Lets widen our net of Empathy

"It is not tolerable, it is not possible, that from so much death, so much sacrifice and ruin, so much heroism, a greater and better humanity shall not emerge." - Charles de Gaulle

I start with that quote because it's the first time since Friday that I've heard something that has made sense to me. I am left confused and with a lot of questions.

October 2 – 18 dead – suicide bomb – Nigeria

October 5 – 57 dead – car bomb - Bagdad, Iraq

October 10 – 102 dead – suicide bombs – Turkey

October 10 – 38 dead –suicide bombs –Chad

October 14 – 42 dead – suicide bomb – Nigeria

October 23 – 27 dead – bomb – Nigeria

October 23 – 22 dead – suicide bomb – Pakistan

October 31 – 224 dead – suspected airplane bomb – Egypt

November 12 – 43 dead – suicide bomb – Lebanon

November 13 – 19 dead – bomb – Bagdad, Iraq

November 13 – 137 dead – bomb/shooting – Paris

These are the attacks I could find in the last month and half where more then 15 civilians died – I left out the 100s that were injured.  It includes an attack the same day as Paris.

What's been niggling my mind is why Paris has taken center stage. Why haven’t we shown as much empathy, concern and solidarity with all the other civilians as they went about their daily life?

As I set up for a yoga class on Sunday, I heard someone behind me tell someone he had two friends killed at the concert. So is it that there are less degrees of separation between us and people in Paris?  Or is it that Paris is systematically closer to us? Or geographically closer (but not much)? 

Or is it that Parisians represent a similar ratio of race, religion and culture to us? Is our empathy racist?

Or maybe our empathy just has limitations. Maybe we only have a certain amount of empathy and save if for certain circumstances?

Granted that ubiquitous coverage of the Paris attacks leaves us little option but to pay attention, but I do think the scale of coverage represents something we ask for, not a pro-active decision by the media.

Perhaps our net of empathy is growing and in time it will find its way to the further corners and cultures of this planet. I mean not long ago, it would have taken days for the Paris news to get to us, and without the detail we might have cared less. There was also a time not long ago when this would have been a blip on the radar of death by humans. In fact in some of those far away places, violence is still taken for granted.  Do we take it for granted in those places just like the people who live there?

Im with De Gaulle! And I'll add, over half a century later that better humanity has emerged. As our net of empathy grows, the violence will continue to subside. 

And then one day as Carlos Santana sings “One day there will be no borders, no boundaries, no flags and no countries and the only passport will be the heart.”

Aggregating Consciousness

This morning NPR had a piece centered around carbon offsets – http://www.npr.org/2015/11/12/455717415/npr-amazon-reporting-team-tries-to-offset-its-carbon-footprint– with the rhetorical question – Isn’t paying $50 to plant 18 trees to offset the carbon footprint of the flight you just took, like putting a bandaid on a bullet wound.

I listened as I drove north on the 101 toward Santa Barbara, with a clear view of 7-10 offshore oil rigs. My thoughts drifted to distaste as I thought of all the animals that are effected by the leakage, and then to the bigger picture of the eventual burning into the atmosphere of all that oil. Who do these people think they are? Don’t they know about climate change? Don’t they have compassion? Don’t they care about our future?

I always seem to have those same thoughts about the rigs while Im driving. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t drive places each day. I take it for granted, I depend on it, its convenient, its kind of great. This is why those rigs are in the channel. I can’t imagine the conversation about climate change changing, until I/we are willing to “Be the change”

We are not going to stop driving cars anytime soon, probably not until, cars have been replaced by something that hovers and is fueled by a flux capacitor.  But until that time we can at least be more attentive to SOURCE! Who makes the car?  Who drills for our fuel?  Do these companies have our best interests in mind, are they the ones trying to invent the flux capacitor?  Are they willing to forgo some revenue for the mission improving our well being and considering our future.

This morning I filled up at Sunoco, rather the Exxon across the road. It seemed like the lesser of two evils.  I need a new car, and not surprisingly there are some great deals on VW.  Im going to consider a Ford or a Toyota hybrid.  

Its this constant attention to source that will change the climate change conversation into climate change action.  

The power lies in the aggregation of regular marginal conscious decisions by billions of people!!!

By gifts one makes slaves and by whips one makes dogs

Said by an Intuit hunter in response to being thanked for giving meat to a friend.

"Rather than seeing himself as human because he could make economic calculations, the hunter insisted that being truly hu­man meant refusing to make such calculations, refusing to measure or remember who had given what to whom..."

I am reminded of a blog post by a friend which talks about the different levels of giving.  Imagine ordering a coffee at your favorite coffee shop.  And when the barista turns away and no-one is looking you stuff $10 in the tip jar and walk away.  Thats the ultimate giving, anonymous, and you don't need to tell your friends how big of a tip you left.  At the other end of the spectrum is giving out of obligation like taxes and doing the dishes as Ronen writes.

How do we do business?  How do we conduct our personal relationships? How do we earn our money?  How do we give?

If it feels like a string of IOU's, think for a minute about all these questions from the perspective of an Inuit hunter or a level 4 giver....might we feel more human? might we be more prosperous?

Does the feeling of IOU or UOM hold us back from a more fluid business mission and life experience?

A lesson from VW

“By 2018, we want to take our group to the very top of the global car industry,” said the Volkswagen CEO four years ago.

 For social and environmental investors or for that matter for all investors that should have been a red flag. A month ago it was discovered that VW knowingly rigged their emissions control system. So they lied and they were environmentally irresponsible. Their intention of being the number one car -maker prevailed, and so then did short cuts and cover-ups. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of investors, customers and employees have been negatively impacted. The fall-out is still uncertain, there is talk that the German economy may suffer as well

 The intended goal of “building the best possible product for our customers, and working toward the most efficient fuel efficient technology” an admirable goal in itself, became just glossy presentation on the road to number one. Sustainable profit requires sustainable practices and fostering sustainable resources.

 “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” – says Warren Buffet.

 The lesson we learn is that setting goals that are not directly correlated to the greater good is not productive. The greater good will always prevail; it’s in our nature.

 P.S. The science of this can be found all over the internet. Firms of Endearment (click on the “performance tab”) is one example.

Its all about the Team!

“Coming together is beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” —Henry Ford

This week I heard someone saying that they are struggling with employee satisfaction/engagement, and then they changed the subject and talked about how they are trying to decide whether or not to buy another company for $100million. The two situations seemed to be unrelated in their mind.

I can't say that I can relate to the pressures and nuances of the c-suite although at one point in my life I was responsible for 60 employees, and a $2 million budget, which pales in comparison to what most of the influential corporate decision makers have on their hands. But, if I remember correctly the emphasis on spending money outside of salary is marketing and product development. Mostly,  salaries are seen as a financial burden, while money for developing new products and selling them is a bottomless well.

Isn't a company not very different from a sports team. Aren't the players the most important component? Without productive, fulfilled players, spectators don't show up.  

Companies that have figured this out are thriving. The old school style of management, which treats employees like a commodity, is going the way of the Dodo, and so will leaders who don’t shift their priority to building and fostering a strong team.

Does it really make sense to consider a multi million acquisition, when your team is not fulfilled and thriving? Why not spend that money to built an elite team. Not necessarily an increase in salary, but specialized training, career path enhancement, services and reduced work load.  Think improving employee well-being. It's not until the employees are fully engaged and on board with the mission, will the mission succeed. Only then should client interests and shareholder demands be considered. It should be a corporate leader's job to make the clients and shareholders realize that it's in their best interest to have engaged employees. Is that not an executive’s fiduciary responsibility?

“A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better” – Jim Rohn