Happiness as a UN goal? The Inside-Out Development Paradigm?

Are we seeing a new, more holistic human development paradigm emerging? Can happiness be a UN goal? There are some interesting signs...

Since the UN General Assembly declared 20 March the International Day of Happiness in 2012 the idea of happiness as a goal for development and global well-being has gained even more traction. Discussions advance happiness not just as a personal matter but also a global development goal.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is personally very interested in the new development paradigm including global well-being, happiness and Bhutan's Gross National Happiness (GNH) index. The 2013 UN General Assembly Note called "Happiness: towards a holistic approach to development" gives a clear recognition of broader measurement of development beyond GDP and a call to further action.

Recently and during my holidays in Germany, I attended the first 'Global Well-being Lab Forum' in Berlin. It was organized by Germany's GIZ Global Leadership Academy (commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)), the Presencing Institute and the GNH Bhutan Centre with OECD, Italy, Finland, World Bank Institute et al. also being active.

See a key diagram by Enrico Giovannini, former OECD economist pioneer, mapping the links between needs, skills, forms of capital, well-being and happiness with the new development paradigm (see also at the bottom the resource library giving an overview of other initiatives presented).

For me personally very interesting is that this new development paradigm seems neither top-down nor bottom-up but 'inside-out'. A key insight that I heard from both the Bhutanese monks at the forum but also Otto Scharmer, Founder of the Presencing Institute, is that "transformation has first to happen inside oneself, then it manifests outside".

This new field appears to be an exciting, innovative approach promising transformative impact and contributing to the realization of long-term development goals for all. Are we seeing a new development paradigm 'happiness' emerging?
 
At the moment this space is still relatively new and much more research is needed to make the new approach practical. Given my strong personal passion for the topic, I am considering to explore this new development paradigm through an action-oriented PhD thesis with a German university while continuing my work for the UN.

Key part of the initiative would be to interview global change-makers and transformative leaders to synthesize insights on realizing the new emerging development paradigm, from theory to reality, within the UN context. What about the title 'transformateurs'? Suggestions for interviewees?

For further information see also the very informative resource library by Stefan Bergheim, Centre for Societal Progress. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Live TV Interview on Inclusive Business in Africa - UNDP Kenya Report Launch

Is the business & development paradigm changing? Last week I had the honor to travel again to Kenya to present on the key findings of the major UNDP AFIM report “Realizing Africa’s Wealth – Building Inclusive Businesses for Shared Prosperity”.

The launch event in Nairobi on 31st July 2013 brought together around 100 leaders of private and public sector, media and academia. Together with the presentation and panel discussions, my personal highlight was the Live TV interview for Kenyan national TV station KTN. Watch the 4 minute video here:



It was great to discuss with private sector companies such as Novartis, development partners (DFID, Sweden, Denmark), government representatives, media and UNDP Kenya colleagues the concept and successful cases of inclusive business models in Africa.

Kenya is such a hotbed for business innovation and together with South Africa has the most inclusive business models as identified in the report. Most cases are in agriculture, financial services, ICT, energy, water and extractive industries. Read the report for more details.

Below a photo with key representatives including UNDP Kenya Country Director Maria-Threase Keating (middle), Inclusive Economic Growth Team Leader Carolin Averbeck (2nd left) ) and Business Call to Action representatives Karen Newman (left) and PanAAC CEO Lucy Muchoki (right):

Personally I see Inclusive Business demonstrating that good business does well by taking a more holistic and long-term perspective with a shared value and triple bottom line approach of social, environmental and financial dimensions.

This goes hand in hand with the current paradigm shift in development cooperation from traditional aid towards greater individual empowerment, self-responsibility, local ownership and business engagement leading to more inclusive markets and sustainable development.

For more follow also on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Business4Good and www.twitter.com/UNDP_AFIM

Inclusive Business can transform Poverty into Prosperity

Inclusive Business can transform Poverty into Prosperity:
Experiences by UNDP’s African Facility for Inclusive Markets (AFIM)

Jürgen Nagler, Programme Specialist

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

The need for inclusive growth and inclusive market development

Economic growth, which is essential for development, is largely driven by the private sector – from micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to multinational corporations. Six of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world over the past decade are in Africa, and the overall GDP growth rate of sub-Saharan Africa is expected to reach 5.4 per cent in 2013, making it the fastest-growing region in the world.[i] However, Africa’s impressive recent economic growth has been largely ‘jobless’ growth and has failed to provide job and income opportunities for the majority on the continent. 

