"Place soul at the center of your concerns"
Imagine how radically our social structures would change if we made friendship our highest priority and considered our functional purposes secondary…In every gathering of people, from business to politics, community would be considered more important than organization, and friendship more valuable than productivity.
"Businesses should have a social purpose"
We need businesspeople who are not driven by money but by their desire to contribute to society.’ ‘I’m talking about a new sector: companies that don’t want to make a loss, so they can continue to do business that contributes to the community as a whole. There aren’t many like that because the private sector has been wrongly labeled as a group of merciless profit-makers."The economics textbooks are ripe for revision. Then we can also rectify the...
"Wealth is the extent to which we produce, distribute and consume life"
As the captain of a ship is bound to be the last man to leave his ship in case of wreck, and to share his last crust with the sailors in case of famine, so the manufacturer, in any commercial crisis or distress, is bound to take the suffering of it with his men, and even to take more of it for himself than he allows his men to feel; as a father would in a famine, shipwreck, or battle, sacrifice himself for his son.
"Make products with your own song in them and with bits of your soul"
“I’ve to make these canastitas my own way and with my own song in them and with bits of my soul woven into them. If I were to make them in great numbers there would no longer be my soul in each, or my songs. Each would look like the other with no difference whatever and such a thing would slowly eat up my heart. Each has to be another song which I hear in the morning when the sun rises and when the birds begin to chirp and the butterflies come and sit...
"Set Aside One Percent For Meaning"
"Business owners alliance for good and great." Set aside a space or create a service in which money-making does not play any part, where concern for well-being is the only motive. Profit doesn't have to be the sole concern. There is always a possibility of doing something – no matter how small – in which profit is not involved in any way.
"Resource in Business view"
"Resource in Business view"
"Resource in Business view"
"Purpose, meaning, value"
"Overdraft fees should be reasonable"
Overdraft fees should be in line with the actual cost to the bank, about $10 per item. There should be a maximum amount of overdraft fees charged for any particular today, perhaps about $30. Don't take advantage of those will little money or have a hard time paying their bills.
"Use capital as a tool to promote social and environmental wellbeing"
Banks can act as forces for positive social, ecological, and economic development for all. Banks can be used as tools for change in community development, environmental change, social justice, and inequality. Support customers in creating value for the community. Banking, at its core, is about collectively moving capital into the future we envision.
"Share the story of your business and the people who work there"
A business is more than a way to make money or sell a product or service. It is a part of the community. Help your customers understand who you are and what brings you here. What is the purpose of this place? What are your personal interests in it? What are your hopes and dreams for its future?
"Pay staff a living wage. Distribute salaries & profits ethically."
Pay staff (and those of contractors) worldwide a living wage.Employee wage scale should be within a reasonable proportion. For example, it’s not fair to pay one employee hundreds of times more than another. Senior executives should receive an amount that reflects their actual work and is in line with what is paid to those at the lower end of the pay spectrum.Profits should be distributed fairly. Part of profits should be used to improve the well-being...
"Support local businesses and the community"
Buy locally whenever possible, purchasing from rural, inner-city, and other locally owned companies and producers, protecting local natural resources. Seek out and develop human-scale processes. Serve the interests of all stakeholders, including those who are effected indirectly and the community as a whole. Take account of the indirect and long-term effects on all those who are affected by your activities.Engage in dialogue with, and become accountable...
"Marketing should address real human needs (not provoke fear)"
Businesses should address the real human needs and genuine interests of customers. They should not manipulate the desires of their customers. They should not appeal to or prey on greed, envy or lust. Advertising and marketing should not be used to produce artificial needs, encourage excessive consumption, or use deceptive or manipulative techniques. Do not lie, mislead, or manipulate.
"Prices should be fair, transparent, and in proportion to costs"
Prices should not be excessive, deceptive, hidden or manipulative. They should be based on actual expenditures and costs and what the patient can pay. Do not take advantage of a captive audience. Charges should not be unexpected. The business model should not depend on charging customers for services they do not ultimately receive or requiring unnecessary updates.
