.

Speaking of Givemeaning, check out their CEO blog at The $5 Philanthropist.

Thanks to Anna for the heads up!

What's Your Entrepreneurial Pitch?

(Crossposted from zBlog: Zaadz Team)

The entrepreneurial spirit is very much alive at Stanford as the celebration of EntrepreneurshipWeek USA continues. Check out the schedule of activities. They even have cool contest called THE PITCH, wherein participants get to pitch their business ideas via a two-minute video.

If you're interested in participating all you need to do is join the groovy EntrepreneurshipWeek USA social network, and make your two-minute video pitch answering this question:

What product or  service would you offer to help reduce America’s  dependency on oil and other fossil fuels?

Can't wait to watch the winning submissions.

Btw, when you join, feel free to add me to your contact list :)

The Business of The Good, The True, and The Beautiful

(Crossposted from zBlog: Zaadz Team)

In the past few days we've been giving props to social entrepreneurs–"those who recognize a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change.”

But people don't have to be social entrepreneurs to make capitalism more conscious. In fact, if Conscious Capitalism is to emerge, today's corporations, the most influential institutions in the world, should adopt a new way of doing business altogether. This shift in thinking should start from within the corporation itself, from CEOs, to managers, to employees, which would then impact their suppliers, partners, investors, shareholders, and customers, since everything is interconnected.

But what is Conscious Capitalism anyway? Isn't this an oxymoron since Capitalism is evil?

Good question. I'll leave it to rockstar-entrepreneur John Mackey, Chairman and CEO of Whole Foods, to answer this question.

In his very passionate and insightful essay entitled, Conscious Capitalism: Creating a New Paradigm for Business, John Mackey laid out his vision. Here are some key quotes from the essay:

“Have you ever asked yourself what is the purpose of a business? It is an interesting question that most business people never ask themselves. If you think about it, what is the purpose of a doctor or hospital? Is their purpose to maximize profits? Well, this is certainly not the purpose that they teach in medical schools or most doctors advocate. The doctor's purpose is to help heal sick people. What about the purpose of the teacher or the school? Do they exist maximize profits? No of course not. Their primary purpose is to educate the young and prepare them to live successful lives in society. What about the purpose of lawyers or law courts? All lawyer jokes aside, the purpose of a lawyer would be to pursue justice and our law courts exist to settle disputes in our society and to bring wrongdoers to justice. All of the other professions put an emphasis on the public good and have purposes beyond self-interest. Why doesn't business?”

….

“I've known many entrepreneurs in my life, and with only a few exceptions most did not create their business primarily to maximize profits. Of course they wanted to make money, but profit was just one of the reasons they started their business. It may be that they were unable to work for anybody else, have strong authority issues, and therefore need to be their own boss. Or they need to be in charge of their own enterprise because that is how they get their sense of self-worth, value, and self-esteem. It could be that they have something to prove to their parents, siblings, or their friends and creating a successful business will exorcise unconscious childhood demons. It could be that they are very creative individuals who have ideas that they want to see tested in reality to see whether or not they work. It could be that they are idealists and want to make the world a better place, and their primary motivation for creating their business is to improve the world. It could be that the entrepreneurs create their business for the sheer fun of it. There are many, many reasons why people create businesses, and while I cannot deny that there are certain entrepreneurs who create their business primarily to maximize profits, I would say that in my life experience they are definitely a minority.”

….

“If most entrepreneurs don't create their businesses for the primary purpose of maximizing profits, then what are their primary goals? The answer to this question varies tremendously from business to business—there are potentially as many different purposes for businesses as there are businesses. Entrepreneurs create their businesses for a diversity of reasons. However, I believe that most of the greatest companies in the world also have great purposes which were discovered and/or created by their original founders and which still remain at the core of their business models. Having a deeper, more transcendent purpose is highly energizing for all of the various interdependent stakeholders, including the customers, employees, investors, suppliers, and the larger communities in which the business participates. While these deeper, more transcendent purposes have unique expressions at each business they also can be grouped into certain well known and timeless categories. Philosophy dates back to Plato the timeless ideals of “The Good”, “The True”, and “The Beautiful” that humanity has been seeking to create, discover, and express for thousands of years. If we add the ideal of “The Heroic” to the above three we have the framework of higher ideals which most great businesses seek to express in some form or fashion.