Therefore, inclusive growth must address the phenomenon of ‘jobless’ growth and must tackle critical issues to create inclusive employment and income-generating opportunities for the majority in Africa. Jobs are first and foremost created in the private sector, and as Helen Clark, the head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), states: “Businesses are engines of growth and have the potential to help improve the lives of people through their investments and activities.”

The landscape of global human development and official development assistance is changing rapidly. Especially, the area of engaging and partnering with the private sector has received a significant increase of interest over the recent years, as recently embodied in discussions at the Busan Forum for Aid Effectiveness[ii] and the statement issued by 11 of the world's largest bilateral donor agencies.[iii]

There is a paradigm shift from traditional aid to sustainable development, from official assistance focusing on governments to the inclusion of the private sector with its core business. This stresses the importance of inspiring the private sector to use inclusive business models, and governments and development partners to develop inclusive markets.

The UNDP’s Inclusive Market Development (IMD) approach

The UNDP has been a leading agency in promoting private sector partnerships and inclusive market development through projects and initiatives such as the Growing Sustainable Business (GSB) initiative which started 2003. The UNDP´s ambition is to foster broader and more strategic alliances with the private sector around key development challenges of common concern, such as the provision of energy, job creation and supporting green growth.

IMD focuses on developing private sector markets to make them more inclusive of and beneficial to low-income groups as producers, consumers and employees. Specifically, IMD seeks to strengthen value chains to empower small enterprises, producers and distributors to participate in and benefit from the existing and potential markets in which they do business.[iv]

The UNDP’s global private sector strategy for IMD combines private sector development and private sector engagement.[v] The objective is to stimulate the sustainable economic growth that creates jobs and thereby reduces poverty – primarily by ensuring that small enterprise owners and their employees participate in the growth of expanding markets. The most frequently employed approach to IMD is the development of value chains with growth, job and income generation potential.

IMD is a useful approach to employ when partnering with the private sector to inform, inspire and initiate inclusive business models and to integrate low-income populations into their value chains. To support IMD implementation, the UNDP published an IMD handbook and three related tools: Assessing Markets, Inclusive Business Models and Brokering Partnerships.[vi]

The power of inclusive business models and value chains

Inclusive business is a relatively new approach, encompassing those businesses that consciously include low-income people into their value chains as producers, consumers, employees and entrepreneurs. Such businesses are not only profitable, but also improve the lives of low-income people and communities. Therefore, it is key for scale and sustainability to engage the private sector as a strong partner, i.e. with their core business - beyond philanthropy and corporate social responsibility (CSR). 

In 2008, a global UNDP report noted that

inclusive businesses include low-income people on the demand side as clients and customers, and on the supply side as employees, producers and business owners at various points in the value chain. They build bridges between business and the poor for mutual benefit. The benefits from inclusive business models go beyond immediate profits and higher incomes. For business, they include driving innovations, building markets and strengthening supply chains. And for the poor, they include higher productivity, sustainable earnings and greater empowerment.[vii]

Inclusive business models by the private sector and supported by public sector and development partners, can turn poverty into prosperity. The UNDP promotes exactly such business models, where the pursuit of wealth creation, human development and environmental sustainability are seen as fully compatible.[viii] What can the private sector do to contribute to sustainable development? 

First, businesses can benefit low-income people by including them in their core business operations, whether as suppliers or business partners in their value chains, as employees in the workplace, or as consumers in the marketplace. There are many examples of companies which have successfully integrated low-income people into their business models. 

For example, A to Z Textile Mills of Tanzania is an African producer of long-lasting insecticide bed nets. Its products help in the fight against malaria, and the production provides work for more than 3000 women. This was made possible by a broad public–private partnership involving, among others, the Japanese chemical company Sumitomo, which is member of the UN Global Compact and the Business Call to Action (BCtA), a UNDP-supported initiative challenging companies to develop innovative business models.[ix]

Second, the private sector can make important contributions to advancing sustainable development by bringing low-cost innovations to market. The low-cost mobile technology exists to conduct life-saving heart scans; there are energy-efficient LED lamps which enable children to do their homework at night; there are smokeless stoves which support better health; and mobile phone and Internet applications which help small farmers and fishermen get access to better information and prices. 