"The product or service should satisfy genuine needs"
Ask yourself what the value of the product or service you provide is. Does it satisfies real or artificial needs? Does it help develop healthy, meaningful lives? Does it appeal to greed, envy, or aggression? Does it prey on desire or fear? Does it produce pride, division, loss of awareness or the ability to think? Or does it improve well-being and quality of life? What kind of human beings and human values does it produce?
"Consumer wishes are manufactured"
“A standard objection to the whole program of selective consumption...is that in the free market economy the consumers get precisely what they want, and hence there is no need for ‘selective’ production....The important fact that the argument plainly ignores is that the wishes of the consumer are manufactured by the producer.”
"Money is not wealth: it is only a measure of wealth"
Money is not wealth: it is only a measure of wealth. The real wealth is people, communities, cultures, land, forests and rivers. Accountants therefore need to take all these elements into account. The bottom line has to include social and natural as well as financial loss and gain.
"Resource in Business view"
"Resource in Business view"
"Hedonism – gaining whatever we desire – is at the heart of economics"
There is one fixed idea in the mind of every European progressive politician, at this time; namely, that by a certain application of Financial Art, and by the erection of a certain quantity of new buildings on a colossal scale, it will be possible for society hereafter to pass its entire life in eating, smoking, harlotry, and talk; without doing anything whatever with its hands or feet of a laborious character.”
"The economic system depends on competition, property, scarcity"
“Scarcity is the peculiar obsession of a business economy… The market makes freely available a dazzling array of products – all these ‘good things’ are within a man’s reach – but never his grasp, for one never has enough to buy everything.”
"The economy produces unethical, unhealthy human beings"
The merchants are the biggest fools of all. They carry on the most sordid business and by the most corrupt methods. Whenever it is necessary, they will lie, perjure themselves, steal, cheat, and mislead the public. Nevertheless, they are highly respected because of their money. There is no lack of flattering friars to kowtow to them and call them Right Honorable in public.
"The model for Organization Man is the machine itself."
“To follow the program, to obey instructions, to ‘pass the buck,’ to be uninvolved as a person in the needs of other persons, to limit responses to what lies immediately, so to say, on the desk, to heed no relevant human considerations, however vital: never to question the origin of an order or inquire as to its ultimate destination: to follow through every command, however irrational, to make no judgments of value or relevance about the work in...
"Play music by local musicians, and display art by local artists"
Limit your use of music and art that is commercialized, mass produced, or desensitizing, that is meant to manipulate the listener or viewer, or is distributed by national organizations.
"The Mechanical Man is the symbol of our times."
“The Mechanical Man is the symbol of our times. He may be reluctant and cynical toward his own docility, but he is always docile enough. The loudest propaganda always wins his allegiance because he expects to be led by those who make the most noise. He is the reason for the success of most of modern advertising, which operates on the principle of "conditioning" the public with phrases and catch-words until people move in a dazed condition to purchase...
"Bureaucracy does not respond to the living human being"
The bureaucratic method is controlled by statistical data: the bureaucrats base their decisions on fixed rules arrived at from statistical data, rather than on response to the living beings who stand before them.
"Every bureaucrat says the same thing, “I’m just doing my job”"
“When someone gets arrested for violating one of the thousands of preferential laws that put nonviolent people behind bars, they are handled by people who accept no responsibility whatsoever for results of their actions. Every step of the way from the arresting mercenary to the final executioner, every bureaucrat says the same thing, “I’m just doing my job.” They are not allowed to have an opinion about the moral values of the laws that they are...
Can we construct a practical spirituality for the disaffected modern life?
Valentine’s Day, Mother’s and Father’s Day champion a limited form of love. Don't cut yourself short. There is an even better kind of relationship.
Are you fed up with politics, but still want to be involved in the issues of the day? Is government that recognizes heart and soul possible?
