Post by Paul Armington

Robert Porter Lynch, a fellow Member of this Forum who shares my interest in the leadership of global cultural change, recently sent me the following notes that raise my hopes for the work of the S4S Network.

“There is a bold new socio-economic future ahead,” Lynch opined. “To have a sustainable environment, it must be built on a collaborative (trustworthy & caring) foundation of social and economic institutions. This is a critical premise that you recognize, but has been largely overlooked by the environmental world. Why? Because they don’t believe it’s possible or don’t think it is important.”

Below I summarize Lynch’s reasons for hope in a movement of global change in culture that we have decided to call The Re-Enlightenment. The theme is restoration of personal power for the leadership of social change for the welfare of humans on this planet.

Wrote Lynch:

“Earlier this year, for the first time in the world of commerce, we now have international standards for companies and organizations to work together, called Collaborative Business Relationship Standards. These standards of collaborative excellence, agreed upon by a world-wide panel of experts are documented here:

http://www.iclinstitute.org/initiatives/collaborative-standards/

“The global implementation of these Standards will support a companion initiative for the future of international capitalism. Called Collaborative Capitalism, it frames the architecture of a dynamic form of capitalism that is good for people, performance, profitability and, importantly, the planet. This system is documented here:

http://www.iclinstitute.org/initiatives/collaborative-capitalism/

“Books being written this year (2017) will tell the whole story and explain why and how these new global systems, combined I hope with the work of our S4S Network, is a recipe for a Trustworthy Sustainable Planet.

“The implications for joining Collaborative Capitalism and Collaborative Excellence on Mother Earth could be massive.

Collaborative Excellence creates a holistic shift in every organization and institution, focusing on trust, teamwork, and collaborative innovation. It enables organizations to work efficiently and innovatively, both internally and externally. It establishes a vision, thought process, and methodology for leaders to build trust-worthy organizations that are good for people, the planet, and make a profit. Its principles apply to global supply chains and eco-systems as well as governments and not-for-profits.

Collaborative Capitalism creates an international business community of engaged people who work together for the good of the business and the stakeholders (the environment is a stakeholder).

“Together Collaborative Capitalism and Collaborative Excellence can, I believe, be the foundation of a Sufficiency4Sustainability world.

“These collaborative frameworks and standards now give us a stable platform and cornerstone for elevating and enlightening the strategies, operations, and cultures of thousands of organizations across the planet.

“But more importantly, we stand at a unique cusp in human evolution – a crossroads in destiny. Our world stands to rise or retract – to build a bold enlightened future or regress into another age of darkness – both are possible.

“Just as the Renaissance was a rebirth based on bringing back classical ideals, today we need a similar movement: the ReEnlightenment, evoking the several periods of transition in history – the ideals and values, tempered by reason that formed the foundation of our modern democracies -- when monumental cultural change fundamentally altered the course of human development. The ReEnlightenment, like its 18th century predecessor, will be based not solely on the search for new ideas and knowledge, but also the quest for wisdom.

“What the Renaissance did for the Middle Ages, the ReEnlightenment can do for our age.”

A Perspective on Creating a Movement for Cultural Change

What Senator Eugene McCarthy well understood in 1968 about the leadership of cultural change in America was not generally understood in his day, and I see no evidence that America has progressed since then. We’ll have to learn from future experience in order to survive. Leaders of the Re-Enlightment will be students of “The Humanities”. They will have an ear for the poetry of the spirit. Richard T. Stout, in his book on the McCarthy campaign of 1967-68 (titled People, copyright 1970, published by Harper and Row), summed up McCarthy’s style of leadership thus:

“A dominant theme…was ‘personalism,’ a regard for the dignity of each individual which, sliced in different ways, might be called humanism, existentialism, populism. Whatever the label, what McCarthy felt was particularly apt to the nation in 1967 and 1968 and beyond. It had meaning to those who saw themselves losing control of their own lives, whether by arbitrary government action or by burgeoning technology. McCarthy would speak of this issue in one of his first speeches after the assassination of Robert Kennedy: [McCarthy said]

Technical progress threatens to become the source of values and thus does away with the norms which man had believed in for thousands of years: that one ought to do what is true, beautiful, and conducive to the unfolding of man’s soul… America stands today at a critical point of decision: it can go in the direction of continued war and violence and further bureaucratization and automation of man, or it can go in the direction of personalism and reason and spiritual renewal.”

Eugene McCarthy was a man for any Enlightenment. What is unique about the next one (because the core problems are now planetary) is that it must be tackled globally, with leadership through time by communities that are in a position to take initiative in their local areas. The S4S Network can use its personal weight to encourage leadership in such communities. Its future work in thought and research[1] is fundamentally predicated on aspiration for this global cultural change. Otherwise the work required for implementation will not be motivated. So we need to be thinking of creating a Movement for Cultural Change that can do the job.

