Thoughts From The Thinking Weekend
On February 23rd and 24th, I hosted a Thinking Weekend with support from Scott Kriens, Chairman, Juniper Networks, and TED to have a joint inquiry into an important question i.e. what is the role of a corporation in society and should the society treat tech companies differently? We explored the topic from six different perspectives:
1. A corporation perspective with Scott Kriens, Chairman, Juniper Networks
2. An academic perspective with Terry Kramer, Former US Ambassador, Faculty Director, Easton Technology Management Center, UCLA
3. A local governance perspective with John McAlister, Councilmember and Former Mayor, City of Mountain View
4. An individual perspective with Ralph Abraham, Chaos theory and dynamical systems theory pioneer. You can see Ralph's trialouges with Rupert Sheldrake and Terence McKenna here
5. An outside perspective with Gro Dyrnes, Director Silicon Valley, Innovation Norway
6. An artist perspective with Christine Wang, Artist
It was an intellectually stimulating weekend in a beautiful natural setting at 1440. Following are my random notes from the event:
1. All innovations have the potential to do harm. Think of fire which is the cornerstone of human evolution and its ability to do harm. It is up to us how we use new innovations.
2. A corporation should have a shared set of values for all employees to follow. An example:
a) Trust
b) Humility
c) Respect
d) Integrity
If people follow these values at work, chances are that they are going to do that same at home.
3. Almost all institutional shareholders don’t care about the values of the corporation, they only care about the returns on their investments.
4. Generally, the employee financial incentives are not tied to living by values in technology corporations. However, people who get promoted are exemplars of the values.
5. Most people who complain about corporations not being socially responsible don’t have their retirement plans managed by funds that only invest in socially responsible corporations. These people also want the highest returns.
6. Activist investors have gained more prominence in the last ten years. Generally, they are looking for short term returns at the expense of higher long term returns.
7. Traditionally, tech CEOs have focused on managing P&L i.e. income statement. Activist investors have brought CEOs attention to cash i.e. managing the balance sheet.
8. Walmart has a good example of how a corporation can influence social good. Today, Walmart is the largest buyer of organic cotton in the world. The cotton industry is known for extensive use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. To give farmers time to switch to organic cotton, Walmart accepted hybrid cotton for a few years and made commitments to buy organic cotton when the farmers switched to it. [See related article here].
9.There is over $800B in private foundations in the US. Moving money to a foundation has tax benefits and gives the donor control over how the money is spent for philanthropic purposes. If the money is pooled together by the government and spent on social good then it may have better impact on society. However, the donors do not trust the government to spend the money effectively.
10. When we are hiring people in tech, most managers don’t care if the person is male or female and they certainly don’t think to pay the woman less. In big companies, the jobs have grades and salary bands and the manager hires for that grade and band. And yet, the data shows that women are paid less in the same jobs. How does that happen? Two possible explanations are: 1) men ask for more money so they end up at the higher range of the band. Since the yearly raises are based on the base pay, over time the difference becomes much bigger if a man joins at the higher end of the band and the woman joins at the lower end of the band. Second, men might have an unconscious bias towards hiring men for tech jobs.
11. Some companies pay the new employees based on what they were making in their last job. California recently made it illegal for the employers to ask prospective employees about their previous salary. Asking the employee what their salary expectation is still perfectly legal.
12. Networking technologies like telegraph, telephones, etc. see slow growth until they reach 15% of the population. At 15%, they reach a tipping point and the future growth is very fast.
13. Somethings can only be experienced and are difficult to communicate. Noetic sciences can help us better understand ourselves and the interconnectedness of all universe.
14. How do you measure compassion?
15. China has shown a different model of how wealth can be created and poverty can be alleviated. Over the last 30 years ~600M have gotten out of poverty in China and this is unprecedented in human history. The government system is autocratic but the economic system is capitalist. The Chinese government seems to spend money on big infrastructure projects which helps Chinese companies compete on a global scale. All this has come at a cost of civil rights and individual rights. How the system behaves when the economic growth stops remains to be seen. What is better, an autocratic system that lifts people out of poverty or a democracy where people die of hunger?
