By the turn of the millennium, the dominant idea was that not only should the business ofbusiness be only business, but countries, governments and civil society organizations should alsobe run on principles of business.Soon, the realization that, while economies had been growing, systemic problems of social inequalityand environmental unsustainability were becoming intolerable, led to the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals, which all countries signed up to achieve. A new toolkit is required to attain these goals thatgo beyond the precepts of good business management and prevalent best practices in governmentas well as civil society organizations.In Transforming Systems, Arun Maira stresses that a new toolkit has to be founded on disciplinesof systems thinking, ethical reasoning and deep listening. It should focus more on concepts ofgovernance of networks, rather than the management of organizations. Diverse points of viewmust be heard and valued, not smothered beneath technology-driven quantitative data analysis.Maira brings the wealth of his knowledge and experience to highlight the uncertainty of ourfuture that is bound to change dynamically, and points out how we can cope with the changes.He insists that the most useful life skill for young people is to learn how to be lifelong learners,sensitive to their own evolution within an evolving system.
About the Author
Arun Maira is Chairman, HelpAge International. A former Member of India's PlanningCommission (2009–14), he was with the Tata Group for twenty-five years at top-level positions.He was also Chairman, Boston Consulting Group, India.Maira is the author of the bestselling books Listening for Well-Being; Redesigning the AeroplaneWhile Flying: Reforming Institutions and An Upstart in Government: Journeys of Change and Learning.
Loading...
