Dave Meslin’s talk reminds me somewhat of the sentiment of Edwards Deming’s proclamation that 96% of of all business problems are created by the system. Individuals want to do a good job, the system provides barriers to stop them.

#4 Heros I relate to my blog entry “As if you needed a Reason to Save the World”

I believe what Dave says in his talk is even more applicable to the business community than the greater civic community he speaks of.

If you are intent on Saving the World do you take a Top Down or Bottom Up approach?

Bottom up, as in, rally people to a cause.  Get at least some enthused enough to take some action. i.e. Change to buying energy efficient light bulbs. Excellent work but when you do the numbers pretty ineffectual in your effort to save the world.

Top down, as in, I am global supreme leader, you will only use energy efficient light bulbs or I will ensure you are punished for not doing so.  We have the United Nations and the Security Council to dictate and enforce but that too seems pretty impotent with respect to saving the world.

This is the stage where many give up, the realisation that no matter what we do, the world is running head long towards a cliff and there is no stopping it.  The rationale is “I don’t think it will happen in my natural lifetime – what happens after that is of little consequence to me”.  Our thoughts are probably true, we don’t reflect on them too much because they make us think of ourselves as selfish bad people,  we use it just enough to be able to live with the enormity of the problem.  Some get to old age, thinking we are that much closer to the cliff than when they were born, feeling sorry for the generations to come, but happy that they won’t be around to experience it.  Many believe the top down approach is working with things going perfectly to plan.  God (The Global Supreme Leader) has it all in hand. Revelations is literal and we should all rejoice as we approach the edge of Armageddon.

The jeux de position Top down versus Bottom up presents in a quest to save the world would indicate the quest is pointless.

If we look at risk versus reward. It it is personally less risky to believe in God.  (A supreme Global Leader whoes existance can’t be proven and must be taken on faith) If God doesn’t exist you personally no worse off than those who didn’t believe in God. However if God does exist, and paradise is something you aspire to, the the reward is high for no risk. 

Unfortunately as a group the same analysis doesn’t hold.  If motivation to take action of individuals believing that the future is under control and it isn’t, then Armageddon is a self-fulfilling prophesy regardless of your beliefs. Personal saviour, group demise.

Our motivation for personal survival, here on earth, and in the afterlife for those who believe in it, could be used to veer us away from the cliff. No Armageddon. We would all survive. Including future generations.

A mechanism which hooks into our primordial survival instinct to accentuate activities that promote group survival is required.

That primordial Survival Instinct is often interpreted as Greed. Was Gordon Gekko right? Can Greed be good?

The following TED talk delivered by Bill Gates speaks of his one wish to halve the cost of energy while simultaneously reducing carbon output from the production of energy to zero. He speaks of energy miracles and explains his preference for a particular miracle he favours.

I started to wipe the sweat from my brow. I don’t have to do this “Save the World” thing. Someone else is about to do it. Not only that, it’s  Bill Gates. He has a track record of performing miracles.  He has more resources at his disposal than any other individual on the planet. This will get done.

Then again, if you take note of what Bill has to say 15:20 -> 17:00 into his talk about the 2020 report card. He realises his punt on a miracle may be wrong. To reduce risk, others must also take a punt. We must accelerate innovation in all realms and even he doesn’t have the resources to back all of it.

His releasing fireflies into the audience indicated that we need to think about all ideas as it’s ideas where innovation comes from.

Only a small proportion of the global population regard their individual role as one of Research and Development, yet it’s Research and Development that we hold responsible for innovation. Bill Gates pleads for Government direct investment and incentives for R & D and yet delivery mechanisms will only deliver investment to a small portion of potential innovators.  This is conventional wisdom and doesn’t look outside the box.

Perhaps changing the system of innovation to increase individual participation is the way of meeting our new world goals. Not surprisingly, this smacks of Open Source Philosophy and hence not mentioned in his speech.  What is mentioned in the Question and Answer session at he end of the Talk with Chris Anderson is Bills inability to share detail due to the conventional wisdom of non-disclosure agreements.

At this point I remember that Kahatika is a way of having your cake and eating it too.

• David Cameron suggests the wisdom of yesteryear can be brought to fruition through modern technological tools.
• “The gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play; it does not include the beauty of our poetry of the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate for the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country it measures everything in short except that which makes life worth while.” ~ Robert F Kennedy 1968
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• “Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations; only 49 are countries (based on a comparison of corporate sales and country GDPs).“  ~ Institute of Policy Studies 2001
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• “I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country; corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in High Places will follow, and the Money Power of the Country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the People, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war” ~ Abraham Lincoln 1864
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• In 2007, the wealth disparity grew to its highest number on record, based on US tax data going back to 1917. ~ University of California-Berkeley economist Emanuel Saez 2007

If management of corporations is just as influential if not more influential than management of our countries then systems of corporate management are to be scrutinized and upgraded in the next wave of global change.

Since the end of WW2 democratic systems have broken out the world over.

If devolution of power to citizenry for our countries is so popular, could some additional devolution of power to individual employees work in corporations?

In no particular order I list some quotes that have relevance to the intentions of Kahatika.

