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Home > Vol.
2, No. 1 > Open Articles |
Jan/Feb 2002 | |
Innovative Insights
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| Figure 1: Home is Where You Live: Cows in Pasture |
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We are together in this journey toward security - security in many ways: food, shelter, health and education as well as the pursuit of happiness. This security was dramatically shaken for many on September 11, 2001. It was a wake-up call to many who felt the western nations had little to fear.
Yet as Doug Macnamara exposes in his comments, there are many closer to home that do not have the basic security many of us have taken for granted. It was a wake-up call to those of us who were focused on ourselves. There were many newly discovered heroes who sacrificed their lives, their security to run to the aid of others. Perhaps now is a time to start looking beyond our daily existence and reaching out to those around us.
Whether it is to those across our backyard in our own city or those across the borders: both those invented by humans and those created by nature, we need to look out for our neighbours because you never know when we will need to look to them for our security.
Much anti-American vitriolic has been spouted since the vicious attacks on that nation. It is often the case to blame the victims for their own ill fate. Who then among us has nothing to fear?
September 11 was a security breach far more serious and far more shocking than we had formerly imagined possible. It was not just a security breach. It was an intelligence gap. It is far better to use knowledge as the call-to-arms than to find ourselves in a situation where weapons of destruction dictate who shall have security and who shall not.
Therefore, let us look to having Chief Knowledge Officers in every nation and across the world lead us into a more secure world so we can turn our fight toward that on poverty, illiteracy and lack of other basic necessities for those who do not enjoy such everyday security.
Here now I turn the last words to others.
Xenia Stanford, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| Figure 2: Home is Where You Live: African Beach |
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Photo courtesy of NOAA - see Photo Credits
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Dear Debra,
The New African Initiative could be the beginning of knowledge application in our region. Please check their (NEPAD) website at http://www.nepad.org/
We have to keep trying.
I believe you have seen the map of Africa on the website I sent you. It is divided into countries and I believe the plan is to work on the New African INitiative (sic) on a country-by-country basis. May be your program is just the thing the African leaders will soon be looking for. The Asian experience with knowledge innovation will also serve as a good example. I am waiting for a response. WE will see.
Ali (Ali Liban), Somalia
| Figure 3: Home is Where You Live: Florida Lighthouse |
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Photo courtesy of NOAA - see Photo Credits
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Hi Debra.
Your contact with the Office of Homeland Security excites me! I have been working on a potential article about the new Office of Homeland Security in the context of knowledge management. I have been collecting information on the staggering task at hand and have come to the conclusion that Governor Ridge is the world's highest profile CKO (Chief Knowledge Officer).
When you consider the multiple silos in layer after layer of government, both in the US (United States) and the World, you begin to see the enormity of the task of building a collaborative initiative. The clash yesterday between the NYPD (New York Police Department) and FDNY (Fire Department of New York) is a shocking metaphor.
That certainly fits in your Principle #5, but I think the broad view of the Director of Homeland Security, as CKO would help everyone understand the nature of the task and the cultural changes that must occur if it is to be successful.
Your assistance (if you agree with the concept) - and the assistance of others in this group - in developing a parallel between the Office of Homeland Security and the Office of CKO would be greatly appreciated.
Jerry Ash, Ruskin, Florida, USA
| Figure 4: Home is Where You Live: Canadian Rockies |
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Debra -
To respond to your 5 principles...
1. The best defense is to understand the system (or more accurately
Network) dynamics at play, and try to understand how to respond and
stimulate that network towards a new balance point.
For all the hyperbole about our just war and God being on our side in this war on terrorism, I am amazed that NO ONE in authority considered turning the other cheek! While there is no excuse for terrorism, and Bin Laden is clearly a nut, the reality is that eliminating Bin Laden or the Taliban will not eliminate terrorism. Bush and others are viewing the problem in a traditional way (even though they are using network language). Bin Laden and Taliban are not at the centre of the terrorism network. And, getting rid of them will not cause the system to collapse. Indeed it may well cause the other elements of the network to strengthen their resolve to disturb the traditional systems of the world.
Instead, we MUST get serious about sharing the wealth of the super-rich nations and corporations, and improving the safety, security, and standard of living - even meaning in the lives of the most wretched communities in the world.
2. The Battle is an Economic one, not a Military one.
While there are indeed both military and economic wars going on, once
again the real battle that MUST be waged is a SOCIAL one. More than
50% of the families in the world try to get by on less than $1 per day;
do not have sanitary systems or clean water. We have lots of work to
do.
The homeless situation in Toronto is out of control, yet it is one of the cleanest, safest and wealthiest cities in the world! Aboriginal communities across North America have a significant portion of their members without basic water, sewage, food, and living conditions. Many mental health patients and members of broken families wander our inner cities lost and forgotten by the elite - And yet they are right here in our back yard.
We keep talking about this as if the war is external. The current battle IS both economic and military in an external to the US Middle Eastern region. Yet, the seeds of the same desperation that led to terror exist inside Canada, America, Western Europe - our own communities, and they look the same as us! Also, the leaders of the world must realize that on spaceship earth there is no external we are all internal to one another, and we must find a way to make it work for all of us.
The current Baby-boomer generation and Echo generation of North America, may well become the first generations in the history of the world where their standards of living will be lower at the end of their lives than at the start. A lot of the wealthy 10% of the world are going to have to give over some of their wealth and privilege if we are going to win the SOCIAL war!
