Sunday, January 31, 2010

“Home Spirituality Philosophy Your 10 Guiding Principles for Life - Aish” plus 3 more

“Home Spirituality Philosophy Your 10 Guiding Principles for Life - Aish” plus 3 more

Home Spirituality Philosophy Your 10 Guiding Principles for Life - Aish

Posted: 31 Jan 2010 04:07 AM PST

During these days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, when we strive to live with a heightened awareness, it's important to be clear on your priorities in life and not get caught up with endless distractions. Here's a simple exercise to help you stay focused.

Write down 10 of the most important principles you believe in that shape your life priorities. What are the big-picture fundamentals that you know deep down should be guiding your decisions and that you all too often forget about in the daily grind? It doesn't matter if they're obvious or simple; you're not trying to impress anyone with your list. This is your private reminder of the principles you ultimately want to be living with.

It doesn't matter how well it's written, and whether or not you're a philosopher. Just write, and later you can hone your list down, and perhaps share with others.

Here's my list, in no particular order:

1. This world is a corridor to the Next World. My life -- right here, right now -- is to create eternity by choosing wisely, to connect to God and become more and more like God. Get moving; this opportunity is quickly evaporating.

2. I have free will and can choose to wage battle against my yetzer hara, my lower self. I am responsible for my actions. There are no excuses, only eternal consequences. God is filming everything, and isn't going to turn a blind eye. He expects the most from me. Choose life!

3. The only real failure in life is not trying. Don't be afraid to take on new challenges and risks. I never know what good will come from my focused efforts, but I do know what will come from not trying.

4. I have an obligation to learn and know the entire Torah. What is my plan to accomplish this? What am I doing about it?

5. Am I making God welcomed and comfortable to be with me in my day to day life? Am I thinking inappropriate things? Am I viewing in appropriate things? Am I wasting time? Losing my temper? Being critical and judgmental? Am I even thinking about God?

6. Am I taking care of my health?

7. Am I nurturing my most important relationships? Be affirming, positive, giving to others.

8. It doesn't matter what others think of me. My self esteem comes from recognizing that I am a pure soul, loved by God, striving to do my best.

9. I am responsible for the Jewish people. With the majority of Jews intermarrying and assimilating, there is a grave spiritual crisis, as well as a serious physical threat to Jews everywhere. What am I doing about this? What else can I do?

10. If I'm not pushing myself beyond my comfort zone, I'm not really living. Life in this world is for growth and struggle.

11. (I know I said ten, but how can I not include this one?) God is the ultimate reality, the transcendent source of all existence. There are no accidents; everything happens for a reason and is somehow for my good.

That's my list. What's yours? Please share some of your core principles in the comment section below. Shana tova!

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Sustainable investing behind new manager - Financial Times

Posted: 31 Jan 2010 12:07 PM PST

One of the pioneers of sustainable investment analysis has launched a multi-strategy asset management company based on the principles of sustainability.

Inflection Point Capital Management is the brainchild of Matthew Kiernan, founder of Innovest, a sustainability research firm sold to RiskMetrics a year ago.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Story or Post ID: - VillageSoup Belfast

Posted: 31 Jan 2010 01:18 PM PST

My Client-First Philosophy

There are many qualities and skills that go into being an excellent real estate professional - integrity, in-depth community and market knowledge, marketing savvy, effective negotiation skills and a high-quality professional network, all of which are hallmarks of how I work.

That said, in my experience as a Rockland real estate professional, I've also found that providing the very best service is essentially about putting my clients first. This means keeping myself accessible, being a good listener as well as a good communicator, and responding quickly to your needs.

This "client first" philosophy has always been my approach and it requires me to continually improve my skills and ways of doing business. In addition, I've found that the latest technologies are enabling me to do everything I've always done, only much more quickly and efficiently. They've also helped me to extend the range of services I provide to my clients.

So when you decide that you'd like to buy or sell a home in the Rockland areas, please contact me at 207-596-6433.

 

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Philosophy Is Back in Business - Huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 20 Jan 2010 02:19 AM PST

The financial and climate crises, global consumption habits, and other 21st-century challenges call for a "killer app." I think I've found it: philosophy.

Philosophy can help us address the (literally) existential challenges the world currently confronts, but only if we take it off the back burner and apply it as a burning platform in business.

Philosophy explores the deepest, broadest questions of life — why we exist, how society should organize itself, how institutions should relate to society, and the purpose of human endeavor, to name just a few. "The Wealth of Nations," a book that serves as the intellectual platform for capitalism, lays out how markets should be organized and how people should behave in such markets. The book's author, Adam Smith, was not an economist, as many believe, but a philosopher. Smith was chairman of the Moral Philosophy Dept. at Glasgow University when he wrote the book.

Like other philosophers, Smith attempted to create a new framework for understanding the world, addressing how we as humans seek alignment in our relationships and among competing interests.

