How might we, the people, assure that the virtues of equity and equality make the human rights of liberty and freedom matter for everyone?
Rick Botelho
Unite Equity Muses | Cultivate equity meta-governance: co-design and build an equitable, sustainable and regenerative future
#EquityMoonshot quest introduction
Equity has multiple meanings. Here, equity refers to giving each person fair opportunities of reaching their highest levels of healthy well-being and developing their virtues for the greater good of all.
The virtue of equity refers to the systemic doctrine of fairness: co-create a fair, free and flourishing flourishing for the benefit of all.
Equity assures freedom for all, but freedom does not assure equity for all.
Without taking a lead focus on equity, regeneration and sustainability efforts will only perpetuate rigged systems designed for escalating inequities. Redressing inequities call for addressing the deeper underlying systemic issues that are often neglected in futurist thinking.
Equity and justice are antidotes to the power abuses of inept governance, incompetent leadership and political corruption that perpetrate unfair advantages and human rights violations in favor of the elites to the detriment of hard-working people.
Equity muses ask Big Hairy Audacious Questions (#BHAQs) about fairness. #BHAQs?evoke deep learning, collaboration and dialogues about how we can do good for the commons and the common good:?an inner space journey of opening, inspiring and aligning our leadership mindsets for the greater good.
This mindfulness BHAQ is about unwokeness: our unawareness of our unawareness.
Equity muses pose #BHAQs to expand our awareness about the challenges of launching #EquityMoonshot: co-design and build an equitable, regenerative and sustainable future.
#BHAQs enable us to create the right conditions for building bridges across the great political and religious divides. These bridges are essential for co-creating equity governance (see definition below), a doctrine for balancing fairness and freedom to maximize benefits for all, guided by a Declaration of Interdependence.
Community-building in the 20th century was about listening to gurus, sages-on-the-stage, mansplaining mavericks and becoming loyal followers: the marketing spectacle and theatre of the hypnotic "wow." This marketing, mesmerizing and messaging paradigm, along with its individualistic storyline of the hero's journey, are broken for solving our complex web of our self-inflicted wicked problems in the 21st-century.
The new transformational paradigm of building and scaling up learning communities requires exponential collaboration. The calls for co-creating social tapestries of self-generating, self-organizing and self-sustaining lifelong intergenerational learning journeys for the greater good.
How might we #UniteEquityMuses to:
Each of the five sections (see below) provide the prerequisite readings to participate in group sessions. The purpose of each section below is to co-create generative dialogues in response to two major #BHAQs. These dialogues enable us to:
Let's blast off on this never-ending journey. Start with one small step together to #UniteEquityMuses. And take a giant leap forward for humankind and the planet.
Enjoy equity musing if you can find the time for slow thinking.
If curious about the transformational power of asking #BHAQs, consider subscribing to this newsletter. Embark on a mindset learning journey of partnering with others to amplify awareness about #EquityMoonshot.
1: Dream Big to Solve Our Wicked Problems
A. Is there any educational vision and learning mission more important than launching #EquityMoonshot?
#EquityMoonshot Vision: co-design and build an equitable, regenerative and sustainable future to benefit all.
#EquityMoonshot Mission:?become open-minded, truth-seeking, free-thinkers together to solve our complex web of wicked problems in the 21st-century.
Without a shared vision and overall mission, efforts to work collaboratively together for the greater good are mis-aligned and counter-productive.
Equity muses challenge our leaders and thought leaders by asking #BHAQs about our future.
How might we, as equity muses, work together with leaders, change agents, champions, educators, innovators and entrepreneurs to:
To name but a few of these failures.
B. Why do we need to use complexity thinking to solve our wicked problems?
Wicked problems have no end nor final solution. They are personal,?social, cultural dilemmas, conflicts and predicaments without any clear cut solutions.
Wicked problems are difficult to address because they are complex, interdependent and interconnected, like trying to unravel tangled strands of multi-colored wool rolled up into a massive messy ball using one pair of tweezers. Reductionist linear thinking is inept and detrimental to solving wicked problems.
Wicked problems are not easy to understand because of their emergent, non-linear and unpredictable nature. Testing solutions iteratively are based on assessing and anticipating patterns and evaluating their impact and making adjustments along the way. This discovery process of learning directly from experience cannot reveal whether the best solution was implemented.
Self-inflicted wicked problems, such as inequities and global warming, arise from the shadows of our un-mindfulness and the dark side of human nature. The deep root causes of these problems also sabotage efforts in taking on wicked challenges: such as co-creating equity governance to resolve inequities and to adapt and mitigate against the negative climate change impacts of global warming.
Wicked problems call for developing resilient skills to address unexpected stresses and strains. In contrast, wicked challenges call for cultivating anti-fragile skills to future proof our collective capabilities and capacities to strive, thrive and flourish to higher levels of consciousness, humanity and civilizations.