So there. Conscious Capitalism is the expression of The Good, The True, and The Beautiful through business.

Read the entire essay to understand why is this so.

And the (social) entrepreneurship week continues….

Social Entrepreneurs: Harbingers of Conscious Capitalism

(Crossposted from zBlog: Zaadz Team)

“Welcome to the Dawn of Conscious Capitalism–a popular, decentralized, broad-based crusade to heal the excesses of capitalism with transcendent human values. Every day Conscious Capitalism wins new converts in the paneled boardrooms of global business…. Equally important, the actions millions of us take, “from the supermarket to the stock market,” are drafting a more wholistic brand of free enterprise which will forever outshine the Chicago School–and win someone somewhere a brand-new Nobel Prize.”

The above quote was from the book, Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism. It turned out to be very prophetic. That book was published in 2005. In October 2006, social entrepreneur Muhammad Yunus and the social enterprise he started, Grameen Bank, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, ”for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.”

Thanks to the recognition by the Nobel Foundation, social entrepreneurship and social enterprise were thrusted into the limelight. A big victory for social entrepreneurs around the world, and a sure sign that the old ways of capitalism which is, “profit at all costs,” is on its decline.

Speaking of Muhammad Yunus, here's a video of his interview with Charlie Rose in 2004. Check it out and get to know the man behind the social mission and his radical vision.

And the (social) entrepreneurship week continues…

Social Entrepreneurship Week

(Crossposted from zBlog:~C4Chaos)

This week is Entrepreneurship Week. In celebration of this event, the Zaadz team is kicking off a week-long blogathon devoted to the topic of entrepreneurship. But since we want to put the capital in Conscious, our focus will be more on social entrepreneurship.

We'll explore what it means to be a social entrepreneur and how this fast-growing type of entrepreneurship is shaping business and organizations, leading to the rise of Conscious Capitalism.

So keep watching this tag: http://www.zaadz.com/blogs/tags/entrepreneurship+week

Megatrends 2010: The Seven Trends Changing the Landscape of Capitalism

The mainstream media is so full of bad news that it makes me want to puke my guts out. Enough!

The world is not going to hell. We are not in the age of Armageddon like wayward evangelists want us to believe. We are not going to be wiped out by global warming. Capitalism is not evil.

In fact, we as a society are getting better. Far from ideal, but getting better.

Yes, Climate change is a serious concern, the Iraq war sucks, terrorism is rampant, poverty is still there. But wars, doomsday scenarios, and poverty have all been there since the dawn of civilization. However, the fact that we're all aware of these things happening simultaneously is a good sign that we are starting to really care about ourselves, our culture, and nature.

"Knowing is half the battle," as the old G.I. Joe mantra goes. If we take the time to shift our attention, we'll see that we actually are becoming more conscious, individually, and socially. And therein lies our collective salvation.

Case in point: Let's shift our attention from corporate scandals and cynicism and look at the changing landscape of Capitalism.

In the book Megatrends 2010, Patricia Aburdene listed seven megatrends that will usher the rise of Conscious Capitalism. Here's an excerpt:

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Megatrends 2010: The New List

Here's my new list of megatrends, each of which serves as one of this book's chapters.

1) The Power of Spirituality. In turbulent times, we look within; 78% seek more Spirit. Meditation and yoga soar. Divine Presence spills into business. "Spiritual" CEOs as well as senior executives from Redken and Hewlett-Packard (HP) transform their companies.

2) The Dawn of Conscious Capitalism. Top companies and leading CEOs are re-inventing free enterprise to honor stakeholders and shareholders. Will it make the world a better place? Yes. Will it earn more money? That's the surprising part: Study after study shows the corporate good guys rack up great profits.

3) Leading from the Middle. The charismatic, overpaid CEO is fading fast. Experts now say "ordinary" managers, like HP's Barbara Waugh, forge lasting change. How do they do it? Values, influence, moral authority.

4) Spirituality in Business is springing up all over. Half speak of faith at work. Eileen Fisher, Medtronic win "Spirit at Work" awards. Ford, Intel and other firms sponsor employee-based religious networks. Each month San Francisco's Chamber of Commerce sponsors a "spiritual" brown bag lunch.

5) The Values-Driven Consumer. Conscious Consumers, who've fled the mass market, are a multi-billion-dollar "niche." Whether buying hybrid cars, green building supplies or organic food, they vote with their values. So, brands that embody positive values will attract them.

