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World Business Academy |
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VIEWPOINT |
Vol. 15, Issue 9 REKINDLING
THE HUMAN
SPIRIT IN
BUSINESS September
27, 2001
Editor’s note: This piece outlines how business can help to eliminate terrorism. Business has both the answers and the means to accomplish this. Sustainable global prosperity is achievable. Business knows what needs to be done. Does it have the wisdom and the will to do it?
How To Eliminate Terrorism
By Joe Simonetta, Senior Editor World Business Academy
The horror of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania and the heroism that followed have brought and continue to bring tears to our eyes and deep sorrow to our souls. Any former piece of mind that we may have enjoyed has vanished. Our false sense of domestic invulnerability is gone. We remain anxious and frustrated as we await future developments. For the first time for most of us, we have experienced the darkest side of humanity at close range, large scale, and at home.
We,
the people of the most powerful nation on Earth have been victimized by an
elusive band of heinous global outlaws. We call them terrorists. They are
everywhere and nowhere. Organized in largely invisible and prolific cancerous
cells, they lie darkly waiting to strike. They and the conditions that are
responsible for their existence must be eliminated. How can this be
accomplished? More specifically, what can members of the world business
community do to help cleanse the world of this scourge?
Some
would argue that this is not the business of business. They would say this is
the responsibility of our government and military. They would add accurately
that the security of our nation is in fact the primary mission of these
institutions. It is also true that the responsibility of government, implicit
in the word itself, is to govern. That includes governing the world of business
on behalf of the common good.
But
free enterprise, the most dominant institution on our planet, greatly
influences government. It does so to such an excessive degree that it
jeopardizes the essence of democracy and the concept of governance. Many
political office-holders occupy their positions largely because of the
influence and support of the business community. As a consequence, those in
power are not eager to govern those on whom they depend for financial support.
The effect, often at the expense of the common good, is that free enterprise
too frequently is left to govern itself.
It
is precisely within the special ties that bind business and government that
there is an opportunity for business as a partner to insert itself into the
global problem solving process. It has the leverage among office-holders that
guarantees that its voice will be heard. It is evident that business has the
means to be a force in the world. But what is business to do with its voice and
power? What does business know and how can it help eliminate the dark
phenomenon of terrorism? First off, anyone mature enough to effectively occupy
a leadership position understands that crises, such as this attack, are laden
with opportunities and fraught with dangers. The latter are obvious. If
something is not done there will be, to everyone’s sorrow, a continuation and
escalation of more horrific incidents.
What
are the opportunities that business has to abate the terrorism that has
enveloped our world? The opportunities reveal themselves in the themes that
have appeared and reappeared in the
plethora of pieces that have been written about the terrorist attacks.
Sandwiched between the most and least aggressive suggested responses to the
treachery are recurring central themes:
·
Fundamentalism, Capitalism and Democracy:
Benjamin R. Barber, in
his book Jihad vs. McWorld, notes
that the underlying conflict of our time is religious and tribal fundamentalism
versus secular consumerist capitalism. What they have in common is distaste for
democracy. Both lay siege to the nation-state, the only institution that has
allowed democracy to flourish. The driving force of unrepentant capitalism,
suggests Barber, destroys traditional values as it seeks to maximize profit at
any moral, religious, or spiritual cost. Coincidentally, fundamentalist
religious, tribal and ethnic fanatics are driven by intolerance and rage
against each other, capitalism and democracy. This all adds up to a tragic net
loss for everyone.
·
Global Injustice: A constant theme is that the conditions must
be eliminated that create the injustices and war crimes that will inevitably
lead to more of these kinds of attacks in the future. Increasingly, our world
is characterized by a small minority of self-centered privileged elites who are
surrounded by a sea of impoverishment. Globally, the U.S. is seen as a nation
of excess that exemplifies these imbalances. There is a deep and growing
resentment (mixed with admiration) of America’s dominance and its isolationist
policies. Writes Professor Larry Mosqueda, Ph.D. of Evergreen State College,
"The phrase ‘No Justice, No Peace’ is more than a slogan used in a march, it is
an observable historical fact. It is time to end the horror." Although we may
want to ignore some of the dismal realities and gross inequities in our world,
past and present, there is as L.A. Times writer Steve Wasserman noted, "no
hiatus from history, no reprieve from reality."
