The United Nations has acknowledged efforts Africans are making to ensure their own food security, eschewing genetically modified approaches for something more traditional which they believe will be "more pragmatic, faster and more effective".
Link to the story: http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/475/85103.html
Link to the centre that won the award: http://www.acci.org.za/main.asp?nav=13
Friday, November 9, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
When Paychecks Pale
This article that I found on the GIBS page looks at how the millenial generation is turning down high paychecks in favour of being able to make a difference:
Entrepreneurship: Is social entrepreneurship transforming millennial talent acquisition?
This represents a powerful change - if a generation of high-performers favour social payoffs above financial payoffs, this could fundamentally re-structure the economy.
Entrepreneurship: Is social entrepreneurship transforming millennial talent acquisition?
This represents a powerful change - if a generation of high-performers favour social payoffs above financial payoffs, this could fundamentally re-structure the economy.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Thoughts on Attuned Leadership by Reuel Khoza
At the moment, I am working my way through Reuel Khoza's magnus opus Attuned Leadership which lays out his view that leadership should be a normative concept and that this requires leaders to be attuned with their followers. This does not always mean they should give their followers what they want, but that they should understand their followers and be able to direct their energies to the greater good.
Let me start with what I like about the book:
- Khoza balances criticism of "misleadership" in Africa with an appreciation of African philosophy. I like this because it is logically flawed to say that because leaders in Africa have to a large extent done great damage to their people, Africans have nothing meaningful to say about leaders. And also, it is flawed to feel the need to defend African leaders in order to defend concepts like ubuntu.
- His chapter where he argues against the Cartesian premise for humanity "I think therefore I am" and for a relational definition of humanity based on "I am because you are, you are because we are". This chapter is the most cogently argued of all that I've come across in the book. I do still think his conception of ubuntu can be aligned with concepts of enlightened self-interest, though he would disagree.
What I don't like:
- While Khoza has read a lot of philosophy, he doesn't seem to really understand the principles of logic and argument construction. He has premises that are not necessary for his conclusions and sometimes jumps from conclusion to conclusion without filling in the gaps.
- For instance, the bulk of his argument seems to lie on his relational definition of humanity. However, he keeps re-iterating the premise that a God exists and we continue into the after-life as ancestors. Nowhere does his argument seem to rely on this premise, making it redundant. Also, it works against his agenda of proposing his concepts as a basis for common life. In a pluralistic society, assertions of either deities or ancestor worship is not something that will be accepted by everyone. For myself, I believe in God and not ancestors and there are plenty of people who believe in both or neither. While these beliefs may be important to Khoza's personal ethics, I don't believe they serves the purposes of his argument, in terms of either its construction or its acceptance.
- Also, he constantly talks about morality and need for the leader to serve the common good, but never really pins down what that means. He alludes to his admiration to Aristotle's virtue ethics, but not much beyond this. He assumes that leaders like Hitler mis-use their power (who would disagree?) but he doesn't really spell out what seeking the common good is. He talks about empowering people, but for what?
- He focuses too much on Corporate Social Responsibility as the way in which firms serve the greater community. However, my view is that the most important area where companies should demonstrate this kind of commitment should be in their core activities. For instance, take a bank - what would it matter how much CSR Lehman Brothers had done while continuing their activities in the sub-prime market that de-stabilised the world? Also, it has been my observation that CSR practitioners are often "do-gooders" with only the vaguest understanding of the dynamics at play where poverty, inequality and development are concerned. Without properly understanding these dynamics, a company can easily do more harm than good. The heart can be in the right place, but if the head doesn't know what it's doing... (a perfect example of this is in the early days of development economics where African men were taught how to grow cash crops, thereby reducing the relative status of African women who had traditionally controlled agriculture).
Let me start with what I like about the book:
- Khoza balances criticism of "misleadership" in Africa with an appreciation of African philosophy. I like this because it is logically flawed to say that because leaders in Africa have to a large extent done great damage to their people, Africans have nothing meaningful to say about leaders. And also, it is flawed to feel the need to defend African leaders in order to defend concepts like ubuntu.
- His chapter where he argues against the Cartesian premise for humanity "I think therefore I am" and for a relational definition of humanity based on "I am because you are, you are because we are". This chapter is the most cogently argued of all that I've come across in the book. I do still think his conception of ubuntu can be aligned with concepts of enlightened self-interest, though he would disagree.
What I don't like:
- While Khoza has read a lot of philosophy, he doesn't seem to really understand the principles of logic and argument construction. He has premises that are not necessary for his conclusions and sometimes jumps from conclusion to conclusion without filling in the gaps.
