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Escaping Billionaire-Owned Media? Move to Mastodon

Billionaire-owned media makes the “free-press” a mouthpiece for the ideology of the super rich. It ignores the urgency of the climate crisis, radicalizes readers, and actively promotes right-wing propaganda.

So here’s a quick rundown of billionaire-owned/controlled media outlets:

  • Elon Musk, Twitter (with financial-aid from the Saudi billionaires)
  • Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp
  • Rupert Murdoch, News Corp (Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, several Australian outlets)
  • Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg
  • Jeff Bezos, The Washington Post 
  • John Henry, The Boston Globe 
  • Glen Taylor, Star Tribune 
  • Patrick Soon-Shiong, Los Angeles Times 
  • Sheldon Adelson, Las Vegas Review-Journal 
  • Joe Mansueto, Inc. and Fast Company 
  • Laurene Powell Jobs, The Atlantic 
  • Marc Benioff, Time 
  • Chatchaval Jiaravanon, Fortune 
  • Cox Family, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
  • Mortimer Zuckerman, US News & World Report
  • Barbey Family, Village Voice
  • Stanley Hubbard, Hubbard Broadcasting
  • Carlos Slim Helu, The New York Times
  • Warren Buffett, regional papers (~70)
  • Lord Rothermere, The Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Metro and the i
  • The Barclay Brothers, The Telegraph and the Spectator
  • Patrick Drahi, Libération and L’Express
  • Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev, Novaya Gazeta, the Evening Standard, and The Independent

Billionaires also have collectives or consortiums – like the Economist, which is owned by the Agnelli family, the Cadburys (chocolate), the Rothschilds (banks) and the Schroders (banks), along with some staff and former employees.

So how does one escape the tyranny of Twitter? Here are a few articles to help you decide if Mastodon is worth moving to ( I have).

