Comment

Comment by Tony Lamport on January 15, 2012 at 2:58pm

A piece in the Globe and Mail on Saturday similarly points out that, critical as collaboration is, the Steve Jobs and Christopher Hitchins of the world who have the strength to challenge common assumptions and champion unpopular truths at sometimes great personal cost, also have a role in the ecology of the evolution of ideas. But we should be cautious about embracing the contrarians and their novel and challenging insights too easily just because we now know they're useful and maybe essential to progress. Sometimes there may be something about the struggle the idea and its author must endure to be recognized that's a fundamental part of it and their ascendancy and emergence in mature form.

Comment by Susan Szpakowski on January 15, 2012 at 2:15pm

The Rise of the New Groupthink in this week's New York Times offers a balancing perspective on collaboration. Time and space for solo reflection and focus is also important for creativity and productivity. Collaboration can dumb us down if overdone or not done artfully.

Quest for 2012: bringing together depth of perspective/consciousness with breadth of connectivity and collaboration. 

Comment by Susan Szpakowski on January 14, 2012 at 1:43pm

Here's another one that builds on Mike Hohnen's post about collaboration: Don Tapscott's closing keynote at the first EU Innovation Convention. 

Especially good about the natural leadership role of the upcoming generation in a world rapidly discovering the power of self-organization, collaboration, and "networked intelligence" when supported by social media and the internet in general.

http://tinyurl.com/8yr6vyq

Tapscott is the author of Wikinomics and Macrowikinomics and spoke at the Canadian Liberal Party convention today.

Comment by Lalith Ananda Gunaratne on January 12, 2012 at 10:33pm

Rifkin's call to action is powerful and he connects all the dots, almost.  We need now is a convergence of Eastern and Western cultures, philosophies and practices, just as he says the new post carbon revolution will create a shift in consciousness, we have to create the platform through education to do that, as through education, we have a captive audience and a community to call to action for the change away from the top down hierarchical systems that are now controlled by about a 1000 (scared) people who will use every force they have to stop the change.  So, we have to be gentle with the transformation, sequence and pace it and reassure the powerful away from their fears that the new post carbon world will be win-win for everyone and when everyone wins, we can bring the security walls down and bury the guns....   This will be a lot of hard work !       

Comment by Lalith Ananda Gunaratne on January 12, 2012 at 10:54am

I am sharing an article I wrote in the Sri Lankan context on growth last year. 

http://groundviews.org/2010/12/15/the-growth-ideal-or-not-so-ideal/

Comment by Lalith Ananda Gunaratne on January 12, 2012 at 10:54am

Boom and doom article is in New Scientist.

Comment by Lalith Ananda Gunaratne on January 12, 2012 at 10:47am

What a web of connections.... I am a member of the Canadian Club of Rome (CACOR) and just getting ready to go to the monthly lunch meeting today.  I also opened my e mail to find one of my Bath University MSc - Responsibility and Business colleagues, Nick Pearson had send the article  Boom and doom: Revisiting prophecies of collapse10 January 2012 by Debora MacKenzie Magazine issue 2846.   We look forward to seeing Bernard Lietaer's report.  

 

Comment by Christopher Baan on January 12, 2012 at 8:30am

Stories to Watch in 2012: U.S., China, Food, Renewable Energy, Rio+20 http://bit.ly/w0dwsx

Financial trends this year: http://bit.ly/wvlQjy (core trends identified: crowdfunding, complementary currencies, new distribution models, impact investing, nearonomics)

Comment by Susan Szpakowski on January 11, 2012 at 1:21pm

If you came to the Summer Institute in 2007 you'll remember Bernard Lietaer, the Belgian economist (and euro architect) who predicted the financial crash of 2008 during his talk on complementary currencies. He popped up on Skype today and asked what I thought about the proposed title of the report he is writing for the Club of Rome -- Money and Sustainability: The Missing Link. He said that his basic message is that "the silver lining within collapse is the opportunity for systemic change" and either we'll be ready for it or we won't. And 2012 will be a critical year in Europe. He said he would send the exec summary of the report as soon as it's ready so we can share it on Fieldnotes. He also said he thought Canada will be a pretty good place to be as climate change plays out (along with Siberia and Scandinavia...). 

Comment by Susan Szpakowski on January 11, 2012 at 1:11pm

Welcome everyone. Great to read these comments. Just a reminder that we have the "forum" option if there are conversations wanting to happen here. I'm wondering if anyone has watched Jeremy Rifkin's talk, which probably got lost at the bottom of this column. I find it to be a powerful call to action, supported by the beginnings of a national prototype/story in Germany. I'd appreciate hearing other impressions. It seems that the right video along with a little skillful hosting could raise awareness and focus action across communities--across Nova Scotia, for example.  http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/ThirdI

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