One such innovative product solution in the agribusiness field comes from Amiran Kenya, which won the 2011 Youth Empowerment Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) award in Kenya. Amiran’s Farmers Kits offer local small-scale farmers affordable access to modern agricultural technologies, methods and inputs to suit the climate, terrain and agricultural experience of the farmer. Innovations like these, when accessible to low-income people, have the potential to significantly contribute to making markets more inclusive.     
      
Third and perhaps a more traditional way for businesses to support development goals, is giving back to the community through CSR activities and philanthropy. The scope and magnitude of these kinds of activities have grown exponentially in recent times – and indeed they need to be brought to scale more consistently, to have a wider and more sustainable impact. 

In conclusion, inclusive business models and inclusive value chains generate jobs, help low-income populations increase their productivity and income, and enable people to access affordable products and services. Several prominent examples show that this paradigm shift towards a new way of doing business is possible, and that it pays off in sectors as diverse as agriculture, healthcare and financial services. 

UNDP’s continental platform: The African Facility for Inclusive Markets (AFIM)

In November 2010, the UNDP launched the AFIM, specifically for Africa. This project constitutes a continental platform working in partnership with the public and private sectors, development partners and UN agencies in Africa. AFIM works to reduce poverty and accelerate progress towards sustainable development, by supporting inclusive growth and inclusive market development across sub-Saharan Africa.

The facility aims to achieve four main goals:

1. Increase private sector-related capacity of targeted, regional institutions and governments;
2. Strengthen regional and country-level initiatives;
3. Build a broad-based alliance of partners for IMD in Africa (private sector, regional institutions, UN agencies, donors and other development partners); and
4. Improve access to finance for small producers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).[x]

AFIM, which builds on the work of existing pro-poor national and regional initiatives, serves as a platform for coordinating inclusive growth activities between various partners. The platform also facilitates knowledge sharing and access to finance, advances tangible value chain projects, and disseminates best practices in inclusive market development where the emphasis is on creating opportunities for low-income groups – especially women and youths.

The project’s particular focus is on promoting inclusive market development in Africa through developing and expanding regional value chains in job-creation sectors. Due to the importance of agriculture (which employs about 60 per cent of people in sub-Saharan Africa) and its key relevance for food security, AFIM focuses on agriculture and agribusiness.[xi]

Thus far, AFIM has undertaken and published several mappings and studies on the ‘Roles and Opportunities of Private Sector in Africa’s Agro-Food Industry’ and ‘Inclusive Business Finance’. The AgriBusiness Forum 2011 (in Johannesburg) and 2012 (in Dakar) were co-organised with the NGO EMRC, and aimed to boost Africa’s agricultural sector by bringing together African agri­business representatives, investors and policy makers from all over Africa and beyond. 

More specifically, the UNDP-led high-level public–private dialogue held in Johannesburg in October 2011 led to the adoption of the Johannesburg Declaration: “Engaging the Private Sector in Furthering Africa’s Agribusiness, Food Security and Nutrition Agenda”. This, the first joint declaration by the public and private sectors, calls for joint action to advance Africa’s agro-food agenda.[xii]

AFIM has built an alliance of Inclusive Market Development partners, including African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Union Commission (AUC), the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA), the NEPAD Business Foundation (NBF), the Pan-African Agribusiness Consortium (PanAAC), Regional Economic Communities (such as EAC, ECOWAS, COMESA), UN agencies and bilateral development partners.

AFIM’s innovative way of engaging the private sector through project facilitation platforms (PFPs)

AFIM has been establishing PFPs in East, West and southern Africa to boost food production as well as job and income opportunities for farmers, through engaging the private sector to advance agriculture value chains. Through these platforms, government stakeholders, UN agencies, the private sector, farmers, financiers and civil society discuss partnerships and their respective value-add as partners, in terms of strategic agri-food value chains.[xiii]

For example, the first such platform for East Africa was launched in Nairobi, bringing together East African Community (EAC) partners from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia. Project promoters presenting planned interventions included Africa Harvest, East Africa Dairy Development Project and UNIDO/UNDP to advance specific value chains of sorghum, dairy and soy.

