Preserving the joy of living

THE MANILA TIMES - Business Times
Thursday, February, 8 2007
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/feb/08/yehey/business/20070208bus10.html

LEARNING & INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino, FPM
Preserving the joy of living

THE report of international scientists-experts on global warming is sending chills all over. I heard one CEO quipped, “I am buying a beach front property in Antipolo.” Huh, but Antipolo sits on top of the mountain? Exactly! Maybe, it will take a long time before the areas around Antipolo become part of China Sea, but it is just a matter of time if we continue what we are doing now to our planet.

There are many things we could do. Let us not wait for the government or for other people to do something. Let us in our own ways do everything we could so we don’t contribute to the increasing deterioration of our immediate environment.

Let us preserve the joy of living in this planet earth.

There is a growing hunger for meaning and purpose amid the obtaining chaos and uncertainties. It is never late to finally sit down and draw up a vision of what we want to be in the future and clarify our purpose for living. Picturing a positive future in our mind is empowering and guides our thoughts and actions accordingly.

Preserving the joy of living

• Companies could help their employees and the community they operate in by coming up with their own corporate long-term vision and mission to serve as an anchor for individual dreams. This will help organizations connect with their own stakeholders in a higher plane than the bottom line.

• There is, also, an increasing thirst for shared values especially of integrity, honesty and sincerity. We could start arranging in a line what we feel, think and do. Many times we say something to mean something else and do yet another thing.

Somebody said, “Without a vision, we shall soon perish.” Amen.

• There is a great interest nowadays among business organizations to do more far-reaching and in-depth corporate social responsibility projects. Not the usual dole-outs and sporadic medical mission. Even individuals are now doing their own “charity” work in more meaningful and regular ways. One lesson I learned is that you don’t need to join the Rotary or other such organizations to do good. You could team up with your natural teams of family, neighbors, friends, officemates and others. You don’t need to attend weekly meetings and put up with some characters and pretenders.

• There is a rising awareness to look for alternative and innovative ways of doing things that will not hurt the environment. In Japan, you seldom see big cars. Everybody, no matter what their socioeconomic status or standing in business or society, the Japanese use the smallest of cars. They use their car for a couple of years, maybe, with topnotch maintenance, they are given one more year to continue using their car. Then, no more. You don’t see old cars anywhere in Japan. Old cars are not fuel efficient.

• And many other ways of preserving the joy of living. You know the drill. Don’t do it for yourself. Do it for your children and your children’s children and their children.

If you need some help in creative thinking, you may want to attend a 2-day workshop on “Unleashing the genius of creativity and innovation for a competitive edge” on March 26-27 at the Mandarin Hotel. It will be conducted by Tony Buzan, the world’s guru on mind power and creativity and best-selling author of 92 books. To register, e-mail Serely Alcaraz at serely@itd.com.my or call 887-7428.

ASTD 2007. The American Society for Training & Development International Conference and Exposition will be held on June 3-6 at the Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia. One of three plenary speakers is The Jim Collins.

Jim Collins is a student and teacher of enduring great companies—how they grow, how they attain superior performance and how good companies can become great companies. Having invested over a decade of research into the topic, Jim has authored or coauthored four books, including the classic Built to Last and Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . And Others Don’t. His work has been featured in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Harvard Business Review and Fast Company.

(Visit Moje’s web office at http://www.learningandinnovation.com or e-mail her at moje@mydestiny.net)