What is Sustainability?

By Juan Sebastián Cárdenas Salas

Spanish version: ¿Qué es sostenibilidad?

Source: Google

When Saint Francis of Assisi praised God both through The Brothers Sun and Fire, The Sisters Moon and Water, The Mother Earth, and even The Sister Death, He was thinking in a sustainable way. This thought further than a religious frame is a simple way to understand the complexity of sustainability from several factors of life. Sustainability is living every day with both self awareness and of others -the hardest part-. That “other” is an integral being, a “whole” where we all are sharing together. It could be family, corporation, country, planet, etc. Sustainability is collective thinking and action for evolution of a particular system.

Those who were touched by The Matrix, probably remember the scene when Neo can clearly see the code -the substance- from this unreal environment and thus gets over his enemy, Agent Smith, the conscience barrier. Something similar is what we should get if we truly want to live in a sustainable system which is not an easy way yet neither impossible.

Graduation speech (spring quarter) - International English Program UC Davis

By Juan Sebastián Cárdenas Salas

Date: 7th June 2013

"We are many people here but only one spirit...

First of all I must thank you for this opportunity to represent the voice of the students from all latitudes here today.  I am proud not only for being a representative of my country -Colombia-. I feel proud to be part of the whole world. Here, all we have just one flag whose tonality is white.  On behalf of us, the students, I give thanks to all and every one of the staff from the Extension Center; you are always willing to guide us, help us, and give us additional options for our learning process and relaxing time also. Tina, thank you for the love you always give and the good energy you always have, thank you for all. Special thanks to the teachers for their great job. Teaching is not easy; sharing knowledge through education is a great gift and a great responsibility. Thank you for encourage our English learning in its different ways. A recognition to ourselves for the efforts and achievements in this quarter.

According to some researches, learning is a biological process related to the adaptation of the human beings. I feel the California’s environment; especially the UC Davis (which is an amazing campus), has a kind of magic that allows this adaptation works better. But we are who decide alternatives in addition to the classroom. How do you have lived this experience? What story have you created, or, are you creating now? Those are interesting questions. Some of you are finishing today this part of the story to start a new one, others are just shaping it. At this point is where I want to introduce the topic word that I chose for this speech. I think I have become in a “speech dinosaur” using it, but really every day I do not want only say it, I want to live it:  Take Advantage of (Phrasal verb). According to The Merriam-Webster dictionary Its Definition is: to use something, such as an opportunity, in a way that helps you. Some examples: Take advantage of the privilege to be here, Take advantage of learning every day, Take advantage of make good friends, Take advantage of the opportunity to open your mind to the world. Thus, you can create a good story; write your best composition.

Finally, I would like to close this speech with an inspiring quotation from Stephen Hawking the great British scientist, which is related to the sense of what we are doing here: 

ʽFor millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk. And we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together, to build the impossible. Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking. And it’s greatest failures by NOT talking. It doesn’t have to be like this […] All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.ʾ”

View: Keep Talking - Pink Floyd

The organizations as human beings

“Implicitly, company is an organism, a living organism, a social 

organism, an organization of the organs that constitute it”

Joan Costa[1]

The organizations are not just economic-productive structures, which was an inheritance from the Industrial revolution (Senge, 2006)[2]. Similar to human beings, organizations are biopsychosocial beings with existential and identity needs[3]. According to this point of view, organizations -similar to humans- need to believe in something, have faith and a life purpose, In addition, can be healthy (physical and mentality) but can be sicker as well, thus, suffer disorders, have bad habits -like corruption- and identity issues. A clear example has been the Credit Crunch as an effect from the sickness of the financial sector in U.S. since the deregulation on 80's (Ferguson et al., 2010)[4] , according to Ferguson (et al.) "The financial sector corrupts the political sector of U.S." 

The implantation of human traits related to brands is nothing new, according to Schlesinger and Cerverta (2009)[5] before 60’s had identified reasoning about the brand personality referring about non material dimensions which give character or identity to a product or service. The great difference is among implanting human traits on a brand and define it as an integrally being as such. Implanting traits is what has done in marketing and advertising fields, and unfortunately in many cases it have had incongruities because cannot deny that the history of marketing has shown many brands that have “promised” and “sold” an ideal or experience with basis in human exploitation (Klein, 2000), this is a clear sign of sick organizations. 