The platforms are unique in that they focus on cross-border and regional value chains, bringing together all the relevant players and building the capacity of regional institutions to organise such platforms themselves in the future. Furthermore, bridges are built between the public and private sectors, and resolve issues arising between policy level and practical project implementation. The West Africa platform, attended by representatives from 13 countries and launched together with ECOWAS in Dakar, Senegal, has been advancing the value chains of cassava, mango, onions and palm oil.

To catalyse the field implementation of selected regional value chains, AFIM has put in place a catalytic funding programme for promising value chain projects, in addition to developing an African Supplier Development Programme (SDP). The SDP aims to develop the capacities of African suppliers, i.e. smallholder farmers and SMEs in agricultural supply chains, to increase their productivity, reduce post-harvest losses and thereby increase income and production levels. The programme has received strong interest from African and international lead firms which want to strengthen and grow their supply chains.

Increased importance of innovation for transformational results

To achieve greater development effectiveness and unleash the power of the markets and of people, innovation and inspiration are increasingly recognised as key drivers. Leading thinkers on the theory of development change pose the question: ‘How are transformational results achieved?’ As yet there are no widely accepted answers. 

What seems to come to the fore is a recognition of the importance of people, societies and institutions in developing their own innovations, sometimes inspired by leading examples which are shared rapidly through communication technologies. Transformation differs from change in the sense that it is more fundamental, sometimes even ‘disruptive’ (e.g. the Arab Spring), an (r)evolution that has grabbed the attention of many African governments. 

Transformation comes from a deeper level within the entity being transformed, and gives rise to a change in status level, just as a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. In terms of international development, this could see one form of governance changing into another, typically not without difficulties and periods of disruption. In terms of business it could mean a drastically different business model applying a new way of thinking and doing business. ‘Breakthrough’ innovations and related shifts in awareness can inspire such transformations.

Transformation from jobless to inclusive growth through inclusive markets

A paradigm shift is taking place in the spheres of both business and development actors. Inclusive business models provide a useful new approach in advising new business thinking beyond CSR and base of the pyramid (BoP) approaches. For development and government actors, IMD represents an innovative, holistic conceptual framework integrating economic and social development elements into a pragmatic multi-stakeholder development approach.

There is a clear need for inclusiveness and collective action, because no single actor alone can develop new markets in an inclusive way. Only through inclusiveness and (self-)empowerment will the transformation from jobless to inclusive growth happen. Further research is recommended to build the evidence base of inclusive business models, related value chain development and the more holistic inclusive market development paradigm.[xiv] Advancing both the evidence base and practical action-oriented implementation will build the envisaged future on a step-by-step, leap-by-leap basis.

Looking forward, one of the UNDP´s ambitions is to build broader and more strategic alliances with the private sector and other partners around key development challenges of common concern, such as the provision of energy, job creation and supporting green growth. In doing so, not only is development stimulated, but the potential of as-yet-unrealised markets is unlocked. Innovation and new ways of development and doing business will increasingly play vital roles in achieving transformative results, towards an envisaged and desired future.

References:

[i] African Economic Outlook 2012, www.africaneconomicoutlook.org

[ii] The 2011 High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan stresses the importance of partnering with the Private Sector, see Joint Statement on Expanding and Enhancing Public-Private Cooperation

[iii] Eleven of the world’s largest donor calling for more private sector partnerships, see Bilateral Donors' Statement in Support of Private Sector Partnerships for Development at the UN Private Sector Forum 2010, http://www.enterprise-development.org/page/download?id=1645

[iv] See UNDP’s Inclusive Market Development (IMD) approach, www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/partners/private_sector/IMD.html

[v] See UNDP’s Private Sector Strategy (2007), www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/partners/private_sector/OurStrategy/

[vi] For UNDP’s Inclusive Market Development (IMD) handbook and related tools (2010) see www.undp.org/africa/privatesector

[vii] See UNDP global Growing Inclusive Markets report Creating Value for All: Strategies for Doing Business with the Poor, www.growinginclusivemarkets.org

[viii] For more inclusive business cases and relevant reports see UNDP’s Growing Inclusive Markets (GIM) initiative

[ix] Sumitomo Chemical is a Business Call to Action (BCtA) and Global Compact member company

[x] For more information on UNDP’s African Facility for Inclusive Markets (AFIM) see www.undp.org/africa/privatesector

[xi] See UNDP AFIM’s Roles and Opportunities of the Private Sector in Africa's Agro-Food Industry report, www.undp.org/africa/privatesector

[xii] For the Johannesburg Declaration and the conference report on the AgriBusiness Forum see www.undp.org/africa/privatesector

[xiii] See article on UNDP’s Project Facilitation Platform on Business Fights Poverty, www.businessfightspoverty.org/profiles/blogs/undp-s-innovative-way-on-private-sector-development-through

[xiv] UNDP AFIM and GIM have been working on documenting African inclusive business cases and will launch a major report on this topic in 2013.