16. A CEO’s job is goals driven. If you don’t meet the goals then you get fired. Average tenure of a US CEO is now less than five years.
17. Millennials have fundamentally different thinking than the previous generations. Social good is an integral part of MBA case study discussions.
18. Ethics is not a required class to get an MBA degree at some universities. Idea being that it should be taught in all classes.
19. The origins of the modern corporation where one of the principles is to increase worker productivity i.e. more output per man hour goes back to the year 1712 when Thomas Newcomen invented the atmospheric steam engine so that workers can produce more coal per man hour worked.
20. A corporation is legally a person but has no moral conscious.
21. The technology industry is more egalitarian than the non-tech industry. Google decided to not participate in a $10B government bid because its employees did not agree with how the technology will be used.
22. Google employees, who are not unionized, walked out during work hours to protest how the company handled a sexual harassment case is unprecedented for any big corporation.
23. Technology has done a lot of good for the society. We have access to all the knowledge in the world for free. We can connect with our loved ones anywhere anytime. You can get a ride in a minute. There are thousands of movies available to watch at home, etc.
24. Is creating a quota for women on boards the best way to have gender parity at work? We are all watching California.
25. A business needs diversity of thought in decision making. Are gender and race the best indicators of diversity of thought?
26. In a city like Mountain View (MV) where many high-tech companies like Google are headquartered, the economy is up and unemployment is down. However, city dynamics have completely changed. Schools are crowded, traffic is horrible, rents are unaffordable. Are the corporations in MV liable for causing this change? Should they pay for fixing these externalities?
27. Recently, MV passed a measure (P) to tax big corporations. The money raised will go to fixing transportation and to create affordable housing.
28. The city council of MV sees its job as providing the best quality of life (QoL) possible for its citizens. The QoL includes diverse neighborhoods where people with different income levels live together and large open spaces (parks).
29. 58,000 tech workers live in MV. See other MV stats here.
30. For a change to occur in society, there has to be a change in human consciousness.
31. Societies act as chaotic complex systems where a small change in initial conditions can cause a huge outcome. Chaos theory is commonly known as butterfly effect i.e. a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can cause a hurricane in Japan.
32. Revolutions are an example of small change in initial conditions causing a big change in society.
33. Capitalist system has sustained because it is more aligned with human nature than other economic models. However, it disregards nature.
34. Consciousness can be thought of existing at three levels: 1) Individual (humans and other sentient beings) 2) Collective (all living beings connected to each other) 3) Cosmic (everything connected to each other).
35. A few people like Buddha and Jesus have achieved cosmic consciousness.
36. Mysticism is rooted in achieving cosmic consciousness.
37. The mind lives outside the body.
38. Meditation and prayer might help in tapping into collective and cosmic consciousness.
39. Both Darwin and Einstein had compassion and moral sense. Why is moral sense not expected from corporations?
40. One of the fundamental differences between Norway and the US is that the Norweigns trust their government.
41. Nordic countries like Norway have more gender parity in society than the US.
42. For publicly traded corporations based in Norway, 40% of the board seats are reserved for women. However, the executive ranks are still mostly held by men.
43. All companies in Norway are legally required to report on triple bottom line i.e. financials, social equity (mainly for its employees), and environment.
44. Norway is consistently voted as the most livable country by the UN.
45. Norway is also the happiest country in the world as per a UN study. US was ranked no. 14 in the same study.
46. 99.5% of employees in Norway work for companies with less than 100 employees.
47. 93% of employees in Norway work for companies with less than 10 employees.
48. In Norway, there are 580,000 companies. 60,000 new companies are started every year and 27% stay in business after five years.
49. Norway GDP is ~$400B and GDP per capita is ~$75,000. US per capita GDP is ~$60,000. Also, Norway’s population is ~5M.
50. Filing taxes in Norway takes a response to a text message. The government prepares the taxes for you and sends you a text message when they are ready. If you agree, you respond to the message and that’s it. If you don’t agree then you can go online and edit the filing.
