I came across this blog post from the Clinton Global Initiative conference in NY a few weeks back.  I unfortunately don't have the direct link to this, but really liked the sentiments expressed.  It echoes my interest in what is happening at the "edges" or "boundaries."  Like techtonic plates shifting, the intersection of domains once tightly silo'ed and isolated, are now the forefront of great change.

Enjoy!

A New Era Of Doing Good?

So have I been overly impressed? Am I a starry-eyed Clintonista, blind to the dark realities? I don’t live in the middle of philanthropy issues in my daily life, but I am not aware of a get-things-done conference like this, and especially of this magnitude, occurring before.

The attitude here is: Of course you have to blend governments, business leaders and non-profits together like this. Tom Watson at News onPhilanthropy writes,

”Not surprisingly, business people stressed economic sustainability and cost control; NGOs talked about partnerships and cooperation with government; government ministers generally provided "realism" about the political situations in various corners of the globe.”

It seems today - after listening to the arguments of so many leaders - like the most natural partnerships. And it seems that it is just accepted here that this is the way society’s challenges obviously should be approached. Now from my admittedly limited, outsider perspective, last I knew the various innovative ideas of venture/entrepreneurial philanthropy and public/private were supposedly still in formative, developing stages – yet here it’s almost as if these had been an operational strategy for decades, all the kinks worked out, “of course this is how it’s done”

In many ways this conference feels like a dam bursting, releasing an explosion of pent-up, problem-solving energy. I often describe blogging as information naturally finding channels in which to flow around the gatekeepers and I see something similar here. I think - at least I hope - there will be a ripple effect, spreading out and touching others. Of course, there are so many heads of companies and organizations ehre that if they do take any of this energy back with them, there has to be a ripple effect.

At Salon today, Joe Conason writes

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2006/09/22/clinton_initiative/ of Bill Clinton,

“the impresario and visionary whose foundation's goals merely include alleviating poverty, disease, and religious and ethnic conflict while cooling off global warming.”

And he says that the conference is,

“…raising the prospect of a world where America can lead again, with regained prestige and government competence. Whether intentionally or not, he is demonstrating what world leadership really means.
It is possible, although he would probably resist the idea, that the symbolic value of his conference is even greater than those huge dollar totals. At a time when American government seems oblivious or worse toward human need and environmental peril, the former president is raising the standard of practical compassion and challenging the priorities of conservatism. The message of CGI is that things can change and that ordinary people can act -- and that they should expect governments, corporations and institutions of every kind to act, too.” [emphasis added]

The level of public/private partnering happening here seems quite remarkable. Also, the spirit of “responsible business” is strong. It’s like our society has developed a thirst to finally see some positive role models, especially form the business community, stepping forward. I see that desire just as strongly within business as outside. I mean, even Wal-Mart is here, talking about sustainable and responsible business practices. (Could Exxon or Big Tobacco be next? Leave a comment.) Sure, there is a self-interest in building positive feelings about their brand, and profit to be made from energy efficiency, but I sense this could be part of a beginning of a new era.

 

The first entry is always the hardest, but here goes...

Greetings.  I'm Grant.

Great to be here.  After hearing Brian Johnson on Integral Naked, I thought I'd stop by Zaadz.  The water looks good, so I'm jumpin' in!

Zaadz...MySpace for the conscious community, Cultural Creatives, or whatever we call ourselves.  We, who are interested in consciousness, growth, all things holistic, organic, integral and evolved.  Sustainability, social justice, spiritual activism...they're all threads of the same cloth. When I first realized that , sitting on a surfboard in San Diego...it cracked open for me.  Using Ken Wilber's AQAL framework, the 1st person I perspective cracked open to the 2nd--to the thou, we and us and to some extent the 3rd person it  as well.  It was a flash of nature mysticism--unitus mysticus? A felt-oneness with the natural world.

It is more than a poetic sentiment to describe that experience as a sense of oneness and unity, especially half-submerged in the ocean.  I think we humans are like 60-70% water and the compound closest to the consistency of human blood is saltwater.  The inner and outer, both literally and figuratively became one.15 years of work on me,(psychotherapy, Gestalt and bodywork at Esalen, meditation, yoga)  turned outward to a felt certainty of unity with the other.  First to my fellow surfers--a bow to the radical thou, my fellow surfer tribe members.  Then to the natural world all around me.  It was all alive....and I was it!

Later that week, in a vigorous Ashtanga yoga class, covered in sweat, I popped again, even harder.  That sense of overwhelming abundance and perfection...humilty, gratitude and compassion all in one.  Complete and fully cooked as a human being, tears streamng down my face, the question that bubbled up for me was...how can I serve?

That was 7 years ago and I've been trying to answer that question ever since.  I made way up here to the SF Bay Area, weathered the dot-boom and bust, worked at a Fortune 500 company, started and recently sold a start-up in San Francisco.  I'm trying to weave a diverse background with degrees in psychology and education (master's in instructional design and technology) and professional experience in marketing and corporate training...and most recently franchising (replicate the good?)...and create my right livelihood. 

I've decided to take the handle of Boundary Spanner, as I think it's at the edges where cool stuff can happen.  You know...at the boundary of inner/outer; public/private, for-profit/non-profit.  My own life has taken me to these edges, largely because I've been so unsatisfied in the traditional bounds imposed by society.  Spiritual development or personal growth as practiced seemed too unbalanced and too narcissistic.  Social and environmental activism seems too antagonistic, despite it's noble ideals and intentions. Non-profits were inherently unstable, unable to sustain themselves through charity and a compelling mission statement.  Business...well, you know business.  All that greed and focus on short-term financial performance (especially with public companies) makes them evil...or at least nor working for the greater good.

What turns me on?  Sustainable Development.  Conscious Capitalism.  Social Entrepreneurship.  Social Enterprise--and Franchising (more later.)  Spiritual Activism.  Engaged Spirituality.  Looking forward to finding like-minded souls.  After a quick look around, I think I may have come to the right place.....more later.

Drop me a line if anyone resonates with this.

Peace, light and love.
Grant