Nowadays the philanthropy, anthropology, sociology, ethics and green -sustainability- influences have created an important impact (regulation) over the corporate conception, and have motivated some organizations to think itself as an integral being or live organism. It can highlight the business success story of Apple which is the Steve’s Job legacy for the humanity. Jobs defined Apple as the crossing between humanities – human understanding and its artistic expressions- and technology, which were both his great passions (Isaacson, 2011)[6]. That is the reason why Apple, from Steve’s conception, has won reputation as a dogmatic brand with strong charisma. This brand seduces us to become in its congregation, something related to a type of spiritual connection. The question is whether Apple is inside of its internal corporate reality - shareholders- etc., really coherent with what we see, touch and feel in its products and experiences. Related to humans “We are no perfects” is maybe an affirmation that applies to organizations also, but in the same way, is not an excuse to be aware about the issues that must improved. 

We must know this humanist approach about organizations as humans - live organisms, already has been identified and applied recently by some coaching branches[7] through great thinkers and executors from corporate reality as Maturana[8] and Peter Senge,[9] for instance. It is really interesting realize as a social capital -from a sociology approach- has become in a relevant factor to earn economic capital, therefore, a stronger image, brand awareness, reputation, profitability and perdurability. These aspects allow considering that is time to the humanization of business that means wellness and positive impacts for its stakeholders and its social, cultural and economic context.

[1]From the book Comunicación Corporativa del siglo XXI (Corporate Communication for the 21st century) by Joan Costa (2006).

[2] Look Business as a Human Community Interview with Peter Senge http://www.sgiquarterly.org/feature2006Oct-3.html

[3] Find bibliography from Max Neef (economics Nobel)

[4] Inside Job, documental about the cause and effect of the Credit Crunch in U.S. (2010)

[5] From Naturaleza y dimensionalidad de la personalidad de marca en el ámbito de los servicios. Schlesinger, W. y Cerverta Taulet, A. (2009) http://www.cyta.com.ar/ta0803/v8n3a2.htm 

[6] From the book Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson (2011)

[7] Organizational, Ontological, Transformational, among others.

[8] Biologist, philosopher, one of the founders of Ontological coaching.

[9] Author of the book The fifth Discipline, North American scientist and director of The Center for Organizational Learning (SOL) at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Communication patterns between men and women

By Juan Sebastián Cárdenas Salas

I could never take a chance

of losing love to find romance […]

no I could never take a chance

'Cause I could never understand

the mysterious distance

between a man and a woman

U2

As Mark Gungor[1] shows in a funny way, there many differences between the men and women brains, thus, in their communication as well. He explains that men brain is sorted by “little boxes” and have a box for everything -for the car, money, job, his children, love, etc.-, and when a men discuses a particular subject, go to the particular box which contains this particular subject, pull and open it, and discuses just about the content from that box. The main rule is that boxes do not touch each other. On the other hand, about women, He said that their brains are making by “a big ball of wires” where all is connected -Car with job and children, mother with husband, friends with job, etc. - and all this mix of energy-electricity is called “emotion”. This is one of the reasons why women tend to remember everything and its way to communicate with others. In addition, there are some books and literature which talk about the differences between men and women, one of these examples is the book Men are from Mars, and women are from Venus by John Gray. In this book the author expose as men and women seem to be from different planets. Even being biologically similar and using the same words, its behavior codes and language are different[2]. But as a Lieberman[3] says, “we have all grown up on the same planet, and interact with each other in different ways on a daily basis.” One of the most curious differences shown by different research is that women can talk three times more than the men (look chart 1). Women need to say not only more words than men per day, they are express more than men in all ways.