51. Paternity leave in Norway is 46 weeks fully paid. The leave can be split between the mother and the father.
52. Transformative justice might be a better way than imprisonment to deal with sexual abuse crimes.
53. How do you define a tech company?
54. What does the recent craze of making fast money with cryptocurrency trading say about the state of society?
55. Art provides a commentary on state of society and it creates a space for reflection.
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| 1440 Multiversity |
1. All innovations have the potential to do harm. Think of fire which is the cornerstone of human evolution and its ability to do harm. It is up to us how we use new innovations.
2. A corporation should have a shared set of values for all employees to follow. An example:
a) Trust
b) Humility
c) Respect
d) Integrity
If people follow these values at work, chances are that they are going to do that same at home.
3. Almost all institutional shareholders don’t care about the values of the corporation, they only care about the returns on their investments.
4. Generally, the employee financial incentives are not tied to living by values in technology corporations. However, people who get promoted are exemplars of the values.
5. Most people who complain about corporations not being socially responsible don’t have their retirement plans managed by funds that only invest in socially responsible corporations. These people also want the highest returns.
6. Activist investors have gained more prominence in the last ten years. Generally, they are looking for short term returns at the expense of higher long term returns.
7. Traditionally, tech CEOs have focused on managing P&L i.e. income statement. Activist investors have brought CEOs attention to cash i.e. managing the balance sheet.
8. Walmart has a good example of how a corporation can influence social good. Today, Walmart is the largest buyer of organic cotton in the world. The cotton industry is known for extensive use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. To give farmers time to switch to organic cotton, Walmart accepted hybrid cotton for a few years and made commitments to buy organic cotton when the farmers switched to it. [See related article here].
9.There is over $800B in private foundations in the US. Moving money to a foundation has tax benefits and gives the donor control over how the money is spent for philanthropic purposes. If the money is pooled together by the government and spent on social good then it may have better impact on society. However, the donors do not trust the government to spend the money effectively.
10. When we are hiring people in tech, most managers don’t care if the person is male or female and they certainly don’t think to pay the woman less. In big companies, the jobs have grades and salary bands and the manager hires for that grade and band. And yet, the data shows that women are paid less in the same jobs. How does that happen? Two possible explanations are: 1) men ask for more money so they end up at the higher range of the band. Since the yearly raises are based on the base pay, over time the difference becomes much bigger if a man joins at the higher end of the band and the woman joins at the lower end of the band. Second, men might have an unconscious bias towards hiring men for tech jobs.
11. Some companies pay the new employees based on what they were making in their last job. California recently made it illegal for the employers to ask prospective employees about their previous salary. Asking the employee what their salary expectation is still perfectly legal.
12. Networking technologies like telegraph, telephones, etc. see slow growth until they reach 15% of the population. At 15%, they reach a tipping point and the future growth is very fast.
13. Somethings can only be experienced and are difficult to communicate. Noetic sciences can help us better understand ourselves and the interconnectedness of all universe.
14. How do you measure compassion?
15. China has shown a different model of how wealth can be created and poverty can be alleviated. Over the last 30 years ~600M have gotten out of poverty in China and this is unprecedented in human history. The government system is autocratic but the economic system is capitalist. The Chinese government seems to spend money on big infrastructure projects which helps Chinese companies compete on a global scale. All this has come at a cost of civil rights and individual rights. How the system behaves when the economic growth stops remains to be seen. What is better, an autocratic system that lifts people out of poverty or a democracy where people die of hunger?
16. A CEO’s job is goals driven. If you don’t meet the goals then you get fired. Average tenure of a US CEO is now less than five years.
17. Millennials have fundamentally different thinking than the previous generations. Social good is an integral part of MBA case study discussions.
18. Ethics is not a required class to get an MBA degree at some universities. Idea being that it should be taught in all classes.
