Humanity Wins: A Strategy for Progress and Leadership in Times of Change

When the pilgrims left Europe for Massachusetts, they realized that there was a need for a new social relationship. As a result, they formed a new social structure, the Mayflower Compact. As we sail across the global seas of electronic coming together today, it seems fitting that some would begin to see the need to revisit the basics of what community should mean for each of us. Mr. Mohn has written one of those landmark books that many will point to in the future. In a world where 'the only constant is constant change,' he draws the conclusion that the bases of social ties between individuals in their work, their communities, and in their governments need to be adjusted to reflect the new realities. Looking for a model, he proposes the most enlightened of corporations: those that seek to provide 'productivity for society' while honoring individuality, personal incentives, and freedom encompassed by a humanitarian style of leadership.He offers these suggestions to encourage a debate, and looks forward to the ideas that others may provide in reaction to his. The perspectives come from someone who is German and presided over the building of a successful global entertainment conglomerate -- Bertelsmann. You should remember the greater social constraints on freedom in Europe while reading this book. The book was originally a report to the Club of Rome (a group that studies the most important issues facing society), and has been developed into an integrated series of essays. The sections are as follows:1. A New Understanding of Community (including 10 commandments). This new community concept is built around the community honoring self-fulfillment and commitment by individuals, relying on moral and cultural values, competition between social orders to spur improvements, and moving towards a global set of constructive relationships. 2. Building Adaptive Systems for Establishing Order. This means improving governments to be more adaptive, adding new social goals and emphasizing flexible methods of creating order, restoring an emphasis on competitiveness, encouraging performance-directed leadership, and supporting standards of civility in society.3. The Working World Needs New Objectives. He focuses on leadership ability as the foundation of success, and describes his own efforts at Bertelsmann in that regards.4. Freedom for Individuals to Be Creative. He describes a model of entrepreneurial leadership, and reasserts the importance of freedom for innovation.5. Humane Approaches Will Work Best. This section contains 12 theses that are drawn from the rest of the book. If you want a quick overview of the book, start here.Basically, he is painting a picture of a world where individual freedom and free association come together to create more meaning for the individual and the family than would occur with existing social structures. He wants government to have to compete, as the way to improve. Words like freedom, incentive, learning, pa