Individual Social Responsibility

I read this interesting tidbit in my 365 Ways newsletter I received today and I think it is something worth exploring. While I have written a number of times about Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Enterprises what might be more important is Individual Social Responsibility. In other words, what is it that you do, the little things, to make the world a better place? What is it that you stand for? What are YOU doing to ensure that you are making a contribution to a better world, not just the status quo? We can look at it like the chicken and the egg argument, the 'it starts at the top and will filter down to the bottom' approach, or you can just step up.

Start by making a list of the things for which you believe in. Do you stand for animal rights, human rights, the environment, etc. Then decide what you can do through your purchasing behavior, your actions, your conversations, to start making it a part of your character - about making it a part of your life. When we individually decide to do something it will start to create a ripple for others to follow.

You don't notice it right away but you plant seeds with every interaction you make. It is like marketing, the more people see and hear something, the more they start to adopt it - this is the way successful brands have done it for years. Think about how you can market animal rights, you could buy only brands such as The Body Shop, wear a PETA T-shirt to a party, or become a vegetarian/part-time vegetarian (my friend Kylie has one day a week where she is a vegan, the rest of the week she is a vegetarian). You don't have to be an advocate, although it would certainly help, but sometimes the more subtle approach with people has a more profound and lasting effect. If you can get other people to ask you about your vegetarianism, instead of telling them outright, people are more likely to listen and take interest than if you are pushing pamphlets on them.

Be a pillar for your values, model them for all to see. Think about how you can market your better lifestyle. Think about other ways you can do your part to make the world a better place. This is your individual social responsibility - you are a business, you are a brand. Now is the time to 'sell' it.

This Just In...

I just got word that I have been accepted to attend the CGI U (Clinton Global Initiative University) conference in mid-March. I have been eagerly anticipating this event since it was announced, and my anxiety about hearing if I would be accepted was fairly high. I am very excited to get this opportunity and hopefully some really interesting things will come of it. With any luck I will make some great connections and learn some new things to share with everyone. I will be sure to keep everyone up to date as I hear more about it in the coming weeks. Now I just have to find some money to get down there!

If you are interested in the event and even attending yourself check out the website here.

Beauty in Diversity - Tyler Herman

My classmate sent this poem to my class this weekend and I am going to share it with all of you. It needs to be shared.

BEAUTY IN DIVERSITY

The human family is as diverse and vast as the stars in the sky,
To see the beauty in it all, acceptance is needed, and so each must try.

Each person is their own entity, each has a unique life,
We all share the beauty of existence, we all share the strife.

When we are not accepting, and don't search for the beauty in another,
We fail to see that each human being is our own sister or brother.

We may look different, think different, but at the core are deeply the same,
When we use appearances to discriminate another, are actions are simply a shame.

We must break down the barriers that our own fears use to separate us apart,
We have all been in coexistence on Earth, since creation, since the very start.

Skin colour, hair colour, eye colour, religion, gender, politics, thoughts, dreams,
Sharing and accepting all this diversity is what binds together histories painful seams.

A new light must shine, where the beauty of diversity can radiate through,
With so many colours in the rainbow, we have a choice to not be blue.

For around each corner, under each leaf and stone, there is beauty to be discovered,
But when we discriminate against each other, that beauty inevitably becomes covered.

So loosen the binding shackles that may be subconsciously gripping our point of view,
Looking for the uniqueness and goodness in everyone, for each can teach us something new.

We each contribute to the beautiful palette that paints the larger picture of existence,
Breaking down the barriers of discrimination is no easy task, it takes persistence.

It is the truthful duty of each and every human being to strive to create the unified way,
To look with diligence to find the beauty and diversity in others, each and every day.

We each posses goodness at the core, never forget that when our differences arise,
Our own personal perceptions can create cloudiness, but the beauty in diversity is what clears the skies.

So go now with thoughts of all the beauty of diversity at the forefront of your mind,
We each come from different places, but all share oneness as a citizen of mankind.

Positive and impactful words. Thank you for sharing them Tyler.

Gates and Creative Capitalism

This past week happened to be the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. While I never did figure out (or have the time) to film my idea for the YouTube contest, it was interesting to hear Bill Gates speech about just the idea I had. Although he certainly said it better than I ever could, my thoughts were based on the premise that Social Enterprise business practices needed to be adopted by the global elite corporations. Gates urged those in attendance to start making money AND helping the poorest residents around the world. It is an important premise that is slowing becoming more accepted as a business practice. You can make money and help fill a gap for the disadvantaged. There is not a product or business in the world that does not have something to offer in the process of creating a better world.

Corporate Social Responsibility policies have been all the rage the past few years, as consumers become more interested in where their money is going and what it is doing. The 'Green Movement' has almost every product that now enters the market bearing the term green on the packaging. It makes sense. People are paying for products that do more for the world we live in. It will not stop there and it shouldn't stop there.