19. The origins of the modern corporation where one of the principles is to increase worker productivity i.e. more output per man hour goes back to the year 1712 when Thomas Newcomen invented the atmospheric steam engine so that workers can produce more coal per man hour worked.
20. A corporation is legally a person but has no moral conscious.
21. The technology industry is more egalitarian than the non-tech industry. Google decided to not participate in a $10B government bid because its employees did not agree with how the technology will be used.
22. Google employees, who are not unionized, walked out during work hours to protest how the company handled a sexual harassment case is unprecedented for any big corporation.
23. Technology has done a lot of good for the society. We have access to all the knowledge in the world for free. We can connect with our loved ones anywhere anytime. You can get a ride in a minute. There are thousands of movies available to watch at home, etc.
24. Is creating a quota for women on boards the best way to have gender parity at work? We are all watching California.
25. A business needs diversity of thought in decision making. Are gender and race the best indicators of diversity of thought?
26. In a city like Mountain View (MV) where many high-tech companies like Google are headquartered, the economy is up and unemployment is down. However, city dynamics have completely changed. Schools are crowded, traffic is horrible, rents are unaffordable. Are the corporations in MV liable for causing this change? Should they pay for fixing these externalities?
27. Recently, MV passed a measure (P) to tax big corporations. The money raised will go to fixing transportation and to create affordable housing.
28. The city council of MV sees its job as providing the best quality of life (QoL) possible for its citizens. The QoL includes diverse neighborhoods where people with different income levels live together and large open spaces (parks).
29. 58,000 tech workers live in MV. See other MV stats here.
30. For a change to occur in society, there has to be a change in human consciousness.
31. Societies act as chaotic complex systems where a small change in initial conditions can cause a huge outcome. Chaos theory is commonly known as butterfly effect i.e. a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can cause a hurricane in Japan.
32. Revolutions are an example of small change in initial conditions causing a big change in society.
33. Capitalist system has sustained because it is more aligned with human nature than other economic models. However, it disregards nature.
34. Consciousness can be thought of existing at three levels: 1) Individual (humans and other sentient beings) 2) Collective (all living beings connected to each other) 3) Cosmic (everything connected to each other).
35. A few people like Buddha and Jesus have achieved cosmic consciousness.
36. Mysticism is rooted in achieving cosmic consciousness.
37. The mind lives outside the body.
38. Meditation and prayer might help in tapping into collective and cosmic consciousness.
39. Both Darwin and Einstein had compassion and moral sense. Why is moral sense not expected from corporations?
40. One of the fundamental differences between Norway and the US is that the Norweigns trust their government.
41. Nordic countries like Norway have more gender parity in society than the US.
42. For publicly traded corporations based in Norway, 40% of the board seats are reserved for women. However, the executive ranks are still mostly held by men.
43. All companies in Norway are legally required to report on triple bottom line i.e. financials, social equity (mainly for its employees), and environment.
44. Norway is consistently voted as the most livable country by the UN.
45. Norway is also the happiest country in the world as per a UN study. US was ranked no. 14 in the same study.
46. 99.5% of employees in Norway work for companies with less than 100 employees.
47. 93% of employees in Norway work for companies with less than 10 employees.
48. In Norway, there are 580,000 companies. 60,000 new companies are started every year and 27% stay in business after five years.
49. Norway GDP is ~$400B and GDP per capita is ~$75,000. US per capita GDP is ~$60,000. Also, Norway’s population is ~5M.
50. Filing taxes in Norway takes a response to a text message. The government prepares the taxes for you and sends you a text message when they are ready. If you agree, you respond to the message and that’s it. If you don’t agree then you can go online and edit the filing.
51. Paternity leave in Norway is 46 weeks fully paid. The leave can be split between the mother and the father.
52. Transformative justice might be a better way than imprisonment to deal with sexual abuse crimes.
53. How do you define a tech company?
 |
| Horse by Christine Wang |
54. What does the recent craze of making fast money with cryptocurrency trading say about the state of society?
 |
| Vitalik Jesus by Christine Wang |
55. Art provides a commentary on state of society and it creates a space for reflection.
