ONE in Action

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We Can Change the World

Oh yes, we can change the world. But the change must start with us, from within us in our heart and mind. Commitment starts in the heart. Some people want everything to be perfect before they're willing to commit themselves to anything. But commitment always precedes achievement. If you want to be an effective, quality leader, you have to be committed.

Make Changes; Save the World

This is a global concern and not only for the USA, but for all of us. The Earth is Our Only Home. Let us do our respective parts to save and take care of Mother Earth.

Earth Day Song - Songs for Children

Teach your children well ... teach them that Earth Day is everyday.

Michael Jackson - Earth Song

The medium is the message. Michael Jackson's earth message.

WE COULD HAVE DONE MORE, IF NOT BETTER (Rafael Pablo Molina Fernando)

WE COULD HAVE DONE MORE, IF NOT BETTER
(Rafael Pablo Molina Fernando)


Our country (or the world) has never been so complex as it is right now – it was mind boggling and emotionally overwhelming the destruction brought about by Typhoon Sendong at Cagayan de Oro City, Iligan City and other parts of the country. It was unprecedented and heartbreaking our own President Noynoy Aquino who surprisingly said: “The government could have done more.” Yes, they could but they never. Anxiety ruled the day – a tightly wound collective anxiety that has in turn produced a staggering amount of cultural cynicism and lose of trust in the government.

But is this cynicism and lose of trust in the government really the most appropriate response to our collective condition? At a time when it can feel like the average person has even less control over their fate than ever before — subject to unprecedented environment destruction, caught in the crossfire of one of the greatest constitutional war (between the Executive and Judiciary) we’ve seen in decades, and conditioned by a sensationalist media to believe that our country is somehow more precarious and more violent than ever before – it can be all too easy to lose hope in the government. Nonetheless, despite the “if it bleeds, it leads” mentality of the media, it remains true that our countrymen and global neighbors were quick to respond to help the victims of Typhoon Sendong. Maybe because of the rapidly growing connectivity between individuals and nations – that is, because we are evolving.

If our country or world is getting to be closely connected and even better, then why does cynicism and hopelessness seem to prevail? The answer is: because we lack or do not currently possess a shared vision of the future. We no longer have the idyllic flower-power visions of Haight-Ashbury, where “All You Need Is Love” was felt to be so much more than mere lyrical expressions of sentiment or affection, or even the first People Power during President Cory’s time—it was an idealistic roadmap for the future and a chance to change. A tad naïve, perhaps, but powerful nonetheless. We lost our respect for the environment, the dignity as a Filipino race as the government blatantly violates almost every section of our Constitution. Where have all the Katipunan, Masonry, Christian, Islam or Filipino ideals and values gone? Where is now our respect for the laws of the land or even the ecological sanity expected from each of us particularly those who implement environmental laws? The devastation Typhoon Sendong left is a clear sign of environmental insanity. Maybe this is the reason why PNoy surprisingly said: “The Government could have done more.”

Without a cohesive shared vision, without a sort of mutually-felt Omega Point calling us into our future, it can feel like the country is moving in a million directions at once—drawing our hopes, our optimism, and our overall sense that we are actually going somewhere. Without such vision, cynicism, hopelessness and dystopia quickly fill the cultural vacuum. No other time but now do we need to be together and be one to overcome this cynicism, hopelessness and dystopia, but the strength and direction must emanate from the Government. When we say Government, we mean from the President down the line, all branches from the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary. Do we have to wait for more environmental disasters, to include the constitutional crisis we are experiencing, the political fight between the Government and the Leftist rebels, the increasing poverty … the lists goes on, before we finally awaken from the selfish slumber? All these unwanted events are inter-connected and/or inter-related. Ecology is highly correlated with economic stability and so is the political dynamics. Part of the cohesive shared vision is to view everything as part and parcel of the whole. The parts make up the whole. Furthermore, a very important law is: “What we sow, so shall we reap.”

But the necessary action needed to correct the unwanted situation isn’t just about ecological issues. The false dichotomy between ecological or environmental imbalances and social imbalances allows us to conveniently ignore the fact that more people living on a dollar or less a day right now than were alive in the world a hundred years ago, and that the consequent social and political instability threatens us all. Poor people suffer far worse from environmental stresses in terms of food, water, and the basic necessities. Those struggling to survive cannot be stewards of their environment, however much they may want to do so. In many ways, the past three decades of the country has been an age of exploitation—not just of natural resources but of whole peoples. The rich have exploited the poor and this is a global trend and not just a national situation.

As the saying goes, the solution to the problem is integral to the problem itself. Look, study and view the problem in wholeness, then you can find the solution there. When we look at our country or the recent disaster from a wide-open vista of this big, evolutionary vision (that everything is inter-related, intra-related, and has a purpose why it happened), we can see that our

various problems and crises are not obstacles to reaching the next phase of human existence, but rather the indicators that we are already on our way. Our emergencies are symptoms of our emergence, and could not possibly unfold any differently. The needed vision will change at a very fundamental level the way we think – from the technologies we use to the way we organize our economy—to bring about a way of living in greater harmony with nature and with one another.

