24 November 2010
Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It
Posted by Admin under: Accounting; Creation; Economy; Forum; Inspiration; Leadership; Organization .
Here’s something that I started writing for the Volunteer Program, but everyone is invited to play.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build a model of an alternative economy. You can look at this as playing a new game. The old game is called, maximize dollars. The new game is called, maximize real wealth.
What do we mean by “real wealth”? In part, it’s up to you to define it, and to put a real value on it. We’re defining it in terms of ecological capital, human capital, and financial capital combined. We’re also about applying this capital to generate more prosperity for all.
Consider the following as key resources:
- Energy
- Food
- Health
- Education
- Relationships
- Human Volunteer Hours
- Ecosystem Services
- Scientific, Technological, and Business Knowledge
- Money
- Time
- Spiritual Awareness
- Self-Expression
- Leadership
- Team
How can we pool these resources, and invest them for the greater benefit of all?
This is the essence of the challenge: to invent a new economy, a sustainable economy, an economy that produces “the greatest good for the greatest number” as the key measure of its functioning.
3 Comments so far...
The Sustainable Leadership Forum » Reinventing Wealth Says:
25 November 2010 at 9:52 pm.
[…] But these are just examples, and mostly examples of tracking systems. The purpose of our little experiment is to see if we can actually generate wealth for each other by “creating it out of thin air” (and some creativity and hard work as well). Here’s the mission, as we’ve conceived of it for the volunteer team: Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It. […]
Charles Bins Says:
11 December 2010 at 8:18 pm.
Money is only paper printed with ink, though it does provide a system of exchange so we can trade whatever our skills and talents might create for things that we need — food, shelter…cable TV, etc. Some people barter, though money is still useful for accounting for those transactions.
To break out of the “money mold” requires that we think first in terms of what value we can create. And in many cases we will discover that we can create greater value if IF we are not limited by our own resources. In fact, our potential value multiplies with a wider network of influencers or “value builders” who have complementary resources to bring to the task.
Vision and leadership then become the center of gravity around which a network of people coalesce to create “the thing” of higher value. “Without vision, the people perish.” So leader(s) must articulate a clear and compelling vision to attract the resources necessary to reach critical mass — especially for sustainable enterprises.
The Sustainable Leadership Forum » Sat. Feb. 19, 1-4: Changing Paradigms Says:
5 February 2011 at 3:22 pm.
[…] up to allow members to create a revolving loan pool for sustainable projects. Our Membership and Volunteer programs are designed to elicit and develop creative ideas, such as the New Wealth […]