Influenced partly by The Mancurian Candidate , Members of CBO Association held a straw poll. If we indexed the global goodwill of American at 100 in 1999, what’s the index summer 2004? – our average estimate 55. The world values relationships with America at little more than half that it did 5 year ago. Your votes on whether that is an over- or under- estimate welcome.

If Americans want to learn or lead from this, then they should look beyond one administration’s record to their whole system of how power drives people. These days it is possible to analyse from the way that a large organisation communicates and measures itself whether its purpose is sustainability or volatility. Sustainability means that people of all kinds (customers, pension investors, employees, societies worldwide) gain productively from a loyal relationship over time, whereas volatility means that most people lose as a few speculators profiteer investing and then shorting the company while its unique purpose erodes so that progressing humanly most vital stuff becomes a dream rather than reality of organisation.

Of course, America has some fine organisations that don’t want to be governed by the volatility brigade. We invite them to benchmark with other purposeful organisations at Sustainability Clubs being formed in Collaborative Knowledge Cities. It is quite possible in a networking age to go beyond zero-sum economics. But, as time-lined by our economic thinktank since 1984, what the world needs now –if the early 21st Century is to be a time of mutual growing up rather than wanton destruction - is to get on with inspiring reality-making projects like 30000 ways to reduce global poverty rather than believing the any locality where people are in deep misery can be resolved solely by sending in the big guns. A way for America to turn its vicious spin around and start leading back to over 100 is to be seen to be playing a transparent and heroic part in such projects. Power and trustworthy sustainability need to compound together if the future for your children and mine is to be a humanly promising one.

The networking age was always going to put us 6+ billion peoples at the crossroads of sustainability or volatility. Lurking isn’t a sensible option any longer. If we leave systems of world trade to spin the way they are heading, volatility – and going below zero-sum economics everywhere - is what the current version of the globalisation system is leading us to. Don't you think?
posted by ..., 6:42 AM  permalink