- For instance, the bulk of his argument seems to lie on his relational definition of humanity. However, he keeps re-iterating the premise that a God exists and we continue into the after-life as ancestors. Nowhere does his argument seem to rely on this premise, making it redundant. Also, it works against his agenda of proposing his concepts as a basis for common life. In a pluralistic society, assertions of either deities or ancestor worship is not something that will be accepted by everyone. For myself, I believe in God and not ancestors and there are plenty of people who believe in both or neither. While these beliefs may be important to Khoza's personal ethics, I don't believe they serves the purposes of his argument, in terms of either its construction or its acceptance.
- Also, he constantly talks about morality and need for the leader to serve the common good, but never really pins down what that means. He alludes to his admiration to Aristotle's virtue ethics, but not much beyond this. He assumes that leaders like Hitler mis-use their power (who would disagree?) but he doesn't really spell out what seeking the common good is. He talks about empowering people, but for what?
- He focuses too much on Corporate Social Responsibility as the way in which firms serve the greater community. However, my view is that the most important area where companies should demonstrate this kind of commitment should be in their core activities. For instance, take a bank - what would it matter how much CSR Lehman Brothers had done while continuing their activities in the sub-prime market that de-stabilised the world? Also, it has been my observation that CSR practitioners are often "do-gooders" with only the vaguest understanding of the dynamics at play where poverty, inequality and development are concerned. Without properly understanding these dynamics, a company can easily do more harm than good. The heart can be in the right place, but if the head doesn't know what it's doing... (a perfect example of this is in the early days of development economics where African men were taught how to grow cash crops, thereby reducing the relative status of African women who had traditionally controlled agriculture).
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Poor Economics
I have been reading Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by Abhijit V. Benerjee and Esther Duflo. I haven't finished it yet but already it ranks as one of the best books I have ever read about development.
While fully aware of the theoretical debates about development, Banerjee and Duflo encourage developmental practitioners to focus on the facts on the ground and promote an experimental approach to analysing why the poor make the decisions they do. They argue that only once we understand how the poor make decisions can we design appropriate policy.
And what they uncover is that the poor are just like the risk - for instance, the same "time inconsistency" that sees the rich resolving year after year to go to gym and never getting there also sees the poor failing to vaccinate their children. And they point out that the rich may sneer at the poor for turning to traditional medicine but the rich turn to all sorts of alternative medicines when struggling to understand illness.
For me, the most revealing insight was that one of the problems in education is the focus on getting through a set curriculum. They point out how this often results in both teachers and parents focusing all their efforts on the most talented children, rather than encouraging basic literacy and numeracy for all children as a first priority. Their argument makes so much sense, yet I've never seen anyone else point this out. They show how the same teachers who get nothing out of the weak children during school term are able to teach them to read in holidays - why? Because in the holidays, they don't focus on getting the strongest students through the syllabus.
While fully aware of the theoretical debates about development, Banerjee and Duflo encourage developmental practitioners to focus on the facts on the ground and promote an experimental approach to analysing why the poor make the decisions they do. They argue that only once we understand how the poor make decisions can we design appropriate policy.
And what they uncover is that the poor are just like the risk - for instance, the same "time inconsistency" that sees the rich resolving year after year to go to gym and never getting there also sees the poor failing to vaccinate their children. And they point out that the rich may sneer at the poor for turning to traditional medicine but the rich turn to all sorts of alternative medicines when struggling to understand illness.
For me, the most revealing insight was that one of the problems in education is the focus on getting through a set curriculum. They point out how this often results in both teachers and parents focusing all their efforts on the most talented children, rather than encouraging basic literacy and numeracy for all children as a first priority. Their argument makes so much sense, yet I've never seen anyone else point this out. They show how the same teachers who get nothing out of the weak children during school term are able to teach them to read in holidays - why? Because in the holidays, they don't focus on getting the strongest students through the syllabus.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Social Entrepreneurship
How gorgeous is this?
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/taunina-a-luxury-brand-launches-to-change-lives-170685876.html
http://taunina.com/
I love the idea of social entrepreneurship and that it is getting so much more popular. The idea of seeking both economic and social payoffs is a great way of redirecting business energies in a way which benefits society and is self-sustaining.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/taunina-a-luxury-brand-launches-to-change-lives-170685876.html
http://taunina.com/
I love the idea of social entrepreneurship and that it is getting so much more popular. The idea of seeking both economic and social payoffs is a great way of redirecting business energies in a way which benefits society and is self-sustaining.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
A New Lease on Life?
This evening I felt intrigued enough to watch the first episode of the attempt to resuscitate Dallas. I vaguely remember the music from my childhood.
