I’m hoping that one of the results of the downturn will be a desire amongst many people to paddle through shift creek,  and come out into the new waters of compassionate capitalism. This requires personal growth, being prepared to let go of old habits, as well as change on a more national and even global scale. And the social media tools could play a big part in mobilising this. It is widely accepted that the Obama’s election marked, amongst many things, the first election where social media tools were used to contact voters. Wouldn’t it be cool if the population were to now use those same tools to inform politicians of what we want!

Part of societal, community and personal growth, is being prepared to take a good long  look at yourself and deciding which behaviours that may have been useful in the past, are no longer. The traditional model of capitalism has led to the following behaviours:

• Short term self-interest
• A narrow definition of stakeholders combined with isolationist thinking
• Profit maximisation through cutting costs rather than growing turnover
• A short-term view of shareholder value
• Disregard for long term consequences
• Deification of “The Market” which rejects any criticism or any attempt at regulation
• Deification of the scientific method as being the only way to assess truth
• Prominent values and behaviours are based upon anger, fear, greed, manipulation and self-assertion
• Focus on self, “me, me, me!” and rampant consumerism

I would suggest that what is now needed is a different model, one which values and supports:

• A focus on stakeholder value as well as shareholder value, where “stakeholder” takes into account the population as a whole and the planet
• Some of the profit that is achieved is used to support the common good
• Acceptance that when it comes to the metaphysical, to internal and subjective reality, there are other truths than those revealed by the scientific method
• IQ, emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence are each equally valued
• Prominent values and behaviours are based upon cooperation, exploration, service, the common good, self-knowledge, respect and trust.
• Understanding the difference between true personal needs and wants

Another shift in societal and personal growth could see us working to overcome Gandhi’s 7 deadly social sins. I wrote about them here, but in case you missed them, they are:

• Wealth without Work
• Pleasure without Conscience
• Science without Humanity
• Knowledge without Character
• Politics without Principle
• Commerce without Morality
• Worship without Sacrifice

Is this just pie in the sky or is a journey many of you want to share? If the latter, how can we each contribute? How can we use the tools of Social Media to drive such change?