Seven Pearls of Wisdom at the 2009 GES

Rodney Schwartz
CEO, ClearlySo

 This is not a group I normally meet. Nevertheless, as a conference focused on practical solutions to global problems, it would be surprising if social entrepreneurs did not play a bigger and bigger role here in the agenda over time.  I cannot capture the many profound insights all in one post.  However, my colleagues and I agreed one of the stars of the show was Trevor Manuel.  Former Finance Minister of the South Afrcan Government (1996-2009) he was exceptionally profound–and uniquely (this is not a meeting where brevity prevails) brief–he offered seven gems which summarised our problems of today:

We have:
1) globalisation without governance
2) consumption without replacement
3) agreement without enforcement (a la Kyoto, fishing policies, etc)
4) accumulation without accountability
5) research without conscience (the drug companies)
6) decisions without content (witness most multilateral meetings)
7) knowledge without wisdom

Much to chew over.

Rodney Schwartz