A. Why become #EquityMuses together?
#EquityMuses are a new change agent archetype, a combination of the sacred fool, magician and jester. They pose #BHAQs to open, inspire and align our mindsets to launch #EquityMoonshot.
#EquityMuses facilitate intra-personal, inter-personal and systemic transformations involving the meta, macro, meso, micro and nano-levels. This whole-system approach calls for co-creating synergies between mindset transformations and second-order changes in our systems. This aspirational movement requires generating the network power and distributive leadership development to exponentiate synergistic transformations.
#EquityMuses use #BHAQs to evoke self-reflection and slow thinking needed to explore our diverse perspectives and differences in our mindsets. This deep learning process sets the stage to co-create generative dialogues about how to collaborate and innovate together in the lifelong intergenerational learning journey of solving wicked problems and taking on wicked challenges.
This sense-making process enables us to co-create meaningful middle ground where insightful learning opportunities arise. By establishing middle ground, we reduce the risks of regressing to the reductionist world of dysfunctional polarizations and disinformation pandemics.
#EquityMuses are mindset liberators who enable people to seek truth collaboratively. Truth-seeking calls for cherishing healthy disagreements and conflicts as learning opportunities, and not zero-sum uncivil debates and wars driven by one-upmanship, emotional reactivity and fundamentalist thinking. Equity muses use questions as a collaborative way to explore our different assumptions, opinions, beliefs, metaphor dispositions, values and virtues.
The #UniteEquityMuses movement uses #BHAQs not to teach people what to think or regurgitate, but instead, to learn how to think critically and ethically with mindful self-awareness, emotional self-understanding, self-regulation, empathy and equanimity.
B. How might we become open-minded, truth-seeking, free-thinkers together?
Equity muses invite learners to think ecologically in solving wicked problems using the best expertise with a beginner's mind of inquiry, curiosity and co-creativity. Our greatest impediments to align our mindsets for the greater good arise from our lack of meta-awareness, our different priorities in value systems and our failures to establish middle ground. In other words, our unawareness of our unawareness requires casting light on the blind spots of our un-mindfulness that keep us divided.
It is just equally important to say what equity muses are not. Equity muses are not self-centered influencers who seek fame, fortune and followers with blind unconditional loyalty. They ask questions that challenge cult leaders, personalities and?influencers who induce trances that indoctrinate people's mindsets. In these cult trances, followers risk becoming pawns, puppets and pitbulls of propaganda machine and regurgitate the talking points of the cult groupthink.
How might leaders and equity muses cultivate individual and community mindfulness needed to:
This deep learning process involves contemplating the ecological implications of these evocative questions before engaging in generative dialogues about how to engage in the lifelong intergenerational learning in solving wicked problems together. It is the responsibility of the elders to collaborate with all generations from a young age to cultivate shared sense of collective legacies for the greater good of current and future generations.
How might equity muses challenge our leaders to:
These counter-culture questions struggle to gain traction in the world of instant gratification for short-term gains of self-interest. These short-sighted strategies drive planned obsolescence, hyper-consumerism, mass waste production, environmental pollution, climate change and planetary demise.
In contrast, the long-sighted strategies focuses our attention on the delayed gratification and the benefits of circular economies, conservation of resources, recycling of waste, environmental protection, the preservation of planetary health, and adaptation and mitigation against the climate change impacts of global warming.
Whatever happened to the ecological business model idea, "Built to Last", that involved consumers leasing products with declining payments and holding manufacturers responsible for the whole life cycle of their products.
领英推荐
3: Launch #EquityMoonshot
A. How might we build a story movement about equity governance?
This story movement calls on equity leaders and muses using the equity motto, virtuous meme and ethical credo to unrig the system of political corruption, redress the wicked problems that cause isms and inequities, and pro-actively work on the wicked challenges of co-creating equitable systems using this meme, motto and credo.
Equity governance calls on us all to take on wicked challenges, such as global pandemic preparedness, to prevent and preempt wicked problems. We cannot adequately redress wicked problems without deconstructing our corrupt systems that enable human right abuses, inequities against humanity and the demise of planetary health.
B. How might we cultivate equity governance?
Equity governance is about co-designing healthy eco-systems that enable all of us to strive, thrive and flourish to our highest potential of virtues and healthy well-being. The purpose of this fairness doctrine is to cultivate the virtues of humanity to benefit all.
This fairness doctrine is the antidote to autocracy, tyranny, plutocracy. oligarchies, kleptocracy, hegemony, colonialism, post-colonialism, political corruption, nationalism, populism, nativism, isms (sexism, racism, classism, etc), prejudice, discriminations, implicit bias, human rights abuses, escalating inequities and the demise of planetary health.
