Democracy – Join the Party
An invitation to renew and revitalize politics. If the political playing field were a billiards table, politicians would engage in nothing but obstructing their opponent’s ability to play. In billiards, there is a style of play focused entirely on positioning the balls so as to make it nearly Read More...
Indian Innovation
An Indian economics professor seeks innovations where few expect to find them: among small farmers in remote regions of India. Tanadi squats in the shade_of the large tamarind tree. With lowered eyes, he looks at the dusty surface of the village square. Tanadi, a farmer, had not wanted to sit on Read More...
Employees First
Why more and more companies are prioritizing staff over customers and shareholders. In 2006, after a less than illustrious career in the restaurant business, 31-year-old Ben Zempel got a job with wholesaler Costco. That wouldn’t be remarkable in itself, but Zempel has Down syndrome. Since he Read More...
Seven Deadly Sins
How to turn the Seven Deadly Sins into seven divine blessings. It’s 2002, and I’m in the tiny dressing room of the midtown Los Angeles studio where I’ve been taking salsa lessons. I’m all wound up, ready to perform in public for the first time. Earlier this year I was struck by the Read More...
"Democracy Depends Upon the Creative Power of Every Man"
Mary Parker Follett was a progressive management consultant. In 1918, she published The New State, in which she applied her holistic world view to politics. At that time, women had the right to vote in only a handful of countries. A lot has changed, but her analysis of the crucial role of Read More...
True Citizenship
Tom Atlee, “wise democracy” pioneer and co-director of the Co-Intelligence Institute in Eugene, Oregon, on how public conversations can inform public policy. Marco Visscher | September/October 2012 Issue Your books explain how citizens can be involved in formulating policy on complex issues. Read More...
The Wisdom of Crowds
How to involve ordinary citizens in complex political decisions. [caption id="attachment_295685" align="alignleft" width="369"] Photo: www.tekno.dk[/caption] Marco Visscher | September/October 2012 Issue The Teknologirådet, a Danish advisory council that informs the public and politicians about Read More...
Now or Never
We modern folk don’t like to be confronted with our mortality. Death has been rather hygienically excised from our lives, at least on Read More...
Giving Peace a Chance
From the Middle East to Moscow, ordinary citizens are organizing for democratic change. [caption id="attachment_293797" align="alignleft" width="563"] Thousands of Egyptians gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo on December 31, 2011, celebrating the revolution that ended the reign of Hosni Mubarak. Read More...
Getting the Ball Rolling for the Homeless
Jessica Royer Ocken | September/October 2012 Issue The Homeless World Cup began, as so many good ideas do, over a beer. In 2001, Mel Young was in Cape Town at the annual conference for the International Network of Street Papers, an organization he founded. Young and his Read More...