3. Knowledge is the engine of economic prosperity.
I agree with your principle here. And, let me raise the stakes... If knowledge is the engine of prosperity, then on a per-capita basis we are getting poorer by the minute!
While my wife and I consider how to provide experiences and knowledge-building tools to our children so they can survive and thrive in the future, they are already an elite in their peer group. Most of the other parents are not even thinking this way. Many of the other parents don't have the financial, social or personal knowledge of what is going on around them to actually support their children into the future.
Our chronically under-funded school system, while struggling to provide the basics in technology and fundamentals in knowledge for all students to access, are slipping ever more quickly behind the private schools and home-based learning strategies of 'enlightened parents'.
And, if you think this is a problem in our wealthy communities, (like Banff, Canada); think what it is like in poorer communities. Then, think what it is like in South Korea, Taiwan or Russia. Then think what it is like in Sub-Saharan South Africa, Eastern Europe and India. These areas are statistically anyway much better off today than in a previous generation - life span has increased, accessibility to food and a basic education has improved. But they are slipping behind at warp speed from those at the front-end in North America and Western Europe.
How will a cadre of knowledgeables representing less than 2% of the world, lead the other 98%. What differences of context priorities, and perceived need will they have to address? Will America still raise its level of creating about 45% of the world's waste, garbage, and attendant instability?
Knowledge without international context and a world ethic is an engine for economic ruin. We MUST build world-wise knowledge at the same time as we build general knowledge.
4. Innovation is our salvation! Yet, Innovation needs a non-traditional kick-start.
Why Bush responded to the US energy crisis by convincing Canada, and others to simply guarantee more supply is pathetic, cause & effect, traditionalism at its worst. And, indeed, it has done NOTHING to stimulate the economy. He and his advisors should have stared at the Paradox of hyper-growth and dwindling energy supply, and dug deep. At the centre of paradox lies the opportunity. On the other side of Paradox lies true innovation and economic/social stimulation!
Instead, he could have declared that the time had long passed for America and the rest of the world to switch to non-carbon-based energy resources. This would have actually kick-started a new round of innovation, economic diversification, new businesses, and indeed spread out the advantage beyond the traditional, protective elite that are too tired to re-engage in a deeper level of problem-solving.
How many more microwave ovens can the developed world buy? How many more automobiles and electronic goods can Japan sell? How many more Palm pilots and wireless devices can we consume? Everyone is searching for the next killer application or breakthrough consumer product. Let's get real. The developed world is now into a replacement economy. The lesser-developed world will build and sell products for their communities built in their communities. [However, there aren't enough natural resources on the planet - using traditional processes and approaches to allow even 10% of them to achieve our lifestyle.]
INNOVATION IS key, but the context and challenge for innovation must also change from the current orientation. Innovators of the world, focus on our biggest social, environmental and structural Paradoxes. Therein lie the true needs and the true paths toward new economic and social revitalization.
5. Any national strategy must be international and collaborative...
Agreed. And, in fact let's get rid of national strategies altogether, replacing them with Global strategies. Let's rebuild the United Nations influence and perspective for how Lester B. Pearson and other leaders originally conceived it! One of the key realities of living systems is that when one of the levels feels stress, it must look upwards for a new context, and solution:
7. World
6. Community/Country
5. Organization
4. Group/Team
3. Individual
2. Organ
1. Cell
In order to tackle the difficult issues of national security, national economic prosperity, national identity, and more; we will need to look up to the next level of the system and find a new connection, meaning, and 'place' in our relationship to the world. Of course, it is painful for many communities to give up their 'sovereignty' and place their faith in an untested global context. Indeed there are some land mines out there too: of different worldviews, and ethics. The real dangers however are power, privilege, disparity of wealth, and non-systems or non-network appreciation and thinking. We will have to ensure that these danger issues are addressed reasonably, while also addressing the greater good.
What is very clear, is that no one, no company, no country can continue to act in an isolated, narrowly focused, and personal wealth-building/product- consuming manner without also addressing the impact this has on others in a truly international and Global sense.
Unabated greed has caused us to hit the wall. We must now re-invest in the greater good to secure the sustainability of human existence as we know it and want it.
It's time for a Leadership Renaissance, in a style we haven't known for at least 7 generations. It's time to really think about how we will ensure the sustainability of the next 7 generations. And, it is time for serious leaders, with a serious systems-wide perspective, to step forward focus attention on key paradoxes and breath innovation and hope into this off-track world. Now, wouldn't that be a cool thing, of which to be a part?
Doug Macnamara, Banff, Alberta, Canada
We live in a knowledge economy. But how can we ensure that the world reaps all its benefits, and that they are fairly shared?
The above comments of Thomas Andersson, Deputy Director, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Directorate, and Young Chul Kang, Chief Secretary, World Knowledge Forum in an article entitled: "Knowledge Without Borders" seem appropriate in light of this discussion.
The full article was published on September 19, 2001 in the OECD Observer: "Knowledge Without Borders" at www.oecdobserver.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/528.html
The photographs credited to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) are from collections available for public use. The use here does not imply direct permission nor constitute endorsement of the contents of this page by NOAA.
Figure 2: Image ID: geod0292, NOAA Geodesy Collection, Fort Lamy, Chad.
Figure 3: Image ID: corp2264, NOAA Corps Collection. Lighthouse and palmetto, Jupiter Inlet, Florida
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