While I struggled to sit through an entire hour of a patently uneven plot, the piece that struck me was that the 'good' cousin is linked to a form of alternative energy even more destructive than oil. He wants his father to sell the ranch on which the young John Ross has just discovered oil to pour into a form of alternative energy that burns frozen methane harvested from beneath the sea.
Through the episode, the 'good' cousin proves his 'goodness' by admitting to his father that evidence has come to light that there may be a link between underwater earthquakes and extracting frozen methane. He is concerned that thousands may lose his lives.
I do not understand how we can live in a world where the 'good' character is typified by the link to burning a greenhouse gas so much more dangerous than carbon dioxide. He's worried about the thousands to die in earthquakes rather than the massive ecosystem damage that could be caused by clogging the atmosphere even further. If you want to resuscitate an ancient show like Dallas, at least focus on the pertinent facts.
While I struggled to sit through an entire hour of a patently uneven plot, the piece that struck me was that the 'good' cousin is linked to a form of alternative energy even more destructive than oil. He wants his father to sell the ranch on which the young John Ross has just discovered oil to pour into a form of alternative energy that burns frozen methane harvested from beneath the sea.
Through the episode, the 'good' cousin proves his 'goodness' by admitting to his father that evidence has come to light that there may be a link between underwater earthquakes and extracting frozen methane. He is concerned that thousands may lose his lives.
I do not understand how we can live in a world where the 'good' character is typified by the link to burning a greenhouse gas so much more dangerous than carbon dioxide. He's worried about the thousands to die in earthquakes rather than the massive ecosystem damage that could be caused by clogging the atmosphere even further. If you want to resuscitate an ancient show like Dallas, at least focus on the pertinent facts.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
When the Gap is Good
I have just finished reading "Mind the Gap" by Graeme Codrington and Sue Grant-Marshall which looks at generational theory and how it affects different facets of life. As they admit, generational theory provides broad brush-strokes of description and can't really account for their detail. But their justification of shared formative experiences does make sense.
The one aspect of my generation - the Millenials, or Generation Y - that struck home with me is the desire for life to be about more than about just oneself. They say the Millenials are more civic-driven and community-oriented than other recent generations and are in some ways a throwback to the GI generation that produced leaders like John F Kennedy and Nelson Mandela.
This has to be a positive development, given the nature of the challenges humanity is facing. Many of the current consumer-led problems of waste and wasteful use of resources is going to need dealing with, and soon. A generation who frames their decisions more broadly - whether they be saving, spending, deciding where they work and how they vote - has to be what is needed.
However, the major, dominant generation will remain the Boomers who have dwarved every other generation in size. It is the aging of the Boomers that will drive the demographic problems of the first world - especially Europe - and then move onto China and the developing world. They will also lead for a while longer and certainly influence voting patterns. On the bright side, the book seems to suggest that having been a self-indulgent and profligate generation to begin with, they are now starting to ask questions about their legacy. This combined with the Millenials' civic focus could be what the world needs.
The book pre-dates the financial crisis - though it did predict some form of crisis between 2010 and 2015 - and is as a result a bit too optimistic about trends in the work-place. They expect Millenials to have a lot of latitude for movement but early Millenials are now stuck in the wake of the crisis which may take quite some time to sort itself out. It also suggest that Boomers - and to some extent, Silents - will be able to work longer, mostly on a contractual basis. But in the wake of the crisis, contractual workers are often the first to go.
While I don't subscribe to all the ideas in the book, their chapter on where politics would have to go was almost an exact description of how President Obama would come to power. It argues that after the overly-posed and poised leaders Boomers have been thus far, the younger generations would be looking for someone able to speak from the cuff - and do so, eloquently - and who would make greater use of the Internet. The book argues that Xers are unlikely to ever be that political, but that this kind of approach would certainly work for Millenials who can now vote and do think about the broader perspective.
I do hope the book is right about Millenials being civic-driven as a rule. If we can re-make consumer patterns, political pressures and how corporations are expected to behave, this could go a long way. I have already read elsewhere that one of the major reasons corporations are having to reform their public image is young, bright people won't work for companies with bad images. There will always be people who will sign up for the right pay-cheque but if there are fewer of them and they're not the best or the brightest, this could have a strong effect. And then, of course, once in the organisation, they're more likely to agitate for the company to develop along lines that are better for the 'greater good'. Seeeing that Boomers are running most companies - and are worried about their legacy - this could be a powerful combination.
But will it be in time?
The one aspect of my generation - the Millenials, or Generation Y - that struck home with me is the desire for life to be about more than about just oneself. They say the Millenials are more civic-driven and community-oriented than other recent generations and are in some ways a throwback to the GI generation that produced leaders like John F Kennedy and Nelson Mandela.
This has to be a positive development, given the nature of the challenges humanity is facing. Many of the current consumer-led problems of waste and wasteful use of resources is going to need dealing with, and soon. A generation who frames their decisions more broadly - whether they be saving, spending, deciding where they work and how they vote - has to be what is needed.
However, the major, dominant generation will remain the Boomers who have dwarved every other generation in size. It is the aging of the Boomers that will drive the demographic problems of the first world - especially Europe - and then move onto China and the developing world. They will also lead for a while longer and certainly influence voting patterns. On the bright side, the book seems to suggest that having been a self-indulgent and profligate generation to begin with, they are now starting to ask questions about their legacy. This combined with the Millenials' civic focus could be what the world needs.
The book pre-dates the financial crisis - though it did predict some form of crisis between 2010 and 2015 - and is as a result a bit too optimistic about trends in the work-place. They expect Millenials to have a lot of latitude for movement but early Millenials are now stuck in the wake of the crisis which may take quite some time to sort itself out. It also suggest that Boomers - and to some extent, Silents - will be able to work longer, mostly on a contractual basis. But in the wake of the crisis, contractual workers are often the first to go.
While I don't subscribe to all the ideas in the book, their chapter on where politics would have to go was almost an exact description of how President Obama would come to power. It argues that after the overly-posed and poised leaders Boomers have been thus far, the younger generations would be looking for someone able to speak from the cuff - and do so, eloquently - and who would make greater use of the Internet. The book argues that Xers are unlikely to ever be that political, but that this kind of approach would certainly work for Millenials who can now vote and do think about the broader perspective.
I do hope the book is right about Millenials being civic-driven as a rule. If we can re-make consumer patterns, political pressures and how corporations are expected to behave, this could go a long way. I have already read elsewhere that one of the major reasons corporations are having to reform their public image is young, bright people won't work for companies with bad images. There will always be people who will sign up for the right pay-cheque but if there are fewer of them and they're not the best or the brightest, this could have a strong effect. And then, of course, once in the organisation, they're more likely to agitate for the company to develop along lines that are better for the 'greater good'. Seeeing that Boomers are running most companies - and are worried about their legacy - this could be a powerful combination.
But will it be in time?
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Finding Hope and Forgiveness
On TV the other night, one of the sport channels featured a short show on soccer player, Didier Drogba, and his work to facilitate peace and reconciliation in his home country of Ivory Coast. This reminded me of how incredibly important symbols of hope and forgiveness are.
I look at South Africa where Nelson Mandela's release from prison spurred such hope and his personal example of forgiveness avoided so much bloodshed. Both forgiveness and hope can be such difficult attributes to find in many of the intractable struggles that plague the African continent and yet when found can be tremendously powerful.
Forgiveness can be such a difficult outcome to achieve. I think how difficult it can be living a life relatively untouched by serious crime or violence, and then I compare it to the incredible pain and hardship individuals in conflict zones must experience. It is incredible that some people do manage to forgive in these circumstances, and at the same time, it is so vital. Cycles of violence seem to wreck such havoc and even those seeking retribution must seldom find it worth it.
I look at South Africa where Nelson Mandela's release from prison spurred such hope and his personal example of forgiveness avoided so much bloodshed. Both forgiveness and hope can be such difficult attributes to find in many of the intractable struggles that plague the African continent and yet when found can be tremendously powerful.
Forgiveness can be such a difficult outcome to achieve. I think how difficult it can be living a life relatively untouched by serious crime or violence, and then I compare it to the incredible pain and hardship individuals in conflict zones must experience. It is incredible that some people do manage to forgive in these circumstances, and at the same time, it is so vital. Cycles of violence seem to wreck such havoc and even those seeking retribution must seldom find it worth it.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Restarting the Consumer and Controlling Waste
At the moment, I am reading End the Depression Now! by Paul Krugman. As far as I've read, he's been arguing for a Keynesian approach to relieve the current crisis and also unpacking why this has been so fiercely resisted. I completely agree with his argument thus far: I think that governments have to stop pumping money into banks who don't lend it, stockpile it against Basel 3 and use it to continue greasing the engines of financial markets. I completely agree that governments have to shift to fiscal policy, start spending, raise employment and income and the rest will follow.
However, the part that worries me is that this will only restart the wasteful consumer that has been our planet's scourge in the recent past. A colleague made a comment about unnecessary toasters (or maybe it was TVs) the other day and the part that resonated with me was the waste. We don't want a reinvigoration of the consumer who buys a new TV every other year and constantly trades in his cars. Waste and wise resource use is a huge problem.
So, how do we balance the fact that countries with strong productive and innovative fundamentals can and should be resuccitated with spending and the fact that we can no longer afford to add to our waste problems?
I'm not sure this is a solution but I am reminded that both John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx argued for the kind of life filled with "higher pleasures" of a sort. Mill, though a utilitarian, rated some pleasures higher than others and Marx argued that one day there would be in such abundance that all people would be blessed with leisure in their life. And I think about the take-off of the Internet and virtual realities, more and more people making home videos and self-publishing books. I wonder if maybe there's a way that allows people to continue to raise their quality of life without increasing the quantity of possessions. I know servers and computers still have environmental spill-overs but it seems to me that the burgeoning creative life found online may offer some hope to balancing the need to spend without being wasteful.
Not that everything online fits Mill's definition of "higher pleasures" by any means but it does offer an alternative path to self-actualisation and human development that may be less dependent on the consumption of resources and the accompanying waste.
However, the part that worries me is that this will only restart the wasteful consumer that has been our planet's scourge in the recent past. A colleague made a comment about unnecessary toasters (or maybe it was TVs) the other day and the part that resonated with me was the waste. We don't want a reinvigoration of the consumer who buys a new TV every other year and constantly trades in his cars. Waste and wise resource use is a huge problem.
So, how do we balance the fact that countries with strong productive and innovative fundamentals can and should be resuccitated with spending and the fact that we can no longer afford to add to our waste problems?
I'm not sure this is a solution but I am reminded that both John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx argued for the kind of life filled with "higher pleasures" of a sort. Mill, though a utilitarian, rated some pleasures higher than others and Marx argued that one day there would be in such abundance that all people would be blessed with leisure in their life. And I think about the take-off of the Internet and virtual realities, more and more people making home videos and self-publishing books. I wonder if maybe there's a way that allows people to continue to raise their quality of life without increasing the quantity of possessions. I know servers and computers still have environmental spill-overs but it seems to me that the burgeoning creative life found online may offer some hope to balancing the need to spend without being wasteful.
Not that everything online fits Mill's definition of "higher pleasures" by any means but it does offer an alternative path to self-actualisation and human development that may be less dependent on the consumption of resources and the accompanying waste.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
What We Can't Ignore
I often get frustrated with people who think what they have achieved is all through their own efforts and is somehow a validation of themselves and their moral superiority. I'm perfectly well-aware that what I've accomplished is a to a large extent a function of the parents to whom I was born and the education I received.
While I don't believe education is a cure-all, I do believe that all people have the capacity to develop themselves through it and the right to receive it. A perfect example of the efficacy of education was borne out for me in the fact that all of the students in the matriculating class at Oprah Winfrey's school made it through and are going to university.
Now the school has had problems, by all accounts, but the point is that these 72 girls could have stayed in township schools and maybe some of them would have gotten an exemption to university and even fewer would have gone. Now, all of them have a shot at a better life and a life that allows them to give back.
While I don't believe education is a cure-all, I do believe that all people have the capacity to develop themselves through it and the right to receive it. A perfect example of the efficacy of education was borne out for me in the fact that all of the students in the matriculating class at Oprah Winfrey's school made it through and are going to university.
Now the school has had problems, by all accounts, but the point is that these 72 girls could have stayed in township schools and maybe some of them would have gotten an exemption to university and even fewer would have gone. Now, all of them have a shot at a better life and a life that allows them to give back.
What Triangle?
I like blogs as a way to untangle one's thoughts and reasoning on various issues. Having to put these thoughts into a quasi-public forum means I have to lay it out more systematically than I do when I scribble in my diary. It also can create a log of ideas, thoughts, articles and so on. I very seldom find blogs that intersect with all the issues I'm trying to puzzle out for myself so I thought I'd put my thoughts out there.
For me the triangle consists of three issues that I'm passionate about:
- poverty, social justice and human development;
- the environment and its preservation; and
- my faith.
These issues aren't necessarily antithetical but they can interact in interesting and confusing ways. I thought I'd start a blog to track my progress through these intersections for my own purposes and perhaps for the interest of the occasional others.
For me the triangle consists of three issues that I'm passionate about:
- poverty, social justice and human development;
- the environment and its preservation; and
- my faith.
These issues aren't necessarily antithetical but they can interact in interesting and confusing ways. I thought I'd start a blog to track my progress through these intersections for my own purposes and perhaps for the interest of the occasional others.
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