·
United States, a Force for Good: In contrast to those who claim that the
U.S. may, at least in part, have brought this carnage upon itself are those who
write of the virtue of America and Americans. "We are overwhelmingly a force
for good in the world," wrote Tom Teepan for Cox Newspapers. He noted that
while the U.S. is the most powerful nation in history, it has no designs on
even an inch of any other nation’s soil. The U.S., he added, sends aid and
helping hands to the neediest peoples of the Earth. In a similar vein, Charles
Krauthammer of the Washington Post noted that there never has been a time when
the distinction between good and evil was more clear. This is not the time "for
agonized relativism…or, obscenely, for blaming America first." Those who engage
in such thoughts wrote Lance Morrow in Time
Magazine "are too philosophical for decent company."
What
to do? The fact of the matter is that the business world has the answers to
address all of these themes. Each presents an opportunity. Business has the
wherewithal to arrest and reverse the destructive and unsustainable momentum on
our planet. Moreover, it must do this
if we are to sustain our species and advance our civilization. Our objective
must be far beyond the achievement of peace, however worthy, for that only
represents the cessation of war. The objective must be prosperity not only for
those who enjoy membership in an elite affluent club but for all, yes all, of humanity. How can this be
achieved? It’s not that complicated.
The
World Business Academy rests on a foundation that is built on two unequivocal
universal principles.
1.
The triple
bottom line, i.e., a balanced concern for people, planet and profits.
2.
Taking
responsibility for the whole: It is understood that we exist as a tiny fragment
of an immensely larger interlocking whole in which all of the parts are
interconnected and dependent upon each other for their survival. We exist not
separately but in communion with all other living things.
These
two principles, not exclusive to the World Business Academy and obvious at this
stage in our evolution to any conscious rational person, represent the requisite
inclusive model that our reality demands and upon which our future depends. It
is time for leaders in all endeavors everywhere on this planet to structure
decision making around these two simple maxims. What changes would occur if our
institutions, businesses in particular, took "responsibility for the whole" and
demonstrated as much concern for people and our environment as they do for
profits? Our world would begin immediately to change for the better.
We
live at a time when two great forces are dovetailing. One is comprised of many
destructive elements. This force is inhabited by too many hopeless and uneducated people vulnerable to the lunacy
of the deranged despots of our world. Also within this destructive force exists
an ominous interrelated web of unsustainable environmental degradation. Both
conditions are exacerbated by an already too large 6.1 billion global
population that grows by nearly 80 million people annually.
The
other force, a hopeful one, is the reality that we Homo sapiens are a young
species struggling to both survive and understand the reality in which we
exist. Hunter-gatherers for nearly
130,000 years, it was only 12,000 years ago that we domesticated plants and
animals and transitioned into our Agrarian Age. It was only a little over 200
years ago that our Industrial Age began. About 50 years ago, we transitioned
into the Post-Industrial-High-Tech-Information Age in which we find ourselves
today. An age that allows us to transmit information and knowledge nearly everywhere
instantly.
Knowledge
is precisely what we need. With knowledge it becomes clear to us that it does
not matter how much money we have or earn, what size home we live in, what kind
of car we drive, how many academic degrees we may have accumulated, or what our
position or title is. Nor does it matter what our gender, race, religion, age,
national origin, sexual orientation, or political affiliation is. What matters
only, we discover, is how we treat each other and our environment. When we
honor these relationships sustainable global prosperity follows. There are no
short cuts.
Terrorism
can be eliminated. To do so means to eliminate the conditions that create
people so desperate that they have cause to martyr themselves to achieve the
blissful afterlife that they have been convinced is infinitely superior to
their present existence. The fact of the matter is that we know what to do. The
question is do we have the wisdom and the will to do it? Are we ready to evolve
to the next step that is required of us to assure our survival? The obvious
irony is that the very steps we resist taking are the ones that are in our
enlightened self-interest.
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Copyright © 2001World Business Academy, 428 Bryant Circle, Suite 109,
Ojai, CA 93023
Editor,
Joe Simonetta www.joesimonetta.com Phone 941 378-8407 Fax 941 378-9348