6) The Wave of Conscious Solutions. Coming to a firm near you: Vision Quest. Meditation. Forgiveness Training. HeartMath. They sound touchy-feely, but conscious business pioneers are tracking results that will blow your socks off.

7) The Socially Responsible Investment Boom. Today's stock portfolios are green in more ways that one. Where should you invest? This chapter charts the "social" investment trend and helps you weigh your options.

In this book's conclusion, The Spiritual Transformation of Capitalism, we explore the underlying values of capitalism. I shall attempt to dispel what I believe is the absurd notion that free enterprise is rooted in greed. Conscious Capitalism isn't altruism, either; it relies instead on the wisdom of enlightened self-interest.

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Very inspiring.

Whether Aburdene got them right, remains to be seen. But I'm optimistic about it. And I'm glad that I'm surfing the waves of these megatrends as I write this.

~C (for Conscious Capitalism)

Red ~C Diary: Saving and Making Some Moolah, or Genius = Genii + in + us

I've never been too attached to money. I'm satisfied with making enough to support myself, my family, my folks, and other needy relatives. Yes, I have daydreams of becoming a millionaire someday but not for the sake of money or wealth. It's more of freeing up myself so I can do what I want, pursue the things I'm interested in, while using the wealth to be in service to others.

Whenever I daydream of becoming a millionaire I don't see myself driving around in fancy cars, buying mansions, or dressing up with blings. Instead I imagine myself traveling around the world learning from different cultures, taking photographs, and blogging about it :) I also imagine investing my wealth in conscious businesses or social enterprises in line with my values and buying real estate properties that would generate enough income to keep me liquid until my old age. Read: Multiple streams of passive income. Steve Pavlina describes this as, Making Money Consciously.

Being an only child, I've always wanted myself to be independent. My biggest fear in life is not death. It's being dependent on others when I get old or being stricken by a debilitating illness or accident. I hate the thought of burdening my children and grand children with my worn out wrinkled butt. And forget about Social Security or Medicare. I don't want to depend on those too. Too risky. It doesn't work on most of the Baby Boomers out there, so I don't want to even consider that as an option.

So far I'm lucky to be blessed with just-in-time wealth, meaning: I always find a decent job whenever I need it the most. Thankfully I haven't experienced being shitty poor. I always have just enough wealth for myself and for the people that I really care about. However, this is only true for now, while I can still work my ass off--while I'm still in my first quarter of my life.

Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, talks about the quarters of life as follows:

• PRE-GAME SHOW (e.g. you're lucky if you're born with a silver spoon in your mouth like Paris Hilton. most us of have to work it.)
• age 25-35 ---> first quarter
• age 35-45 ---> second quarter (people get married, their career takes off, etc.)
• HALF-TIME (mid-life crisis?)
• age 45-55 ---> third quarter
• age 55-65 ---> fourth quarter
• OVERTIME (people over 65 who still have to work and cannot retire, because not enough savings, e.g. taking order for Big Mac or bagging groceries in your seventies.)
• OUT OF TIME (dying in a shitty poor condition)

Last night while I was watching PBS, I saw Robert Kiyosaki pimping out his principles on getting rich. Unlike other infomercials out there, Kiyosaki doesn't preach about a get-rich-quick scheme. His approach is more practical and takes more hard work. But most important of all is that, Kiyosaki goes against the mainstream approach to building wealth and teaches you how to be more skillful in investing and saving. Sounds good to me.

So although I'm not too attached to money, the reality of life as I get older is starting to sink in. Yes, I may be only in my first quarter, but I'd like to "win" the game early so that I don't have to keep playing in my old age. I can always try my luck winning the lottery, but I have more chances of finding my inner genie.

Bottomline: Financial intelligence is another stream in the spectrum of multiple intelligences.

~C (for Cash flowing)

Educator's Corner for Entrepreneurship @ Stanford

(Crossposted from zBlog:~C4Chaos) 

photo via: Interesting Snippets Flickr set

(Also posted on zPod:SSE)

One thing I love about Zaadz is that I discover a lot of meaningful stuff while surfing around my friends list blogs.

Case in point: I discovered this awesome educational resource from Heather:

“The Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) Educators Corner is a free online archive of entrepreneurship resources for teaching and learning. The mission of the project is to support and encourage faculty around the world who teach entrepreneurship to future scientists and engineers, as well as those in management and other disciplines.”