The philosophical approach Smith pursued has faded from use, yet it's more relevant than ever in light of the crises our organizations and countries face. Credit, climate and consumption crises cannot be solved through specialized expertise alone. These problems, like most issues businesses confront in the global marketplace, feature complex interdependencies that require an understanding of how political, financial, environmental, ethical and social interests influence each other. A philosophical approach connects the dots among competing interests in an effort to create synergy. Linking competing interests requires philosophers to examine areas that modern-day domain experts too often ignore: core beliefs, ethics and character.

When I say we need to return to a philosophical approach in relation to problem-solving, I mean that we need to broaden our understanding of problems by looking deeper at our own beliefs, values, ethics and character, and then understand how they relate to those of others who share a stake in our problem-solving efforts.

Needed: Broader questions and goals
This has grown difficult to do at the organizational level because so many of our businesses are packed with specialized domain experts. We are having trouble connecting the dots among these knowledge silos to conceive enduring solutions.

Like philosophers, we as individuals and organizations need to keep values, ethics and the overall human condition in mind as we make decisions and take actions. Among other behaviors, this means hiring for character (in addition to specialized skills), considering the long-term implications (in addition to the short-term rewards) of our decisions, and figuring out how we can create value (in addition to extracting value).

By taking these steps and embracing a more philosophical approach to problem-solving, we will establish our character as the 21st century's defining competitive differentiator. As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus so elegantly put it almost 2,500 years ago: "Character is fate." This holds true for individuals and organizations.

I see growing evidence of businesses asserting their desire to address the human condition, which certainly marks a step in the right direction.

My bias stems from my experience as an undergraduate at UCLA, where philosophy lit a fire inside me. By rewarding me for the careful consideration of one idea instead of compelling me to read hundreds of pages of text, philosophy helped me understand why I was struggling in all other academic areas. I studied philosophy for seven years before I went to law school, where I took eight classes in jurisprudence, which is essentially the philosophy of law.

A more ethical corporate sector
Although I pursued my philosophical studies because I was inspired by the subject, I also reached a conclusion that led me to found LRN, a company that helps businesses develop ethical corporate cultures: Philosophy is powerful enough to tackle sprawling issues. The discipline remains amazingly practical after existing for more than 2,000 years.

Here's a timely and practical example of how applied philosophy can generate a new business idea: At LRN, we don't think of our suppliers as "vendors" or our customers as "buyers." They are all our "partners" in a shared effort to build our businesses together in the service of a big idea — a more ethical corporate sector. This may sound abstract, but it's actually quite practical.

When you share a philosophical concept or a world view, you create alignment, whether it's with a colleague, a trading partner or another stakeholder. Without that shared vision, relationships often bog down in low-level squabbles.

During LRN's negotiations, for instance, instead of butting heads with our partners across the table over low-level details, we strive to remember that we share common ground and that we are committing to working together for years. If we remember that, we're more likely to reach a win-win agreement that deepens our connections.

LRN is hardly alone. As I wrote in an earlier story, more companies appear eager to deepen connections with their own partners and the human condition in general. I was recently struck by the simplicity of Ally Bank's print advertisement expressing its competitive advantage: "We Speak Human."

Wanted: Philosophers in pinstripes
These corporations are promoting the notion that their mission extends beyond profit and provides new frameworks — transportation, fuel, manufacturing and so forth — for improving existence. These assertions require supporting actions over the long term if they are to have merit. In our connected and transparent world, where so many can easily see deeply into our operations, it has become clear that companies and even nations have character — and that their character is their destiny. For institutions to ensure that their characters, or cultures, are consistent with their behavior, they need more humans within their organizations who can appropriately manifest the desired culture through leadership, business practices and individual behaviors.

When LRN posted the job listing for the New York office administrator position that Emily recently stepped into, we included a specification designed to let candidates know that we valued what they might contribute to our company, beyond their administrative skills: "Philosophy major preferred." We hoped to find someone like Emily, who could truly connect with our mission and not just "do the job." That qualification seemed a bright idea.

It turned out to be a practical idea. Before my September trip to China, philosophy major Emily took the initiative to join a group of staff members who brainstormed with me about ways I might connect international company executives, local business people, students and Chinese citizens on the topic of values, ethics and behaviors. Our office manager and philosopher added value in a way that someone hired exclusively for a skill set probably would not have been able to contribute. Anyone — not only philosophy majors — can think more broadly and more deeply about the beliefs and values at the root of our crises, but Emily certainly does.

This is hopeful news at a time when massive problems are nudging people to hunker down, rather than to lean in and connect.

These connections are vital as we engage deeper with the 21st century's biggest challenges. As we do this, we will find that philosophy's application is not only "killer" in a practical sense, but necessary in a fundamentally human one.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
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