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 I
teach a course titled “Accountability: Business and Nonprofit
Ethics in a World of Globalization” and five books –
The Ends of the Earth by Robert D. Kaplan, The Lexus and
the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Friedman, Globalization and its
Discontents by Joseph E. Stiglitz, The Mystery of Capital
by Hernando De Soto and The Responsible Manager by Michael
Rion -- make my minimal list for understanding each of our
“accountabilities”.
The course starts by acknowledging the central two-theme
emphasis of the religions of
“the People of the Book” – Jews, Christians, and
Muslims, together known as the Abrahamic Religions.
Those two themes are a) an emphasis on community, and b) an
emphasis on social justice, particularly for those who are
marginalized.
Kaplan, whose exciting book is subtitled “A Journey to
the Frontiers of Anarchy” describes the Third World, where half
of the world’s population is marginalized living on less than $3
a day.
Friedman compares that “olive tree” population with
that of the Western World where people drive the Lexus, and leads
one to the conclusion that globalization is a kind of anarchy
changing the world, destroying many present social values (some of
which are good and some bad), creating terrorists who oppose the
change, but lifting many of the poor from poverty.
This anarchy needs the influence of “civil society”
institutions to mediate its unhealthy forces. Stiglitz and De Soto
examine some of the good and bad roles that civil societies are
playing in the world today.
One of President Clinton’s main international efforts
since leaving office comes from his alliance with De Soto whose
foundation proposes and aids the revision of constitutions, laws,
and property regimes of developing countries to give the poor
access to financing.
And lastly, Mike Rion, former president of Hartford
Seminary and an ethicist and consultant with a worldwide practice,
has written a timeless guidebook for every one of us whose job it
is to be a manager in a for-profit or non-profit organization
operating in the globalized world described above.
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