December 2011 Blog Posts (10)

I've been doing a lot of work around the nature of entrepreneurism lately, and thought it might be a worthwhile topic to explore with a wider group of people too.

Mention the term 'entrepreneur' to the public and you'll get very different definitions. Probably because of programmes like the Dragon's Den, many people actually confuse the individual with an idea with the investor providing the money to make it happen. Most will also assume that the term was an invention of the…

“If you have too many useful machines, you get too many useless people.”

E.F. Schumacher

In this, the first of a five-part series, ‘As If People Matter’, covering all perspectives of a people-centred approach to sustainability in business, Michael Townsend explains how the strategy links to superior business – and economic – performance.

The bottom line for sustainability is all about people; why else are we doing all this…

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all. Let's make 2012 a really good year with lots of enlightened thinking and actions for the good of all!

Today is the shortest day of 2011. With that in mind - and the imminence of pervasive Christmas frivolities and feasting - here are some of my mid-winter reflections.  I leave it to you to reflect on possible relevance to the RSA's work in thought leadership linked to social innovation ... 

Our contemporary world, with all its measurist preoccupation with 'the mechanical', continues to need poetry.  How wise may the people of the Irish Republic turn…

We’re near the end of 2011, over three years since the onset of the global financial crisis. On a bad day the stock markets are in complete turmoil. On a good day, they are simply volatile. Investor confidence is low, unsurprisingly. This is not the best environment within which capitalism, business, or the transition to a green economy can easily flourish. Just look at the spate of solar companies going to the wall in the US in recent months.

There are fundamental shifts…

A selection of my recent digital artwork and visual poetry can be viewed on my website: http://antoinettesaxer.com/gallery/

There is much talk of business needing to become more sustainable, in the face of an increasing number of challenges, including climate change, peak oil, new legislation, reputational risk, and increasing costs. That companies need to change is no longer the debate, but there is a need to understand (in easy terms) what businesses could be doing and how this action will deliver sustainable business success, as well as helping to save the planet.

The Global Research…

When I was a child I was fascinated by myths, and especially those concerning the underworld, what we sometimes call journeys into hell. It is difficult to account for why these sort of stories appeal, although now – at the later end of my life – it’s all very clear: having been to hell – my 3 months hospitalization – recently, then obviously my fascination was a sort of premonition of the fact!

All cultures have stories of heroes who descend into hell, but the most interesting I know…

Do you know someone who is receiving care at home or in a residential care home for older people? Or are you a home care manager or owner of a care home? If so we would like to hear from you.

Marion Witton and Joan Mansfield

csre@hotmail.co.uk

This has been cross posted from http://www.penval.co.uk/news/rethinking-digital-inclusion

Somebody once wrote, or maybe I heard it on the radio, that if you put all of the world’s top eye surgeons in a room and told them to come up with the perfect surgical tool not one of them would think of the laser. The principle has been highlighted this week by the circulation of a piece by the “Infinite…