techdirtWhy Would Anyone Use Another Centralized Social Media Service After This?
WiredMastodon Is Hurtling Toward a Tipping Point
GuardianFirefox and Tumblr join rush to support Mastodon social network
The VergeWhere to find Verge staff on Mastodon
Mozilla BlogMozilla to Explore Healthy Social Media Alternative
CNNAs Twitter backlash grows, rival Mastodon reaches 2.5 million monthly users
techdirtI Speak Fluent ‘New Social Media CEO Who’s In Over Their Head’ 
Business InsiderElon’s stale playbook
TechmemeTop News
WiredMastodon Features That Twitter Should Steal (but Won’t)
SF ChronicalElon Musk polls Twitter users on whether he should step down, hours after another controversial policy change
The Hollywood ReporterTwitter Bans Linking to Mastodon, Facebook, Truth Social and Other Competitors
IGNTwitter Will Now Suspend or Remove Accounts Promoting Links to Some Social Media Platforms 
USA Today/APTwitter bans users from promoting rival social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon
New York TimesTwitter to Ban Accounts That Promote Rival Social Media
ReutersTwitter prohibits users from promoting accounts on Facebook, Mastodon 
TechCrunchTwitter bans posting of handles and links to Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon and more
The VergeTwitter abruptly bans all links to Instagram, Mastodon, and other competitors 
The HillHow Musk may reinvent the internet without even trying
MacStoriesMacStories Is on Mastodon with Its Own Server
Daily Beast Elon Musk Boots WaPo’s Taylor Lorenz From Twitter
WSJ How to Use Mastodon, the Social-Media Platform Blocked by Elon Musk’s Twitter
PC Elon’s Mastodon Vendetta Makes Us All Less Safe
Forbes Elon Musk Bans Journalists On Twitter As More Flee To Mastodon: Here’s Who To Follow
Washington Post A guide to getting started with Twitter alternative Mastodon
The Guardian Twitter’s suspension of journalists sets ‘dangerous precedent’, UN warns
MSNBC McNamee: Musk Twitter suspensions a ‘direct attack’ on journalism & democracy
CNET What Is Mastodon, the Alternative Social Network Now Blocked by Twitter?
The Intercept Elon Musk Is Taking Aim at Journalists. I’m One of Them.
BBC Twitter blocks users from sharing Mastodon links
Forbes Twitter Suspends Accounts For Rival Mastodon And Several High-Profile Journalists
Business Insider Musk’s Twitter is blocking links to its competitor Mastodon
Bloomberg.com Twitter Suspends Accounts of Mastodon, Journalists Covering Musk
TechCrunch Twitter suspends Mastodon’s account and bans links to Mastodon servers
CNET Twitter Suspends Account Encouraging People to Join Mastodon
The Hill Twitter suspends Mastodon’s official account
CNN Elon Musk’s Twitter bans CNN, NYT, WaPo journalists without explanation
The Verge Twitter is blocking links to Mastodon
Thoughtworks Podcast Welcome to the fediverse: Exploring Mastodon, ActivityPub and beyond
CYBERSCOOP Fleeing Twitter users face uncertain privacy, security features on alternative platforms
The Desk LGBT server on Mastodon blocks group for journalists
The Popehat Report Goodbye, Twitter Everything Ends, And That’s Okay.
ZDNET You’ve got Mastodon questions, I’ve got answers
Tech Policy Press Priorities to Make the Fediverse Sustainable
The Next Web Vivaldi browser backs Mastodon to free social networks from Big Tech
Bleeping Computer New Vivaldi version integrates Mastodon into the browser sidebar
TechCrunch Third-party Twitter app makers turn their attention to Mastodon
Business Insider Migration to other social media platforms shows no signs of slowing
The Verge The race to build a better Twitter
PC Magazine EU Leader Uses Mastodon to Tell Elon Musk How Twitter Needs to Be Regulated
Vanity Fair “NO ONE IS GOING TO KILL TWITTER EXCEPT ELON”: AS MUSK’S BLUE BIRD REELS, THE ARMS RACE FOR AN ALTERNATIVE IS ON
Dewey Square A Snapshot of the Twitter Migration
Electronic Frontier Foundation How to Make a Mastodon Account and Join the Fediverse
Slate Social Networks Are Going Much, Much Smaller
EscapingTech I Was Wrong About Mastodon
CNET Confused by Twitter ‘Replacement’ Mastodon? Here’s How to Get Started
NOEMA Mastodon Isn’t Just A Replacement For Twitter
Ars Technica How secure a Twitter replacement is Mastodon? Let us count the ways
Reason Mystified by Mastodon? We’re Here To Help
Time Thousands Have Joined Mastodon Since Twitter Changed Hands. Its Founder Has a Vision for Democratizing Social Media
The Markup The Markup: Mastodon’s Moment
CMS Wire How to Pick a Mastodon Server
Axios How Mastodon, a favorite Twitter alternative, works
CNET Twitter Migrants Flock to Mastodon: How Does the Open Source Social Network Work?
Android Authority Elon Musk just ended Twitter SMS 2FA (Update: Appears to be back up for some)
WE GOT THIS COVERED Some Twitter accounts may become permanently inaccessible thanks to Elon Musk’s meddling
The Guardian Musk says he has ‘too much on plate’ amid reports of more Twitter job cuts
CNBC SpaceX just bought a big ad campaign on Twitter for Starlink
PoliticoDems want answers from Musk’s Twitter
Mint ‘Embarrassingly wrong’: Elon Musk’s Twitter theory rubbished by ex-employee
Axios Elon Musk’s Twitter sees rise in racial slurs, hate speech
AP Twitter drama too much? Mastodon, others emerge as options
MIT Technology Review Twitter’s potential collapse could wipe out vast records of recent human history
Politico ‘Serious risk of breach’ at Musk’s Twitter
CNN Playbill leaves Twitter, saying the site ‘expanded tolerance for hate’
Mashable Surprise? Elon Musk’s $8 Twitter Blue hasn’t made very much money so far.
Human Rights Watch Musk Chaos Raises Serious Rights Concerns Over TwitterLayoffs of Critical Staff, Impersonation Issues Dog Early Days
The Guardian Joining the herd: what’s it like moving from Twitter to Mastodon?
The CHIVE Twitter is a sh*tshow right now & the memes aren’t holding back (28 Photos)
The GuardianABC AU Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co apologises after fake Twitter account says insulin is free as Elon Musk rolls back verification
Washington Post Elon Musk’s first big Twitter product paused after fake accounts spread
The Medical Republic Is #medTwitter really leaving Twitter?
LA Times What to do if you’re worried about the latest Twitter chaos
CNN Elon Musk’s Twitter faces its ‘Titanic’ moment as executives and advertisers flee while trolls run rampant
The Guardian Exodus continues at Twitter as Elon Musk hints at possible bankruptcy
The Verge Inside Elon Musk’s first meeting with Twitter employees
The Verge Twitter reactivated the ‘Official’ gray check for accounts that are actually verified / Things are going just great and nothing is on fire.
Yahoo Twitter Gives Blue Checks to Fake Tesla Account, Fake Politicians and Real Nazis on Twitter Blue Day 2
The Verge Elon Musk is putting Twitter at risk of billions in fines, warns company lawyer
NBC Two Twitter executives resign as Musk’s chaotic run continues
UX Collective Twitter alternative: how Mastodon is designed to be “antiviral”
Toronto Star I fled Twitter to check out Mastodon. Here’s what I found
CNET What Is Mastodon? The Twitter Alternative for People Flying the Coop
Rasberry Pi Raspbery Pi: An escape pod was jettisoned during the fighting
ZDNet ZDNet: Why Twitter will fail shortly — Sometime soon, Twitter will crash badly. Here’s why.
MIT Technology Review MIT Technology Review: Here’s how a Twitter engineer says it will break in the coming weeks
Huffpost What’s The Deal With Mastodon, The Twitter Alternative?
The Atlantic Elon Musk Is Bad at This: The Musk era of Twitter has so far been defined by unhinged tweets, fleeing advertisers, and botched layoffs.

