Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Evidence

that working out at work works!
Check out this CBC interview working out at work and see how tread mill desks in the office are transforming work culture...do you have room?

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Relationships and Science Collide

The preface in, "The Power of Giving," by Azim Jamal and Harvey McKinnon, is powerful.

Relationships and Trust
Azim and Harvey invite me in to their living room to have a conversation, as if, "we were in a room with you, perhaps drinking tea...having a chat about life, about your contribution, and your future. Together we will have some laughs, share ideas, feel inspired by each other, each of us learning something from one another, as good friends do."

Scientific Evidence
"Doing good deeds can improve health, and make you happier scientist suggest." They quote Erin Anderssen's article in the Globe and Mail:
A British poll of volunteers found that half of those surveyed claimed that their health had improved while they were volunteering. Twenty percent of them claimed they lost weight, too, which is a higher success rate than any diet we know. Maybe our next book will be a diet book - although maybe this book is actually a diet book and we don't know it. Let us know if you lose weight after volunteering.
Collision
The way Azim and Harvey spoke to me and the subject of giving hooked me.

I've been negotiating a Partnership with Money for a couple of years now (the notion of money confuses me). As our negotiations proceed it is clear that this can not be an exclusive partnership. The exchange of value, service, learning, all of that, isn't based on an exchange of money alone. Promotion, goodwill, services, future opportunities, in-kind exchanges play a key role as well. What stands out is the importance placed on this partnership with money compared to the other value exchanges (are we willing to exchange values?). Money is where the buck stops in the larger context of society.

It's similar to weighting quality of life, how do we quantify it? Do we have to? How are we moving into new partnerships? and What and who are we partnering with? The assumption is we have to weigh the importance or value in order to get support so we can grow, spread, share...

I'm not sure I want to weigh the importance or value...it seems that when we start weighing, we start judging, we start losing and winning. That's not the assumption I want to start from.

This collides with the notion of our consumer society - more is better, we need and desire more. I assume that economics drives Money (which I question). The number is number one; quality, human value, the future, in-kind are rolled up and quantified.

My negotiations with Money have been eye-opening. Listening to a potential partner who is an animate, global influencer with forceful momentum, a partner whose power spans the most affluent to those poverty-stricken, impacts and affects each of our lives. This partner is apparently controlled by governments, but we can burn and melt, print and use it to make intricate origami forms with. This partner is virtual, like an avatar or virtual learning campus, like thoughts and feelings, like quality of life, something that we value but is hard to quantify...It's attached to my bank card, I rarely carry cash (but am starting to). Money is an idea, an understanding, a value, a number. It's like quality of life, we have a different ideas of what it is, and globally have different understandings and assumptions about it.

Based on science and the relationships we broker I question the collision of Money with Quality of Life. What assumptions can I reframe to stumble on an outrageous partnership with money?
"Being kind is the simplest way to become who we really are." Piero Ferrucci