I highly recommend this site. The videos and podcasts are worth it! No registration required. But show your love and appreciation by registering.

Business 2.0: How to Succeed

(Crossposted from zBlog:~C4Chaos)

Business 2.0 asked 50 of the brightest minds in business how they do what they do. Check it out. Lots of golden nuggets in there.

Here's a list of my favorite quotes. Also added them to my Zaadz quotes tagged with how to succeed. Something to think about while working on that conscious capitalism thing :)

Sergey Brin
Co-founder, Google
Succeed With Simplicity

“We are focused on features, not products. We eliminated future products that would have made the complexity problem worse. We don't want to have 20 different products that work in 20 different ways. I was getting lost at our site keeping track of everything. I would rather have a smaller set of products that have a shared set of features.”

Chris DeWolfe
Co-founder, Myspace
Keep Social Networks Social

“The key is to be true to your community's norms and values. You can't just force yourself on people and try to sell them something they don't want - that's good advice for marketers generally, but particularly on community-driven sites like MySpace. You have to find ways to add value to your members' lives while being consistent with your brand's identity.”

Rachael Ray
Chef, Author, and Entrepreneur
Turn Your Passion Into an Empire

“I've also learned that you can't be all things to all people. Whatever it is that you're successful at, that has to be the No. 1 goal.

Chad Hurley
Co-founder, YouTube
Give Your Startup a Fighting Chance

“As you start building the product, don't assume that you know all the answers. Listen to the community and adapt. We had a lot of our own ideas about how the service would evolve. Coming from PayPal and eBay, we saw YouTube as a powerful way to add video to auctions, but we didn't see anyone using our product that way, so we didn't add features to support it.”

Howard Schultz
Chairman, Starbucks
Dare to Be a Social Entrepreneur

“The rules of engagement around building a brand have changed significantly over the past 10 to 15 years. Where companies at one time could spread their message through traditional marketing, consumers now seek an enduring emotional connection with the companies they patronize. The foundation of that connection is the most important characteristic of building a world-class brand: trust. Trust with your people and trust with your customers.”

Michael Scott
Regional Manager, Dunder-Mifflin Paper Co.
Avoid a Staff Mutiny (With Chocolate, if Necessary)

“Nowadays I find chocolate and/or chocolate-based snacks to be great motivators. Everyone loves chocolate. If someone has a lot of work to do, put a piece of fudge in a glass container (so they can see it) and let them know that if they accomplish their tasks, they can eat the fudge. You'll definitely get a reaction!”

Andre Agassi
Co-founder, Agassi Graf Development
Stage a Great Second Act

“You have to understand who you are and figure out a way to communicate it. It might be in a different industry, but it's about what pumps the blood through your veins, what makes you excited, what pushes your buttons. And then discovering the best way to communicate that, no matter how big or small; it's what you stand for, what you believe in, and what reflects who you are.”

Kevin Rose
Founder, Digg
Let the Users Run the Show

“Letting users control your site can be terrifying at first. From day one we were asking ourselves, “What is going to be on the front page today?” You have no idea what the system will produce. But stepping back and giving consumers control is what brought more and more people to the site. They have a sense of ownership and discovery at the same time. If you give users the tools to spread and share their interests with others, they will use them to promote what is important to them.”

Stephen Covey
Vice Chairman, FranklinCovey; Author, The 7 habits of Highly Effective People
Strive for Moral Authority

“Most people define greatness through wealth and popularity and position in the corner office. But what I call everyday greatness comes from character and contribution.”

Muhammad Yunus
Founder, Grameen Bank; Winner, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize
Seek Big Rewards in Small Ideas

“Business is about problem-solving, but it does not always have to be about maximizing profit. When I went into business, my interest was to figure out how to solve problems I see in front of me. That's why I looked at the poverty issue. I got involved in lots of things to address it, and one of them was money lending with loans and credits and savings accounts, and in the process I created Grameen Bank. So you can also have social objectives. Ask yourself these questions: Who are you? What kind of world do you want?”

Donald Trump
Chairman, Trump Organization
Obsess About Solutions, Not Problems

“The image of success is important, but even more important is the ability to focus on solutions instead of on problems. That way, you'll never be thinking like a loser, and you probably won't look like one either.”

