( 3 reviews )
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( 0 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jun 25 2009
Am in a UN design seminar and have been listening to the author, whose next book is Conscious Globalism: What's Wrong with the World and How to Fix It, and am enthralled. We are on a break. Here are the highlights: + Economic crisis we are experiencing is a blessing. We NEEDED this kind of large systemic failure to wake us up. + Systems, such as capitalism, are value-neutral. It is the individuals whose personal and social and cultural values determine the direction and nature of the system. + Values are a means of teaching what works for the long run. Individuals that cheat others know deeply that they are less worthy and soiled, but they get away with it, and the community does not protest, provided there is a certain level of global stabilization. When everything goes bad, then values re-assert themselves as "timeless." + Politicians follow rather than lead. In the absence of public engagement, they follow the money. + "There is an influx of consciousness coming into the planet." The new generation of young people have a different consciousness and appear to be ready to adopt longer views, less selfish views. I really like the above point, and am reminded of Will and Ariel Durant, and their Lessons of History, that specifically isolated morality as a strategic value that is priceless. The author is a phenomenal speaker and the message in this book is not out of date at all, but I do want to alert Amazon customers to the imminent availability of his new book, "Conscious Globalization." From my own reading, I am listing below 5 books for each of two groups: Predatory Immoral Capitalism: The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It Back The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism Confessions of an Economic Hit Man Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War The Working Poor: Invisible in America Conscious Moral Capitalism Creating Infinite Wealth Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution In addition to the author's two books, see also The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom Infinite Wealth: A New World of Collaboration and Abundance in the Knowledge Era Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace This book has been translated into Chinese and is in its second mass printing in China. From my own listening to this author in person, I draw out the lesson that capitalism is a system for innovation and individual entrepreneurship, and that no system is sustainable that seeks--as the USA does--to consume 25% of the earth's resources for the benefit of 5% of the global population.
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( 6 of 6 found this review helpful ) Posted: Aug 13 1999
In 'Conscious Capitalism' David Schwerin goes beyond what we normally consider business ethics. He gives his readers a deep spiritual foundation for values in business, something that we've rarely seen in the twentieth century but that will surely be crucial for the twenty-first century.Author David Schwerin is that rare combination of successful businessman and esoteric scholar. And this combination makes for a fascinating book, both instructive and insightful, and with compelling examples and stories.If any reader wants to know what spiritual and ethical business will look like in the future, this is the book to read. We can't recommend it highly enough!
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( 5 of 5 found this review helpful ) Posted: May 30 1998
David Schwerin has brought fresh, new insights into a business model primarily concerned with power and greed to one based on caring and ethics. His years of experience and his wisdom and understanding propose a timely new model which will provide healing to each individual touched by business procedures. His personal illustrations and documentations have added power to his ideas. The inspiration and dedication to these new principles is peppered with humorous subtitles and phrases. While proposing an ideal model, the book also gives practical illustrations and specific guidelines to effect change. It takes us from self-defeating practices to a winning archetype. A great inspiration!
