What if business schools taught from this model?

I see 3 or 4 different "integrity levels" that one can do business from.

The first is basically theft. I am in this transaction to get all that I can. I have no concern for your prosperity, your outcome. Leland Stanford is quoted as saying "everything that is not nailed down is mine. And everything that I can pry loose is not nailed down". He was in the railroad and real estate industry.

Next distinction is offering as distinct from  imposition. Offering a good or service is a high-level form of commerce. Do you like my cookies? you can buy them. Free choice, and a win-win opportunity in an open market. Imposition occurs when the seller works to eliminate competition - say by buying up all the cookie sellers in the region. Or all the flour, or whatever. Then the market / buyers have less choice, the limited selection is imposed on them. Leland Stanford's model is definitely inside the imposition paradigm.

Developing the offering paradigm further: one way of approaching offering is "what can I produce that will want to be purchased? Not bad, everyone is still in free choice, etc, but still the model is "all about me". What can I create that you will buy? What can I do to get you to buy what I have to sell, regardless of your need? 99% of advertising is about this.

Beyond that is "what do you want and need that I can provide?" and even higher is "what do you want and need, that I can provide better than anyone else?" This model lives at a very high level of service. You might call it the Boddhisatva model.

Humbly (wink) this is the model I want to operate in. For me, this is where the true satisfaction is, being of service. 

I am not sure if it is a very good model to use if you want to get very rich. Maybe - this idea still needs some work.

Some unexamined assumptions here. That I cannot get rich, if I am truly being of service. Maybe this is not really true.  It is almost as if it is living in me as if " being wealthy, and prosperous is out of integrity, and if I am wealthy obviously I am not dedicating myself enough to being of service". Definitely something here for me to  look at.





Parallel thoughts:

Most of these fit under greed "more is better, and there is no quantity that is enough".

Test blog

Is this working the way I think it is?

Egypt and Four Years. Go.

Egypt and 2014                                                                                          February 13, 2011

I had some thoughts about Egypt last night, and they illuminate for me what we are up to with the Four Years. Go. initiative of the Pachamama Alliance, in a beautiful way.

Four Years. Go is a commitment to shift the trajectory of human society in the next four years. It is an invitation to embrace the period between now and the end of 2014 as the time to secure humanity's success as an evolutionary experiment, as our sacred moment of transformation.

Egypt has begun a process, Egypt has begun a transformation. They have produced a miracle for themselves, by themselves. This miracle is a direct result of taking a stand – they took a stand that this despot would step down, and they took the stand that he would step down because they said so. And he did, on February 11, 2011.

Egypt is jubilant, we are all jubilant! And we should be. This represents a huge opening for everyone in this global society – that we can initiate decisive social change with no bloodshed nor violence nor betrayal. Unbelievable! Egypt will never turn back, and we all know that. We will not turn back either.

What's next is uncertain – it's a mess! How will Egypt transition to the democracy that they are calling for? Who will be the governing party? Will the Army really let go of the autocracy, and let democracy reign? Whatever happens in the next few years is a process – and we all know that it is going to be awkward at the very least. It may be marked by betrayal, violence and setbacks. But I say the process has begun and will not stop, the Egyptian people will not stop, they are now unstoppable.

We would like to think that someday Egypt will have arrived at “the right social social structure” - simple majority democracy, or whatever it may be, with full transparency and equal participation for all, let's say. We would like to think that there is a finish line, we tend to think in terms like this. I want to suggest that there is no finish line! Not in terms of ideals like this. There is only the process. The process will produce results, gains, victories; it will include breakdowns, upsets, compromises and disappointments. And it will go on.

The process manifests the transformation, and the transformation has begun. Egypt will never turn back.

One of the things I saw was that by beginning, the transformation is complete. The shift is absolute. Paradoxically it will never be finished – there will always be more to go. Paradoxically, it will only stay in existence by the continual and ceaseless application of the original commitment by the people that have begun this process. A kind of eternal vigilance. And yet, because it has begun, it is already complete, it is now in existence.

The most likely outcome for Egypt now is a democratic political system, with a new opening for social justice, environmental integrity, personal fulfillment. We don't know how long it will take to manifest this, or even how all that may be measured. But we know it is the most likely outcome.

Wow!

And so I see what is possible inside of the Four Years. Go. commitment to create an unprecedented shift - from a distinctly undesirable future to a distinctly desirable one, for all humanity, for all living things – before the end of 2014. What we offer is the opportunity to take a stand for that future, and to share that commitment -(4yg.me is the live link) - and look to see what is next for you inside of that commitment . What I see today is that this offer is no less powerful, and no less tangible, than the FaceBook invitation to come out into the streets of Egypt, to assemble in Tahrir Square.

Four Years. Go.

Before 2014 is over, we can know that the most likely outcome for all humanity is that we will have an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on the planet.

Egypt is about 4 years ahead of us. Four Years. Go.

(If you would like to add your voice to the thousands of others that are committing themselves to this transition, go to FourYearsGo.org. Give us your name and your email address, and we will count you in. What you do next may make all the difference in the world. a three minute video that captures the spirit of this campaign is here)