How might equity muses and leaders cultivate the equity governance to help us all learn how to:
Imagine exponentiating the development of collaborative learning communities, organizations and networks who cooperate in collaborative win/win games, civil debates and social entrepreneurship.
4: Liberate people from inequitable systems
A. How might we ask #BHAQ about unrigging our rigged systems?
Neoliberalism is designed to escalate inequities to benefit the elites and to disadvantage the poor. This rigged paradigm has created new forms of financial insecurities (economic subsistence, servitude and enslavement) that diminish people's freedoms.
These questions call for liberating ourselves from the reductionist, neoliberal mindset and moving beyond the polarities between the social virtues of equity and equality on the one hand and the individual values of freedom and liberty on the other hand to tri-polarity stewardship guided by the equanimity of equity governance.
How might our leaders and equity muses:
These ethical questions call for envisioning and co-creating a new future based on a guiding constellation of virtues to solve wicked problems and to work on wicked challenges.
B. Why is it important to understand the distinctions between social virtues and individual values?
Social virtues align us. Without guiding virtues, our values divide us. Our complex web of self-inflicted wicked problems arises from our failures to address the dysfunctional relationships between social virtues (doing good) and individual values (rank ordering what's important). There is always value in social virtues but not always virtues in individual values. People commonly use these concepts of values and virtues imprecisely.
Values set priorities about what is important. Liberty and freedom are individual values, and not virtues. "To Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" is a meme based on values.
Individual values are also a triple-edged sword that can be used for moral, amoral and immoral purposes: the good, the bad and the ugly. Free speech can be used in responsible and irresponsible ways. Curtailing responsible free speech is censorship. On the other hand, falsely "shouting fire in a crowded theatre" is not regarded as free speech. Holding illegitimate speech that has negative consequences (such as inciting an insurrection) accountable to truth is about justice and not censorship.
Individual values also relate to power and leadership positioning along the authoritative-authoritarian continuum. Ego-driven individual values focuses competition between individuals that can foster conflicting identities and combative tribalism.
Individual values can dominate over social virtues with dire consequences. Without guiding virtues, our values divide us. Our different priorities in our value systems set up dysfunctional polarizations, divisiveness and toxic politics to undermine virtues.
The failures to make important distinctions between values and virtues create lack of ethical clarity. In turn, this ethical opaqueness enables undisciplined thinking, uncivil debates and divisive conflicts.
The answers to this question depends on the meaning and definitions of beliefs and faith, and how they are used. Beliefs and faith are are also triple-edge swords that can be use for moral, amoral and immoral purposes. When used for moral purposes, faith and beliefs are virtuous actions.
But leaders can misuse faith and beliefs in amoral and immoral ways that deceive people and exploit their gullibility and vulnerabilities. They exert power and control over people's sovereignty and deprive people of their freedom. This is corrupt abuse of power perpetuates religious and political hegemony.
Unhealthy disagreements and conflicts are valued when mired down in self-righteous fundamentalism, rigid positioning and identity politics. The "us versus them" mindset values the domination of political and religious hegemony, wars, winning at all costs and the end justifies the means. With these immoral values, the reptilian and amygdala brains dominate over the ethical exercise of our neocortical brains.
Healthy disagreements and conflicts are virtuous, when they explore different perspectives without taking rigid positioning, evoking identity politics and regressing to the authoritarianism of self-righteous fundamentalism. Healthy disagreements and conflicts are guided by the curious exploration of different perspectives, the inclusive "We" and a constellation of guiding virtues, such as the fairness and kindness of equity. With such guidance, our ethical neocortex regulates the amoral and immoral impulses of our reptilian and amygdala brain.
"To Love, Truth-seeking and the Pursuit of Equity" is a meme based on social virtues. Social virtues are about doing good for the commons and the common good. Equity and equality are such virtues. These virtues enable us to understand different perspectives and to find the middle ground of common values needed to work for humanity and the health of the planet.
Social virtues relate to humility, the egalitarianism of ethical governance and the moral stewardship of collaborative learning for greater good. This community-building approach is about empowering the equanimity of distributive leadership. This relational process involving partnering between people and engaging them in the deep learning dialogues about how to open, inspire and align our diverse mindsets for the common good.
How might equity muses and leaders:
5: Rectify the power abuses of immoral freedom
A. How might we redress the abuses of political megalomania and its dire consequence?
Unethical governance, inept stewardship, incompetent leadership incompetence, incessant political corruption, human rights abuses, the plague of isms and inequities are power abuse manifestations of immoral freedom. These abuses of power all conspire to disable us from co-creating a fair, free and flourishing future to benefit all.
