days ago, I was in China, speaking to a bunch of influential business leaders. One of them posed a challenge: "You speak about Vinoba Bhave, the spiritual heir of Gandhi, and how he walked 80K kilometers across India and inspired people to donate 5 million acres to their neighbors. Yes, it might've been an unprecedented feat in the history of mankind, but really, how many people remember Vinoba today? Instead, think of how many people remember Steve Jobs and the legacy he left behind." From a short-term impact point of view, it's a thoughtful dilemma. In fact, Forbes magazine did a piece which reflected similarly, asking the question: "Who has changed the world ... posted on Jan 7 2013 (73,998 reads)

while his colleague George Mason, in the Virginia Declaration of Rights, speaks of pursuing and obtaining happiness as a natural endowment and right. And it is in this time that the French revolutionary leader St. Just can stand up during the height of the Jacobin revolution in France in 1794 and declare: “Happiness is a new idea in Europe.” In many ways it was. When the English philosopher and revolutionary John Locke declared at the end of the 17th century that the “business of man is to be happy,” he meant that we shouldn’t assume that suffering is our natural lot, and that we shouldn’t have to apologize for our pleasures here on earth. On the ... posted on Mar 7 2013 (13,475 reads)

health. We need a healthcare system that prioritises both mental and physical health and provides high quality support for all those struggling with anxiety, depression or other mental illness. Education For Life. Education is about learning for life, not just gaining academic qualifications. We need schools that help children develop character and learn essential life skills, like emotional intelligence, mindfulness and resilience. Responsible Business. Truly successful businesses have happy employees and a purpose beyond profit. We need workplaces where people feel valued and trusted and where sustainable and ethical behaviour is at the heart of all decision making.... posted on Mar 20 2013 (24,009 reads)

never at ease in social situations, always fighting the instinct to make herself invisible, retreat to a corner. With aikido, she says, she learned to “extend” and assert herself in relationships, without being domineering. “You’re not trying to take a person down, be aggressive,” she says. “It’s the idea that if you can successfully lead a person, they’ll follow.” Shah says she still tends to be a quiet presence in situations like business meetings, but she notices that when she does speak, people listen. “I attribute that to my aikido training,” she says. Arlene Shinozuka found aikido changed her in a different... posted on Apr 1 2013 (16,437 reads)

Think about something delightful or uplifting (not your to-do list!). Review photos of your kids on your phone (studies show that looking at photos of loved ones provides a big mood boost). Listen to an audiobook. 5. Look for a way to feel grateful. It’s a lot better to be bored while waiting in a doctor’s office than to be in agony of suspense about your test results. It’s more fun to sit around the breakfast table talking about clothes than to be away from home on a business trip. Maybe the other line at the drugstore is moving even more slowly. Etc. 6. Consider: “Am I the boring one?” La Rochefoucauld observed, “We always get... posted on Apr 17 2013 (34,899 reads)

have kept the café running by paying up even when they could have got away without it. That there are enough people not governed by greed—something he had set out to test in the first place. However, Sthalekar admits that the transition in his mind from market to trust economy did not occur overnight. “Initially, I used to put price tags on customers as they walked into the café,” he says. That’s in tune with the rationale of profit maximisation that business schools teach and the corporate world practises. So, Sthalekar often spent more time at the table of a potential Mr 3,000 compared to the table of a tea-stall owner, who was in his perception... posted on Apr 29 2013 (31,184 reads)

And I mean, in that moment when, as you say, it's up close and personal, you know, does it become a little harder to say, "This is a liberation. This is a natural part of life"? Does it challenge those ideas? Ms. Halifax: You know, in the case of my father, no, it was not harder. It was so much easier. No. But I didn't take his death for granted in the sense of, "Oh, he's liberated. Now let's see. Let's get onto American Airlines and get back to business." Ms. Tippett: It was still a loss. Ms. Halifax: It was a huge loss. It's the case. But the loss is mine, not his. Part of me was just so relieved that the last hours... posted on Jun 5 2013 (25,477 reads)

is held in language itself. The experience of writing, for me at least, isn’t confidence or wisdom; it’s closer to desperation. You are naked as Odysseus when he’s lost his ship and all his men, before he’s met by the courageous young girl Nausicaa—a version perhaps of the rescuing muse, who helps us find our way back into the world shared with others but only if we bring our own resourcefulness to the situation as well. There is some faint memory that this raft business has worked before, some memory of knot-tying, of the intention to live. There is that in us that recognizes: “this is water; this is land.” A poem is land found, as if for the fir... posted on May 23 2013 (17,031 reads)

possible to nurture the growth of employees.  ** 10. Building community. The servant-leader senses that much has been lost in recent human history as a result of the shift from local communities to large institutions as the primary shaper of human lives. This awareness causes the servant-leader to seek to identify some means for building community among those who work within a given institution. Servant-leadership suggests that true community can be created among those who work in businesses and other institutions. Greenleaf said: "All that is needed to rebuild community as a viable life form for large numbers of people is for enough servant-leaders to show the way, not by... posted on Jun 4 2013 (122,061 reads)

years I assumed that the Titanic tragedy was a result of human arrogance, the belief in the indestructibility of the newest, largest, fastest, fanciest ship of all time. But actually the Titanic went down because of distraction. Other ships had been warning about the iceberg-filled waters for days, but the Titanic’s captain changed course only slightly and did nothing to slow the ship’s speed. When the radio operator received a call from a ship that was surrounded by ice—this was less than an hour before the collision—he responded, “Shut up, shut up, I’m busy.” By the time lookouts spotted the iceberg ahead, it was too late to... posted on Jun 7 2013 (68,325 reads)

