A Call to Conscious Evolution:

Fiscal crises: why the Ship hit the Sand Today we have an ostensibly conservative administration casting a net of corporate welfare wider than liberals could ever have conceived. More than a financial crises, this is an unconscionable failure in leadership. Each side is reactive to failures that are systemic and likely will never be resolved within the paradigm each is mired in. For me, the cause of the crises is fundamentally an out-picturing of outworn and out dated concepts of the free market system that encourage unconscious behaviors with unintended side effects. As Ernest Holmes says there are no mistakes, just inevitable consequences. These "unconscious behaviors" arise from a basic assumption that a corporation as a "legal person" is entitled to make a profit at any cost. (Perhaps legally required to). Given the complexity of life, within local and global communities dependent on cooperation, this mindless, soul-less, unconscious imperative of the "legal person" puts the entire global economy (perhaps even survival) at risk. The consciousness of the "legal person" at this point of its evolution has been retarded to a single minded focus ñ profit (while avoiding regulations and being eaten); a consciousness even more primitive than our Neanderthal ancestors (more reptilian than human). Advances in medicine have evolved beyond bloodletting; rocket science advancing beyond gunpowder. Why the concept of capitalism remains rooted in an antiquated iteration defies comprehension. In my opinion, the lack of evolution in the "corporate soul" actually causes the run-away growth in government, which must rein in corporate excesses with punitive attempts at regulation and agencies springing up to monitor excesses. Corporations pollute the environment; fines, regulations and agencies spring up. Corporations conspire to get around regulation, government expands to close loopholes. Then if government doesn't do enough, community activists spring up to blunt real and perceived injustices. (Unions, Greenpeace, activists of every ilk.) Lobbyists counter with all forms of influence peddling. The structure within the corporation rarely commands personal responsibility to address these injustices, with leadership beholden to satisfy only shareholders, who legitimately are only interested in ROI. So the cultural environment within the corporation is rife for all sorts of individual misdeeds, malfeasance and abuse from the cronyism of CEO's and their Board of Directors to the petty fiefdoms of mid level managers, mindless profiteering, excessive compensation and ultimately criminal activities. The political pendulum swings back and forth from deregulation to regulation with shameful partisan bickering and blame. Mindless consumerism is an integral part of the paradigm as each individual relentlessly strives to find meaning in incessant acquisition hoping the next purchase will somehow fill the emptiness inside. What is needed is a reframing of the basic responsibility and vision of the corporation. The "legal person" must evolve a "corporate soul". (see Richard Barrett's "Liberating the Corporate Soul"). Corporate consciousness must emerge and evolve. The "bottom line" must be broadened along the parameters of sustainability; not just fiscal, but social, cultural, environmental and spiritual (not religious) sustainability. ROI becomes much richer in its scope.(Defined on a sliding scale from 10 years to the proverbial 7 generations). The role of government then is to define benchmarks in each of those areas and provide long-term or even permanent tax incentives for achieving those benchmarks. As the "corporate soul" evolves in meeting different aspects of multi-level benchmarks, the incentives grow. The benchmarks on one hand, essentially are invitations to take over regulatory functions the government now performs (since conventional wisdom says businesses always do things better). Alternatively, these new "regulatory functions" can be outsourced by corporations to emerging new for-profit enterprises, or existing non-profits. On the other hand, the benchmarks encourage research and development, innovation and creativity as organizations are incentivized to re-engineer dated policies, processes and procedures, re-vitalizing old markets and opening new ones. Additionally, shareholders see a decreasing tax burden by investing in these "conscious corporations" (like existing SRI' s -socially responsible investments-on steroids) and perhaps individuals in the most evolved corporations pay little or no income tax. Government shrinks, new businesses and jobs are created, taxes are lowered. Most importantly, people find greater meaning in the workplace, in a "conscious corporation" that is making a difference (in fiscal, social, cultural, environmental and spiritual areas) and thus become galvanized to make a difference for those less fortunate within their own communities (see Ray Anderson's carpet giant Interface) or help populate entities like Clinton's Global Initiatives. Productivity goes up, turnover goes down. Communities (local and global) prosper. The corporations within the global community that implement these types of changes gain a huge competitive advantage (and handsome returns to shareholders). Meanwhile, Corporations and individuals committed to profit at all costs (like existing financial institutions and Wall Street), bear the greatest tax burden, because little else is cultivated in their garden. After all, on any scale of evolutionary needs (Maslow) survival (profit) is foundational; but don't we want the "legal person" to evolve into more than that? Aren't we better (or more) than that? Imagine the possibilities when the "legal person" becomes self-actualized? John DePalma Exec Director The Institute for Conscious Leadership PO Box 940310 Maitland, FL 32794-0310

Start with ourselves by working to cleans ourselves of our negative emotions and to learn to respect and love ourselves in that way enabling us to see the beauty that is in every person, animal, plant and thing that surrounds us. That will enable us to interact with the world with respect and love.