Begin your move to Mastodon by reading this. Here’s a list of servers to join. I’m here (still trying to figure it out).

The real question now is: how do we build a media network that actually serves the public interest?

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Do Americans care about Climate Change?

Americans experience a false social reality by underestimating popular climate policy support by nearly half.

Let’s break that down:

Americans experience a false social reality.

They underestimate climate policy support.

By half.

Here’s what people think about what others think . (The red line is reality.)

Pluralistic ignorance—a shared misperception of how others think or behave—poses a challenge to collective action on problems like climate change.

These are the findings of a study published in Nature.

Where does this false social reality come from?

Preliminary evidence suggests three sources of these misperceptions:

(i) consistent with a false consensus effect, respondents who support these policies less (conservatives) underestimate support by a greater degree; controlling for one’s own personal politics,

(ii) exposure to more conservative local norms and

(iii) consuming conservative news correspond to greater misperceptions.

Fox News destroys reality.

But reality does not need Fox News.

Cimate collapse is here.

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Cettina Martorana on Politics and Regeneration

This week I interviewed Cettina Martorana, a candidate in Sicily’s regional elections on the subject of regenerative politics.

Can politics be regenerative at all?

Martorana is a professional business woman who finds herself in an election because she was drafted by Caterina Chinnici – the candidate on the left for president of the Sicilian Assembly.

Cettina Martorana asks: “What kind of Sicily do you want?”

Here are five points I got out of our discussion:

  • Nature must be at the heart of all future decisions.
  • The climate crisis is an economic crisis and a social crisis.
  • Regeneration is an alternative to polarization
  • Regenerative politics is beyond left vs. right
  • Regenerative politics is based on problem solving

If our politics don’t engage the youth, what’s the point in politics at all? Martorana’s idea is simple: ask the students what they want and find ways to create opportunities for them. She does this through an old media format – comics!

But her message is serious.

Here is Martorana’s tree of regeneration – a symbol to capture the interconnected nature of all things in the community:

Martorana’s unique campaign is based on a deep understanding and empathy for the plight facing Sicily’s youth. Jobs and employment are scarce, and now with COVID and climate change, things may get much worse. As a problem-solver, she aims to explain why regenerative politics is not just a word, but the way forward.