Note:
This article was originally written for the publication of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) "Value chain development by the private sector in Africa: Lessons learnt and guidance notes" due to be published in March 2013.

UNDP's innovative way on private sector development through Project Facilitation Platforms in Africa

I am excited to share with you UNDP's innovative way on private sector development through Project Facilitation Platforms to boost food production and job & income opportunities for farmers through advancing agriculture value chains.

UNDP's regional private sector project in Africa, the African Facility for Inclusive Markets (AFIM), is launching such platforms in East, West and Southern Africa. Stakeholders representing governments, UN agencies, private sector, farmers, financiers and civil society are discussing partnerships and value addition of the various partners in strategic agri-food value chains.

I am writing this from the first platform for East Africa launched this week in Nairobi convening partners from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia. Project promoters presenting planned interventions include Africa Harvest, East Africa Dairy Development Project and UNIDO/UNDP to advance specific projects of sorghum, soy and dairy value chains.

Aeneas Chuma, UNDP Resident Representative who opened the Nairobi workshop stated: “A new private sector is emerging in Africa with great potential for creating new jobs, generating higher incomes and delivering products and services for all. Agriculture value chains and agribusiness are critical to advance food security and economic opportunities”.

The platforms are unique by focusing on cross-border and regional value chains, bringing all relevant players together and building capacity of regional institutions to organize such platforms themselves in the future. Furthermore, bridges are built between public and private sectors as well as between policy and practical project implementation issues.

“UNDP’s African Facility for Inclusive Markets is brokering partnerships and building capacity to develop inclusive markets that contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and inclusive economic growth. The level of participation for this East Africa platform is very encouraging, and we will launch similar initiatives in West Africa and Southern Africa,” said Tomas Sales, AFIM Manager.

With the positive start and feedback from the East Africa platform, I am looking forward to tangible impact of the strengthened projects and to the platforms in West Africa (July 2012) and Southern Africa (end of 2012).

"Entrepreneurs: The World needs You!" article in Special Issue of Thunderbird International Business Review

It is with great pleasure that I am sharing with you my first internationally published article, in the Thunderbird International Business Review (TIBR) Special Issue on "The Fight Against Poverty", called "Entrepreneurs - The World needs You!". The fight against poverty is actually for me more a quest/path for a better world through more consciousness, inclusive and sustainable development.

I wrote this piece in personal capacity and I am an authentic believer in several global initiatives of the UN, its vision and potential of inclusive and conscious business for sustainable development. Therefore, I naturally mentioned several of UN's initiatives in this area I have been involved with such as the Global Compact, Growing Sustainable Business and Inclusive Market Development.

While this article calls on entrepreneurs and business people, in fact the world needs the full, authentic, conscious You, i.e. Essence/Potential/Soul of each of us. I hope its an inspiring article that you enjoy. Any feedback most welcome.

Abstract:
The way we see the role of business is changing dramatically. What have we learned from the recent and ongoing crises? Where does one look for guidance on the “right thing to do” now? In a world where we live on one globe, it is time to shift our energy to real responsibility and sustainability. This requires a new paradigm. As Albert Einstein said, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” We are not separated from our environment, nature, and society; we are actually a part of it.

Therefore, let us unleash entrepreneurship and the power of business in a way to serve us more holistically. This new type of thinking, this expanding consciousness, is giving birth to all the new concepts of social entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, corporate sustainability, inclusive business, conscious capitalism, and sustainable development.

On the global level, there are increasing numbers of business-oriented initiatives aimed at steering the power of business toward the public good such as the UN Global Compact and the Business Call to Action. Where to look for inspiration at the individual level? Within yourself. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “You have to be the change you want to see in the world.”

Continue reading the Full Article (PDF).