“For it is in giving that we receive.” ~ St. Francis of Assisi

“All communication must lead to change” ~ Aristotle

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” ~ Jimi Hendrix

“Integrity is the essence of everything successful.” ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” ~ W.Edwards Deming

“Everything is practice.” ~ Pele

“You (never) change the existing reality by fighting it. Instead, create a new model that makes the old one obsolete.” ~  R. Buckminster Fuller

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” ~ Nelson Mandela

“If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.” ~ Buddha

“When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

“Love is the gift of life. It’s a human need and a privilege. It’s one of the few energies in life where the more you give it the more you have!” ~ Tony Robbins

“The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.” ~ Tony Robbins

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” ~ Dalai Lama

“There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” ~ Ronald Reagan

The design of Kahatika embeds the essence of these words. Truely we “Stand on the Shoulders of Giants” ~ Bernard of Chartres, made famous by Issac Newton

As I pick up links offered through people I follow on twitter I find more and more stuff related to what I’m trying to do with Kahatika and my efforts to “Save the World”.  I busily place talks in my favourites list on TED, Youtube and the likes to try and stay organised. Am I going to remember why they are related to Kahatika?  I had better put them in my Blog and write what struck me as interesting before I forget.

Jonathan Zittrain offers a bunch of questions on the start of a problem in the video talk above. It caused me to ponder on the changing nature of trust relationships. I ran all concepts of Kahatika through the questions he raises and was content that in one way or another I had addressed them all. Perhaps crowd sourced problem solving techniques are more appropriate in closed networks where trust regarding true purpose can be verified and earned.

The following talk by Dr. Robert Sapolsky on, the Uniqueness of Humans, reinforced concepts within Kahatika on reward mechanisms. From a neurological perspective, it dovetails nicely into Edwards Deming’s ideas on the failings of compensation methods of western industry. Kahatika was born from ideas I gleaned from attending workshops on Deming principles. The last minute of Sapolsky’s talk provides inspiration to act. Whilst geared towards a group of successful academics, we all can take heart from his words.

Thought I’d take a few minutes to answer Seth Godin’s survey to see if I could get more clarity on what I’m doing with Kahatika.

From his latest blog 8 questions and why we get

• Who are you trying to please?

  • Myself
    Why? – Highest in the hierarchy of needs, Self-actualisation
    

• What are you promising?

  • To “Save the World”
    Why? – Seemed like a fun problem to sink my teeth into. Better question; Why not?
    

• How much money are you trying to make?

  • Trillions
    Why? – Because money engages peoples interest. Vast amounts of money will have them asking why?
    

• How much freedom are you willing to trade for opportunity?

  • Not much now, as I get older more and more
    Why? – Life is a journey not a result and I have a plan that makes a large loss of freedom unnecessary
    

• What are you trying to change?

  • Business
    Why? – Because it’s the most powerful card in the deck
    

• What do you want people to say about you?

  • He gave it a go
    Why? – Hope that they may emulate
    

• Which people?

  • All people
    Why? – Everyone has something to contribute
    

• Do we care about you?

  • Probably not yet
    Why? – You, as of yet, don’t have an acceptable, safe way to practice compassion
    

I have found much to my dismay that if I stop exercising my muscles I get weaker and less capable of doing the physical things I used to do.

The opportunity to do physical exercise outside of the time I spend swapping my time for money is getting greater and greater. There are no end of things being invented to make physical exercise more convenient, exciting and fun. With participation undoubtedly they would make me stronger, yet I am less physically fit than I have ever been.

In days gone by I worked on Farms, building, mowing lawns doing all manner of physical activity. I was fit, happy and healthy. I now work in an office in front of a computer getting fatter and less healthy.

My switch from physical work to more sedentary work shows me the value and need of practicing the physical.

I’ve been wondering if the same principle applies to Wisdom.

Are the systems we implement in business and society taking away the necessity to practice wisdom and thereby making us less wise?

Barry Schwartz gives a TED talk where he gives examples of systems creating barriers to the practice of Wisdom.

Perhaps we need to be designing systems which promote the practice of wisdom. With practice, perhaps we can turn the tide on what is seemingly a collective loss in this area.
Along side our fight against obesity, should we be fighting against this loss? If so, what are the new set of tools to help us with this fight. Kahatika?

Update: Barry has released a little more on the subject. Still no definitive answer to how to ensure more practical wisdom. He does touch on changing the system though.
This is what Kahatika does.

• Most importantly it must come from a position of Love.
• Individuals must personally benefit from participation.
• Groups must get a benefit through involvement.
• Must produce more than it uses. (Adds Value)
• Must be self-perpetuating, It must grow as a natural consequence of its structure.

Doesn’t add up?
Seems like perpetual motion to you?
Never-the-less I must include all these elements in my plan for it to succeed.

You have no “rights”. Not even to eat, drink, breath or even to be born.

Everything we regard as rights has taken energy to give the appearance of being a right.

Institutions which consolidate that appearance require constant energy to maintain them.

Like the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics without energy to bring order from disorder a system will naturally tend to chaos.

Where does that energy come from?

I like to think the “Boundless energy of the Human Spirit”.

Destruction is therefore a waste of the efforts that came before us and shouldn’t be undertaken lightly.

Constant, never ending Improvement is a far more productive and is part of the solution to “Save the World”.