Reed Hastings
Co-founder and CEO, Netflix
Turn Your Biggest Weakness Into Your Greatest Asset

“Truly brilliant marketing happens when you take something most people think of as a weakness and reposition it so people think of it as a strength.”

Craig Newmark
Founder and Chairman, Craigslist
Trust Your Customers and They'll Love You in Return

“We are a very open, very democratic site, which means we get all sorts of people. We do get some bad guys who are a few fries short of a Happy Meal. So we have to enlist the aid of our community to help us. The lesson implicit in this is that people will help you out and behave in a really good way. If you trust them, they will respond to that trust.”

Fred Wilson
Managing Partner, Union Square Ventures
Build a Blog That Builds Your Business

“I also like to use a sensational headline. Many people read blogs in aggregators, which generally show only the headline. So you have to give people a reason to click through. Blogs need to be real and personal. Reading it should be like hanging out with you. I play music for my readers. I show them videos I like. I tell them what I did over the weekend. And I tell them what is happening in the technology, Internet, and VC markets.”

SHOUT OUT: Seed Funding for Social Entrepreneurs

(Also posted on zPod:Starship Social Enterprise)

Just want to give a shout out to our friends at Echoing Green.
They also have a presence at Zaadz :)

Dear friends,

If you're thinking about starting up your own social change organization or have recently done so, I want to share an opportunity for seed funding with you. Please review the information below to learn how the Echoing Green Fellowship provides up to $90,000 in funding for new, innovative organizations working to create social change.

In addition, even if you're not interested in this fellowship yourself, I ask that you please forward this message to friends or listservs that would find it useful. Unlike other fellowships, you don't need to be nominated to apply - but the only way we can truly make it open to all is through your support.

Just make sure to spread the word soon as our application deadline is little more than a month away.

Much appreciated,
Jeremy

———————————–

VISIONARIES WANTED

* Do you have an incredible, new idea that could change your community, country, or world?

* Are you an entrepreneur who won't rest until your idea has been brought to life? Or a leader who has recently started an organization to do just that?

If so, apply for an Echoing Green Fellowship. You could receive up to $90,000 in seed funding and support to launch a new organization that turns your innovative idea for social change into action.

Follow in the footsteps of the founders of Teach For America, City Year, and over 400 other social change organizations and apply online by December 1, 2006.

Watch the video: http://www.echoinggreen.org/video

Find out whether you qualify: http://www.echoinggreen.org/shouldyouapply

Nobel Peace Prize 2006

(Also posted on zPod:Starship Social Enterprise)

"People can change their own lives, provided they have the right kind of institutional support. They're not asking for charity, charity is no solution to poverty. Poverty is the creation of opportunities like everybody else has, not the poor people, so bring them to the poor people, so that they can change their lives."
     

Muhammad Yunus  

    Source: Nobel Peace Prize Interview with Muhammad Yunus after being awared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize

   

Congratulations to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2006 “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.”

Changing the World One Reading Room at a Time...

(Crossposted from zBlog:~C4Chaos)

(via Findability.org)

I'm a firm believer in education. I think it's because it was my ticket to see and experience a bigger world. Until we have the technology to digitally download knowledge directly into our brains, reading will remain to be the best way to learn, whether via books, magazines, and the internet. Unfortunately, not every one has access to this basic means of education. Good thing there are social enterprises, like Room to Read, that tackle this global issue.

”Room to Read was founded on the belief that “World Change Starts with Educated Children” - and that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty. We strive to provide children access to education, one child at a time, one school at a time, and one village at a time. Through partnerships with local communities we work to create educational opportunities and establish educational infrastructure.”

Read more about it…

~C (for Counting my blessings by reading some more…)

Very Fluffy Hero for the Planet

(via zPod:SSE)

Check out this awesome interview with Amory Lovins via Social Innovation Conversations. A must-hear :)

Hero for the Planet          

       

                   

Amory Lovins - Rocky Mountain Institute

Amory Lovins is one of the globe’s most visionary thinkers. His focus is an issue of global proportions – the enormous potential of energy efficiency and renewable energy resources. As CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute, he has already been credited with having done more than any other single individual to redefine the thinking around energy policy and to link it with environment, development and security issues. Lovins and his the team of researchers delight in challenging conventional wisdom by demonstrating advanced resource productivity that avoids depletion and pollution, and still shows a profit.

