The Caring Economy Manifesto.
"The more tech we become, the more touch we need to be." Carlos Piazza
We are living the greatest transition of humanity, no doubts.
In a networked world, we are facing a paradigm in which technology becomes a platform for solutions that go far beyond the processes we knew and developed for centuries.
Linearity has practically ceased to exist and, as a result, we are able to create connections and interactions in exponential quantity and speed.
However, this new world context also requires a **new human being**, someone capable of seeing complexity and of thinking and acting in a systemic way, based on the understanding that each action can have unimaginable influence and reach.
This Cosmo-centric vision also brings the perception of how much we are capable of interfering in living systems and it brings with it an expanded sense of our responsibility.
At each decision, we are agents of transformation.
Moreover, moments of transition are moments of adaptation: learning, unlearning and relearning all the time.
How do you learn? What do you need to let go of? Is there room for the new in your life?
We know that technology has and will play an increasing role in our world.
With more and more activities being performed by artificial intelligences, the question arises: "what will be the place, the function, the contribution of the human being from now on?"
Perhaps the answer is contained in the sentence: **being human**.
**And what does it mean to be human in a world that so urgently needs to regenerate itself? From natural systems to relationships with ourselves and with others, everywhere we look, regeneration is needed.
There are 3 basic and essential attitudes to trigger a new dynamic that could nourish our individual humanity and our shared humanity and lead us to better collective actions: trust, collaborate and care.
Trust means "to spin together", to weave a network of relationships based on shared values that promote and sustain life in all its dimensions: human life and the life of all beings. Nature acts in total trust, each element, each being knows its role and gives its best for the benefit of the system as a whole.
A great networked organization, which we are now beginning to mimic in the business world, with more and more companies and initiatives in which there are no controls on how, when or where people work, but with management based on clear communication about roles and deliveries, boosting autonomy and combining freedom with responsibility. Instead of rigid organization charts and hierarchies, the investment of energy and time is to create the right environment for trust to flourish, where people feel free to bring their humanity to the meeting table, bringing along all their creativity, motivation and excellence.
Collaborate is a way of working that puts people together to generate new ideas, find solutions, solve problems, in other words, members cooperating to achieve a mutual goal. By definition it sounds easy, but it is not.
Collaboration is a social technology. Perhaps the most complex technology there is, as it involves the meeting of different people, from different individual universes, with different languages, beliefs, experiences, ways of doing things. Therein lies the challenge and also all the potential of collaboration.
In a complex world, one thing is certain: nobody does anything alone. Therefore, learning and applying the technology of collaboration is essential to create the future we want (and need).
Collaboration is based on an enabling environment in which people can exercise their social-emotional skills to think, create, execute and celebrate together. Collaboration, whose principle is power with the other (and not over the other), depends on individual and collective capacities to perceive the context both broadly and deeply and to respond to it with coordinated, continuous, sustained actions with consistent results over time.
True collaboration strengthens bonds, brings clarity of individual contribution and collective result, creates cycles without wasting resources - money, time, knowledge, material and environmental resources - strengthens the group's identity and makes the best of diversity.
Collaboration involves leadership.
And not leadership that decides and delegates, but facilitative leadership that provides the structures and dynamics for the best individual contribution to happen and relationships to strengthen towards creating a truly desirable future.
Want to learn the best technology ever? Learn how to collaborate.
Care comes from the Latin 'coera' and means to heal. And it underpins everything else. More specifically, to care means to heal from relationships.
The one who cares also heals. The eye of the one who cares sees the healing taking place and is disposed to a deep listening of the other and of the environment.
He makes available not only his time to care for himself and the other, but also his intelligence, his heart, and his hands.
The true caretaker knows that rational intelligence alone is not enough, that it is necessary to include emotions, intuitions, senses... he also understands that caring involves different dimensions:
Caring for the physical (the body and the environment);
Caring for the mind (your thoughts and emotions);
Caring for what you really want (the future you wish for yourself and for the world, beyond wealth or success);
Caring for others (your relationships, the well-being of those you love, the way you communicate).
A new economy - Caring Economics
In origin, the word economy means 'to manage the house'.
In the past, this idea was restricted to taking care of our homes and families, but today we know that the house we have to take care of is no longer restricted to the space where we live but can encompass the planet as a whole.
Caring Economics abandons the logic that prosperity means consumption and accumulation of wealth and is based on finding the foundations of lasting well-being.
From this perspective, people are prosperous when LIFE as a whole also prospers.
This feeling is not restricted primarily to the gratification of needs and desires. It arises from relationships, a sense of belonging, compassion and collaboration for a purpose that promotes prosperity.
In your life, in your work, in your organization, how does caring express itself?
Observe. Listen. Talk to people. Notice what you feel.
What is the future you want to see happen?
Know that the future is created in the present, in the now.
Right now, are you moving toward a truly desirable future?
What do you care for?
And finally, a manifesto can be very inspiring but, beyond the inspiration, ask yourself: "how can I make it all happen?"
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If you want to delve into practical ways to bring the care economy into your life, your work, your organization, here are some references:
Reinventing Organizations - Frederic Laloux
Donut Economics - Kate Raworth
The Art of Gathering - Pryia Parker
Many Voices, One Song - Self-Management through Sociocracy - Ted J. Rau and Jerry Koch-Gonzalez
Regenerative Leadership - Giles Hutchins and Laura Storm
Active Hope - Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone
Genuine Happiness - B. Alan Wallace