Chart 1 – “women talk three times more than men” cukmi.com (2011)

Other clear examples shown by Lieberman, is that women are more likely than the men to talk to other women when they have a problem or need to make a decision. Men go to their “caves” where keep their problems to themselves and avoid sharing personal issues…they find its own “box” to fix it. Other pattern according with Gray[4] is that the men -mistakenly- offer solutions and disqualify emotions while the women offer unsolicited advice and instructions. Also, according to Sherwood[5], they have a different ways to carry out a talking or making friends. Women friendships focus on making emotional connections, talk is important to this process “Sharing secrets, relating experiences, revealing problems and discussing are essential during girl’s development.” While men take another approach to talk and friendship “Their camaraderie is not less profound […] Buddy groups tend to be larger, focusing on activities rather than conversation”. Finally, according to Lieberman, although is funny to look communication differences between both, we must be careful to not stereotype and assume that all men and women will act in a certain way. It is interesting to know there are male and female structures into both brains which influence on the personality and communication structure from each person. 

Sources

Cumki.com - Women talking until three times more than men
http://cukmi.com/las-mujeres-hablan-hasta-tres-veces-mas-que-los-hombres/

Lieberman Simma, Differences in Male and Female Communication Styles
http://www.simmalieberman.com/articles/maleandfemale.html

Libro-s.com, Gray John, Men are from Mars, women are from Venus
http://www.libro-s.com/l/gray-john-+-los-hombres-son-de-marte-las-mujeres-de-venus-doc-4358/

Mark Gungor, Tale of Two Brains

http://youtu.be/P77JnDHUw6g

Scribd - digital Library online, Men are from Mars, women are from Venus summary

http://es.scribd.com/doc/51985054/Los-hombres-son-de-Marte-y-las-mujeres-de-Venus-resumen

Sherwood Susan, 10 Ways Men and Women Communicate Differently
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/10-ways-men-women-comminucate-differently.htm

U2, A man and a woman (lyrics)

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/A-Man-And-A-Woman-lyrics-U2/4F73F1112F2ECF0C48256F2000063DDF

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[1] Mark Gungor, Tale of Two Brains (published on YouTube)

[2] Book introduction, libro-s.com

[3] Differences in Male and Female Communication Styles by Simma Lieberman

[4] Men are from Mars, women are from Venus summary publish on Scribd online library

[5] 10 Ways Men and Women Communicate Differently by Susan Sherwood

6 ingredients to prepare a good creativity

By Juan Sebastián Cárdenas Salas

   Creativity doesn’t has a unique recipe, there are many ways to prepare delicious creativity and you are who decides how to do it, but in this case I am going to give you a recipe that I learned to prepare in these years working as a creative person. This recipe has 6 special ingredients which allow you to prepare and taste a good creativity. First of all, you need to have mind and body as a main ingredient, this is important to be connected and try to forget the external issues that bother you…ok I know that is not easy but you need to try to get it. So, you need to start by putting a tablespoon of empathy. Here the success is in capability to connecting with people, listen, reading its signs and try to understand them to be able for interpret its needs. Next, you have to pour a mixed tablespoon of observation. Be curious and unquiet, asking, inquire and research, do not stay with the first meaning, see beyond. Then, you need to add a tablespoon of culture. Fuel your intellect; know what is happening around the world, read. Find and discover different culture codes sharing with people over the world. Fourth, add lots of Lateral thinking. What things I do for inertia? Every day I wake up; I take the same route to come to my university, office, etc… Avoid routines, they are bad for brain. Challenge your brain, guess a Sudoku, solve a puzzle or anything that entertain your brain. The next step is boil all this delicious mixture in an open mind. Creativity demands us to take on a conscientious opened to experiences, an attitude of tolerance and flexibility about perceptions from others. Finally, when the “creativity dough” is ready, you can sweeten it with fun. If we do not feel that what we do is fun for us, maybe we are in the wrong place. Let out your inner child, He will show you marvelous things.

What is the definition of entrepreneur?

By Juan Sebastián Cárdenas Salas

Entrepreneurs/innovators usually are who have learnt "to see" the whole system where they are, and try to find -more than other human beings- a type of answer to the question: Why we are here and what is our purpose? They try to respond it through awareness to risk because that's where good ideas are. With its implementation they enhance and modify the world.