You can check Martorana’s ideas out at www.cettinamartorana.it – with the help of Google translate!

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Steel Pulse: “Only One World (Wicked Problems)”

The legendary reggae band Steel Pulse (one of Bob Marley’s favorites) raises its voice to challenge the world to come together – a “movements of movements” – to save the Earth:

The song is a collaboration between Steel Pulse and The Wicked7 Project.

Special thanks to Jessica Lieng from the W7 Working Group for putting together the video. Maximum respect to Steel Pulse and David Hinds in particular!

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Webinar: “Population & Migration”

Join us for the latest webinar from the Wicked7 Project >>

Join Philip Kotler and Christian Sarkar as we discuss the final wicked problem of the Wicked7 Project. With us for the webinar – a group of dynamic personalities from Palermo, Sicily:

– Leoluca Orlando. As Mayor of Palermo, Orlando’s extraordinary vision and courage has changed our understanding of immigration, tolerance, and the fight against corruption.

– Claudio Arestivo. A co-founder of Moltivolti – a unique regenerative business – which serves as an example for the future.

– Melania Memory Mutanuka. An immigrant from Zambia, she is an emerging leader with a purpose.

– Carmelo Pollichino. A passionate leader and the head of the non-profit Libera Palermo contro le mafie

– Francesco Bellina. An award-winning photographer and artist whose brilliant work on the problems of migration and exploitation are featured in leading newspapers such as the Financial Times and The Guardian.

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Thinkers50: Conversation with Philip Kotler

It was my great honor to interview the “Father of modern Marketing” on his lifetime of achievements in marketing.

Professor Philip Kotler received the Thinkers50 Lifetime Achievement Award for his work over the past 50 years. I am deeply grateful for his friendship and mentorship – and everything he has done to demonstrate how marketing must be a force for good.

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Webinar: “Health & Livelihood”

Join us as we welcome:

  • Stuart Hart – a leading authority on the implications of environment and poverty for business strategy. Hart is the Founder and President of  Enterprise for a Sustainable World
  • Bob Freling – Executive Director at Solar Electric Light Fund, Freling developed the “solar village development model” – a wholistic community-based approach to development.
  • Hennie Botes – CEO and founder of moladi Construction Systems, Botes is an inventor, entrepreneur and philanthropist. The designer of a multi-award winning affordable housing technology, Botes has over 30 years of experience in the building industry. 
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Paul Polak: 12 Social Entrepreneurial Principles for Solving Poverty

Sometimes I wonder why we have forgotten these principles from the late Paul Polak. When I chatted with him about the $300 House, he wanted me to reconsider and make it a $100 House. His point was simple: affordability drives design.

Now, as part of the research agenda of the Regenerative Marketing Institute, I’m thinking about how these BoP principles and Stuart Hart‘s BoP protocol apply to the developed world — to communities trying to find a way back from the COVID-crash.

Here are Polak’s principles:

1) Go to where the action is. You can’t solve poverty from a World Bank office.
2) Talk to the people and listen to what they have to say.
3) Learn everything about the context of the problem and the people.
4) Think and act big. No reason to be modest. Small solutions applied thousands of thousands of times.
5) Think like a child to find the obvious solution people have missed in the past. (Irony of thinking big and like a child)
6) See and do the obvious. Emersing yourself in the problem helps.
7) If someone has invented it–you don’t have to. Find existing solutions
8} Make sure your approach can be scaled up.
9) Design for the poor. Affordability rules the design process with poor customers.
10) Follow practical 3 year plans. Must transform into effective work plan for 3 years.
11) Continue to learn from your customers. (Interviewed more than 3000 farm families, $12 solar lantern)
12) Don’t be distracted by what other people say (Almost every project I’ve done has had sceptics)

Let’s add another principle for impact innovation:

13) Design for justice. (The design schools don’t)

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Regenerative Marketing

Can marketing be regenerative? And what would that look like?

