The Sustainability Symbol

An Optimistic Truth - your ‘DragonThink’ attitude will change the world.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a young MBA student from India studying at University of Michigan… and in response to “the TEST” (which he understood and enjoyed ), he said - “but will your efforts make any difference?”

“My efforts?” - Wow, that was the umpteenth time I have had that cynical, defeatist attitude thrown back at me when sharing DragonThink with citizens of the world. I had to stop myself from retalliating, and shifting the focus onto his selfish “observer status” of the crisis the world is facing.

This young guy is probably ‘well educated’ in the traditional, analytical problem-solving sense, but actually not educated at all in being an active participant in the solution.

We need to step up our efforts with DragonThink to encourage people to believe they are part of the solution! Do The DragonThink TEST on at least 3 people - stop being and the problem, and start being a contributor to the solution!

(Below is some TEXT which appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Times “English Street” Educational Suppliment - written by Remo Notarianni. )

Three fingers and the Truth (title on the cover of the magazine)

Three Point Turn

“Professor P takes on a problem with a capital P”
Hong Kong - BEAMING and self-assured, you wouldn’t think that Professor Philip McMaster is in the midst of a hard-fought battle to save the planet.
This sunny disposition is perhaps the greatest weapon that the bespectacled Canadian professor and founder of the McMaster Institute has in his fight to save the environment.
Part a potent combination to take on global warming with the right attitude.

Action for Professor P, as he is affectionately known, means taking action.
It also means holding up three fingers in an outwardly confident motion.
Before you think this is some kind of kung fu move, the three fingers are dragons that represent Society, Economy, and Environment that mark an awareness to balance society and the key to a sustainable business environment,
writes Remo Notarianni.

****************

THERE is a tendency to draw a line psychologically between the pursuit of money and the ethics of care and conservation for the environment.
But, business can live in harmony with the world if it bears certain principles in mind.
The Dragonpreneur programme of the McMaster Institute is a scheme for sustainable business, one through which you can learn to be responsible in business and make money as well as take care of the environment.
Balanced Business training - Society, Environment, Economy

Philip McMaster, a professor in Entrepreneurship at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who founded the McMaster Institute in TK, believes that environmentalism
can be a part of business training.
When these 3 dragons work together, they create balance in the environment that results in ethical and sustainable business practises. This starts with changing our perspective and the very prepositions we use to describe our relationship with the Earth.

In order for this to happen, ‘To’ needs to become ‘On.’
“The Earth doesn’t belong to us, but we belong on Earth,” said Philip.

“Many of us forget that when we do things that hurt the environment, we actually hurt ourselves!”
“So if we make the Environment sick, what happens? Just think about what happens to you! If you get sick, you get weak and your energy runs out, you feel bad and get mad and grumpy easily. So if we make the Earth sick, unfortunately we get sick and uncomfortable too!”

HAND of GAIA

The symbolic nature of the three fingers is rooted in the Hand of Gaia Concept.
Gaia is the name of the Greek goddess of the Earth and she symbolises the interrelatedness of the Earth and its ecosystem.
As an environmental concept, it was first proposed by British chemist James Lovelock in 1970; he believed that the Earth and its organisms should be viewed as one.
We are part of an immense complicated organism.

Simplifying the Complexity of Business

The Dragonpreneur programme attempts to apply the Gaia concept to business.
“When we want to help other people understand how to become part of the solution, we show the Hand of Gaia,” said Professor McMaster.
“You can do it too! Just hold up three fingers, (similar to the Boy Scout and Girl Guide symbol, except with your fingers spread wide) and push your hand confidently forward”.

“The three fingers represent what we call ‘DragonThink’ – respecting SOCIETY, the ENVIRONMENT and the ECONOMY,” he said.

Why do you push your Hand of Gaia forward?

Because you are not in the shadows, waiting for others to change the world – YOU are offering your energy, enthusiasm and confidence to make the world a better place than when you arrived.
Professor P attends seminars and conferences globally but his presence in China and Hong Kong is a boon to the business community, guiding it towards an ethical success that assures wealth through balance.

Understanding the concepts of sustainability is one thing, but measuring ideas of sustainability is another.

How do we know whether or not an idea is sustainable or not?

Professor P brings something called the Sustain-o-Meter to his talks to measure just how sustainable an idea is.
If the idea is sustainable, the meter will go up the happy-harmony scale, and if the idea is unsustainable it will not go up quite as much.
This is a measure of what the professor calls ‘Dragon-Breath’ – dragon breath being how environmentally, socially and economically sustainable an idea is.

“The Sustain-o-Meter is a magical instrument to measure Dragon-Breath – the measure of how sustainable an idea, an attitude, a machine, a building, a development or even a product is”.
We all know the Earth is a living, breathing world, and the scientists at the McMaster Institute have invented a way to measure what comes out of the mouths of the three tiny dragons that surround every decision about sustainability.

visit www.Dragonpreneur.com to see the original article in pdf format.

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