How is Bolivia leading the World in Bigger Thinking? ....and Why focusing on the question is more Informative than the Answer 

by Lorna McDowell (download white paper) 

In 1791, on the cusp of the French Revolution, Thomas Paine wrote the 'Rights of Man', positing that popular political revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard its people, their natural rights and their national interests.  Two centuries later, as the world is embracing simultaneous social revolutions of a scale unseen in the last centuries,  Bolivia  launches the first ever Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth in the face of its own ecological collapse, which has by and large been happening beneath the news radar of the West.   

In this declaration, the Bolivian Government, led by the suitably named Evo Morales, posits that everything is connected and that, as a living entity, the earth has as much right to life and nourishment as do its inhabitants and that our short-sighted ways must change if the planet is to survive.   We are in this together and all countries must listen and unite.    As Paine stated, rights are basic needs that exist as part of nature, they are not privileges but fundamentals to sustaining human and planetary existence.

Bolivia is struggling to cope with rising temperatures, melting glaciers and more extreme weather events including more frequent floods, droughts, frosts and mudslides?   Citizens are struggling for life, whilst for years the world has enjoyed their mineral and commodity resources.  This new act, passed by Bolivia's national congress in December 2010 paves the way for full legislation and defines Mother Earth as a dynamic and invisible community of all living systems and living organisms, inter-related, interdependent and complementary, which share a common destiny.

Bolivia's government will be legally bound to prioritise the wellbeing of its citizens and the natural world by developing policies of "Sumaj Kawsay" - a Quechua concept about "living well in balance" meaning to be living in harmony with nature and people with earth - policies that promote sustainability and control industry.  Further, when the Union of South American Nations becomes a functioning entity later this year, this Declaration could spread and create more pressure on the Western world to take notice.  

If this Declaration were to spread, what could this mean to corporate organisations apart from the obvious environmental concerns?  Eco-system balance is just as important to the mental environment as the physical.  How we manage ourselves in our organisational groupings - communities, companies, councils, movements, charities, churches - begins with the quality of the cognitive processes that lead the ideas and resulting actions.   Organisations are huge consumers of mental as well as physical energy, but often are not deeply concerned with replenishing the energy or resources that are tapped in the pursuit of day to day work, beyond legal health and safety requirements.  

Starbucks' CEO, Howard Schultz, in his book, 'Onward', speaks of how the company fought for its life without losing its soul.   Schultz story details how he re-animated the spirit of the brand by re-animating peoples' spirit for "living" the brand, not just talking about it.  This meant going back to basics about what it means to be passionate about coffee, the sensory experience of what it means to be a barista and a customer of a barista, part of the founding idea behind Starbucks based around the Italian coffee bars.  If the mental/emotional energy is exhausted or apathetic, the outputs will be dated and apathetic, making it near impossible to imbue them with aspired brand values.  What you live as a series of daily habits, thoughts and rituals, is far more important than what you aspire or delude yourself you do in corporate statements in annual reports.   It's what the customer remembers.   

A decade after the launch of initiatives from "talent management" to "emotional intelligence" and coaching, mental energy replenishment is still largely marginalised and treated as "soft stuff", in favour of "hard survival KPIs".   There is a difference between training and learning, and there is a developmental gap between knowing and living what you know and reflecting on how you apply it in your own daily practice.   That gap usually involves the courage to stop the flywheel of habits (yours and other peoples) and consciously act in a way that changes the currents, which is often a step too far when all the conventional indicators still say that the company is performing.   

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