Articles

Everyone’s talking about “Globalization.”  It’s a “flat world,” we’re told, a level playing field.  “Outsourcing” of jobs is the big worry.  Why pay an American $150 an hour for work that can be done in India for $25 an hour?  So we end up phoning customer service about a computer problem, and the techies we’re talking with are in the Philippines or India.

What’s happening, and what does it mean?

In the midst of the turbulent global financial and economic crisis, one question predominates: is the world simply passing through what appears to be an extremely dangerous and difficult decade of multiple crises, after which life will return to a more familiar normalcy? Or do these converging crises signal the end of the world, as we’ve known it, and the emergence of a totally new context of human existence? Is the economic/financial crisis a symptom of a deeper change taking place?

A presentation to the Kendal Forum, Kennett Square, PA --

Tonight I want to step back from the immediate issues that dominate the news, and consider two basic topics: First, understanding our moment in history, and second, the relation of today's events to that moment. For it's increasingly clear that we're not just facing a few critical problems here and there. We appear to be at some major junction in human affairs. I suggest part of understanding how best to go forward lies in comprehending the significance of our particular historic moment.

One of the most difficult changes to understand in life is a change in a people’s worldview or basic orientation.  Throughout history worldviews have changed and, over time, evolved.  This process results both from outward developments such as availability of new knowledge and inventions, as well as from an inward process, a psychological and spiritual maturation.

Here are some helpful hints for living between the two ages:

Historians frequently divide the past into different periods or "ages." Thus in Western history we speak of the Middle Ages or the Renaissance or the Industrial Age. Each era is defined by certain characteristics. The time between one phase and the next can be both disruptive as well as full of the promise of new possibilities. Today, we are living in just such an "in-between" period, between two ages. The following outline suggests the characteristics of the age we are leaving, as well as the distinctiveness of the age that is emerging.

A Presentation for the Public Affairs Council, Washington, D.C. --

I see you've had an advanced tutorial this morning on the basic building blocks of Issue Management. You certainly started with one of the masters. Chris Nelson is the best. If your company ever wants an up-to-the second intelligence source on trade, monetary issues, inside Washington, or global flash points, they could do no better than to subscribe to the daily on-line "Nelson Report."

Good evening. I'm going to ask your indulgence as I forego customary introductory remarks, and jump to the essence of what I've been invited to discuss.

The question I have been wrestling with for some time now is this: Do we comprehend-at a foundational level-what is happening to America and the world? Are we simply passing through what appears to be an extremely dangerous and difficult period of multiple crises, after which life will return to a more familiar normalcy? Or do these converging crises signal the end of the world, as we've known it? Is it reasonable to suggest that the next three decades will be the most decisive 30-year period in history?

The "9/11 Memorial Address", Santa Fe, NM

It is a humbling honor to be invited to give the 9/11 Memorial Address. What can possibly be said that even begins to approach the horror and the grandeur of that day? The horror of the act, and the grandeur of the response of the American spirit.

It has taken a series of crises in France, Holland, Britain, Germany and other European countries for the issue of identity finally to be recognized as central to the contemporary global crisis. President Chirac admits on national TV that his country faces “an identity crisis,” a crisis that swells as increasing numbers of immigrants from Asia, Africa and the Middle East crowd into Europe and North America. The editor-in-chief of the Dutch daily, Handelsblad, sums up Holland’s dilemma: “We now want to teach immigrants more about our identity, and we discover that we’re not sure what’s left of it!”