Observing a scene play out between a waitress and an Indian family gives rise to reflections about emotions as a doorway to social and cultural intelligence.

 

 Emotional Social and Cultural Intelligence @ Indian [7:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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This awareness campaign for the International Red Cross won bronze at the ACT competition last year. The idea behind the artwork is that everybody have the right to be treated as a normal human being. A healthy life is very important, compassion and tolerance is part of it.

“Every conflict around the globe, whether it’s between countries or cousins, begins when people disregard this (compassion) basic human emotion. Compassion helps us find common ground and overlook our differences by discovering that we all have the same colour blood in our hearts.”

Direct from very hard hitting osocio

It was so amazing to hear Muhammad Yunus speak at St James in Piccadilly last weekend. We often look to the past for our heroes but I believe firmly that Yunus is a truely great man. The reasons why I admire him so much are many - here are just a few:

• He is an inspired and imaginative thinker - Yunus thinks differently about problems which are often thought to be too big or too difficult to tackle… like poverty and business.
• He never gives up. Despite the hurdles and the difficulties of changing attitudes he persevers . . . like changing the way banking is conducted for the benefit of everyone - particularly the poor.
• He believes in the innate goodness and abilities of all human beings. Despite a lack of literacy Muhammad Yunus has consistenty believed in the abilities of the poor, even professional beggars. Grameen Bank has lent money to literally thousands of begggars, who now run their own small enterprises.
• He is a fantastic human being by every conceivable measure.

“Capitalism takes a narrow view of human nature, assuming that people are one-dimensional beings concerned only with the pursuit of maximum profit. The concept of the free market, as generally understood, is based on this one-dimensional human being.”

Creating a World Without Poverty - Muhammad Yunus.

A friend of a friend went to Iran recently and took photos of kids and of their drawings about war and peace. Someone else then put together this video - it’s a little long, but I found it kept drawing me in. What must it feel like for children to hear superpowers talking about bombing their country? How do we help children make sense of the past and current conflicts so they create something different for the future?

I’m in Italy, outside Bologna in a town called Sasso Marconi. Apparently it used to be called Sasso, but after Marconi invented the radio here they changed the name to honor him.

Marconi didn’t do well in school and his father saw him as a failure. He worked for years to figure out how to send sound through radio waves — before people even really knew what radio waves are! He ended up discovering how an antenna works by accident!

So was Marconi crazy and obsessed — or brilliant and determined?

I’m enjoying working with another wonderful international group attending the emotional intelligence training certification. Mostly people from Italy, and 5 from beyond. Today we’re working on the “Give Yourself” part of our EQ model and considering how to align our daily choices with a larger sense of purpose.

Did Marconi have a Noble Goal, or was he working on the radio for some other reason? Was he Giving himself, or indulging himself? No idea! But intriguing. What does it take to change the world?

I love how emotional intelligence is becoming a truly international concept. Just saw this article from Bhutan saying that corporate success should contribute not just to GNP, but also to “Gross National Happiness” (GNH). Some good strategies presented for engaging a team - and a country. Here’s the premise:

There is a body of management practice, evolved mainly in US and Europe, on how to develop an organizational culture driven by vision and values shared explicitly by everyone. It is a management science about aligning organizations’ operational and personnel systems, including financial and other incentives facing all employees, strictly to their collective vision and values. It is also an art, to be practiced by leaders in inspiring and motivating their people. Likewise, one should not forget, by everyone else to inspire and motivate their leaders. And, by all to nurture an open and trusting work environment where passion and “emotional intelligence” matter just as much as professional and technical excellence.

Cool! And right on — if leaders truly used their emotional intelligence to create a trusting and trustworthy environment, can you imagine how organizations would thrive? GNH would go up!!

She goes onto point out that relationship-centered leadership creates adaptable organizations: “Wherever successful, the practice has created nimble and dynamic organizations that not only deliver first-rate outcomes, but also learn constantly from their successes and mistakes, adapting proactively to changing environment.” Sorely needed.