Lies Vs Truth – Malaysia Style

If Star Wars Was Made By Environmentalists

This is hilarious.

Link Loving 10.07.11

• Symphony of Science. Astounding.
• Food sustainability requires systemic thinking and action. John Elkington.
• Today a man touched me on the subway and so I hit him. Kate Spencer.
• Carbon neutral confectionery. BBC Newsnight.
• Chinese stand-up comedians challenge the Communist Party. Charles Humphrey.
• Andrew Simms has integrity.
• Why women need to be part of the peace process. Theresa de Langis.
• Everything is a remix: The elements of creativity.
• Why are General Motors and Volkswagen more successful in China than Honda and Toyota? Naoyuki Iwatani, Gordon Orr and Brian Salsber.

Communicating Values

From the world of Christianity, we have this interesting re-framing of missionaries.

Sunday’s Reading

If you read anything today – make it this.

Newsnight’s Economics Editor Paul Mason on how the Murdoch empire fractured, a Conservative prime minister is attracting bets on his resignation, the Metropolitan Police on the edge of yet another existential crisis and the political establishment in disarray.

Marianne Manilov At The Personal Democracy Forum

1. To Go Big, You Have To Go Small

• Cultural segments (not political!)
• Meta-message that transcends segments (and individuals who travel between segments spreading meta-message)
• Build up local leaders – and connect them in a cohesive network

2. Community Of Care

• What holds people together is how much they care about each other as people.

3. Push Power To The Edges

• From one-to-many, to many-to-many
• Good process over immediate action
• Co-creation

Link Loving 09.07.11

• Heartbreaking. London – a city of slavery? Don Foster.
• A brief history of consensus decision-making. Matthew Herbert.
• The right-wing libertarian Young Britons Foundation launches their book club. Emma Frances-Carr.
• The 30% Club. Gender diversity in the boardroom.
• The dark side of mentoring. Mike Southon.
• Brazil rising: The prospects of an emerging power. Alfredo Cabral and Priya Shankar.
• UK income inequality increased by 32% between 1960 and 2005. New research from The Equality Trust.
• Social media: America’s newest weapon. Bobbie Johnson.

Our Conversations: Position, Interest And Need

Some more learning to share after my conversation with Charlotte Millar from WWF.

Conversations can happen at different levels. To help identify the depth of interaction, we can use the PIN model.

Position

This level of conversation occurs when both sides are not curious, not seeking to learn from the other. There is battle-

This level of conversation often comes from a place of needing to be heard. Climate activists who desperately shout about the end of the world and impose their views on an audience without any interest in others’ stories are a good example.

A House of Commons debate, or a talking heads panel on nuclear power are other good examples of this kind of conversation.

Interest

Here conversations explore why viewpoints are what they are. What underlies the position taken? There is a spirit of enquiry and openness to surprise.

Interests are sometimes thought of as vested interests, as after further enquiry we understand the greater forces at work.

Good journalism is an example of conversations led by interest.

Need

This is the most intimate form of conversation. Here we see values revealed, an honest assessment of our own assumptions and prejudices and ask the question, ‘Why do I think that?’.

Reflection, or allowing ourselves to be vulnerable with one another are examples of needs-led conversation.

A Day In The Life Of Ban Ki-Moon

Looks like someone watched the West Wing and thought it was time for the UN to get a make-over…

Link Loving 08.07.11

• The Unreasonable Institute; accelerating unreasonable entrepreneurs. Meet the 2011 Fellows.
• Interesting times in Belarus – Lukashenko is facing the worst crisis of his 17 years in power. Jason Motlagh.
• They’ve privatised our dreams. Adam Ramsay.
• What’s really happening to inequality? Andy Sumner.
• What the ‘powershift’ narrative overlooks on US-China relations. Alex Evans.
• A depressing and compelling piece – why James Altucher will never vote again.
• An updated interactive map of climatic impacts. David Wheeler.
• Make your own online photo-booth photos.
• Scared of the A word? Uri Gordon on anarchism.