Tweet
Phoenix – Symbol of Immortality
The beautiful scarlet and golden Phoenix bird is synonymous with rebirth or recovery, especially after calamity. Originally from the traditions of ancient Phoenicia, the Phoenix has a counterpart in many other cultures.
Recovery after calamity? You don’t say. There’s no doubt we’re in the midst of a economic calamity, one that has changed the economic landscape in a way we haven’t seen since the Great Depression. Could a social business model be the Phoenix that rises from the ashes?
Backstory
As someone who got singed by the economic meltdown, I’m looking at how I will compose the ashes of my career into a strong foundation and rebuild and recover. My former career path is done. As an art director for print, specifically marketing collateral, it’s a safe bet the budgets for printed materials will be thin once the recovery kicks in. Marketing has become Web based, and despite attempts to stay current with my skills, my portfolio doesn’t consist of senior level interactive projects. The fact that I’m a skilled manager, have great relationship building skills and I am very creative mean nothing without a visual portfolio.
From the time I learned what a social business was, I’ve been exploring the possibility of setting one up. Now that I’m sitting here surrounded by ashes of a economic structure that is burnt to the core, I need to find a way to rise up since the traditional route is blocked with charred remains of what was. An alternate path must be taken. That path is a social business.
Creating a World Without Poverty
In his book Creating a World Without Poverty, Dr. Muhammad Yunus lays the foundation for a social business model. He presents it a choice for those who believe there is a better way forward with profit, which is one of the things that enraputured me while reading his book. By offering this choice, the opportunity presents a new forward economically for all. By using economic means to lift people up instead of holding them down, and demonstrating success by doing so, the gleam off of the gilded glove of greed is tarnished in the process .
I feel as human beings we are all shareholders in the future. And the future belongs to everyone. We need to rebuild the economy. The foundation put in place with the social business model is a good place to start. In his book, Dr. Yunus writes about his process while setting up Grammen Danone, a joint venture with DANONE. The mission statement is below and the next diary I write will cover this example in more detail.
The mission of Grameen Danone Foods speaks for itself: to reduce poverty by bringing health through food to children using a unique community-based business model.
Social Business
From the Yunus Center’s Web site;
Social business is a cause-driven business. In a social business, the investors/owners can gradually recoup the money invested, but cannot take any dividend beyond that point. Purpose of the investment is purely to achieve one or more social objectives through the operation of the company, no personal gain is desired by the investors. The company must cover all costs and make profit, at the same time achieve the social objective, such as, healthcare for the poor, housing for the poor, financial services for the poor, nutrition for malnourished children, providing safe drinking water, introducing renewable energy, etc. in a business way.
It’s a bold and innovative way to look at capitalism, minus the greed. Surrounded by ashes of what was, and thinking of what could be, I see social business fulfilling the moral of the Phoenix myth of rebirth and recovery after calamity, while honoring Dr. Yunus in his quest to help the poorest of the poor.
On being a capitalist and greed
Full disclosure, I’m a capitalist. I abhor the greed that is associated with it, however greed is has more to do with human behavior then it does with the nature of capitalism.
In my opinion, when power and wealth is consolidated in the hands of a few, it doesn’t matter what economic system is in place. It’s that tightly clinched fist of power and wealth, that motivates people to stop at nothing to remain there. When you intentionally hold people down and keep them from thriving, it’s wrong.
There are techniques such as torture and intimidation that are more severe and immediate then what we are experiencing in this country with use of economic redistribution, and with health care. Through the use of tax cuts that cripple the middle class, public education and public infrastructure, and by rationing health care to those who can afford it, the power and wealth is consolidated at the top. A vibrant, healthy and thriving population is threat to the people sitting in the grasp of greed.
While the means are different, the end result is the same, a majority of people are being kept from becoming fully realized human beings. Those at the top in their deep dark desire to quench the thirst of greed, and blinded by the gilded glove that holds them prisoner, they didn’t see the blaze they were setting. And if they did, they didn’t care.
We have to rebuild there is no choice about that. It’s how we rebuild that offers social business as a choice that may have been there all along. For a capitalist like myself,I can chose to use the profit to benefit social needs instead of shareholders. While this approach is not for everyone, it does offer the opportunity for people like me who are capitalists, and see the potential to develop a form that is more inline with the belief that we’re all created equal and we all have the same rights to economic prosperity and social justice.
There are opportunities, challenges and questions that are presented by the concept of social business and I will be exploring them further in future diaries on the subject.
7 Comments
We should talk some time soon. Might be able to give you a hand with the next steps towards whatever you are meant to do next.
Hey Rayne, I’ll be in touch. I would love to hear what you have to have. It was your response to my comment in a very early Pull Up a Chair thread that told me about Grammen.