In short, human groups engage in competitive zero-sum win/lose games, uncivil debates and warmongering activities to dominate over each other. They exploit others to gain unfair advantages and privileges. This immoral foundation is governed by the misappropriation of military and sports metaphors to justify human rights abuses.
Imagine a world governed by a mosaic of ecological, biomimicry, regeneration, cultivation, civility, citizenry and peace-loving metaphors guided by a constellations of virtues.
Mosaic metaphors for the ultimate quest question.
Regrettably, the word "virtue" is devalued and tarnished with sanctimonious connotations.
How might we, the people:
B. How might we close the rhetoric-action gap in declarations?
Our failures in addressing wicked challenges and solving our wicked problems arise from thinking too small and too parochially without the long-sighted commitment to address the discrepancies between self-centered short-termism for the individual good and the aspirational long-termism for the common good and the good of the commons.
This question raises issues about how we can take on wicked challenges of making declarations work for their intended purposes.
What are our most important learning lessons about the failure of:
The Oslo Freedom Forum (May 22-25th 2022) was a gathering of activists united in standing up for human rights and against tyranny. Ukraine is a symbol of NATO and liberal democracies failures in disseminating the ethical and political governance needed to prevent war crimes and the mass abuses of human rights. Without addressing the deep root causes of corrupt political systems and immoral leadership, the ethical advocacy for human rights is like NATO fighting Putin at judo with both hands tied behind its backs.
_________________________
The blogs below were inspired by attending the OFF conference and updated after the conference.
Social Purpose with Maximum Positive Impact and Lasting: Nothing about us without us | We are what we leave behind | Our identity lies in our heritage | Big ideas with maximum impact | We are what we care about.
2 年WICKED PROBLEMS: PROBLEMS WORTH SOLVING (with the intent of changing design and social entrepreneurship education. As these disciplines converge, it becomes evident that existing pedagogy doesn't support either students or practicioners attempting to design for impact). To?professors and educators of design: ?"What should design and social entrepreneurship education look like"????? Another audience is made up of fresh-out-of-school designers, who are bored and uninspired by their jobs. For them: ?"How can I redirect my design efforts to something meaningful"????? Finally, a last audience is made up of practicing designers and entrepreneurs, who are looking to achieve social impact in their work. For them: ?"What tools and techniques can I use in my work to drive impact through design"????? Horst Rittel ("Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning." Policy Sciences, #1973: 155-169) one of the first to formalize a theory of wicked problems, cites?#ten characteristics of these complicated social issues. https://urbanpolicy.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Rittel+Webber_1973_PolicySciences4-2.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01405730
Super Connector, Advisor, Celebrity/Influencer Management, Business Development & Strategic Partnerships, Fundraising and Social Good Activator with Deep Entertainment and Arts Network.?Evolving and Optimizing Humanity.
2 年So the ground game of EquityMuses seems to require a hungry curiosity about unfamiliar points of view. Not with the intent to prove them wrong but with earnest to understand as much as we can, yes, using slow thinking paired with vulnerable, truth seeking discussions. Seeking out as many unfamiliar, even seemingly scientifically unfounded perspectives (eg flat earth theorists) with the intention of grasping how and why they’re held is an actionable directive. Abundant today are many resources (eg Clubhouse, LunchClub) to task out empathic curiosity. Of course sustaining these actions come far easier with financial stability. And peoples’ perception of financial stability, with social media dangling exaggerated lifestyles of rich and famous people, often generating revenue with polarizing broadcasts, is spreading a “virus of “wanting” that the supply side is all too capable of meeting. So how can this be fixed? What about delivering “wanted” items as a Trojan horse to incentivize more mindful, curious and empathic behaviors? Imagine an NFT campaign rewarding people for broadcasting an act of kindness or an admission of newfound knowledge after a meaningful conversation. What if it became cool to be curious?
Bachelor of Commerce - BCom from Nizam College at Hyderabad Public School
2 年????
International Motivational Speaker @ Mike Stevenson | Empowerment : Solution Finding : Creativity : Future of work ??????????
2 年You are a man from my own heart Rick Botelho, MD, Equity Muse and this beautifully constructed newsletter resonates with me in every way. Human rights have edged ever downwards in Government and Corporate priorities and that poses a great threat to humanity. The UN have constructed a great list of priorities, but I don't know how much traction is in them. Having said that, I do believe a great reversal is on the horizon. A young generation that is not adhered to an bullshit and is less compliant and better equipped to create global challenge. Recruitment is suffering across many industries where people are mere unitsof production and new values are rising from the mist. I also like the virtue becaused it is lived. Values are often vague written statements with words and phrases like 'Integrity' 'Customer focus' 'Our people are our greatest asset' Much of it is puff and many people will not be able to recall them. This is a huge issue and like you, I trumpet the need for change and work hard to fuel the debate. The stability of current dogmas will collapse.