What can our Network do now that, over a period of a few years, will convince many potential leaders of cultural change that Re-Enlightenment is possible and important, and thus put their shoulders to the wheel of social transformation, creating a global movement for cultural change?

I propose a five-year global education strategy for leadership of cultural change through liberal arts schools, located anywhere and everywhere that are prepared for this task of Re-Enlightenment. Over several years this scholarly initiative will tend to create the potential for a youth-energized movement that empowers persons over corporate interests in selecting leaders of social change through both political and civic institutions. A focus on the political side may well be transforming undemocratic voting systems by registering pluralities of Non-Party Voters for all elective offices in an area, thus improving incentives for independent progressive leaders in politics. Thus direct democracy may become prevalent within my lifetime.

Associates of the S4S Network in various places may connect with local leaders of projects to achieve more direct democracy in local electoral systems. For example, a group of activists in Alaska is framing a ballot measure for November 2017 to end state support for primaries, to require the passage of a state budget within the length of the legislative session, and to establish instant runoff voting so that people can vote for whom they actually support. These leaders are looking for $100,000 now to pay minimal costs that volunteers cannot cover. The S4S Network may be a source of advice about how to find such funding. The mutual benefit is that victories for democratic process on the ground, advertised through the Network and its website, will energize the movement by providing clear examples of what can be done in pursuit of democratic values and principles.

Interested Associates of the S4S Network can make a plan for contacting liberal-arts colleges/universities, through their presidents or senior faculty, to introduce Sufficiency for Sustainability and explore interest in its vision for leadership through education. This outreach to schools will be buttressed by the experience of the Associates and by the documented research resources of the Network, including key books now being written. Cultivation of contact with interested student clubs and their faculty advisors may well be the focus of this outreach. The Network may well start with schools that are well known to its Associates. Based on the initial soundings, the Associates, with due help from volunteers and expert consultants, will develop “Road Shows” for presentations to these groups. From diverse experience and efficient sharing of learning, an explosive growth of participation in this endeavor may be anticipated.

This social change through liberal education stands to create a culture that may eventually generate (in Lynch’s words) a sustainable environment built on a collaborative (trustworthy & caring) foundation of social and economic institutions.

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[1] Here is a short description of these categories that highlights my interests:

Sustainability depends on finding an efficient way to power future human endeavor by direct use of sunlight, avoiding further burning on the ground that would soon lead to our extinction.

Exponential Technologies must solve the planetary problems of science and engineering that will permit Nature (especially our sun) to power a “Full Planet” carrying a stable, well-fed, and peaceful population for an indefinitely-long future.

Sufficiency is a comprehensive strategy for securing basic needs for all, within recognized limits, replacing the prevailing culture of growing material wealth toward the now-unreachable goal of unbounded affluence everywhere.

Artificial Intelligence is useful as the potential to enhance human capacities with technology that turns data/information into the higher forms of natural intelligence: knowledge and wisdom.

Universal Basic Income is a longstanding policy prescription for basic human rights that in future can insure everyone against the undesirable labor-replacing effects of artificial intelligence.

Changing Values refers to making Ethical Intelligence (sometimes called Emotional Intelligence) the predominant motivator of human action, private and public, everywhere.

Public Policies is the realm of action of governments (at all levels) that contributes legal, financial, and regulatory power to the achievement of sufficiency for sustainability.

Alternative Economics is a name for my profession, describing economies that are needed for this future, for example, for thinking clearly about “labor” in a world powered by Artificial Intelligence and about “capital” that powers free competition through trust-based collaborative business.

Associates of the S4S Network in various places may connect with local leaders of projects to achieve more direct democracy in local electoral systems. For example, a group of activists in Alaska is framing a ballot measure for November 2017 to end state support for primaries, to require the passage of a state budget within the length of the legislative session, and to establish instant runoff voting so that people can vote for whom they actually support. These leaders are looking for $100,000 now to pay minimal costs that volunteers cannot cover. The S4S Network may be a source of advice about how to find such funding. The mutual benefit is that victories for democratic process on the ground, advertised through the Network and its website, will energize the movement by providing clear examples of what can be done in pursuit of democratic values and principles.

Interested Associates of the S4S Network can make a plan for contacting liberal-arts colleges/universities, through their presidents or senior faculty, to introduce Sufficiency for Sustainability and explore interest in its vision for leadership through education. This outreach to schools will be buttressed by the experience of the Associates and by the documented research resources of the Network, including key books now being written. Cultivation of contact with interested student clubs and their faculty advisors may well be the focus of this outreach. The Network may well start with schools that are well known to its Associates. Based on the initial soundings, the Associates, with due help from volunteers and expert consultants, will develop “Road Shows” for presentations to these groups. From diverse experience and efficient sharing of learning, an explosive growth of participation in this endeavor may be anticipated.

This social change through liberal education stands to create a culture that may eventually generate (in Lynch’s words) a sustainable environment built on a collaborative (trustworthy & caring) foundation of social and economic institutions.

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