Our definition >>

Regenerative marketing is defined as marketing practices which nurture communities and build local prosperity over the long term.  The outcomes of regenerative marketing include value creation for customers, employees, and local communities. Regenerative marketing practices must – by definition – build community wealth.

Read the article in The Marketing Journal >>

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It’s time for a Movement of Movements

It’s time to put aside our toys – our ideologies and guns – and look at this time in history as our final exam. This is a test, as Buckminster Fuller said, to see if we, the human species, deserve to carry on. COVID has shown us that we cannot find consensus on how to deal with the virus. 

Time’s running out. Philip Kotler, Karthiga Ratnam, and I think it’s time for a movement of movements.

Learn more on the Wicked7 Project site >>

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The Wicked7 Project Meets the #ForkintheRoad

What are we going to do now?  The #forkintheroad which Buckminster Fuller warned us about is here now >> “Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment… Humanity is in a final exam as to whether or not it qualifies for continuance in the Universe.” 

What will it take to leap across the chasm and undo the destruction we’ve caused? Why can’t the UN fix it?

We’re hurtling into a state of climate emergency whilst we simultaneously face the convergence of the Wicked7.

What are the Wicked7? The world’s most urgent problems.

We’ve distilled over 200 problems into the Wicked7:

  • The Death of Nature
  • Inequality
  • Hate & Conflict
  • Power & Corruption
  • Work and Technology
  • Health and Livelihood
  • Population & Migration

You can’t solve wicked problems. That’s what we’ve been led to believe. And for years, we haven’t. Solve them, that is.

Well, if not now, then when?

Wicked problems must have virtuous solutions. If any lesson has emerged from this COVID-19 pandemic, it is this: we must address the urgent problems of the world now, or perish. Why? Because COVID-19 is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg… the ecosystem of wicked problems will not wait.

After working on this idea for over a year, Philip Kotler and I kicked off the Wicked7 Challenge on April Fool’s Day, 2021.

Our first challenge? The Death of Nature.

Join us >>

P.S. – Bucky Fuller was wrong. Thanks to Sonmoy, one of our W7 advisors, we now see that there’s a triple fork in the road, and utopia is simply no longer an option. What we must fight for is survival.

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Leverage Points: Where to Intervene in an Ecosystem

Once again, it is useful to study the past to learn what applies here to our ecosystematic journeys. Of particular interest is the work of Donella Meadows, who taught us how to focus on having the most impact on a system (Bill Gates, listen up!) >>

Where to intervene:

12. Constants, parameters, numbers (such as subsidies, taxes, standards).
11. The sizes of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows.
10. The structure of material stocks and flows (such as transport networks, population age structures).
9. The lengths of delays, relative to the rate of system change.
8. The strength of negative feedback loops, relative to the impacts they are trying to correct against.
7. The gain around driving positive feedback loops.
6. The structure of information flows (who does and does not have access to information).
5. The rules of the system (such as incentives, punishments, constraints).
4. The power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure.
3. The goals of the system.
2. The mindset or paradigm out of which the system — its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters — arises.
1. The power to transcend paradigms.

Read all about it >>

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17 Rules for Building Community (via Wendell Berry)

Those of us who have been building digital communities know that we were simply trying to re-interpret and re-create the rules of real, living, communities. Wendell Berry had something say about this many years ago which applies to the “ecosystem builders” of today.

These “rules” or steps are not optional – you can’t pick or chose. All or nothing. Our survival as a species may depend on understanding this.

These are also the rules for sustainable development. Gandhian all the way.

Supposing that the members of a local community wanted their community to cohere, to flourish, and to last, they would:

1. Ask of any proposed change or innovation: What will this do to our community? How will this affect our common wealth?

2. Include local nature — the land, the water, the air, the native creatures — within the membership of the community.

3. Ask how local needs might be supplied from local sources, including the mutual help of neighbors.

4. Supply local needs first (and only then think of exporting their products, first to nearby cities, and then to others).

