Category Archives: Ethics and Values

Fulfilling America’s Promise: Build Equity, Bridge the Gap

The TakeAway: As we celebrate Independence Day, it’s time to rededicate ourselves to those very ideals on which our nation was founded: liberty, opportunity, and justice for all. That means bridging the equity gap that undermines the American dream and … Continue reading

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Mesh Networks, Leadership, and Democracy’s Promise

  The TakeAway: This election season and Veterans Day provide a great time to reflect on the state of our democracy, which is ailing badly. It’s also time to think about ways of healing it, while achieving sustainable peace and … Continue reading

Posted in Civic Technology, Data Visualization, Ethics and Values, Interactive Technology, Net Neutrality, Networked Citizenship, Notable People, Open Government, Open Knowledge, Politics, Public Policy, Stakeholder Engagement, Sustainable Cities, Sustainable Peace and Prosperity, Uncategorized, Web 2.0 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Mesh Networks, Leadership, and Democracy’s Promise

2013 Memorable Moments and Values

Part 1 of 3 The TakeAway: It was a year of breakthroughs, tempered by loss. But as we look back on 2013, four memorable moments stand out. I’ve a personal connection to each, but they embody universal values worth amplifying … Continue reading

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Walter White and LBJ: Personality Plus, To What End?

The TakeAway: Two drama, Breaking Bad and All the Way, provide insights into complex characters, and lessons for our times. Time collapsed earlier this week, as volcanoes from the past and present erupted and converged in a manner that only … Continue reading

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To Bomb or Not to Bomb—Which Rationality? Whose Debate?

The TakeAway: The swirl of action surrounding whether or not to intervene militarily in Syria tends to overlook opportunities, beyond polling, for average people to weigh in. That’s bad for deliberative democracy—especially when military power is involved. As a “prismatic … Continue reading

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The Power of Two, Plus You! OpenLetter2013

The Takeaway: Two friends from Boston, increasingly alarmed by the dearth of meaningful action on climate change, decided to take matters into their own hands. The pair are crowdfunding a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal calling out the … Continue reading

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Let’s Bend the Arc of Money and Power Toward Justice

Sixth in a Series: Time to Talk About the Public Interest The TakeAway: The 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom provides the opportunity to reflect on what truths we hold to be self evident, what … Continue reading

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Trustees Are Not Thermometers

Fifth in a  Series: Time to Talk About the Public Interest The TakeAway: In the United States, key to our political form of representative self-governance is the idea of good trusteeship, of stewardship, of wise statecraft. The same holds for corporate … Continue reading

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Civic Virtue as the Animating Ideal

Fourth in a Series: Time to Talk About the Public Interest The TakeAway: Despite the great strides made toward incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into economic decision making, these ideas are untethered from a moral paradigm or ethos … Continue reading

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Back to the Future: Apocalypse Now

Image made by Mary Naber King Third in a Series: Time to Talk About the Public Interest The TakeAway: In a society saturated with market values, we need to recoup the idea of civic virtue, and the civic moral obligations … Continue reading

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Loose Canons and Apocalypse Now: Unveiling the Ethics in the Fiduciary Ethic

Second in a Series: Time to Talk About the Public Interest The TakeAway: This essay posits that the idea of fiduciary duty, with its legal and economic constructs, rests upon on a foundation spanning centuries of insights and wisdom about … Continue reading

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Time to Talk About the Public Interest

The TakeAway: Current global activity about “materiality” and “multiple capitals” seek to embed environmental, social, and governance considerations within corporate and investor commitments to accountability and sustainability. But they’re the latest iteration of an ancient ethic waiting to be reborn. … Continue reading

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Gift Xchange: Giving, Investing, and Grantmaking for Good

Part One of Two The TakeAway: Charitable requests are a constant, but the end of the year brings a blizzard of appeals. In addition to our donor dollars, there’s a vast amount of untapped money power held by nonprofit institutions, … Continue reading

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Apocalypse Now: Sandy Hook, Gun Ownership, and Civic Moral Responsibility

The TakeAway: The world may not have ended for us today, but it did for 27 women and children who were massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday. That unspeakable tragedy reopens debates over gun ownership, violence, and mental … Continue reading

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Ready For Their Close-Up: Corporate Secretaries and “The Shape of Things to Come”

Part One of Three The TakeAway: The recent annual conference of the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals focused on “The Shape of Things to Come”—that is, key issues and trends affecting corporate accountability and sustainable prosperity. In so … Continue reading

Posted in Corporate Governance, Corporate Political Activity, Corporate Reporting, Corporate Sustainability, Ethics and Values, Interactive Technology, Politics, Proxy Voting, Public Policy, Stakeholder Engagement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Rotten Culture: What Others Are Saying

Please note: this is a supplement to “Diamonds and Rust: The Need for Ethical Climate Change in Banking“, posted 9 July 2012 If you don’t understand what all the Libor fuss is about, here are some exemplary explainers and commentaries. … Continue reading

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