Opinion Lost in Athens,felt in Berlin
By the time I got there,the fire at the Marfin Egnatia Bank on Stadiou Street had been extinguished,but the smell of the...
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By the time I got there,the fire at the Marfin Egnatia Bank on Stadiou Street had been extinguished,but the smell of the torched interior still wafted out. Ever since Greek anarchists firebombed the bank on May 5,killing three employees who had defied a strike,the Marfin bank has become an impromptu shrine. People would lay down a rose and then just stare at the building or read the handwritten messages pasted all over the facade. My own eye went to a colourful drawing,clearly done by a child,of a burning building and people screaming help,help from upper windows. Under it was written,in Greek: In what kind of a world will I grow up? Lydia,age 10.
A good question,Lydia. The Marfin bank was ground zero for the global meltdown 10 days ago. As soon as TV footage of the employees trapped in the blaze hit the news,it sparked fears that Greece would default on its massive debts held by other European banks. That triggered a steep decline in the euro and the shares of European banks. That plunge was then exacerbated by news of the inconclusive election in Britain,and,finally,all of it together helped fuel the sudden 1,000-point drop in the Dow on Wall Street.
And that is where I would start to answer Lydia: You are growing up in an increasingly integrated world where well all need to be guided by the simple credo of the global nature-preservation group Conservation International: Lost there,felt here.
Conservation International coined that phrase to remind us that our natural world and climate constitute a tightly integrated system,and when species,forests and ocean life are depleted in one region,their loss will eventually be felt in another. And what is true for Mother Nature is true for markets and societies. When Greeks binge and rack up billions of euros of debt,Germans have to dig into their mattresses and bail them out because they are all connected in the European Union. Lost in Athens,felt in Berlin. Lost on Wall Street,felt in Iceland.
Yes,such linkages have been around for years. But today so many more of us are just so much more deeply intertwined with each other and with the natural world. That is why Dov Seidman,CEO of LRN,which helps companies build ethical cultures,argues that we are now in the Era of Behaviour.
Today,notes Seidman,how each of us behaves,consumes,does business,builds trust matters more than ever. Because each of us now has the power to impact so many peoples lives through so many more channels from day-trading to mortgage-lending to Twitter to Internet-enabled terrorism.
As technology has made us more interconnected with others around the world,it has also made us more ethically interdependent with others around the world, argues Seidman.
Indeed,in a world where our demand for Chinese-made sneakers produces pollution that melts South Americas glaciers,in a world where Greek tax-evasion can weaken the euro,threaten the stability of Spanish banks and tank the Dow,our ethical systems have to be harmonised as much as our markets. To put it differently,as it becomes harder to shield yourself from the other guys irresponsibility,both he and you had better become more responsible.
But that hasnt been the trend. Weve become absorbed by shorter and shorter-term thinking from Wall Street quarterly thinking to politician-24-hour-cable-news-cycle thinking. So more and more of us are behaving by,what Seidman calls,situational values: I do whatever the situation allows. Think Goldman Sachs or BP. The opposite of situational values are sustainable values: values that literally sustain our relationships with one another,with our communities,with our institutions,and with our forests,oceans and climate. Of course,to counter situational thinking,we need better regulations,but we also need more people behaving better.
Regulations are imposed values are inspired,celebrated and championed. They have to come from moms and dads,teachers and preachers,presidents and thought leaders. If there is another way,please write me. Ill leave a note for Lydia. NYT
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