5. Understand the ultimate unsoundness of the industrial doctrine of ‘labor saving’ if that implies poor work, unemployment, or any kind of pollution or contamination.

6. Develop properly scaled value-adding industries for local products in order not to become merely a colony of the national or the global economy.

7. Develop small-scale industries and businesses to support the local farm or forest economy.

8. Strive to produce as much of their own energy as possible.

9. Strive to increase earnings (in whatever form) within the community, and decrease expenditures outside the community.

10. Circulate money within the local economy for as long as possible before paying it out.

11. Invest in the community to maintain its properties, keep it clean (without dirtying some other place), care for its old people, and teach its children.

12. Arrange for the old and the young to take care of one another, eliminating institutionalized ‘child care’ and ‘homes for the aged.’ The young must learn from the old, not necessarily and not always in school; the community knows and remembers itself by the association of old and young.

13. Account for costs that are now conventionally hidden or ‘externalized.’ Whenever possible they must be debited against monetary income.

14. Look into the possible uses of local currency, community-funded loan programs, systems of barter, and the like.

15. Be aware of the economic value of neighborliness — as help, insurance, and so on. They must realize that in our time the costs of living are greatly increased by the loss of neighborhood, leaving people to face their calamities alone.

16. Be acquainted with, and complexly connected with, community-minded people in nearby towns and cities.

17. Cultivate urban consumers loyal to local products to build a sustainable rural economy, which will always be more cooperative than competitive.

From a speech delivered November 11, 1994 at the 23rd annual meeting of the Northern Plains Resource Council.

PS – It’s worth noting that Berry was a Jefferson Lecturer in 2012. Walker Percy was the lecturer in 1989 (scrap book and publication).

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The 11th Type of Innovation

I still think of Larry Keeley‘s 10 types of innovation – and think about how the model can be applied to social innovation – to meet the “unmet needs” of society.

The 11th type of innovation is purpose – to what ends are your capabilities and talents being deployed? Are you inclusive or is your company supporting new forms of apartheid? That is what Brand Activism, and by extension – the Wicked7 Project – are about.

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Multi-stakeholder Jobs to be Done

One of the points of the Wicked7 Project is to demonstrate how we have a shared responsibility — business, government, and social institutions — to work together for the future of the planet.

By definition, solving society’s most urgent problems is a balancing act between the various requirements and needs of the different stakeholders across all sectors.  Our policy-making must be driven by this idea of balance if it is to create a sustainable and resilient society.


Read >> The Unmet Needs of Society: Introducing Multi-stakeholder Jobs to be Done by Christian Sarkar, Anthony Ulwick, and Philip Kotler.

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Losing Our Democracy

Each morning I get up and check to see if we’re still living in a Democracy.

I’m only half joking. In the US, Trump was just a symptom of the larger rot. It is not an accident that all around the world countries are falling into the trap of authoritarianism.

The Democracy Report 2021

What can be done to stop the backsliding?

Maybe Bill Gates could start a PAC to get money out of politics. Maybe we could take to the streets to stop voter suppression.

Or maybe we could just keep being distracted by Harry and Megan.

Staying silent will kill us all. Nerds, unite.

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A Warning from FDR

This letter spells out the duopoly which is now in full force in US politics. The last remaining chance for Democracy to survive in the US is for us to heed this warning >>

A Letter to the Democratic Convention from Franklin D. Roosevelt
July 18, 1940

Members of the Convention:

In the century in which we live, the Democratic Party has received the support of the electorate only when the party, with absolute clarity, has been the champion of progressive and liberal policies and principles of government.

The party has failed consistently when through political trading and chicanery it has fallen into the control of those interests, personal and financial, which think in terms of dollars instead of in terms of human values.

The Republican Party has made its nominations this year at the dictation of those who, we all know, always place money ahead of human progress.

The Democratic Convention, as appears clear from the events of today, is divided on this fundamental issue. Until the Democratic Party through this convention makes overwhelmingly clear its stand in favor of social progress and liberalism, and shakes off all the shackles of control fastened upon it by the forces of conservatism, reaction, and appeasement, it will not continue its march of victory.

