I thought it would be interesting to give you at least a feel for the kind of buzz and activity that ebbf members are involved in. I share with you a couple of highlights, a kind of “best-of” selection from the emails that landed in our ebbf “in-box” in the last couple of days:
Sjoerd Luteyn from Holland: We are presenting stuff here about mindful marketing (and the ebbf) on a big entrepreneurs event in A’dam. More than 500 entrepreneurs from around the world talking about Change the world. With speakers like Muhammed Yunus and Kofi Annan. So, everyone is tapping in. I just introduced the ebbf to Dr. Yunus. He sat next to me on the couch in the lobby. He asked me to tell a bit more about the ebbf because it sounded very familiar and he would check it out. Mika Korhonen from Finland: I am running a workshop to 25 Digia [his company] managers as we speak, and the task is to study in groups what is “meaningful” based on the New York times article. How cool is that? Ruha Reyhani from Germany: We are expanding our activities at SecondMuse [they presented at last year’s annual conference] SecondMuse inspires innovation. Our process is a unique approach that focuses on the development of innovation through collaborative methods rather than the simple brainstorms of one or two brilliant creatives. JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: We are looking for a full time digital account manager, to come on board and join us. Minimum requirements are that you live in Europe, that you understand the world of branding/marketing, you can develop and drive digital strategy and you have more than two years experience in the area of project management.
Riaz Raft from Norway: I am moving to the Baha’i World Centre from 1 October to serve as CIO at the Information Services Department in Haifa for the next 5 years. I will be very busy with this work forward, and will probably not be able to do any services for ebbf during the 5 years at the World Centre. Christa Chambers from the USA: I’m still working on the content of the new ebbf job platform but the Q&A section is working much better today: http://www.knowledgecrush.com/welcome-to-the-jobs-exchange-program There is a box on the right that says ‘Recent Discussions’. If you click on any of the three items, you’ll be taken directly to the topic and you can start replying or adding content. Jorge, you’ll see your smiling face up a lot. I created a ‘dummy’ user with your image so that all of the posts didn’t look like they call came from me. (smiles) Go play, add content and let me know of any glitches that you come across. Rüdiger Fox from Bhutan: warmest greetings from Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. I can’t describe with words the dreamlike time I did spend during the last little more than three days, of which two were directly with key govermental leaders responsible for the Gross National Happiness concept – and there are 12 days to come ! This country is the most amazing experience I ever had, in the middle still of an early economic development process, combined with an amazing governmental wisdom and an omnipresent ecological sensitivity, a deep but pragmatic buddhist spirituality, an unexperienced closeness to high level key people, a warmeness of a population whith whom you can have deep discussions on the purpose of life or global worming … After an initial contact today with the Dean of the Bhutan University, we try to meet again in 10 days to discuss potential speaker and temporary teaching support for a new branch on Gross National Happiness he plans to create shortly here … My application letter for a personal meeting with the king was handed over today where I argued for the need of a GNH-comparable model for the business world … And the Center of Bhutan Studies looks for more attention on GNH in Europe where I suggested that EBBF could build the bridge to AIESEC. The leading researcher would be ready to fly to their annual conference for a speech (I volunteer to join if desired, as we did already a joint talk in 2010) – a decision item for the coming board meeting. Friends, I am lacking words to describe this trip … I just send you my overwhelmed thoughts !
Alex Cabon from Uganda: I just left France and landed in Uganda where I will be helping a local NGO as Operations director and strategic consultant at the Arise and Shine Uganda. I will be managing community outreach projects, primary school and nursery. The task is to increase the social impact of Arise and Shine Uganda by improving efficiency, fund raising and creating strategic partnerships, including a major volunteers program with AIESEC. etc. etc. etc …. How are – you – living ebbf’s vision of contributing towards a prosperous, sustainable and just civilization? Do you need help? Do you want to walk this path together with some of these “mindful and meaningful innovators”? You can come and interact with them at the next annual conference or join and become a part of this growing global network.