Exciting Inauguration of new Sterntaler Vocational School in Mali

Last week I had the great pleasure to return to Mali, West Africa, in my capacity of founder and chairman of the NGO 'Sterntaler für Afrika' (and unrelated to my UNDP work). It was of great honor to inaugurate the biggest project so far of this 3-year old organisation driven by private initiative: a new Vocational School!

I am very proud and grateful for the great work of our Malian partners, Youchaou Traore and his team, and all Sterntaler and Mali Initiative supporters. It was a festive ceremony with over 400 people and the Malian TV covered it in their weekend news. Below you find the text of my passionate speech:

---

"Mayor of Kalabancoro
Officials of the Government
Representatives of the Community
Mesdames et Messieurs
Parents and Students

28 October 2011, Kalabancoro, Bamako, Mali

I am Jürgen Nagler, Chairman of Sterntaler für Afrika, the German NGO who has supported this important project. It is my honor to speak to you now and share the reasons for our support and also some words from my heart to inspire positive change.

Together with my three friends accompanying me, we represent the over 100 German supporters, from parents to students and companies, that have donated resources, from finances to laptops to time & effort to spread the news about the vision of this school.

Why have we come to Mali and invested our time and energy into this? When I first came to Mali in 2008 I was first shocked by the poverty and lack of infrastructure and opportunities. However, underneath the surface, there were signs of hope:

1. Malians are people with a big and peaceful heart, and a great sense of humor.
2. There is a strong network of family ties and people seem to help each other much more than in more urban, industrialized and individualistic cultures.
3. There are courageous people taking initiative, not only to develop themselves but also the wider communities around them.

One of the most courageous and inspiring people in the development field I have ever met, is also the visionary of this project: Youchaou Traoré. Coming from a small rural village, he was a former beggar in the street. A family member found him and he took his chances going to school. He learned reading and writing, first French than English, and through dedication and aspiration became one of the best students in school and university. He started his translation business and decided to give children the same chance as he received: education. His courage is proven by first starting all alone but – because self-help attracts help – he found partners from abroad such as Australia, USA and Germany.

I would like to suggest to the Malian or international TV and media to interview him and show his inspiring life story to the widest audience possible. Dear parents, tell his story to your children demonstrating that the ones who take initiative can achieve their dreams. Government officials, please fight corruption and mismanagement, and ensure a fair environment for entrepreneurs and private schools to unleash their initiatives.

Why is Youchaou’s story so important and what does it stand for? Is he just a man with luck, or can we learn something from him to develop our own lives, families and communities? My response is: there is no luck because everything has a reason even if we might not yet understand it. Nelson Mandela’s favorite poem Invictus explains why:

I am the Master of my Fate.
I am the Captain of my Soul.

Nelson Mandela never gave up to believe in love, courage, freedom and positive change, even after decades in jail, being trialed and abused. I do want to support these visionaries who show initiative and who believe in positive change, for themselves and the world. These people are inspired and do inspire me. Therefore, I decided to partner with Youchaou and his team.

Help yourself and you will be helped. This is a philosophy of myself and Sterntaler. Having travelled to over 50 countries all over the world, I have found the following 5 points on fulfilling one’s life potential:

1. Take full responsibility for your life, you are not a victim but the change maker in your life.
2. Do what you love and be courageous.
3. Listen to your heart, mind, conscience and soul.
4. Listen to ‘signs’ that might mark your way and continue walking your path.
5. Discover your life purpose and unique talents that every human being has.

Herby, as Mahatma Gandhi said: “Be the Change you want to see in the World”.

Together we are building a bridge of friendship between Mali and Germany, Africa and Europe. As we will be returning to Germany this weekend, we will take the positive pictures and inspiring stories from our visit here back to our friends and colleagues at Sterntaler and are committed to continue our support to this important new school.

As Nelson Mandela said: ‘Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world’. Therefore, I wish this school to become one of the biggest and best in Africa, and all of you a happy and fulfilled life.

Katile haere chaia (shall peace be with you)."

Enlightened Business Summit – Free Five Day Teleseminar Event

This seems to be a very interesting event: Enlightened Business Summit – Free Five Day Teleseminar Event

The summit features over 30 leaders in the world of conscious business including Daniel Pink, Daniel Goleman, T. Harv Eker, Marci Shimoff, Marshall Goldsmith, eBay CEO John Donahoe, Meng Tan of Google and many more.