You might enjoy this diary:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/…..019/629531
Thanks! I like the concept. There has to be ways for a different approach then the greed driven concept. The more folks who live the example and offer it as alternative, the more likely things can change.
One of the things that the borrowers do when they participate in the microfinace program at Grameen is they learn about economics. For those who had been stuck in a cycle of poverty, this provides them an alternative to what they historically knew.
The same with you’re proposing and what a social business offers. For those like myself who have been in a cycle of greed driven capitalism, that’s all I knew. Now there’s an alternative and I’m going with that.
In the City of Enoch there were ‘no poor among them’.
Funny how this biblical story (part of Soloman’s treasure, btw) is rarely touted.
And God was so pleased with Enoch and his perfectly managed society, that he raised the entire city to heaven.
True or just a story, the essence provides us with an alternative. Here is my favorite rhyme:
Mother Nature’s Rape
While urban sprawl
mauls Mother Nature’s wonder.
The greedy capitalists’ sins,
profit and gain,
reign while Chaos grins.
Slowly sowing the seeds of destruction
with a manic push for production;
lulled into carnal security,
too blind to see.
In the end, many will have profited
their temporary gain,
then watch helplessly
their desperate childrens’ pain.
Wondering when they could have saved
their tiny ones
from dying of thirst
or a belly full of hunger.
A man will trade his mansion on high
for food and water so his child won’t die.
Nothing will escape the planet-wide mistake
of Mother Nature’s rape!
copyright 1999
Here’s another, brother:
The Death of Raw Capitalism
The Death of Raw Capitalism
The tears of women,
aged, and children
suffering from want and need
will, in the end,
dampen the follies
of Power and Greed.
Copyright October, 2007
In the City of Enoch there were ‘no poor among them’.
Funny how this biblical story (part of Soloman’s treasure, btw) is rarely touted.
And God was so pleased with Enoch and his perfectly managed society, that he raised the entire city to heaven.
True or just a story, the essence provides us with an alternative. Here’s some rhyme:
ENOCH’S BUREAUCRACY
Instead of mansions and piles of possessions,
I wish we’d build Celestial accounts of good works.
What a treasure we would find
When freed from this temporal life.
Freed from the body and mind.
Released from stress and strife.
How wonderful a gift it would be,
If we could have a copy of
Enoch’s Bureaucracy.
And there were no poor among them.
Mother Nature’s Rape
While urban sprawl
mauls Mother Nature’s wonder.
The greedy capitalists’ sins,
profit and gain,
reign while Chaos grins.
Slowly sowing the seeds of destruction
with a manic push for production;
lulled into carnal security,
too blind to see.
In the end, many will have profited
their temporary gain,
then watch helplessly
their desperate childrens’ pain.
Wondering when they could have saved
their tiny ones
from dying of thirst
or a belly full of hunger.
A man will trade his mansion on high
for food and water so his child won’t die.
Nothing will escape the planet-wide mistake
of Mother Nature’s rape!
copyright 1999
Here’s another, brother:
The Death of Raw Capitalism
The tears of aged women,
and children suffering
from want and need
will, in the end,
we dream,
dampen the follies
of Power and Greed.
Copyright October, 2007
M-man — One of the things I would think about and meditate on is dharma. It’s something our capitalist-leaning system doesn’t do well. For instance, we focus on finding a need and filling it, and in a manner which yields profit. But we are not all of us suited to fill certain needs, and profit often gets in the way of needs being fulfilled.
Dharma is a Sanskrit word which may mean one’s duty or obligation, can refer to a path, but in this case I mean one’s purpose in life. We rarely question what we are meant to do, only what we are trained, taught or resourced to do. But what if we ask ourselves what it is we are meant to do?
Sometimes it’s obvious; a personality or temperament test can tell us what may be perfectly evident to others. Sometimes it’s not and it may take some guidance and introspection. Once one comes to a recognition of their purpose (or purposes, as we can have more than one in a lifetime), more pieces begin to fall into place.
Will we be able to make a living following our dharma? not always, but the chances are much better we’ll be satisfied and emotionally rewarded by work in alignment with our dharma — and this may be enough to satisfy the itch which hasn’t been scratched by our consumerism and drive for some nebulous level of success. Fulfilling our unconscious need for a purpose may lead to a sustainable lifestyle if we can change our value system away from benchmarks based on consumerism towards reaching dharma.
And if you’ve had the good fortune of being in tune with your purpose already, you may have acquired tools you’ll need for the road ahead. Sometimes they are serendipitous, showing up when we are most ready. In my case, not long after I realized that I was meant to be an advocate, I got a lot of time on my hands to become one and the resources to concentrate on this. And presto, here I am, an advocate. Even participating at FDL is part of my dharma as an advocate.
More on this when we have a chance to talk in greater depth, just some food for thought for now.