Aha! #21
The Free E-Newsletter
from Renesch.com
April 3, 2000
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Dear Subscriber:
This is the first issue of Aha! in this new format which includes a variety of things, not
simply the one article which I wrote each month in previous issues. Here are
some news items, some announcements, and some commentary - a potpourri. Please
consider signing up for my new e-newsletter - eCHOICE (see details
below) which - while not free like Aha!
- is VERY affordable. And now, onward and upward.
John
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Response
to Last Aha!
Several subscribers wrote me that they look forward to the
day when their firms can retain the services of a "Vice President of
Consciousness" - the theme of Aha!
#20. A British consultant informed me that he has been retained in a very
similar role after completing a consulting engagement with the client and that
he's found it to be some of the most satisfying work he's doing now.
Several people asked if I was available for such a position.
I most certainly am available to serve in this capacity and know others - such
as Rob Rabbin (www.robrabbin.com) who
thought of the title - who could also fulfill this role.
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Newsbriefs:
March News
[More Newsbriefs can be
seen in the "Press Room" at Renesch.com]
Hugh McColl, CEO of Bank of America (now the nation's largest
bank), seems to be bucking for "corporate rapist of this century"
writes John in a new but unpublished article; the article was fueled by the
March news that after lying to achieve the Bank's takeover in 1998, McColl will
receive over $50 million for 1999 when stockholders lost over 40%, 19,000
employees were laid off, and the Bank under-performed by McColl's own
pre-takeover estimates! "Move over Boetstky...we're setting new standards
for ruthlessness and greed in this century," writes John.
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FatBrain.com
Features New Book
John's new book gets top billing on FatBrain.com, the
Internet's most comprehensive bookstore for professionals and recently named the
number two
fastest-growing public company in Silicon Valley. John's latest book - Getting
to the Better Future: A Matter of Conscious Choosing - is being highlighted
as one of a handful of business books available in downloadable format. Visitors
can purchase the electronic file from FatBrain.com for only $8.00 and download
it. Click here to go to it: http://www1.fatbrain.com/asp/BookInfo/BookInfo.asp?theisbn=EB00011378&mtype=
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The
Agenda Marks its Six-Month Birthday
Launched in the late summer of last year, "The 21st
Century Agenda for Business" marked its six-month anniversary several weeks
back. This innovative resolution was posted on the Internet by John and a group
of forty-two other co-framers who drafted and co-signed the document before
inviting the global public to visit the Agenda's web site, read it, see who else
has signed it, and add their name. Since being posted, thousands of people from
dozens of countries have endorsed the Agenda. Check it out yourself. Go to: http://216.218.199.230/THE-AGENDA
The value lies in seeing so many people agreeing to the spirit of the Agenda,
thus sending a signal to the mainstream business community that real change is
wanted and needed by respected and credentialled colleagues around the world.
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Chief
Scientist Concerned about the Future
Bill Joy, Chief Scientist and Co-founder of Sun Microsystems,
has written a significant article in the current issue of Wired magazine (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html).
A pioneer in the development of Information Technology, he co-chaired the
presidential
commission on
the future of IT research and is co-author of The Java Language Specification. Joy expresses his concerns about the "advancement"
of science that could result in the end of mankind. He writes, "Have we already
gone too far down the path to alter course? I don't believe so, but we aren't
trying yet, and the last chance to assert control - the fail-safe point - is
rapidly approaching."
In this 14-page article, Joy also quotes Thoreau, saying that
we will be "rich in proportion to the number of things which we can afford
to let alone."
Joy's incredible credential makes this article far more
newsworthy. We expect it will get much attention because of his high profile in
the scientific and Internet communities. He states that while we wish we could
collectively influence the future through "collective values, ethics, and
morals" we haven't really gained much collective wisdom over the past few
thousand years. "Then," he writes, "a dialogue to this end would
be more practical, and the incredible powers we are about to unleash would not
be nearly so troubling.
"The truth that science seeks can certainly be
considered a dangerous substitute for God if it is likely to lead to our
extinction," he writes. "Each of us has our precious things, and as we
care for them we locate the essence of our humanity. In the end, it is because
of our great capacity for caring that I remain optimistic we will confront the
dangerous issues now before us."
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Transcendent
Leadership
by John Renesch
2000 © John E. Renesch
For the past decade or so there has been much talk about the
"new paradigm"- a new and emerging collective mindset for humanity.
Like many of the paradigm shifts throughout human history, the "old"
doesn't become a "new" overnight. It can take decades, even centuries
as in the case of the Copernican Revolution. Shifts from one collective mindset
to another don't always invalidate everything about the old by making the new
one better. Certain beliefs from the old may be shown to be invalid in the new -
such as the 15th-Century idea that the world was flat. But the new
can also include the old, growing
beyond it but not away from it, including it as in transcendence, rather than
mere transformation.
This new consciousness will be more inclusive of this
spiritual or abstract or intuitive domain. It will rely less upon evidence or
empiricism. It will value the inner
qualities of process, experience and intuition to far greater degrees without
the absolute requirement of external
evidence such as physical proof or rational logic. The new paradigm is a new
age, one where human consciousness - our connection to everything and all that
is - is acknowledged and valued in everyday work and everyday living, not just
in churches or places where we engage in religious or spiritual practices. The
transcendent leader recognizes this evolution, this gradual wellspring of a new
non-religious spirituality.
As humanity continues to evolve and the coming Age of
Consciousness continues to draw us toward it, more and more people are assuming
the primacy of the spiritual over the physical. However, that assumption can be
as big a trap as reductionism, which advocates the primacy of the physical. As
Teilhard said, "Don't privilege the transcendent over the immanent - the
spiritual reality over the material reality." The two domains don't require
a primacy of either, but rather a co-existing partnership.
The transcendent leader operates in the energy of
relationship with the Divine - what German philosopher Martin Buber called
"the between." Grounded in this sacred relationship, the transcendent
leader becomes a partner in a new "co-evolution" for humankind. The
transcendent leader recognizes that, prior to now, human evolution happened to
us. We weren't very involved consciously. Humans had little to say about how
they evolved. Now, for the first time in history, we have the opportunity to
participate in our evolution and to do it in partnership with the Divine. The transcendent leader possesses the
presence and knowing to stand tall for this truth - before it becomes more
commonly believed, before it becomes the consensus reality and the operative
paradigm for humanity.
After all, that's what leaders do, right? They are a bit
further out front, stand a bit taller than the crowd, and tell the truth a bit
louder than everyone else.
*********** NEW!
******* NEW! ******* NEW! ***********
eCHOICE
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Guest
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About
John Renesch
Aha!
is prepared monthly by John E. Renesch, a San Francisco writer, futurist, and
business philosopher. His new book - Getting
to the Better Future: A Matter of Conscious Choosing - is just out. You can
preview it at his Web site: www.Renesch.com/BetterFuture.
To order the book or to contact John by email: John@Renesch.com; or call TOLL FREE 877-2-RENESCH