What's good for economies is good for governance
A more exhaustive companion to Mapping the Future of Your Association is Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat. Exhaustive couldn't be a more appropriate word to describe it, because at nearly 600 pages, this marathon of nonfiction delves deeply into trends that are shaping our global community. I'm in the home stretch to finish this book in the next couple of days, but I had an interesting revelation about a similarity between economies and governance after finishing up a chapter last night:
Being open is good for both.
Economic protectionism actually has the opposite effect it intends to produce, but open economies engender trust in foreign investors. While both countries previously manipulated their currencies and erected barriers to trade, Friedman argues that the opening of the Indian and Chinese economies in the past 30 years has rushed these two nations on to the global stage. It has happened in a matter of just a few decades because, thanks primarily to technology, the world is getting flatter by the minute.
As I read those passages, I couldn't help but think about a discussion I had in a virtual community early this year about the importance of transparency. The Scrutiny trend, identified in Mapping the Future of Your Association, prompted many participants in the discussion to conclude that mere compliance with public disclosure laws was no longer good enough. Full disclosure, or extreme openness, is becoming the norm. In other words, an open economy yields a higher GDP; an open governance structure yields a more trusting membership. A membership that trusts is a membership that engages. And don't we all want engaged members?
What does open governance mean to you? One association allows any member to nominate himself, herself, or another person for the board of directors right over the Internet. Another discloses all the "perks" given to its board members. Still another publishes its audited financial statements in its magazine. And yet another publishes its full 990 just two clicks from its home page.
What does your association need to expose to the daylight this year? Don't presume to know the answer. If you're brave enough, ask some members, "Is there anything you don't understand about how we operate?" Ask a volunteer, "As someone who knows the ropes, what are some things we don't communicate about so well?" The answers to these questions will help you figure out where you need open up.
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The world is flat??
Watch the 13-minute overview (below).
Just off press ...
The World is Flat?
"Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world
since the Industrial Revolution."
Thomas Friedman’s recent New York Times bestseller, The World is Flat, asserts that the international economic playing field is now more level than it has ever been. As popular as it may be, some reviewers assert that by what it leaves out, Friedman’s book is dangerous.
“The world isn’t flat as a result of globalization,” say Ronald Aronica and Mtetwa Ramdoo, business analysts and authors of a critical analysis of Friedman’s book. “Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution,” says Aronica.
This epic change has shaken up the way the world does business. From boardrooms to classrooms to kitchen tables and water coolers, globalization has become a hot topic of discussion and debate everywhere. But by what Friedman’s book ignores or glosses over, it misinforms people and policy makers.
Aronica and Ramdoo’s concise monograph, The World is Flat?: A Critical Analysis of Thomas L. Friedman’s New York Times Bestseller, brings clarity to many of Friedman’s stories and explores nine key issues Friedman largely disregards or treats too lightly. To create a fair and balanced exploration of globalization, the authors cite the work of experts that Friedman fails to incorporate, including Nobel laureate and former Chief Economist at the World Bank, Dr. Joseph Stiglitz.
Refreshingly, readers can now gain new insights into globalization without weeding through Friedman’s almost 600 pages of grandiloquent prose and bafflegab. “It’s of utmost urgency that we all learn about and prepare for total global competition. If you read Friedman’s book, and were awed, you really should read more rigorous treatments of this vital subject. Globalization affects all our lives and will be of even greater significance to our children and grandchildren,” says Ramdoo.
Aronica and Ramdoo conclude by listing over twenty action items that point the way forward, and they provide a comprehensive, yet concise, framework for understanding the critical issues of globalization. They paint a clear and sometimes alarming picture of the early twenty-first century landscape, and present timely information needed by governments, businesses, and individuals everywhere.
Watch a thought-provoking 13 minute Overview on the Web:
www.mkpress.com/FlatOverview.html
Posted by: scottie | December 16, 2006 2:36 PM