Course: “Transforming Business, Society & Self”
What do the Donald Trump campaign, the recent incident at St David’s field and the political malaise in our Island, the U.S. and other countries, have in common – is a question Imagine Bermuda is asking.
“A free online course from MIT is engaging thousands Globally, by looking at how communities can work together to address the roots of these type of symptomatic issues. This offering is coming through edX, and is entitled, ‘Transformation of Business, Society, & Self’’,” a spokesperson said.
“Imagine Bermuda is creating a Hub so that local residents can participate collectively, in this break-through approach involving shifting the Conversation to ‘what we want’, rather than, ‘what we don’t want’.
“Trump’s card is an unchecked verbal attack, muddying the waters, thus undermining meaningful discourse. The tactic has boosted his popularity.
“Last Saturday saw the latest in a series of altercations at cricket games, reflecting a sense of powerlessness and a frayed social fabric, arguably related to the protracted recession.
“Bermuda ‘s economic crisis has resulted in interest payments of over $2 million per week and unprecedented unemployment. Rather than pulling together towards solutions, we are experiencing extensive polarization.
“Washington D.C. is frozen by grid-lock. So that no one has been able to conduct a comprehensive discussion on gun control, in the face of the numerous mass murders of school children.
“The commonality of these 3 examples is that they result from a zero-sum paradigm. For instance; the Westminster system’s ‘winner-take-all’ model, encourages players to simply block each other in the scramble for power.
“The purpose of this free MIT course is to gain clarity on how we may all inadvertently be ‘a part of the problem’. The goal is to conduct a mindful assessment of circumstances and to foster solidarity throughout communities, in order to facilitate real progress.
“Another course aim is to look for seeds of transformation within a society. For Bermuda this would include drawing on the example of our response to Hurricanes, as we experienced last October.
“The course leader is Otto Scharmer senior MIT professor; consultant to various UN agencies and Vice Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Leadership Council. Partnering him is Dayna Cunningham; formerly legal counsel for NAACP’s Voter’s Rights Campaign and current Director at MIT’s CoLab developing practical community solutions such as the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative – a collaboration of colleges, trade unions and hospitals in that Borrough of NYC.
“Residents are invited to register by Googling edX and then checking for ‘Transformation of Business, Society and Self’. Those interested in collaborating locally, during this 6 week course should attend a session on Friday – 17/9/15 – 12.30 – 1.30pm at Chewstick at 81 Front Street – next to ‘Onion Jack’.”
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