“Education should not be a preparation for life; it should be life” Anthony de Mello in The Prayer of the Frog Thomas Alva Edison the most prolific inventor since the first industrial revolution refused to go to school after the age of seven. In today’s parlance he was uneducated and yet he was more educated … Continue reading Of Education, Ethics and Enlightenment
Total read time of 10 minutes with videos. In a few days from today, it will be one year since I set foot on Moroccan soil to join 14 other IBM colleagues, from across the globe, to participate in what was the tenth edition of IBM’s Corporate Service Corps (CSC) mission in Morocco. Fondly known … Continue reading Rhyme & Rhythm in Morocco
The piece below was submitted as a paper during the class on 'Management of Technology', whilst pursuing my MBA degree at the Questrom School of Business, Boston University in the Fall of 1982. A post-script has been added to bring the topic up to date. FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES Some of Mankind’s greatest accomplishments … Continue reading The Evolution of Sail Boat Technology
In 2015, the United Nations unleashed its ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework. Whilst financial literacy does not find an explicit mention, there are at least nine out of 17 SDGs which require a basic level of economic well-being. The absence of poverty; zero hunger; good health and well-being; quality education; gender equality; clean water … Continue reading Financial Literacy: Why it Matters
On a visit to Victoria, B.C. in 2007, my brother-in-law, Horst Molleken, a nature lover, introduced me to the ‘Gaia’ hypothesis proposed by James Lovelock, back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, which entails planet earth to be akin to a living organism having its own feedback and self-regulating mechanisms. This aroused my interest and I … Continue reading Averting the Revenge of Gaia
The corporate sector and the impact sector are both part of the larger ecosystem of Life. There are certain activities that the corporate sector can do that the impact sector simply cannot and vice-a-versa. In the final analysis, both the corporate and social sectors are not mutually exclusive. A corporation cannot sustain itself if it … Continue reading Is There Common Ground Between the Corporate and Impact Sectors?
This happened a few weeks ago at Vancouver, B.C. just before my birthday. My nephew was driving me in downtown Vancouver and we were headed to Chapters bookstore. Just before getting there he asked whether I was looking for a specific book. I told him yes, that I was wanting to check out “The World … Continue reading Why The World Needs More Canada
#CitizenIBM #IBMCSC The relationship between business and society has been a long but somewhat checkered one. However, in the last three decades we have witnessed some major breakthroughs in what remains an evolving journey. The notion that corporations are pitted against society is not quite true. In this era, we are witness to the birth … Continue reading The Many Faces of Corporate Social Responsibility and why Strategic CSR Matters
April 27, Rabat, #IBMCSC #CSCMor10 #IBMCSCMorocco10 #Citizen AMSAT, an NGO, is the acronym for- which when translated into English reads- 'The Moroccan Support and Assistance for people afflicted with Down Syndrome'. It was set up in 1981 under a different avatar and has evolved to now focus only on people with Down Syndrome. It has … Continue reading AMSAT: Levelling Down Syndrome
April 22-23, Marrakech, #IBMCSC #CSCMor10 #IBMCSCMorocco10 #CitizenIBM It's 22nd April; its Earth Day and we are on the road to Marrakech via Casablanca. In Morocco, I have been less involved in checking my Twitter account but today I happen to do so. Twitter is humming with messages reminding us of the significance of Earth Day. … Continue reading Celebrating ‘Earth Day’ in Marrakech