Bill Gates and his foundation have begun to make inroads into some of the worlds greatest health crises, and it is a significant move that he begin to pass along the wisdom that he has learned as he makes the move from his corporate chair at Microsoft to the philanthropic chair over at his foundation. It is interesting to see the values he now holds. A man, with all the money in the world, has started to give it out to the those less fortunate and while I don't know personally, I would bet my money on that he sees that the money doesn't make him happier. Having an amount above and beyond what is necessary is useless and it is far better off being used on the people who desperately need it.

This is the message that all businesses need to hear. Money in the end will not keep your business from being a failure. It will not make its stakeholders rest easier. It will not help anyone sleep at night or look themselves in the mirror. The world needs more and deserves more from those who get so much. If you are a business owner think about what your organization can do to make the world a better place.

Night - Elie Wiesel

I just finished this book. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Night by Elie Wiesel is a truly historical novel. It is a short read but jammed with the first hand recounting of Elie's childhood in Auschwitz, the concentration camp. The story of Auschwitz is one that continues to have significance in our understanding of genocide and the meaning of human rights.

Elie is a true testament of the soul of a human being and the ability to use words to remind the world to value the life of man. When he accepted the Nobel Prize for this work he said some truly resounding things. If you want to read the whole speech do so here, but here are the passages that I found most compelling:

"...now the boy is turning to me. 'Tell me,' he asks, 'what have you done with my future, what have you done with your life?' And I tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices.
And then I explain to him how naive we were, that the world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endured suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment- become the center of the universe.

...There is so much to be done, there is so much that can be done. One person - a Raoul Wallenberg, an Albert Schweitzer, a Martin Luther King Jr. - one person of integrity can make a difference, a difference of life and death...

...Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately."

Words have meaning. I say this over and over again in conversation. As a graduate of Communications Studies I could give you all kinds of reason that words mean more than their construction. We need read works such as this to truly grasp the power that words have. Every chance you have and every thing that you say or write has the power to make a difference. It is an unbelievable power to have and for those of us that can use it without fear of persecution, it is our duty to use it to help those that don't.
Speak up.

A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah

I read a great book over my holidays and forgot to write a little review about it. One of the best accounts of the tragedy in Sierra Leon and the use of child solidiers, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a boy solider by Ishmael Beah, Beah recounted his time during the war and his recovery from the experience that he endured.

The book jacket has this to say:

This is how wars are fought now: by children, traumatized, hopped-up on drugs, and wielding AK-47s. The UN estimates that there are 300,000 child soldiers fighting in fifty conflicts worldwide. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.
What does ware look like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists and novelists, but few who have endured this hell have told their tales. In A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah, now twenty-six years old, tells a gripping story: At the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. At sixteen, he was rehabilitated by UNICEF, learning how to forgive himself, to regain his humanity and, finally, to heal.
This is an extraordinary and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.

If you have any interest in understanding the effects that wars have on the young then A Long Way Gone should be included in your reading list. I personally was gripped by the story and am in awe of someone who is able to recount it for all to read. It takes an extremely strong person to share such a disparaging story in all its details.

Give this book a read. If I was a critic I would give it a 5 out of 5.

Celebrities and the UN

It has become ALMOST popular culture. Celebrities are increasingly entering the realm of activism. While celebrities such as Bono and Angelina Jolie have taken most of the spotlight for their roles as Co-Founder of DATA (Product Red and ONE) and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, others such as Don Cheadle, in his role as Darfur activist, George Clooney, in the same role, and Brad Pitt with his environmental housing project in New Orleans, have also been making headlines. Most recently, George Clooney was named a UN "Messenger of Peace", a role he will take to help mediate the growing conflict in Nigeria.

A letter from militants in Nigeria shows fears that the escalating conflict could grow to be even worse than what is happening in Darfur.

The blending of celebrity with activist is an important step in the process of raising awareness. While they are often criticized for not doing enough, these celebrities are doing more than most to swing the tide of global degeneration. The fact that it is becoming popular culture means more to make average people aware of the world around them than does the traditional forms of activism. To reach the masses it must come from sources that the masses pay attention to.

The UN is making a bold and important step by associating itself with celebrities. It is averting its nation-to-nation role and entering the global-to-person arena. To do so it is using the celebrity avenue. Sports marketing companies have done this for years with great success. Nike, Reebok, and Adidas, have all made billions by garnering celebrity endorsement.

This video by the ONE organization (Bono's) depicts celebrities asking for the average persons help. It is a powerful message that creates a connection that people can share.



The importance of celebrity activism and popular culture is one that we can all share. You can buy a t-shirt that shows your favorite cause and parade it around for all to see, you can wear a rubber bracelet that has a few words of awareness, you can even post a video to YouTube that puts you alongside these celebrities in a medium that others can share in. The point is in order for awareness and activism to take the next step WE all need to do our part to make it hip and popular. WE need to help them to make it catch on. For it to become a movement WE need to participate.

If the UN can make the steps to start making activism cool, then we too can show others it is cool. It might come at us like a sales pitch, but don't be fooled by the criticism - It still needs to be sold. The world wont change when you purchase a t-shirt, but when you wear it around you open up the chance to change someones mind.

Join George, Brad, Angelina, Don and Bono and help make activism cool.