It happens November 7th - 11th, and there’s no cost to attend this virtual week-long event. You can register here: www.enlightenedbusinesssummit.com

My Journey from Money to Meaning: Personal Realization of the 5 P’s: Profit, People, Planet, Purpose, Peace.

This is my story of how I got to know and realized the 5 P’s on my journey from a money-focussed business manager to a meaning-focussed human being. While being in the middle of each phase, I was not even aware of these dimensions, only now by hindsight do I see that the journey went through these various stages. The stage of the 5 P’s: Profit, People, Planet, Purpose, Peace.

P#1: Profit
Since my childhood I had a good ‘business-sense’. I managed my little pocket money as a kid, later traded computer parts, studied business administration and went for sales, marketing and business development jobs. I maximized profits for companies like Siemens and Palm, and aimed at increasing my own salary. However, after a motorbike accident and some years of search and reflection, I realized that ‘money cannot buy happiness’ and that something important in my life was missing.

P#2: People
After years of soul-searching I opened up towards a ‘social development’ dimension. My heart felt like split in two, on the one side my business-interest (profits), on the other a new (com)passion for social and development issues (people). I started to explore microfinance, fair trade and human development. Volunteering for NGOs in Peru and Mali, and studying International Development bridged my two areas of interest. A new career with NGOs and the United Nations began. I also started the Business4Good blog to share insights on CSR, Social Entrepreneurship and Social Business.

P#3: Planet
While sustainable profits require good relationships with people, similar this is true for people and the planet. I realized that we human beings are part of nature, and that the perceived separation of us from the environment is an illusion. In fact, we are all connected as humans and with all life on this one planet. If we could see the bigger picture, maybe seeing Mother Earth from the sky we would see the forest rather than just trees. If we hurt the planet and environment we hurt ourselves. From this realisation a new appreciation of nature and environmental consciousness arose in me.

P#4: Purpose
‘Profits, People, Planet’ can also be measured as a Triple Bottom Line for businesses. It is measurable and ‘worldly’. I began to discover the more ‘immaterial’ side in me. Always having been intrigued by practical philosophy and wisdom, I explored Buddhism, self-development, meditation, Tantra and various other spiritual paths to discover my life purpose. So far I can say it is to ‘build bridges’ between perceived separated issues, and hence contribute to the expansion of consciousness.

P#5: Peace
Knowing my purpose has tremendously increased my inner peace. I do no longer feel like a lone stranger in this world, overwhelmed by all possibilities and desires. My life feels like having meaning and a direction, beyond having fun and ending in the grave at the end. Knowing that the inner world creates the outer world, I hope that increasing inner peace will lead to more world peace that inner development, will lead to more human development.

The journey continues. We are living in times of extraordinary rapid change and on our path are plenty of obstacles but if we read the signs I am positive we will find the way. To me as an optimist the direction looks towards sustainable prosperity.

All the Best & Enjoy Your Journey
Juergen

The Pyramid of Conscious Capitalism - Abraham Maslow's hierarchy aplied to Conscious Business

Via Scoop.it I came across various interesting articles on Conscious Business and Conscious Capitalism.

Especially, the following beautiful illustration reminds me of Abraham Maslow's famous needs-pyramid. I have always been intrigued by Maslow's pyramid and how to 'transcend' from basic needs all the way up to the elusive-sounding "self-actualization".

Wouldn't it be great to have a similar, clear hierarchy and pyramid for the evolution of business and capitalism?

See below the best illustration I have seen so far: Maddock Douglas' "Pyramid of Conscious Capitalism" outlining the hierarchy from society/environment, beyond profit, towards purpose - from survive to succeed to transform: 

Read the full article at Maddock Douglas and explore more on the topic via Scoop.it where also my own article about Conscious Business is featured.

Apple most valuable company - Steve Jobs' most valueble advice? "follow your heart and intuition"

Apple now has been named not only most valuable brand and most valuable tech company but by some even the most valuable company in the world. Beyond Google, Microsoft and the rest.

This is good timing to revisit a very inspiring speech by Apple founder Steve Jobs, to me a great example of authentic leadership with real reflections on life, death and love. It's not new but the timeless wisdom is worth reposting:

"I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much."

Source: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc