What Really Matters

Deomocracy and Technology

Mitch Ratcliffe and Jon Lebkowsky are working together on a book about democracy and technology. Mitch recently posted a draft of the first chapter and has some interesting things to say about what he calls the creation of "Extreme Democracy," about the change from a hierarchical model of political parties to a more fluid form fueled by public debate and participation enabled by the Internet. To quote two paragraphs from the piece :

"Political parties are very much like corporations were before the advent of the networked computer. They are hierarchical and rigid with leadership that is hard to displace or enter on any terms other than those laid down by the longest serving veterans. As the networked computer broke down the old boys networks within companies and opened the membrane surrounding senior management, not to mention unleashed a wave of outsourcing and exporting of formerly core assets to partners and overseas, the Internet is about to hollow out the major political parties. [...]

[...] As more people connect and learn through the Internet, public debate about the direction government should take has reached a critical mass that could transform the very notion of democratic systems. This transition will not end differences of opinion, nor will it abolish ideology from public debate. It will simply make the debate more fluid, with many more specific perspectives represented, because the massive party infrastructures are becoming more porous. The Howard Dean campaign, where it was possible to find far-left Democrats hoping to stop the war in Iraq working with moderate and center-right Republicans angry about runaway deficits working together, demonstrates how an extremely democratic technology can bring together many perspectives. Its massive fund-raising success of the Howard Dean campaign during 2003 and early 2004, which built a war chest of $45 million for a candidate who began his quest for the White House as an asterisk, is the proof point for the transformation of politics via network. That campaign failed for a variety of reasons, but the example is a clear statement about people’s willingness to work together despite their differences when they see a clear opportunity to make a difference."

Would Howard Dean’s supporters have been as visible and effective without the Internet connection? Will technology give individuals a louder voice within party politics or will it be the demise of the existing hierarchies? Will the desire of those in power to remain in power slow the development of technological tools? Or can such development be stalled?

On Digging a Grave for King Kong - from The Economist

If ever there were a story that embodied the often complex relationship between the environment, economics, and war, that story would be about central Africa - in particular in eastern Congo. I saw hints of this in a life-changing journey I took with the Co-Executive Directors of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund UK in the Spring of 1998. We traveled across the border of Uganda into Congo, and then up into the Virunga Mountains in search of mountain gorillas. I saw first-hand the economic and environmental decimation that resulted from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the subsequent movement of nearly a million refugees across the border from Rwanda into Congo. Philip Gourevitch, who also writes for The New Yorker, wrote an amazing book about this, with the very long but meaningful title : We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda.

I have stayed in touch with the Fossey folks over the years and they tell of additional economic complexity: the discovery of the mineral coltan (used to make some of the electronic components in mobile phones, computers, hand-held games and pagers) within supposedly protected habitat areas along the border.

The Economist wrote about this in a July 2003 article

"With people still killing each other in horrific numbers in eastern Congo, why worry about the destruction of a national park and its few hundred gorillas? Because, according to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, one is closely tied to the other�

"In the past decade, thousands of people, both soldiers and civilians, have fled into the Kahuzi Biega National Park, a swathe of tropical forest near Congo's border with Rwanda. The refuge, a United Nations World Heritage Site, has suffered from forest clearance, charcoal burning, hunting and harvesting. Of the 350 elephants living there five years ago, all but two have been killed for meat and ivory. And although most locals have long refused to kill or eat gorillas, gun-carrying refugees have no such scruples. Poaching and the clearance of bamboo, a favourite food, have cut a population of 258 gorillas in the park five years ago to some 110 now.

"But war alone is not responsible. Or, more subtly, one of the causes of the war is also a cause of deforestation. Coltan (colombite-tantalite, to give its full name), is a valuable mineral spewed out by the local volcanoes. It is found scattered widely over the area, including in the park... [and] demand for coltan has (thus) mushroomed over the past decade. This demand lured 12,000 people to Kahuzi Biega, where they could earn a princely $80 a day with just a pick, a shovel and a sieve."

Last year European activists, who complained of "blood on their handsets", persuaded Nokia, Motorola and other users not to buy their coltan from Congo. Arthur C. Clarke, a science-fiction writer, and Leonardo DiCaprio, a film star, have thrown their weight behind the campaign.

Evin d'Souza (a mining consultant who reported on the state of the park on behalf of the Dian Fossey fund) said the miners should be helped to look for deposits of coltan outside the park, and to find ways of working that are less destructive to the forest. Food aid, micro-credit, training and gifts of farm tools and seeds could persuade them to give up digging inside the park.

Should high-tech companies who use this mineral in their components take note of this complex situation? And if so, what should they be doing? How can conservation groups who place a great deal of their focus on micro-loan and other economic base-building policies (such as the Dian Fossey UK group) work with technology companies on this issue, as this is not a simple choice of economics v. environment?

Read what Saleem Khan had to say about coltan in Ethics, Environment and War.

Looking at the Future - BBC Series "IF"

Thanks to Andrew Zolli's blog I learned about a multi-part documentary series called "IF" currently playing on BBC2.

If your cable company or satellite provider carries this channel, I recommend you take a look.

The series uses a technique called "scenario planning", long used by large organizations (notably Royal Dutch Shell and the Global Business Network) to examine possible futures under a variety of conditions. In this case, "IF" uses the technique to catalyze an examination of social futures. Various scenario possibilities are established to look at the income gap, the world that may evolve in the post baby boom era, energy issues, and the future of women.

The next installment airs on Wednesday the 31st and looks at possible futures of women in the year 2020.

Observation Inspires Invention

What do the 1981 design of MTV's logo, the concept for the elliptical trainer, and the Bravo reality series "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" have in common? At least one thing - observation as the catalyzing force for inspiration that led to invention and continuing innovation. Observation of oneself, observation of others, observation of seemingly inanimate or mundane objects in the environment. And I'll add - observing off the beaten path.

In Tom Kelley's book The Art of Innovation, he describes how Larry Miller's elliptical trainer was inspired by noticing the natural movement of his daughter’s legs when she ran.

One of the exec producers of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy said his inspiration for the show came when he saw a woman criticizing her husband in a NY gallery and 3 gay men "came to his rescue" -- (I don't know any more of the specific details (Does anyone out there?))

While working at MTV, Fred Seibert taught himself to design album covers for his own company, Oblivion Records - and his approach was largely inspired by the innovative graphic design and packaging that came out of Columbia records in the 60's and 70's. When it came time to create a visual identity for MTV, his model was album covers and not the CBS Eye logo. The first version of the famous "M" in MTV was inspired when one of the designers from a small company commissioned by Fred (called Manhattan Design) walked past a graffiti encrusted wall at a school yard. In that moment of observation and inspiration she realized that MTV's logo had to be made of three-dimensional letters that echoed street culture. And the initial idea for an identity was born. (For a longer piece on this see The instigator: Fred Seibert By Steven Heller.)

What all of these stories - from different industries and periods of time have in common - is the art and business translation of observation - and an echo of that moral "some of the best ideas come from unexpected sources." (Remember the waffle iron and the Nike shoe sole?) What are your best unexpected sources? How do you keep your eyes (and your self) open to them?

What are you willing to do for the rest of your life?

In his book, The Monk and the Riddle, Randy Komisar writes (pp155-156):

"Considering personal risk forces us to define personal success. We may well discover that the business failure we avoid and the business success we strive for do not lead us to personal success at all. Most of us have inherited notions of "success" from someone else who arrived at these notions by facing a seemingly endless line of hurdles extending from grade school through college and into our careers. personal goals, on the other hand, leave us to our own, without this habit of useless measurement and comparison. [...]

"Work hard, work passionately, but apply your most precious asset - time - to what is most meaningful to you. What are you willing to do for the rest of your life? Does not mean literally, what will you do for the rest of your life? That question would be absurd, given the inevitability of change. No, what the question really asks is, if your life were to end suddenly and unexpectedly tomorrow, would you be able to say you've been doing what you truly care about today? What would you be willing to do for the rest of your life? What would it take to do it right now?"

How does one find or redefine path and mission using Randy's advice in difficult economic times? Does it make it harder or easier? Is this a philosophy with a practical as well as a poetic side? I think so, although sometimes it's not easy at all.

And is his advice transferable beyond the individual to groups and organizations, be they social, political or business?

Mandela, the movie

"Anant Singh is turning the story of Nelson Mandela into a big screen epic capturing his life from childhood, to political awareness, 10 000 days of imprisonment and finally freedom.

"It's a very prestigious project, but also a very daunting task. Everybody feels - and rightly so - about Mr Mandela and his life. People take possession of it," producer Anant Singh said. 'When you have to make a movie out of his life in under three hours it's not easy.'

"Mandela became the international symbol of resistance to the apartheid system in South Africa. His release after 27 years in jail and eventual transition to the country's first post-apartheid president from 1994 to 1999 is almost the stuff of fairytales.

"The film will be based on his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, which carries an emotive account of his first moments of freedom, likely to be at the heart of the new movie.

"Veteran actor Morgan Freeman has won the role of portraying the man who became for many a modern hero, and has acknowledged it is a daunting task.

Script writer William Nicholson, who also worked on Sarafina!, Gladiator and Shadowlands, is adapting Long Walk to Freedom into a screenplay to be directed by Indian film-maker Shekhar Kapur, who made his name with Elizabeth, Bandit Queen and The Four Feathers."

Anant Singh received the prestigious Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum and in his acceptance speech said that : "I owe my being to South Africa," he said, "the country that did not allow me to go to film school because that was a school for whites only; a country that did not allow me to watch a film that I produced with the director who was white because cinemas were segregated."

Having lived through the slice of history of the man whose story he will be bringing to the screen, I am guessing that this will be about as epic as Lawrence of Arabia, one of my favorite films of all time. From my perspective - Anant Singh, Nelson Mandela, and Lawrence all pursued amazing and transforming paths.

Bill Strickland: Artistic Transformations

“Bill Strickland's […] credo is that art lives at the center, not the periphery, of human endeavor. ‘My reason for starting the guild was to improve the neighborhood where I was raised. I thought the arts would give underprivileged children a sense of importance that they badly needed. It wasn't so much intended to turn them into master craftsmen or professional photographers but to give them confidence and motivation. That's still the goal here.’

“His degree of success is extraordinary. A review by the Harvard Business School found that 80 percent of the students who finished programs at Manchester went on to college."
--From The Genius of Manchester

Strickland’s experience suggests that we can’t afford to treat art as a luxury. Is art integral or optional? And does Strickland's success with "creativity" suggest new ways of looking at the creative process, and perhaps opening up to the idea that just as intelligence has many forms - perhaps the same is true of creativity? Howard Gardner has some interesting things to say about this in his book Creating Minds as does Ken Robinson in Out of Our Minds.

When it comes to compassion, are there any lines to draw?

"As a college student in California, Amy Biehl dedicated herself to ending apartheid in South Africa. When she won a Fulbright scholarship in 1992, she decided to go to South Africa to immerse herself in the country's culture and politics. In 1993, the white American was stoned and stabbed to death by a mob of angry black militants. [...]

"At the time, with South Africa on the brink of a race war, Amy's death was a turning point. Horrified at the murder of a kindred spirit, blacks joined with whites in peace rallies across the country. The Biehls and their three other children went to South Africa. [...]

"The Biehls spent much of their time in Guguletu, passing the spot where their daughter was killed. "If we had never come back here, if we hadn't done something to carry on for her, I think she would be very, very disappointed in us," her father said.

"To keep her memory alive, they established a nonprofit agency, the Amy Biehl Foundation. With $500,000 in grants, donations and their own money, they have sponsored welding classes and after-school programs, including music, art and tutorials for those who want to go to college."
--From a CBS 60 Minutes interview with the Biehls

What does the story of the Biehls' journey have to say about the role of compassion in transforming people's view of their path and mission in life? Can this model be of compassion catalyzing a new mission and path ever be extended beyond the world of the individual and the social venture into the business world? Are there limitations?

Pierre Omidyar: What Government Should Be About

"Government should be about laying a foundation for the growth and development of its citizens and economy. Government should focus on creating the right kind of environment for us to make good things happen for ourselves. The most important part of that environment is access to the tools we need to reach our potential -- tools like health, education, a robust economy, security, and liberty. And to varying degrees, some of us need more help from government on different dimensions in order to reach our own individual potential. But I don't think the government should give people the outcomes they're looking for. Instead, it should give everyone equal access to the tools they need to reach their own potential."

--Pierre Omidyar in an interview with Wesley Clark's Campaign

What do you think government should be about? Is there a balance to be struck between opportunity and outcome?

Where does the path of the Cultural Creative lead?

“Like mariners of old, Cultural Creatives have sailed beyond the familiar horizon. Their old maps are useless, the landmarks are gone, and even the North Star is unrecognizable in the new sky. […] The departure may be the first time you see the whole Earth from space. […] One middle-aged woman explained, ‘Leaving the old story behind doesn’t necessarily mean that you leave anything […] What is left is a consciousness that once felt secure, had categories to fit things into, and knew who it was. And what replaces this sureness is not knowing. And openness. And something unspeakably, and sometimes unbearably, new.’”
-- From chapter two of The Cultural Creatives by Paul H. Ray, Ph. D., and Sherry Ruth Anderson, Ph.D.

Have you sailed beyond your familiar horizon? Have you found monsters or unexpected delights?