It’s not all thought and no action for Lovins. He has worked aggressively to move his ideas into widespread practice, chiefly via the private sector, spinning off several for-profit companies from the nonprofit he runs, RMI. Not surprisingly, he was chosen several years ago by the editors of The Wall Street Journal as one of the people most likely to change the face of world industry.

Listen up yo!

Related Book Readings via zBooks:Lists:Starship Social Enterprise:

Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (download here for FREE)

Winning the Oil Endgame: Innovation for Profits, Jobs and Security (download here for FREE)

BONUS VIDEO: Here's a link to a video of Amory Lovins presenting the Oil Endgame on MITWorld (found via Treehugger)

~C (for Change Agents)

What are Change Agents?

Are you a Change Agent? Do you know some of them?
 
We'd like to meet YOU!

What's *Really* Up with Zaadz?

let me count the links…

Our Ideology of Zaadz, Inc.

“So what does Zaadz actually DO?”

The Present, Future, and Beyond Zaadz

Towards an Integral Zaadz

Zaadz' Business Model: (aka: how we’re gonna make money)

coz it's all about you, me, us…

Brian Johnson Gets (Integral) Naked Part 2

Part 1 is cool. But this Part 2 is just perfect of the Labor Day holiday...

(via zPod:Integral Institute)

   Entrepreneurial Idealism and the Integral Model. Part 2. Right Bucks. Right Business. Right View.

”Brian Johnson is the co-Founder and Philosopher/CEO of social networking phenomenon Zaadz.com, a website which is one of Integral Institute’s esteemed “Integral Friends.”*  A 32-year-old font of idealism-in-action, Brian is a rather extraordinary example of the passion, creativity, and drive of an emerging wave of integrally-oriented twenty- and thirty-somethings worldwide.

“Brian beings the conversation by mentioning his passion for “conscious capitalism,” and how the Zaadz “plan” as described on the site actually leads with capitalism, and then mentions the spiritual emphasis.  He comments, “I deliberately do that… I’m trying to create a compelling ‘yes-and’ story here.”  In other words, he’s trying to take a more integral perspective and show how capitalism and spirituality can not only coexist, but actually support each other.  However, he continues, not everyone is so excited to see these two things come together, and certain camps have been particularly vocal in denouncing his entire approach, following a general “capitalist pig” theme.

As Ken comments, there are several different things going on here.  To begin, even more fundamental than how one might feel about capitalism—or any of the economic systems available—is how one feels about money in general.  Generally speaking, a strong negative view of money can be attributed to either 1. exclusively ascending types of spirituality or 2. the green altitude of development (types and altitude/levels being two of the five elements in the AQAL Approach, the others being quadrants, lines, and states).”

Read more and listen…

NOTE: Integral Naked is a premium site. FIRST MONTH is FREE. Eavesdrop on the conversations you can hear nowhere else.

(also posted on zPod:Starship Social Enterprise)

P.S. Here's the link [PDF] to the Right Bucks essay that Ken Wilber wrote two decades ago. Happy (right) Labor Day!

Red ~C Diary: Books That Don't Suck and The Theory of U

Today I was reorganizing my list of books and finally transfered my list of Books That Don't Suck to zBooks. Then I saw the book, Presence. I've wanted to read that book for a while now. I think the timing is just right since my interest has shifted into the domain of Social Enterprise.

I did some research on the book and I encountered The Theory of U. Nice. I like this cool diagram.

(Diagram via Society for Organizational Learing. Click on the diagram for the PDF version).

Here's a general description of the diagram:

The Theory of U: “Sensing and actualizing new realities prior to their emerging”   

1. Sensing: The capacity to suspend, the courage to see freshly, seeing from the whole, seeing with the heart. Quieting the mind. Avoiding knee-jerk reactions to problems, distancing yourself from the problem. Redirecting attention.

2. Presencing: Into the silence, reaching a state of clarity to what is emerging, an inner knowing that is quite the opposite of decision-making. “What to do just becomes obvious”. Presencing is seeing from the deepest source and becoming a vehicle for that source. “When we suspend and redirect attention, perception starts to arise from within the living process of the whole”. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” – at the bottom of the U lies a sort of inner gate which requires us to drop the baggage we've acquired on our journey: letting go and letting come.

