Global Responsibility

Archives

  • Dec 2022
  • Oct 2022
  • Jun 2022
  • Apr 2022
  • Jan 2022
  • Dec 2021
  • Nov 2021
  • Oct 2021
  • Sep 2021
  • Jul 2021
  • May 2021
  • Mar 2021
  • Feb 2021
  • Dec 2020
  • Oct 2020
  • Sep 2020
  • Aug 2020
  • Jul 2020
  • Apr 2020
  • Mar 2020
  • Feb 2020
  • Jan 2020
  • Dec 2019
  • Nov 2019
  • Oct 2019
  • Sep 2019
  • Aug 2019
  • Jul 2019
  • May 2019
  • Feb 2019
  • Jan 2019
  • Dec 2018
  • Nov 2018
  • Oct 2018
  • Jul 2018
  • May 2018
  • Mar 2018
  • Nov 2017
  • Aug 2017
  • Jun 2017
  • May 2017
  • Apr 2017
  • Mar 2017
  • Feb 2017
  • Jan 2017
  • Oct 2016
  • Aug 2016
  • Jul 2016
  • May 2016
  • Apr 2016
  • Jan 2016
  • Oct 2015
  • Jun 2015
  • May 2015
  • Apr 2015
  • Mar 2015
  • Feb 2015
  • Nov 2014
  • Sep 2014
  • Aug 2014
  • Jun 2014
  • Apr 2014
  • Sep 2013
  • Jul 2013
  • Jun 2013
  • May 2013
  • Mar 2013
  • Jan 2013
  • Nov 2012
  • Oct 2012
  • Sep 2012
  • Jul 2012
  • Jun 2012
  • May 2012
  • Mar 2012
  • Feb 2012
  • Jan 2012
  • Aug 2011

Categories

  • Blog
Subscribe
Global Responsibility
Global Responsibility
  • Visit GRLI Website
  • Blog

What kind of world do you want to live in?

  • 13 May 2012
  • 3 minute read
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0

During the weeks prior to the frenetic rush of Rio+20 I will publish a series of posts which broadly address 50+20’s ideas, triumphs, doubts and ‘learning experiences’.

We suspect Rio+20 will be a special event — not only for the 50+20 gang but for society at large. The RIO+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development will not be a quiet gathering of isolated pen-pushers discussing various details around a subject nobody cares about.

Not this time.

Rio will be something special because more people are aware that something is fundamentally wrong with our world. People have taken notice. People care. In June 2012 the eyes of the world will be on Rio — and that’s good news for us all.

We may attribute this growing public awareness of social, economic and environmental crises to any number of factors. Maybe we reached critical mass when a significant percentage of home owners could no longer pay their mortgages. Perhaps we should blame (or thank) social media, the euro, deforestation, student debt, our genes, Hurricane Katrina, Ivy League universities, the Royal Bank of Scotland, El Niño, Greece, speculative bubbles or herd behaviour for all the doom and gloom dominating our news headlines.

Blaming people and institutions is easy, if not particularly fruitful. Ultimately, we like to think of Rio+20 as the place where we will witness the arrival of an Idea Whose Time Has Come (more on that later, hopefully).

First though, a good starting point may be to ask ourselves a deceptively simple question:

What kind of world do I want to live in?

Let’s take the question a little further:

“What kind of world can we create with the extraordinary technical and economic capabilities that we have mastered?”

The fact is we already possess most of the required capabilities to create any kind world we want. We already have the tools and much of the know-how to make dramatic improvements. All that’s really missing is the sustained social, political and economic will to do something about it. Most importantly, we need to do it together.

We believe the endless parade of environmental, social and economic crises we currently face can and must be resolved. In this respect, 50+20 aims to serve as a lighthouse for those who wish to educate and develop responsible leaders, enable companies to do the right things, and engage in the transformation of the economic system.

We’re long overdue for a transformation. To this day, business and management education efforts at large function in line with an agenda that was set during the 1950s, when a world that was a very different place from the one we know today.

Today, things are different — and generally worse. Our population has already passed the 7 billion mark and has spread across the globe, driven by spectacular technological advances and complex economic systems. We are pressing against frontiers and crossing planetary boundaries that threaten to destabilize ecosystems and our society.

In a sense, our new common frontier is living well and within our collective means.

We hope to see you there.

Part of the above text was derived from the 50+20 Agenda, which will be launched at the UN PRME 3rd Global Forum during the RIO+20 summit.

Total
0
Shares
Tweet 0
Share 0
Share 0
Previous Article
  • Blog

Why are students our de facto public intellectuals?

  • 8 May 2012
View Post
Next Article
  • Blog

Kicking the habit: living big in a limited world

  • 15 May 2012
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Blog

A message from our Chair

  • The GRLI
  • 9 Dec 2022
View Post
  • Blog

Is insistence on growth the elephant in the room?

  • The GRLI
  • 12 Oct 2022
View Post
  • Blog

A Call to Prospective GRLI Guardians and Board Members

  • The GRLI
  • 26 Jun 2022
View Post
  • Blog

Outcomes: Responsible Leadership Reimagined Conference

  • John North
  • 1 Apr 2022
View Post
  • Blog

Teaching Responsible Leadership, Moral Imagination and Stakeholder Dilemma Reconciliation:

  • The GRLI
  • 26 Jan 2022
View Post
  • Blog

A Message from GRLI Foundation Chair Claire Maxwell

  • The GRLI
  • 21 Dec 2021
View Post
  • Blog

What Transformation Catalysts Do to Catalyze System Change

  • The GRLI
  • 24 Nov 2021
View Post
  • Blog

Teaching Responsible Leadership and Inclusion: Gram Vikas

  • The GRLI
  • 24 Nov 2021
Featured Posts
  • A message from our Chair
    • 9 Dec 2022
  • Is insistence on growth the elephant in the room?
    • 12 Oct 2022
  • A Call to Prospective GRLI Guardians and Board Members
    • 26 Jun 2022
  • Outcomes: Responsible Leadership Reimagined Conference
    • 1 Apr 2022
  • Teaching Responsible Leadership, Moral Imagination and Stakeholder Dilemma Reconciliation:
    • 26 Jan 2022

Subscribe

Subscribe now to our newsletter

The Global Responsibility blog hosted by the GRLI provides a record of the ongoing collaborative inquiry into the development of global responsibility in how we learn, live and lead.

The Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative is the leading incubator for innovation and new practice in business schools and for collaboration with business in the space of ethics, responsibility, and sustainability.

https://grli.org

  • About GRLI
  • Events
  • What’s important now
Global Responsibility
https://responsibility.global

Input your search keywords and press Enter.