even if you aren’t 100% certain you’ll succeed. After all, failure is one of life's greatest learning tools and can be proof that you are thinking big. (In fact, if you haven't failed in a while, ask yourself if you need to take on bolder challenges!) Think Like an Entrepreneur Move through your life and your career with an entrepreneurial spirit, and apply the focus, energy, and positivity to founding your social impact career that you would apply to founding a new business or organization ... posted on Jun 11 2013 (67,267 reads)

really, really savor them. Slowly. Create a morning ritual. Wake early and greet the day. Watch the sun rise. Out loud, tell yourself that you will not waste this day, which is a gift. You will be compassionate to your fellow human beings, and live every moment to its fullest. Stretch or meditate or exercise as part of your ritual. Enjoy some coffee. Take chances. We often live our lives too cautiously, worried about what might go wrong. Be bold, risk it all. Quit your job and go to business for yourself (plan it out first!), or go up to that girl you've liked for a long time and ask her out. What do you have to lose? Follow excitement. Try to find the things in life that ... posted on Jul 28 2013 (298,219 reads)

Patterns will emerge and you will see that, for whatever reason, you are drawn to delve deeper into this particular issue. They're personal. The moments are very often personally meaningful. They are connected to your own experiences, or the experiences of people you care most about, the way in which Socheata's moment of obligation was. They take hold. Finally, they just won't let you go. They scream for your attention, creeping into your mind when you are minding your own business — sitting on the couch, watching TV, or trying to get a good night's sleep. Everyone is moved this way from time to time, but what sets those who help solve the world's bigge... posted on Jul 23 2013 (23,764 reads)

have fixed notions about the time course of success and the nature of talent that encourage us to write off the very people who are most likely to (eventually) change the world. "This is you," the elderly school psychologist said as he pushed up his horn-rimmed glasses and pointed to the left side of what looked like the outline of a camel's hump. I sat closer, trying to make sense of what I was being shown. "And this," he said, moving his finger toward the far right of the hump, "is gifted." Leaning forward, I patiently explained to him that maybe this was me, at age 11, but 6 years later, it was no longer me. "You see," I ex... posted on Sep 24 2013 (36,876 reads)

to impart some perspective. According to Yahoo, he and wife Mehrnaz thought feeding the homeless might do the trick. Thus, the family and Alec's friend Luke Trolinger set about wrapping 54 egg-and-cheese burritos one Sunday in November and handed them out. More than 130 Sundays later, their nonprofit Hunger 2 Help is rolling in good will. It has grown to seven Burrito Boyz and other volunteers, all of whom help make hundreds of tortilla-wrapped meals. They operate out of Johnson's business, Long Island Mike's Pizza, and distribute the food to a neighborhood in need. "Anything can happen if you take the first step," the dad told Yahoo. "I’m shocked at... posted on Aug 22 2013 (39,772 reads)

portal that’s dedicated to acts of kindness, usually random acts of kindness. On the site there’s the capability for any of the users to share the stories about any of the acts of kindness they may have done. And people can comment on the stories. You can also order smile cards, so you can actually leave a card when you do an act of kindness. It’s really—it’s almost like a kindness community. RW:  Okay, and what is a smile card? It’s the size of a business card, right? GN:  Yes. It’s pretty simple. On the front it just says, “Smile. You’ve been tagged.” And in small print, it says, “Experiments in anonymous... posted on Sep 10 2013 (24,076 reads)

(what Klein refers to as "creative desperation"), and when they gain an insight, encourages them to act on it right away. This is frequently how chess grand masters try an unusual move that ends up being successful and winning the game for them. "The problem with too many organizations is that they don't feel any pressure to act on the insights they've had," says Klein. "They act like they have all the time in the world and then they end up going out of business." ... posted on Sep 8 2013 (107,913 reads)

me so much as a child. I am as passionate as I ever was about protecting the nonhuman world from the increasingly violent excesses of our civilisation. But the environmental movement I once considered myself to be part of has in many ways moved in directions I don't feel comfortable with. Technocratic, staid, too afraid to challenge narratives of technological progress and economic development, and too willing to buy into a notion of 'sustainable development' that often looks like business as usual with fewer carbon emissions, the mainstream green movement looks to me like it has veered off course. Three years ago, I tried to explain my feelings about this in a long essay en... posted on Nov 7 2013 (25,614 reads)

"Up" documentaries have followed 14 people from ages seven to 56—and in the process illustrated recent discoveries about the science of a meaningful life. The film critic Roger Ebert famously called the “Up” series “an inspired, even noble, use of the film medium.” It started, accidentally, in 1964, when the British TV program World in Action profiled 14 seven year olds with the aim of discovering how social class shaped their worldviews. There was no intention of going beyond that one episode, called Seven Up! Symon has faced the death of his mother, the births of his children, unemployment, divorce, and re-marriage (to Vienetta, at righ... posted on Nov 4 2013 (36,213 reads)

landed on the moon, so I don't really have that as a guidepost. But certainly the shuttle program in the 1980s when I was in high school really, really, of course, it touched us all. We all got that bug of exploration and, you know, I saw that as just the most exciting job anybody could possibly have on planet Earth. So I think that that was the backdrop. Ms. Tippett: I like the way you — I've seen you talking about how you got into science. Didn't you start out studying business in college? Is that right? Ms. Batalha: I did, yeah. Ms. Tippett: Yeah, and that you took a physics class and that you weren't actually very good at it, which is comforting. I think... posted on Jan 29 2014 (26,625 reads)