It is without question that certain political influences pledged to reaction in domestic affairs and to appeasement in foreign affairs have been busily engaged behind the scenes in the promotion of discord since this Convention convened.

Under these circumstances, I cannot, in all honor, and will not, merely for political expediency, go along with the cheap bargaining and political maneuvering which have brought about party dissension in this convention.

It is best not to straddle ideals.

In these days of danger when democracy must be more than vigilant, there can be no connivance with the kind of politics which has internally weakened nations abroad before the enemy has struck from without.

It is best for America to have the fight out here and now.

I wish to give the Democratic Party the opportunity to make its historic decision clearly and without equivocation. The party must go wholly one way or wholly the other. It cannot face in both directions at the same time.

By declining the honor of the nomination for the presidency, I can restore that opportunity to the convention. I so do.

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Politicians and Decision-Making

We are now at that point in history where collapse seems inevitable: political, social, environmental, civilizational. The decisions our politicians make are killing us.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” — Proverbs 29:18

In Texas, we can applaud our fearless Governor Greg Abbott and his Republican mafia for destroying any pretense of serving the public good (see exhibits A and B). Every decision made by leaders in the Republican Party is made based on ideology, not reason, science, or even common sense. Some argue we live in the Age of Social Murder. The Democrats, for their part, are slightly better — but certainly not equal to the task which lies ahead.

It’s time to depoliticize decision-making.

Either that, or our time is up.

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The Pyramid of Love: can we escalate peace and justice?

The work of leadership has never been more clear: it is to bridge the gap — across all boundaries — and to create a way forward for the common good. The pyramid of love reminds us that it is possible to resolve conflicts and escalate peace.

Says David Hinds of Steel Pulse: “Where there is no love, there can be no justice; and where there is no justice, there will never be peace.”

That about sums it up.

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The Pyramid of Hate: incitement and escalation — from bias to genocide

As the Senate holds its second impeachment trial of president Trump, they would be well advised to educate their members on how incitement and escalation of hate can indeed lead to violence and even genocide. Here’s a slightly modified version of the Pyramid of Hate developed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Echoes and Reflections, and the Holocaust Center for Humanity.

The pyramid reminds us that hatred can be used to dehumanize people by race/color, tribe, ideology, and faith. The misleader polarizes and radicalizes their followers, pushing them up the pyramid of hate.

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The Decolonization of the Corporation

The new normal is the old normal. How much has really changed since the days of the East India Company? We are accelerating backwards, back to a world run by a few, for the few.

The question we should ask now is: what does it mean to decolonize the corporation?

It means understanding that everything we do in business is built on the foundation of the brutal business model handed down to us by Robert Clive and friends.

Maybe I’ll talk about this in this week’s Thinkers50 Radar webinar — or maybe I’ll just stick to Brand Activism and the Wicked7 Project.

P.S. – did you know the East India Company came back to life in 2004?

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Are you a #HappyMonkey?

What’s wrong with Elon Musk? And why do we—as a society— allow billionaires to play games with our future?

Maybe it’s because we think Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and/or Bill Gates will save us with their genius. Don’t count on it, children. The revenge of the nerds is nigh.

Here’s what Musk had to say: “You can’t see where the implant is and he’s a happy monkey. We have the nicest monkey facilities in the world. We want them to play mind-Pong with each other.”

The line between Trump and Musk is a fine line indeed.

Now check out Zuckerberg and his “monkey experiment” —

We are all “happy” monkeys now.

How high do we have to jump for that banana?

UPDATE: see also — the #happypig

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What’s Next for Non-Profits?

Phil Kotler and I write about new approaches non-profits should consider as they plan their futures.  Here are seven recommendations we think can make a real difference:

  • Revisit your Mission.  
  • Organize as an Ecosystem. 
  • Look for Entrepreneurial Opportunities.  
  • Design for Justice. 
  • Embrace Brand Activism. 
  • Build/Join a Purpose Platform. 
  • Start/Join a Movement.  

Read the article at The Marketing Journal >>