The country is not shaped just by the actions of individuals, it is also shaped by networks of businesses and governmental and nongovernmental institutions that influence the products/services our companies make, the food we eat, the energy we use, and our responses to problems that arise from these systems. The changes needed in future years therefore require fundamental shifts in the way institutions function—individually and collectively. And the Government will play a decisive role here. All real change is grounded in new ways of thinking and perceiving. Institutions do matter, but the way they operate is a direct result of how we operate—how people think and interact. As Einstein said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

There are an abundance of opportunities fronting the nation now, even the victims of Typhoon Sendong. There are many reasons for taking the lead in creating a regenerative economy, starting with building a vision based on quality, values and goodness. We have so many things to unlearn, just as we have many things to learn—one of which is to (re)create a vision for the future. For one thing the disaster of Typhoon Sendong brought to us the message that this is the result of “environmental insanity.” We have separated ourselves from each other thinking that our actions and decisions cannot affect anyone. But come to think of it, is stealing from the government, an act of graft and corruption, depriving Filipinos of the needed infrastructures and/or protection from natural calamities as what happened in the recent Typhoon Sendong? Or going further: is the decision to tolerate or even support illegal logging and mining a direct act of environmental insanity as this can cause environmental or ecological destruction as how the people of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro Cities were victimized by the flash flood that carried huge amount of logs of various species and sizes?

A national imperative and of utmost concern, both for the private and public sectors, is to institutionalize building a vision based on: Quality, Value and Goodness. This means making these three imperative elements—quality, value and goodness--the cornerstone of sustainable development. Every decision that is made, every action that is taken, has to be viewed in the light of – in the content of – that kind of responsibility. The Government and Business, as the two most powerful institutions on the planet, must take responsibility for the whole. To take responsibility for the whole means caring for each other, it means not stealing from the government and furthermore, it means performing one’s duty with quality, value and goodness. The safest and authentic way to achieve responsibility for the whole is by recognizing and making the three visionary elements (i.e. the cornerstones of sustainable development) one’s working principles.

Every product or service should be created based on quality, value and goodness. In a world of proliferating choices, brands that stand for quality, value and goodness will be distinguished from those that don’t. Moreover, the companies behind those brands are where people who have choices will want to work. The successful companies of the future will be those that integrate business and employees personal values. The best people want to do work that contributes to society with a company whose values they share, where their actions count and their views matter. Similarly, the Government, if it honestly want to be a “quality government”, should continue with its fight against graft and corruption with stronger teeth and might. There is no room for lip service in the fight against graft and corruption. But the fight is not a mere slogan of: if there is no graft and corruption then there is no poverty. It goes beyond words, but should be supported by proper structures, systems, technologies, infrastructures, development of people and all actions needed to institutionalize a “Quality Government.”, a government with a shared vision of – quality, value and goodness. This is the vision of the future. With a quality government it is possible to create a Quality Environment, a Quality Society, a Quality Education and a Quality Industry.

Companies and organizations that will survive and thrive in this new environment will be those that go much further than paying attention and managing their image making sure they are compliant with all laws. This is the shift from reacting to innovating, and it requires seeing the larger system, and mobilizing the imagination, commitment, patience, and perseverance of people – your people -- to do their part in bringing into existence a different system, a different government, one that can truly serve the future as well as the present. It is a redefinition of humanity’s role within creation, emphasizing our servanthood rather than our mastery, our stewardship rather than our dominion.


We will look at the evidence for a new paradigm, based on quality, value and goodness, which transcends the old paradigm of economics, with its emphasis on growth, manipulation, and control. This paradigm shift is reflected in changing patterns of work, career choice, consumption, vocation and evolving lifestyles that take advantage of synergy, cooperation and creativity. It calls for an economics congruent with nature rather than the mechanistic views that have propelled us in our present crises. The problem is never external. Man’s economic and political systems of today are antiquated and corrupt. The educational system is now barren of ethics and devoid of spirituality. We’ve forgotten that transformation begins on an individual level and that it starts from within and move out into the world. Each of us is connected with one another. And we are, like it or not, brothers and sisters in whatever race, religion, region or color you belong to. We are one family living in one world that shares a common destiny.

-OM-

Rafael Pablo M. Fernando is currently the Officer-in-Charge of the Total Quality Management group of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA). He is also connected with Integral Transformation Group, Inc., a transformative management group giving organizations and its people alternative forms of managing and living life to the fullest. Formed 1992, ITG-TheGroup extends management services, education & training, and advocacy activities in the areas of: total quality management-ISO implementation, organic agriculture, cooperatives, sustainable development, Vedic culture, good governance, strategic management, institutional development, among others. (December 24, 2011)

http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/cooperation-law-for-a-sharing-economy

http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/cooperation-law-for-a-sharing-economy

COOPERATIVES is the most compassionate economy is the world.

A Christmas Message

A Christmas Message

OM HARI OM ... OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI.

Quality Plan Book: No-Compromise Leadership Helps Companies Survive and Thrive - Feature Article - Quality

Quality Plan Book: No-Compromise Leadership Helps Companies Survive and Thrive - Feature Article - Quality

Character and action makes a quality leader.