3. Realizing: Moving up the U is about the creative process, bringing something new into reality. This comes from a source that is deeper than the rational mind. “If you have to think in the martial arts, you're dead,” says Brian Arthur. In the words of another interviewee: “It's almost as if I'm watching myself in action. I'm both engaged and simultaneously detached. When that happens, I know there will be magic”.

This looks like a perfect book to add to my zBooks:Starship Social Enterprise list. Looking forward to learning and applying the Theory of U.

Re: Why Wal-Mart is Not That Evil

(Crossposted from ~C4Chaos@Zaadz.com)

Earlier I posted a blog, Why Wal-Mart is Not That Evil. It featured an article by Michael Strong entitled, Forget the World Bank, Try Wal-Mart. That article was also featured on zPod:FLOW. In just a few days, the article had gained some steam and attracted media attention, including being mentioned on the Rush Limbaugh program and steady rise on Digg, Nice.

However, my favorite part of the discussion is John Mackey (CEO of Whole Foods) and Michael Strong exchanging viewpoints on the topic of Wal-Mart in particular and conscious Capitalism in general. Check it out on zPod:FLOW, and feel free to join the discussion.

Continue with the discussions on zPod:FLOW…

Why Wal-Mart is Not That Evil

(Also posted on zPod:SSE)

Here's an eye-opening article about how all things are interrelated. Sometimes the picture looks ugly if we focus on one area. But sometimes we have to pull away to see a different story…

Forget the World Bank, Try Wal-Mart

Between 1990 and 2002 more than 174 million people escaped poverty in China, about 1.2 million per month.[1] With an estimated $23 billion in Chinese exports in 2005 (out of a total of $713 billion in manufacturing exports),[2] Wal-Mart might well be single-handedly responsible for bringing about 38,000 people out of poverty in China each month, about 460,000 per year.

There are estimates that 70 percent of Wal-Mart's products are made in China.[3] One writer vividly suggests that “One way to think of Wal-Mart is as a vast pipeline that gives non-U.S. companies direct access to the American market.” [4] Even without considering the $263 billion in consumer savings that Wal-Mart provides for low-income Americans, or the millions lifted out of poverty by Wal-Mart in other developing nations, it is unlikely that there is any single organization on the planet that alleviates poverty so effectively for so many people.[5][6]

Moreover, insofar as China's rapid manufacturing growth has been associated with a decline in its status as a global arms dealer, Wal-Mart has also done more than its share in contributing to global peace.

Read more…

Continue with the discussions on zPod:FLOW…

Podcast: Investing In Worldwide Social Change

(via zPod:SSE)

Check out this podcast from SIConversations. Let it be your catalyst…

Cheryl Dorsey
President of Echoing Green

Investing in Worldwide Social Change

When emerging social entrepreneurs meet with Cheryl Dorsey, the president of Echoing Green, they not only get the benefits of talking to an accomplished physician with a masters in public policy from Harvard, a former White House Fellow, and a former business executive but they get an empathetic ear. In the early 1990’s she got a fellowship from Echoing Green to launch the Family Van, a community-based mobile health unit that provides basic medical and outreach services to at-risk residents of inner-city Boston neighborhoods and, in 2002, Dorsey became the first Echoing Green Fellow selected to lead the organization in its nearly 20-year history.

Her daunting challenge—to continue to build on the impressive track record of one of the world’s leading investors and supporters of worldwide social change. Since 1987, Echoing Green has invested nearly $25 million in seed and start-up grants to more than 400 social entrepreneurs who have launched organizations in 30 countries on five continents to address issues related to education, youth development, health care, housing, the environment, and the arts, just to name a few. By providing a unique combination of funding and direct support for emerging social entrepreneurs, Dorsey and her team continue to seed the world with visionaries intent on fundamentally making the world a better place.

Listen….

Enter, zPod:Starship Social Enterprise!

(Crossposted from ~C4Chaos@Zaadz.com)

“It's not to give people fish;
It's not to teach them how to fish;
It's to build a new and better fishing industry.”
Source: Bill Drayton on Ashoka's Social Entrepreneurship Series video.

As some of you may have noticed, I've recently taken interest in Social Enterprise. I believe that this fast growing citizen sector will have (is already having) a crucial role on making a positive impact on the world around us. This is the main reason why I started zPod:Starship Social Enterprise! (note: i just added the word Starship to make it sound hip and cool.).